Many of Dream Team’s most popular defenders are floundering but is it time to panic?

DREAM TEAM managers are facing a crisis.

Points are drying up for many of the game’s most popular defenders and it’s not all that clear whether gaffers should stick or twist.

Trent Alexander-Arnold (£5.7m) remains the most selected defender with an ownership of 26% but he’s immune to this trend because he capitalised on a favourable FA Cup match-up with Accrington Stanley with a goal and clean sheet for a 17-point return on Saturday.

But for William Saliba (£4.9m), Virgil van Dijk (£5.1m) and Josko Gvardiol (£4.3m), the second, third and fourth most popular defenders, it’s been slim pickings of late.

Arsenal’s French centre-back has mustered nine points from his last four outings while Liverpool’s captain has scraped eight points together from his three most recent games.

Manchester City’s Croatian left-back has registered 17 points from his last five appearances.

It’s a similar story for Rico Lewis (£3.1m), Noussair Mazraoui (£2.9m), Diogo Dalot (£3.2m) and Andy Robertson (£4m), who are all within the 15 most selected defenders at present.

Gabriel (£5m) is exempt because he scored against Manchester United last time out, his fifth goal of the season, but his owners received just six points from his previous three outings.

Pedro Porro (£4.2m), Lewis Hall (£4.4m) and the aforementioned Alexander-Arnold are the only (relatively) popular defenders who have provided healthy returns lately.

That’s the state of play but how should Dream Team bosses react?

The first thing to note is that Gameweek 19 is not yet complete.

A clean sheet for Arsenal in the North London derby this evening will put Gabriel and Saliba’s backers at ease.

Ruben Amorim will be hopeful of a stress-free win at home to Southampton on Thursday night given Saints are rooted to the bottom of the table with just six points to their name.

Further blanks for the Gunners and Red Devils will really set the cat among the pigeons.

Gaffers will be understandably reluctant to ditch most of the aforementioned defenders because the upcoming schedule favours Arsenal, Man City, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Man United and Tottenham.

These six teams have four fixtures to fulfil across Gameweeks 20 and 21 because of Champions League and Europa League commitments – the other 14 clubs will play just twice in the same time frame.

UPCOMING DOUBLE GAMEWEEKS

• MANCHESTER CITY vs Ipswich (a) & PSG (a), Chelsea (h) & Club Brugge (h)
• ARSENAL vs Aston Villa (h) & Dinamo Zagreb (h), Wolves (a) & Girona (a)
• LIVERPOOL vs Brentford (a) & Lille (h), Ipswich (h) & PSV (a)
• ASTON VILLA vs Arsenal (a) & Monaco (a), West Ham (h) & Celtic (h)
• MANCHESTER UNITED vs Brighton (h) & Rangers (h), Fulham (a) & FCSB (a)
• TOTTENHAM vs Everton (a) & Hoffenheim (a), Leicester (h) & Elfsborg (h)

There are plenty of points on offer there for Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs on paper but gaffers stacked with Man United and Man City defenders will probably be more keen on replacements.

Pep Guardiola’s side just aren’t right at present, particularly at the back where they’re still conceding far too many clearcut opportunities.

14.1%-owned Lewis didn’t play a single minute in Gameweek 19.

Whereas Man United haven’t kept a clean sheet since December 1st.

Depending on what happens at the Emirates tonight, Porro is likely to be a popular recruit ahead of the Gameweek 20 deadline.

While others have floundered, Spurs’ right-back has notched 31 points from his last four games and is up to third in the defensive rankings.