Something that has come to the forefront of my thoughts is looking at going for treble Burnley defense with Pope. It seems the vast majority of us are already sat with one Burnley defender while some are on two with Pope. Figuring out a way to get ahead of the curve is always a tricky thing for us and while a treble is maybe a bit too risky for some depending on how you play the game, at least the double looks on to me. I really fancy a treble up on defenses when the price is right and the defense looks strong. Burnley’s defense this season looks very reminiscent to me of Ranieri’s defense in Leicester’s title winning season.



Looking at the fixtures, perhaps it is advisable for us to look at bringing in the trio for a little run between GW14-18 where they have cleanable fixtures for five straight (bou, lei, WAT, STO, bha). Their fixtures toughen a bit from GW19 - simple to sort though as we can then just shift out one defender, rotate the remaining guy, and confidently start Pope weekly as he is a great shout regardless of fixture.

The team:

5 clean sheets in 11

4 games conceding only 1 goal

2 games conceding 2 more more (Chelsea and City).

This is an elite defense, and not earning -1 point when not keeping a clean sheet is not nothing. 2 points > 1 point.

Pope: He’s Heaton 2.0 back priced to 4.5 instead of 5.0. He has emerged as the by far best non-premium GK option and is providing immense value ever since Heaton went down. It took most of us far too long to realize last year that 4.5 Heaton was the best keeper to own in the game. Pope has earned 6.1 points per start this season so far. Is that good? I think it is good.

Mee & Tark: Mee has emerged as the BAP darling off the back of these past two weeks and having the benefit of still being priced at 4.5 looks the best shout to me if buying today. Tark has only just emerged with his first bap this past weekend on the season, but since the back line does not pass it around much or the fullbacks putting in tons of crosses to boost them in the baps, the CBI for the CBs are putting them right there if not slightly above the fullbacks in the BAP department. Both look great picks at 4.5 with Mee edging it certainly.

SWard: For those of us that already own him, he’s a clear long term hold. But if buying today, he would be my 4th choice for defender as it does not appear to me that his stats indicate he is worth .3 more than any of the other three. While he does have some attacking returns in his locker to date, he is by no means prolific in the final third and does not get THAT many opportunities in attack since the team does not attack all that much. Just 8 chances created, 1 big chance, and 1 shot on target on the season.

Lowton: The main benefit he has is that he is still 4.5. He offers virtually no attacking threat whatsoever, though, and has earned just 2 BAPs all season. That is 1 more than Tark, mind, but I think that Tark’s simple presence in the box on indirect set pieces (5 goal attempts in the box this season) nudges it compared to Lowton’s attacking stats which are 2 chances created and 1 shot on target…on the entire season.

- Walsh