With only a few hours left to this week’s deadline, Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers are ready to deploy their squads.
With the latest pre-match conferences from respective managers hinting at the potential starting XI and confirming the players set out to miss the matchday, plenty of information is available for the FPL managers to choose wisely.
Special thing about game week 18 is that there will only be 18 teams playing this week, with Manchester City vs Brentford game being postponed due to City’s Club World Cup clash.
This means that there are even lesser reliable people to choose from. No Erling Haaland or city defence for you to choose from.
So, in case you were looking for a great pick and are still undecided what to do, we have a great option for you. Its Ezri Konsa, the Aston Villa defender. To justify our claim we will present you with some facts, after which you can decide for yourself if this is the right call or not.
First thing to notice is the team Aston Villa. Unai Emery’s squad is 3rd in the Premier League table currently and boasts an impeccable run of form.
Their latest game is a home game, scheduled at Villa park and they have beaten two of the title favorites Manchester City and Arsenal in previous two consecutive home games, one after another. Not only that, they have achieved that feat without conceding a single goal.
5. Ezri Konsa (£4.5m) / Pau Torres (£4.7m)
— Bruno (@FPL_Bruno_8) December 20, 2023
Only Newcastle have conceded fewer goals at Home than Villa.
Clean Sheets against both City and Arsenal at Home.
5 of their next 9 Fixtures are at Home.
The Away Fixtures are Everton, Sheffield Utd, Fulham and Man Utd. pic.twitter.com/3TMWwESdG5
The Emery magic has worked wonders at Villa Park and the place has been a fortress this season. They have won all 8 of their home games with keeping clean sheet in 4 of them. Comparing that to the away form of their opponents Sheffield United, who have lost 7 out of 8 of their away games, it makes for an easy choice.
Usually if FPL managers are to choose from a defensive option, they go for the ones who have more of chance of getting an assist or a goal with the main focus being a clean sheet.
In case of Villa, the preferred choice for FPL managers has been the Spanish center back Pau Torres. But the Villa defender has been ruled out by Villa manager for this week’s clash.
That brings us to the next logical option – Ezri Konsa. The £4.5m million English defender has gather 49 fantasy points this season and has looked every bit sharp as Pau. Not only that he was one of the star performers in the game vs Manchester City and even earned extra bonus points for that game.
He is also a good header of the ball, so a goal might not be too far fetched to think about, even though he hasn’t managed to score yet.
He has started all 17 of the Aston Villa games and at such a cheap price it is a pretty good bargain. Even looking into the future there are only a couple of hard games in the next 10 for Villa.
So, if you were in some kind of dilemma before, don’t think too much and get the 26 year old to your side.
