Welcome to our Fantasy Premier League Defensive Analysis For Gameweek 32 article. NaturalFootyFan returns to pick out the clubs with the best clean sheet potential ahead of the weekend's fixtures.
Our Gameweek 31 defensive recommendations were largely successful, with three of our four highlighted clubs securing clean sheets - which brings our prediction success rate up to 75% in the last three gameweeks.
A lot has happened during this FPL sabbatical. Remi Garde has parted ways with Aston Villa, just in their time of need and It's been a nightmare of a fortnight for goalkeepers. Newcastle were dealt a blow, with first choice goalkeeper Rob Elliot expected to miss the rest of the season after suffering serious knee injury and Stoke City's Jack Butland fracturing his ankle.
With the Double Gameweeks coming thick and fast, there will be a lot of tinkering in FPL managers defences, especially in GW33 - when the majority are likely to play their Wildcard. With this in mind, this article's aim is to provide stop gap clubs to back defensively in Gameweek 32.
Leicester continued to demonstrate why they are title favourites, with their third consecutive 1-0 victory in Gameweek 31. They have conceding just twice in their last four matches… the perfect hint of defending the Italian way from Ranieiri.
Fans and pundits were very critical of Little Leicester just months ago, with doubts that they would not be able to keep up this cohesion, but they have flourished and look to be going from strength to strength.
Tottenham have flirted inside our top three for some time now, and after their convincing 3-0 win against Bournemouth, nothing changes here. Pochettino has constructed such a solid spine to his squad - from captain Hugo Lloris, to ball playing centre-half Toby Alderweireld, and the now converted holding midfielder and England International Eric Dier, protecting their goal.
Man United and Norwich complete the top four in our form chart. The former were impressive in Gameweek 32, as they shut out their City rivals in the Manchester Derby, while The Canaries backline seems to have clicked under Alex Neil's guidance with back-to-back clean sheets versus Man City and West Brom.
On paper, and in our opinion, Chelsea have the easiest fixture in Gameweek 32. They travel to Villa Park, having dominated this fixture in the past (won seven of their last eight Premier League meetings with Aston Villa).
Their hosts are managerless, as we speak, with Eric Black stepping in on a temporary basis. Villa have scored a grand total of just 11 goals in away from home all season, so there's a high chance of a clean sheet for the visitors.
Arsenal face goal-shy Watford in what's statistically the second easiest fixture on show. The Hornet's have failed to find the net in four of their last five matches on the road and are beginning to look more and more frustrated with their reliance on Ighalo and Deeney.
Yes they defeated The Gunners in the FA Cup a few weeks ago, but it's worth mentioning that they hardly had a shot on target - in fact their only two shots on target were their two goals!
Arsenal just edge this one according to the Bookmakers, with a 52% implied chance of securing a clean sheet in Gameweek 32. This does not surprise us, as they will control the tempo of the match and have a need to stay solid at the back, with their outside chance of a title push.
Again it's Chelsea who rank highly in this section. Aston Villa's downfall is just an amplified version of Chelsea's mini-breakdown at the start of the season… the difference being, they don't have the quality or the fire-power to recover. A comfortable win for Guus Hiddink's men is the likely outcome.
A surprise inclusion for Sunderland catches our eye, but having conceded in every one of their last 17 matches, in all competitions, we advise you to steer clear of The Blackcats. It's a strange one from the bookies, but maybe they have a dislike for Tony Pulis - just like myself!
In Form Defences Ahead Of Gameweek 32:
First off let's take a look at recent form. The following table displays the top seven defences based on their number of clean sheets and average goals conceded in their last four Premier League matches:| Team | Clean Sheets | Goals Conceded |
|---|---|---|
| Leicester | 3 | 2 |
| Tottenham | 2 | 3 |
| Man United | 2 | 3 |
| Norwich | 2 | 3 |
| Man City | 2 | 4 |
| Swansea | 2 | 4 |
| West Ham | 2 | 4 |
Easiest Defensive Fixture In Gameweek 32:
The table below displays the top five defences based on opposition goals scored and big chances created. Capital letters are used for home teams and lowercase for away teams. The data is taken from the last four Premier League matches:| Team | Vs. | Goals Scored | Big Chances |
|---|---|---|---|
| che | AVL | 1 | 3 |
| ARS | wat | 1 | 7 |
| NOR | new | 2 | 2 |
| wba | SUN | 4 | 3 |
| BOU | mci | 4 | 6 |
| swa | STO | 5 | 8 |
| sou | LEI | 5 | 10 |
Bookies Clean Sheet Odds For Gameweek 32:
The table below displays the top seven teams based on the bookies odds to keep a clean sheet in Gameweek 32. The odds have been converted into implied chance percentage:| Team | Implied Chance % |
|---|---|
| Arsenal | 52% |
| Chelsea | 51% |
| Sunderland | 44% |
| Stoke | 42% |
| Leicester | 40% |
| Man United | 40% |
| West Ham | 40% |
Gameweek 32 Clean Sheet Verdict:
Based on our analysis and research methods we now have our top three recommendations based on form, fixture and odds. We have also thrown in a bonus, which is generally a side ranked high across all of our charts. Here is our verdict and predicted backlines for Gameweek 32 - colour coded in terms of likelihood of starting:Form: Leicester (vs. SOU)
Schmeichel
Simpson Morgan Huth Fuchs
Fixture: Chelsea (vs. AVL)
Courtois
Ivanovic Cahill Terry Azpilicueta
Odds: Arsenal (vs. WAT)
Cech
Bellerin Gabriel Koscielny Monreal
Bonus: Man City (vs. BOU)
Caballero
Sagna Otamendi Mangala Clichy
