Best £4.5 Million FPL Defenders for the 2022/23 FPL Season

As the 22/23 Premier League season rapidly approaches, one of the biggest dilemmas FPL managers face is that of which £4.5M defenders to select. In this article, we’re going to explore some of the best Best £4.5 Million FPL Defenders options.

Link to all our 2022/23 Pre Season articles including a transfer tracker of all new signings, all team pre-season friendly updates, team previews, fixture analysis, position-wise analysis, and more. Completely free to access as well!

Link to all our FPL Defenders series of blogs including the best 4.0 million defenders, and premium defenders rankings and more.

Best £4.5 Million FPL Defenders for the 2022/23 season

Lewis Dunk

Dunk has come in at £5M for the past two seasons, largely down to his goal threat along with Brighton’s defense being fairly solid. However, a mere 92 points last season due to a lengthy injury has seen him come in at a discounted price.

Dunk Headed attempts in the 2020/21 season, second highest amongst all defenders

In the two seasons prior to last, Dunk played 69 matches, scoring 8 goals and providing 3 assists, that’s a rate of an attacking return in just over every 6 matches. If he can replicate this form he could be an amazing pick, particularly because he’s always a shoe-in for bonus points whenever Brighton keep a clean sheet.

In the last friendly before the season, Dunk scored a header. Overall he got a goal and assist for Brighton in pre-season(4 games).

Lamptey is another option from Brighton at 4.5 Million but he’s prone to rotation and early subbing which makes Dunk the safer and more reliable option to consider, as covered in our Brighton preview blog.

Rotation:

Brighton and Leicester rotate well and you could have two good 4.5 Million defender options from this pair.

Further Read: Best FPL Assets to Consider from Promoted Teams | 22/23 Season

Rico Henry

When it comes to Brentford’s defensive assets, most will be opting for the keeper David Raya. A superb fixture run to open the season sees him in a number of teams. There may however be a higher-up side in opting for Henry.

Henry last season Heatmaps and attempted assists from **FFFix**

For one thing, Henry provided three goals and an assist last season, and given how high up this pitch he was playing towards the end of the campaign, he could quite easily better that tally. Moreover, opting for Henry and a £5M keeper (Mendy for argument’s sake) is in theory more optimal than going for Raya and a defender priced at £5M. The plethora of keeper options at £5M amongst the top teams means that it could be worth going up from Raya and coming down from a defender to Henry.

In the pre-season, Henry has registered three assists which shows that he’s in form as well!

Rotation

Brentford’s defence rotates really well with Aston Villa, if you get a villa defender Digne/Cash you can rotate them and play one to avoid the top eight till gameweek 16 and play six promoted teams during the period!

Further Read: Best Brentford FPL Players | Brentford Preview | 2022/23 Season

Sven Botman

Newcastle are expected to be a transformed outfit this season. The change of ownership combined with the arrival of Eddie Howe as manager gave the team a new lease of life as they picked up more points than every team besides City and Liverpool in the second half of last season.

They have further strengthened by signing highly rated centre back Sven Botman from Lille. With nick Pope also joining the club, Newcastle have assembled a defense any team will struggle to penetrate. Many will be looking at Kieran Trippier at £0.5M more expensive, but if you can’t stretch that far and you want some cover, Botman could be a great shout.

Rotation

Newcastle defenders defence rotate really well with Palace defence. There is also a great three-way rotation(Start two bench one combination with Arsenal, Newcastle, and Spurs)

Rotating White, Botman, and Doherty/Dier would give you
5 games against promoted sides
7 games against bottom-half sides
3 games combined vs Leicester, Manchester United
1 game against the Top 5 sides

Further Read: Best Newcastle FPL Players | Newcastle Preview | 2022/23 Season

Diogo Dalot

A few managers had Dalot in their teams for parts of last season. It’s fair to say he didn’t prove to be a worthwhile investment, largely down to how leaky the United defense was. However, under new manager Erick Ten Hag there should be an upturn in defensive quality. The acquisition of centre-back Lesandro Martinez should also go some way to addressing this.

Dalot last season Heatmaps and attempted assists from **FFFix**

Dalot has been one of United’s most exciting players in preseason too, bombing down the right hand side on numerous occasions and providing an assist. United’s opening fixtures are quite kind as well, with Brighton and Brentford as their first two. So Dalot’s attacking potential coupled with the expected solidity Ten Hag’s arrival is likely to bring makes him an exciting pick.

