It is a new season but its the same old problems that people need solutions to. With a lot of defenders starting the season with a bang, and a lot of mid and high priced midfielders having a stinker, fantasy premier league managers have been forced into making a tactical shift into deploying a 4-3-3 starting formation.

Expensive defenders like Benjamin Mendy, Cesar Azpilicueta, Marcos Alonso, Andy Robertson seem to be the darlings of the fantasy premier league managers. Every top manager seems to own at least 2 if not 3 of these wing backs. However, with the tactical shift becoming more and more popular, the question remains as to who should be the 4th defender of the team. Here we look at some of the best cheap (<= £5.0m) defenders in the game that will prove to be good value for money and have mostly gone under the radar.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£4.1m)

A consistent starter for Crystal Palace, who was valued as one of the cheapest players in the game, has really shone in the 2 games he has played. He may have gotten a red card against Liverpool for a tactical foul on Salah but in his manager, Roy Hodgson’s words, his performances in both the games was great. A winger-turned-defender, Wan-Bissaka in his own words enjoys both defending and attacking so we can expect good returns in the future. At a low price of 4.1m, he is a must have in the team.

Ricardo Perreira (£5.0m)

Ricard Perreira, the Leicester City right back, has had quite a start of the season. With less than 5% ownership, he has relatively gone under the radar. With 2 assists to his name, he has been one of the best attacking assets of Leicester City and his price is only going to rise considering that Leicester only have 2 fixtures in the next 13 that are rated higher or equal to 4 in difficulty. With 3 big chances created in the first 2 games, he definitely seems like a bargain buy at 5.0m given his attacking intent combined with Leicester’s clean sheet potential in the next few fixtures.

Steve Cook (£4.6m)

Bournemouth have always been a good source of cheap defenders ever since they came up to the Premier League in 2015-16 season. Charlie Daniels seems to be the popular pick this season but it is Steve Cook who has come up with the points from the Bournemouth defence. He is always a threat from set pieces and given Bournemouth’s fixtures, he seems like a good buy for earning some good points.

Jeffrey Schlupp (£4.5m)

Another Crystal Palace defender with more than 10 points across the first 2 gameweeks. A lot of the people have been migrating towards either Wan-Bissaka or van Aanholt from Crystal Palace and thus I feel that Jeffrey Schlupp could be a good differential from those 2 defenders. He may be classified as a defender in the game but he has played the last 2 games as a left-sided midfielder and already has a goal to his name. He put in a hardworking shift against Liverpool this past gameweek and even had a key pass to his name. With Palace having relatively easy fixtures until the start of GW10, Jeffrey Schlupp seems like a very good differential to have in your team given that he is being played OOP(Out of Position) as a midfielder and will also receive any of the clean sheet points that Palace get in the upcoming gameweeks. Although, his position might be under threat with the signing of Max Meyer.

Honorable Mention : Luke Shaw (£5.1m)

Luke Shaw has had a roller coaster of a start to his life at Manchester United. He was outperforming everyone on the pitch until his horrific leg break in Europa League in the 2015-16 season and then falling out of favour with Jose Mourinho for the past 2 seasons. However, Luke Shaw seems to have really turned around his fortunes this season. With a strong pre-season, he seems to have earned Jose’s trust and he has looked like United’s most threatening player in the 2 games. He has been directly involved in both of the goals that Manchester United have scored from open play this season. With Valencia and Dalot injured, Young seems to be playing RB for United over Darmian which only means that LB is Luke Shaw’s position to cement. With relatively easy fixtures on the horizon, we can expect some clean sheets and similar attacking returns for the young English full back.

Stat Source : Fantasy Premier League Data 2017-18