Gameweek 8 to 14 Clean Sheet Tracker for Fantasy Premier League
This article contains a Gameweek 8 to 14 Clean Sheet Tracker for Fantasy Premier League. The tracker was created by using defensive and attacking form, both home and away, to forecast which teams have the best clean sheet potential over the next couple of months.
It's very common for fantasy managers to simply check the fixture, see which big teams are playing at home against lower league opposition and select their team accordingly. Whilst that comes with varied success, we've decided to create a fixture tracker that forecasts clean sheets for GW8-14 based on home and away performance data from GW1-7. The table works by ranking each team out of 20 in four different categories: Best Home Defensive Form (Best team ranked 1) Best Away Defensive Form (Best team ranked 1) Best Home Attacking Form (Best team ranked 20) Best Away Attacking Form (Best team ranked 20) Defensive form is based on goals conceded and big chances conceded (home/away), whilst attacking form is based on goals scored and big chances (home/away). Example: GW8 - Tottenham face WBA (A). We take Tottenham's away defensive rank of 1 (best overall having only conceded two goals and one big chance away this season) and add it to West Brom's home attacking rank of 11 (five goals scored and 6 big chances at home this season), we get a total score of 12 which according to the key forecasts them 'Likely' to keep a clean sheet in GW8.
All of the data and tables are available for you to view in our Google Drive.
Gameweek 8-14 Clean Sheet Tracker For Fantasy Premier League:
Best clean sheet potential for Gameweek 8 onwards:
Tottenham have kept four clean sheets this season and are proving one of the toughest defences to break down both at home and on the road. They are forecasted as likely to keep a clean sheet in five of their next seven matches and look by far the best defence going forward. Hugo Lloris (5.4m) is the cheap way in the Tottenham back line along with Jan Vertonghen (5.6m), though both don't contribute much going forward (Lloris for obvious reasons). Combining one of these with either Kyle Walker (5.9m) or Danny Rose (5.9m) would be a good option. Both players are involved in the Spurs attack and have a decent history of returns. Everton have a favourable run of fixtures after their Gameweek 8 clash away at Man City. Between GW9-14 they're forecasted as likely to keep a clean sheet in 50% of their matches, with fixtures against Burnley (A), Swansea (H) and Southampton (A). Although Maarten Stekelenburg (5.0m) is the cheapest option, for 0.1m more you could choose from centre-back pairing Phil Jagielka (5.1m) and Ashley Williams (5.1m) who are more likely to pick up bonus points and attacking returns. The Toffee's - like Spurs - are known for their attacking full-backs. Leighton Baines (5.5m) is reported to be back on penalty duties whilst Seamus Coleman (5.5m) found the net in Gameweek 5. Liverpool and Southampton have similar projections for the next seven gameweeks and are both expected to perform well defensively, despite the former yet keeping a clean sheet. The forecast suggests that they are both likely to pick up clean sheets in home matches, with some bold shutout predictions between them including Man United (H), Chelsea (H) and Everton (H). Nathaniel Clyne (5.5m) is the logical option for Liverpool, his attacking potential provides a safety net assuming their defensive displays continue as normal. So far this season Clyne has made 8 goal attempts, the fourth highest of any defender, whilst also picking up an assist. New goalkeeper Loris Karius (4.9m) is the budget route, though it'd be unwise to transfer in a goalkeeper who is yet to record a clean sheet. It's worth keeping an eye on him though as there's money to be made on him if he finds form. For the Saints, Virgil Van Dijk (5.4m) has always been the trusted option at the back but raised some question marks after not recording a single headed attempt in the opening five game weeks. He's looked a lot more active over the last two weeks, with five goals attempts, two of which were headed. Man City and Arsenal make up the top six with both expected to have a medium or higher chance of keeping a clean sheet in four of their next seven. Whilst Arsenal are in better form with three clean sheets, City have a better looking upcoming fixture list. John Stones (5.0m) provides a very cheap route in to Man City's defence, but much like Liverpool, it's probably not worth investing in their defence until they record another shutout. As for Arsenal, Hector Bellerin (6.5m), Laurent Koscielny (6.2m) and Shkodran Mustafi (6.0m) have all had three goal attempts this year with two of Koscielny's resulting in a goal. Who you choose is largely dependent on your available budget, with Petr Cech (5.5m) as a cheaper counter-option.Defensive rotations from Gameweek 8 onwards:
It's more than likely that you either have defenders from teams like West Ham and Swansea who are forecasted an absolutely torrid time, or teams like West Brom and Watford who despite ranking mid-table, have some tough patches ahead. Rather than suggesting players who you should transfer out ahead of their tough fixtures, we're instead going to suggest players to transfer in who complement your existing team. Everton & Southampton
Everton have managed two clean sheets already this season, whilst Southampton are currently on a (somewhat nostalgic) run of three back-to-back. Both teams are forecasted to be within the top four defences between Gameweek 8 to Gameweek 14 and they rotate well together.
A goalkeeper rotation (though some would argue too expensive) would be the cheapest way of obtaining nailed on defensive players from both teams. Maarten Stekelenburg and Fraser Forster are both valued 5.0m. Otherwise, there's plenty of options to choose from depending on your budget, as mentioned above.
Swansea & Liverpool
26.4% of the FPL managers own either Jordi Amat (13.8%) or Stephen Kingsley (12.6%) and because of their very low prices it's hard to remove them without two free transfers. Swansea have the second lowest chance of a clean sheet over the next seven weeks but we imagine many managers will keep their defensive coverage for budget reasons.
Pairing up your Swansea defender(s) with one from Liverpool provides a decent rotation until Gameweek 14 - as seen above. We previously mentioned Clyne, but if you're looking to replace a slightly cheaper defender, then Dejan Lovren (4.9m) could be available at just the right price tag.
West Brom & Stoke
West Brom have pretty tough time over the next three three weeks with fixtures against Tottenham, Liverpool and Man City. Luckily, we've found the perfect replacement in a team who have already conceded four goals on three different occasions this season… Stoke.
Stoke rotate almost perfectly with West Brom as you can see in the table above, but why would you transfer in one of their defenders? Firstly, the last two weeks they haven't performed that bad defensively, conceding once to West Brom (H) and once to Man United (A).
Jack Butland (4.8m) is expected to make his return after the international break, replacing Lee Grant (4.0m) who over eight thousand managers have bought in following the United match. Last season Butland made the most saves per minute and kept 10 clean sheets in the process.
If you're looking for somebody who is nailed on from Gameweek 8 then Ryan Shawcross (4.9m) is your best bet. He's averaged a goal attempt per game and on paper has posed the second biggest goal threat from all defenders (behind Scott Dann). If you're simply looking for a cheap way in then Geoff Cameron (4.4m) and Erik Pieters (4.4m) provide you with that.
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