Further Read: 2022/23 FPL Pre Season: All Clubs Friendlies Fixtures, Updates & Results

Ben White

If picking Dalot is exciting but ultimately quite risky, white is quite the opposite. Though he doesn’t have the attacking potential of Dalot, he is almost certainly more reliable. There has been a bit of skepticism around picking White because of Arsenal’s record of no clean sheet in their last 10 matches. However, there were mitigating factors for this, not least two of Arsenal’s key players, Tierney and Partey both missing.

With a fit squad, as is the case for Arsenal at the moment, there were very few defenses better than theirs as they kept 13 clean sheets in their 30 games. Even by the end of the season, their clean sheet record was fifth amongst all teams. What’s more, White’s ability to play right back in the absence of Tomiyasu suggests that he is likely to start the vast majority of matches.

Arsenal also have a prolonged kind fixture run, as they face just one of last year’s top 6 in their first 8 so White could prove to be a shrewd pick.

Further Read: Best £4.0 Million FPL Defenders for the 2022/23 FPL Season

Rayan Ait Nouri

There were a number of occasions last season where AitNouri was touted as a pick but it never really materialized. Every time he’d seemingly cemented his place in the side, Marcal would get a game out of nowhere, but now that he has left, AitNouri won’t have that to worry about. For all of their attacking woes last season, Wolves had one of the best defenses in the league, keeping 11 clean sheets in all.

Rayan Ait Nouri last season Heatmaps and attempted assists from **FFFix**

Ait Nouri has also shown glimpses of his attacking promise and a sustained run in the side could see that increase, thus making him quite an appealing pick. The only reason that AitNouri is low down on this list is the uncertainty about his minutes. With Jonny as a more than capable backup, the two may share minutes but if AitNouri nails a place down he could be a very good selection. Both Jonny and Ait Nouri are nailed to start the season and will be guaranteed to start at least until Wolves have a tough fixture run. It’s a 50-50 call between the two with Jonny a goal threat and RAN has got assist potential. A little bit more is covered in the Wolve preview blog.

Rotation:

Wolves defenders rotate well with Palace and Leicester who also have good 4.5 million defender options to consider.

Further Read: Best Wolves FPL Players | Wolves Preview | 2022/23 FPL Season

James Justin

James Justin is another great option to consider in this bracket, now with Ricardo Pereira injured he’s definitely a sure starter. In the 2020/21 Season before getting injured he was a brilliant option in FPL scoring 101 points in just 2070 minutes, with two goals, two assists, and nine clean sheets.

James Justin heatmap and assists from the 2020/21 season from **FFFix**

Leicester have a tough start to the season, but the foxes rotate well with Wolves and a Justin/Jonny or RAN combo would work well.

Further Read: FPL Fixture Swing Analysis & Best Player Rotation for 22/23 FPL Season

Other Options to consider at 4.5 Million

Andersen/Guehi/Mitchell

The palace defenders dominated the 4.5 million price point last year and yet did not get a price raise this year. Andersen is a good goal threat, Guehi is a bonus points magnet and Mitchell has good attacking potential. Their fixtures are not easy, to begin with but they do rotate really well with Wolves and Newcastle.

Wesley Fofana

Best £4.5 Million FPL Defenders for the 2022/23 season ~ Fofana

As it stands, going with Fofana doesn’t really make much sense, hence his position near the bottom of this list. However, that could drastically change if his proposed move to Chelsea goes through. At the time of writing, the blues haven’t submitted a bid but if Fofana does make the move, he probably moves to the top of this list. As it is, being part of a Leicester defence who were at best shaky last season means that there’s little appeal for Fofana.

Further Read: Best Leicester City FPL Players | Leicester City Preview

Djed Spence

Like Fofana, Spence is one over whom there’s a pretty bigger Asterisk, and that’s a potential lack of minutes. Brought in from Middlesbrough following an impressive stint on loan at Nottingham Forest last season. The attacking wingback could be a golden asset if he nails a place down. Given the money Spurs spent on him, my suspicion is that he will be the first choice eventually but that may not be from the off. mat Doherty and possibly even Emerson Royal are probably more likely to start the opening game. As such, it’d be a huge risk to go with Spence from the outset but if it becomes clear that he’s favoured it could be incredibly beneficial to jump on. Like Fofana, he could well be at the top of this list if it wasn’t for the element of uncertainty.

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Best £4.5 Million FPL Defenders for the 2022/23 FPL Season

Best £4.5 Million FPL Defenders for the 2022/23 FPL Season