FPL is around the corner with just 16 days left until the GW1 deadline. A lot of managers including me have been guilty of heavily tinkering our squads in hopes of getting the balance right. Man City & United blanking along with Villa and Burnley has certainly made things even harder for us FPL Managers.
While working around my team, I had the chance to play around having two premium defenders from Liverpool to go with a 4-4-2 formation and did some digging that has resulted in this piece. Check out the blog below to see why going heavy at the back with double Liverpool defense is still a good option/strategy going into the 2020/21 FPL season.
How much FPL points did Liverpool defenders score in FPL last season?
Liverpool Defenders FPL points last season:
Trent Alexander Arnold- 210 points (14 CS, 4 goals and 15 assists) Andy Robertson - 181 points (13 CS, 2 goals and 11 assists) Virgil Van Dijk - 178 points ( 15 CS, 5 goals and 2 assists)
TAA registered 4 goals and a whopping 15 assists last season, fellow fullback Andy Robertson managed 2 goals and 12 assists and enjoyed some successful returns post lockdown. Liverpool center back scored the most goals (5) for a defender and bagged two assists as well.
What makes their output interesting is that only Salah(233), Mane(221) and KDB(251) scored more than TAA who scored 210 points, making him the fourth-highest scoring player in FPL along with Vardy (210) last season.
Only 4 midfielders and 5 forwards scored more points than Robertson (181) and Van Dijk (178) last season. Also, interestingly none of them are priced less than 8.5 Mil this season. This proves the fact that there is plenty of points from premium defenders who are pretty much rotation free and do not need any transfers over the course of the season.
TAA registered 28 points per million (Highest for a defender), with van Dijk registering 27.4 points (3rd highest amongst defenders) and Andy Robertson registering 25.9 points (7th highest amongst defenders) per million. Again there’s no midfielder that offered similar VFM last season. So, doubling up on Liverpool defense isn’t a bad idea after all?
How did liverpool defenders fair with BPS and bonus?
Trent registered a BPS score of 904, second only to KDB who registered a massive BPS score of 988. Andy Robertson was once again close behind to TAA, with the Liverpool fullback recording a BPS score of 847. Van Dijk is fifth in the list with 804 BPS points. This earned the Liverpool defenders 24, 20, and 14 bonus points respectively. Albeit not great numbers, but due consideration of the fact that they have competition for Salah and Mane for Bonus.
Which liverpool defender/defenders to get in FPL?
Trent Alexander Arnold (£7.5 Mil) is an auto pick by most means and his numbers speak for himself. Trent outperforms Robertson in overall season numbers quite comfortably. The Liverpool fullback is right in the midst of action and is also on corners and set-piece duty making him the number one premium defenders to pick. His 56% ownership( At the time of writing) is a clear indicator of the same.
Trent Alexander Arnold FPL Set piece data:
Corners Taken: 162 (fourth highest in PL last season) Freekicks: 32 Goals from free kicks: 2 (Joint Highest in PL alongside with KDB👀)
Robbo (£7m) did finish a whopping 29 points behind TAA as the second-highest scoring defender narrowly edging VVD by just 3 points. But the Scottish fullback enjoyed a great run of form post restart where his numbers were considerably higher than TAA with higher G+A contributions, Big chances created and shots, touches in box.
I firmly believe this trend is set to continue next season and the difference in points between TAA and Robbo will be very marginal this season.
Where does Virgil Van Dijk come into the picture?
With lots of talk regarding both TAA and Robertson, VVD is slightly going out of the radar. Let’s look at his underlying numbers below.
Virgil Van Dijk FPL attacking numbers:
Shots: 31 - Only TAA(44) and Doherty(34) had more shots on goal Headed attempts: 21 - Only Doherty(16) had more shots on target Shots on target: 15 - 50% of shots on target🔥 Headed goals: 5 goals⚽ - Joint highest headed goals in PL tied with Wood and Jimenez
The towering Liverpool center half scored the most goals(5) for a defender last season and ended the season at a respectable points tally of 178 points having been priced at £6.5 Mil last season. Having been priced at £once again VVD is the kind of option that can again guarantee you 180 points per season. One thing worth considering is that VVD started every game for Liverpool last season and played every single minute of their PL campaign.
