With Crystal Palace sitting at the very top of our Fixture Ticker over the next nine Gameweeks, shoe-horning at least one of their defenders into our Fantasy Premier League (FPL) squads seems like a prudent move.
But with plenty of options to choose from and solid arguments to be made for each, just who is the best defensive asset to own from Oliver Glasner’s squad?
WHO ARE THE MOST-OWNED PALACE DEFENDERS IN FPL?
Looking at ownership percentage seems the easiest place to start when it comes to weighing up the best Palace defenders. There’s often something to be said for going with the crowd when you’re unsure, but a sneaky differential can sometimes prove to be even more effective.
Not counting the 7.5%-owned Dean Henderson (£5.0m), who, as a goalkeeper, lacks defensive contribution (DefCon) points or attacking threat and hasn’t really been keeping pace when it comes to bonus or save points, the overall most-owned Palace defensive options at the time of writing are as follows:
Player Price Ownership % (overall) Ownership % (top 10k)
Guehi £4.9m 32.5 46.6
Munoz £5.7m 13.9 27.3
Lacroix £5.0m 3.7 3.3
Richards £4.5m 3.3 3.6
Mitchell £5.0m 2.3 1.5
There’s a similar picture when it comes to ownership in the top 10k of all FPL managers this season, which we can find out courtesy of LiveFPL.net.
It makes sense, especially at this relatively early stage of the season, that the most popular assets are the highest scoring ones to date.
But does that mean they are still the best picks moving forward?
MOST NAILED
Covering all of our bases, nailed-ness – i.e., certain a player is to start every week – is another important factor. This is an easy one when it comes to Palace, at least on current evidence.
Glasner has named the exact same back five in each of his team’s nine Premier League games so far this season: Mitchell LWB, Guehi-Lacroix-Richards in central defence, and Munoz RWB.
Who is the best Crystal Palace defender to own in FPL? 1
In the Carabao Cup and Europa Conference League, Mitchell and Richards have been rested for Borna Sosa (£4.9m) and Jaydee Canvot (£4.5m), but those two – plus the scarcely used Nathaniel Clyne (£3.9m) – are firmly deputies at the moment.
Far from the worries of rotation that will plague owners of many other teams’ defenders who are competing on multiple fronts, then, it will be a comfort to prospective Palace investors that whoever their chosen defender is should be pretty assured of starting week in, week out, provided they are fit, of course.
At this point, it is important to note that Chris Richards (£4.5m) will miss Crystal Palace’s EFL Cup tie against Liverpool on Wednesday due to a calf injury, which you can read more about here.
MOST ATTACKING
TOTAL OUTPUT