Manchester United top picks for FPL

The Premier League season is edging closer and closer along with the Official Fantasy game. Because of this we direct our focus towards the Manchester top picks in FPL. Analysing their defensive and offensive stats from last season to pick out their best fantasy players.

Looking at the Manchester United top picks in FPL can be extremely helpful to managers. ‘The Reds’ had an extremely impressive campaign last season where they finished third in the league and secured Champions League Football. But before looking at their players, lets take a look at their early fixtures.

Fixture ticker

Manchester United rank 10th on the fixture ticker in the first six matches with games against Wolves, Tottenham, Nottingham Forest, Arsenal, Brighton and Burnley. This suggests that they could be worth investment.

The Manchester United defence

The Reds maintained one of the best defences in the league last season – they ranked:

First for clean sheets (17).
Joint second for goals conceded (43).
Eighth for expected goals conceded (51.18).

Manchester United defensive assets

Below we compare the Manchester United defensive assets in terms of minutes and attacking potential.

Firstly it is vital that we highlight the fact that number one goalkeeper David De Gea has confirmed he is leaving Manchester United – This means that whoever the Reds sign is likely to take up the role.

We can see that of all defenders to play last season, Luke Shaw (£5.5m) played the most minutes with 2550. Racking up the second highest amount of minutes was Diogo Dalot (£5m) who could be set for another season of rotation with Aaron Wan Bissaka (£4.5m) at right-back.

Centre-backs Lisandro Martinez (£5m) and Raphael Varane (£5m) sit third and fourth for minutes played. Both are expected to be first team and both suffered injuries last season.

Below we can also see how the Manchester United defenders compare in terms of attacking potential.

Last season Dalot accumulated the most NPXGI with 4.00. He played less gametime than Shaw who bagged 3.99.

Taking into account his minutes and gametime Luke Shaw is the standout option in the Manchester United defence.

It could also be worth monitoring the minutes between Diogo Dalot and Aaron Wan-Bissaka. The former produced impressive NPXGI stats last season but the latter also comes in at a great price-tag.

The Manchester United attack

Although the Reds sustained a more impressive defence, they still produced solid offensive data – they ranked:

Joint seventh for goals scored (58).
Third for shots on target (209).
Sixth for expected goals (68.74).

Manchester United attacking assets

Below we compare the minutes played and offensive stats of the Manchester United attackers from last season.

Bruno Fernandes (£8.5m) tops the minutes after playing 3312 last season. Marcus Rashford ranks second for minutes with 2880. Central midfielders Casemiro (£5.5m) and Christian Eriksen (£6m) came in third and fourth for minutes.

In the graphic below we can see the most significant offensive stats from last season listed along with the Manchester United attackers.

Bruno Fernandes leads the pack again with 18.48 NPXGI whilst Marcus Rashford isn’t far behind at all with 18.22.

Antony (£7m) played far less minutes than the central midfielders and created more NPXGI with 8.98.

Taking into account reliability in terms of minutes, his NPXGI and the fact he is £0.5m cheaper, Bruno Fernandes edges Marcus Rashford, but only just. Both players could be great options for the start of the season.

Antony is a player who should be monitored early on – the Brazilian looks to be settling in terms of minutes after his move and also created solid NPXGI stats.