Should FPL managers buy Spurs defenders?
With Fantasy Premier League (FPL) live for 2024/25, we’ll be welcoming back our team of Hall of Famers and guest writers for the new campaign. Here, FPL Family’s Sam – who has five top 40k finishes in the last seven seasons – assesses the defensive options from her beloved Tottenham Hotspur.
It may come as a shock to read that the first thing I do when FPL goes live isn’t to look at the full list of Spurs prices! But after I have auto-picked, checked my team ID and added the premium picks, the pull of my girlhood club is too strong. I soon find myself staring at the player list to work out how I will invest. Owning Spurs’ players in FPL always gives me a special kind of thrill.
With Spurs’ attacking football under Ange Postecoglou, the likes of Son Heung–min (£10.0m), Brennan Johnson (£6.5m), James Maddison (£7.5m) and Richarlison (£7.0m) will probably be the ones that managers turn their attentions to.
However, for me, the real interest at Spurs this year could come in the form of a defender – even with a lack of clean sheets last season.
When the Premier League announced the five Spurs prices on Saturday evening, my attention was drawn to Pedro Porro (£5.5m), Guglielmo Vicario (£5.0m) and Destiny Udogie (£5.0m). Last season, Spurs kept just seven shut-outs, four of these coming in the opening nine Gameweeks. Of the defensive players on the books, only Cristian Romero (£5.0m), Porro and Vicario started all seven of those matches.
Over the course of the season, Spurs were injury and suspension hit at the back. Romero and Udogie were both sent off against Chelsea in Gameweek 11. Micky van de Ven‘s (£4.5m) injury in that match also meant he didn’t feature again until Gameweek 21. The lack of consistency in the Spurs’ defensive line-ups last season certainly didn’t help their fruitless pursuit of clean sheets. Indeed, the only ever-present was the goalkeeper.
The lack of clean sheets may well put many FPL managers off investing in the Lilywhites. I certainly understand why! However, with more consistency in the back four, or even back five if Postecoglou decides to play Radu Dragusin (£4.5m) alongside Romero and van de Ven, the defensive numbers should improve.
For FPL managers, there are some nice options at three different price points. Each of the Spurs defenders offers a form of attacking threat; it just depends on your available budget and which metric you want to back.
Attacking Numbers and Bonus Points
Above: Spurs players sorted by xGI in 2023/24
Pedro Porro
Only Alfie Doughty (12) registered more attacking returns than Porro (11) last season. In total in 2023/24, the Spaniard recorded three goals and eight assists. His 18 returns were only bettered by Arsenal trio Ben White (£6.5m), William Saliba (£6.0m) and Gabriel Magalhaes (£6.0m).
Porro was top for expected goal involvement (xGI) across the Spurs backline last time out with 8.98, not far behind striker Richarlison (£7.0m). Porro also had 12 shots on target, again top amongst the Lilywhites’ defenders. This, at first glance, appears positive for the new Bonus Points System (BPS). Indeed, it ranks him tied fourth across the defenders in the game.
Above: FPL defenders sorted by shots on target in 2023/24
However, these numbers are relatively low when compared to the attacking assets in FPL. So, the overall impact on the BPS metrics will be small, especially if Spurs fail to keep a clean sheet.
To counter this, though, Porro was already third for baseline BPS amongst the defenders last time out.
Porro registered 136 points in the game last season; again this was only bettered by the three from the other side of north London. All of this justifies Porro coming in at £0.5m more than Udogie and Romero.
Cristian Romero
