Alphonse Areola, West Ham, keeper, £4.3m – Burnley (h)
This team needs a couple of budget options and Frenchman Areola is a decent choice in net.
Nuno Espirito Santo got his first home win as Hammers boss last week and his plan was always to fix the defence first, so you have to hope they keep it tight against Burnley.
Gabriel, £6.6m, and Jurrien Timber, £6.1m, both Arsenal – Sunderland (a)
We don’t need to say much here really. The Gunners kept their eighth straight clean sheet in the Champions League on Tuesday. A ninth would be an outright club record.
If you can only afford one from their defence, go for Gabriel, who seems on for an assist or a goal from a corner in every match.
The main question is whether it is worth tripling up on Arsenal’s defence – our expert Holly Shand will debate that point in Friday’s Talking Point article.
Reece James, Chelsea, £5.5m – Wolves (h)
James is emerging as an interesting defensive option – especially as Enzo Maresca is using him often as a midfielder.
This game against woeful Wolves is a home banker and you don’t need to be a stats person to know James likes an assist and is partial to a long-range goal.
But here’s a stat anyway – James has started his past six games and in that time no other defender has created more than his nine chances.
Brentford’s Michael Kayode (11) has, but I think Opta is counting long throws among that number.
James Tarkowski, Everton, £5.5m – Fulham (h)
Tarkowski has defensive contribution points (defcon) in seven of 10 games this season, and was fairly close in the other three.
This should be a tight competitive game, conducive to defcon, and Fulham have only scored four on the road this season, earning one point in five games.