Liverpool defense live FPL ownership %
Ownership percentage (As on 27/08/20 at the time of writing) Trent Alexander Arnold (£7.5m): 56.5% Virgil Van Dijk (£6.5m): 23.3% Andy Robertson (£7m): 11.5%
Last season both the full-backs started at (£7m) and VVD at (£6.5m) but in the 2020/21 FPL season, TAA is priced £0.5m more compared to Robertson, while VVD retains his (£6.5m) pricing. Doubling up on the Liverpool full-backs or defense, two of TAA, Robbo, and VVD, Indeed takes 14.5 or 14 or 13.5 Mil out of the 100 Mil budget.
But what is there to be noted is that there is a potential for 400 points without the need for any transfers throughout the season. 400 points is around 1/6th of the magical 2400-2500 points mark. This is without taking into consideration that we’ll be captaining one of TAA or Robertson or VVD during the season.
TAA and Robbo combination comparison
A Trent Alexander Arnold and Robbo combo (£14 Mil) would have earned managers 391 points last season and while varying the combinations in the FFHUB player comparison tool, there isn’t one combination that would outscore the duo. Martial and Doherty combination (£14 Mil) coming close with 352 points.
Will rotation hamper the prospects of doubling up on Liverpool defensive assets in FPL?
Academy player Neco Williams and summer signing Tsimikas could be rotated with TAA and Robbo during the course of the season with Klopp admitting the minutes of TAA and Robertson needs to be managed to help them have a prolonged career. Although we shouldn’t look too much into this statement and rampant rotation might not happen.
As of now, I’m considering a double-up of TAA and Robbo with lamptey, KWP, and Mitchell (Palace 4 Mil Def) to complete my defense. That’s ( 7.5, 7.0, 4,5, 4.5, and 4.0 Mil in defense, totaling for 27 Mil out of the 100 Mil budget). Most likely I’ll be going 4-4-2 to begin the season.
Further Read: Best Budget Defenders to consider for the upcoming 2020/21 FPL season!
There are even managers looking to go even bigger at the back with potentially adding a third premium defender to the backline ( 4 or 5 at the back). But I don’t see anyone of such value except for Matt Doherty who scored 167 points last season.
Matt Doherty FPL numbers:
🔢Points: 167 (4th highest amongst defenders) ⚽Goals: 4 (2nd highest amongst defenders) 🅰Assists: 8 (3rd highest amongst defenders) 🥅Shots: 34 (2rd highest amongst defenders) 🥅Shots on target: 16 (Highest amongst defenders) 🔥Big Chances: 12 (Highest amongst defenders) 🧨xG- Expected goals: 6.84 (Highest amongst defenders)
The change of fortune is that he’s closing in on a move to Spurs and I doubt if he’ll be able to replicate the same returns at spurs. But if Jose sets up with a 3-5-2 formation then things could get interesting.
All stats mentioned in the blog is from FFHUB if you’re looking for a stats tool to help you finish higher don’t look any further than a FFHUB subscription. Sign up through us and get 25% off right away!
Thanks for reading the blog, here are a few more blogs from our team of writers listed down below.
Further read from ALLABOUTFPL ahead of 2020/21 FPL Season:
The game for next season has launched so does our content, check out some of our best so far, and stay tuned for more.
Goal Keeper Analysis ahead of 2020/21 FPL Season
FPL Fixture Analysis: Four Teams With The Best Opening Fixtures to Begin 2020/21 PL Season
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The Best Mid-Priced Strikers To Consider For The Upcoming 2020/21 FPL Season
MJ’s column | FPL 2019/20 Season Review & Lessons Learnt Complete FPL Guide from the man who finished with an OR of 148
Best Budget Defenders to consider for the upcoming 2020/21 FPL season!
Meet World.No. 16- Dave King Discussing About His Remarkable FPL Season
What’s next from ALLABOUTFPL?
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