FPL best defenders: Budget, differential and premium tips for Gameweek 2

Full-backs have rapidly become among the most important assets as far as FPL is concerned. 

Ideally, you are looking to include defenders that are expected to keep clean sheets, but the best defensive assets will also provide an attacking threat at the other end of the field.

Using our new FPL tool — Squawka Score — we can provide you with the best options to consider, comparing a player’s output per 90 minutes against the best attacking defenders in the game.

What is the Squawka Score? You can learn more about how we devised our fantasy football ranking system here.

Best FPL defenders
Top defender pick for Gameweek 2
Best cheap defenders for Gameweek 2
Best defenders with easy fixtures

Best FPL Defenders

Here are the top 10 Premier League defenders based on their FPL Squawka Score from the 2023 calendar year.

Top defender pick for Gameweek 2

Every week, we will bring you a Differential Duel to shine a light on a player who both ranks well according to our Squawka Score system and could be being overlooked by the majority of FPL players.

We will do the numbers and pit them against each other but, ultimately, the power is in your hands.

Ahead of Gameweek 2, we take a closer look at Emerson Royal (0.9% ownership) and Pervis Estupinan (53.8%). The latter was one of the strongest FPL performers last season, his exploits from left-back helping Brighton qualify for Europe.

But, statistically, there was not much between him and Tottenham’s Emerson, who scored in Gameweek 1 and would also cost you £0.6 million less.

Here’s how their stats compare on our Comparison Matrix. 

Best cheap defenders for Gameweek 2

With the £100million budget to adhere to, FPL managers need to be a bit tactical with your selections.

Using our Squawka Score super computer, we have found some budget defenders for you to consider ahead of Gameweek 2.

The best 4.5 picks for 23/24 FPL

1. Lewis Hall, Chelsea (58%)
2. Emerson Royal, Tottenham (58%)
3. Michael Keane, Everton (54%)

The best 5.0 picks for 23/24 FPL

1. Pervis Estupinan, Brighton (79%)*
2. Fabian Schar, Newcastle (59%)
3. Nathan Ake, Manchester City (58%)

*recent price increase to 5.1

 Best defenders with easy fixtures

Before submitting your defence for Gameweek 2, it is worth doing one final check to accommodate one other factor.

Here, we have crunched the numbers on the FPL’s official Fixture Difficulty Rating (FDR) and used our Squawka Score ranking system to determine the best pick from each club with an ‘easy’ fixture this Gameweek.

*Does not qualify for a Squawka Score because he has not yet met the minimum Premier League minutes played threshold for 2023.