![\"Arsenal's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787101933_296_arsenals-defence-an-enduring-obstacle-or-a-false-dawn-1024x473.jpg\")
<\/p>\nArsenal defenders will likely form the backbone of many Fantasy Premier League (FPL) squads in Gameweek 1.<\/p>\n
The best team in the division for clean sheets, goals conceded and expected goals conceded (xGC) last season, there is a very solid case for investment.<\/p>\n
But with Jurrien Timber (\u00a36.5m) and William Saliba (\u00a36.0m) both set to miss the start of the season due to injury, which defender to go for?<\/p>\n
Here, we take a look at the options available for FPL managers.<\/p>\n
TIMBER + SALIBA INJURY LATEST<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Timber\u00a0(groin) and\u00a0Saliba\u00a0(back) are both going to miss the start of the season, with Saliba expected to miss significantly more time.<\/p>\n
\u201cJurrien [Timber] is progressing really well. He is on the pitch, we are ramping up now, the volume and the load. I think he is in a good trajectory but there is still a few weeks to go.<\/p>\n
\u201cWilliam [Saliba] as we know, is a more long-term injury.\u201d \u2013 Mikel Arteta, speaking ahead of the Community Shield<\/p>\n
HOW WILL ARSENAL LINE UP WITHOUT TIMBER + SALIBA?<\/p>\n
With no Timber or Saliba, Mikel Arteta opted for Ben White (\u00a35.5m) and Cristhian Mosquera (\u00a35.5m) in their place in the Community Shield.<\/p>\n
This is the defensive line-up that was sent out in Cardiff\u2026<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/image-204.png\")
<\/p>\n
White, Mosquera and Gabriel Magalhaes (\u00a38.0m) played the full 90 minutes. Calafiori was subbed off for Piero Hincapie (\u00a35.5m) on the hour mark.<\/p>\n
As for total pre-season minutes<\/a>, no Arsenal defender was involved more than Mosquera.<\/p>\n PlayerPricev MKD (Jul 25)v GIR (Aug 1)v BET (Aug 5)v DOR (Aug 9)v COM (Aug 12)v MCI (Aug 16)TotalMosquera\u00a35.5m456145784590364Calafiori\u00a35.5m456162602960317White\u00a35.5m06145782890302Gabriel\u00a38.0m0031604590226Hincapie\u00a35.5m03245306130198<\/p>\n It does sound like Arsenal will bring in defensive cover for Saliba before the end of the month, with Ezri Konsa (\u00a34.5m) and Jarrell Quansah both linked<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, White and Mosquera are devoid of any real competition for now, so here are the options to consider at the back.<\/p>\n ARSENAL\u2019S DEFENSIVE OPTIONS<\/p>\n![\"FPL](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/fpl-notes-saliba-injury-arsenals-defence-1024x452.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Win-at-FPL-with-FFScout.jpg\")
<\/a>\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arsenal defenders will likely form the backbone of many Fantasy Premier League (FPL) squads in Gameweek 1. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":742428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[245559,77839,245560,218,323,22894,101,56,54,55,435],"class_list":["post-742427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-best-arsenal-defender","tag-best-fpl-defenders","tag-calafiori","tag-football","tag-gabriel","tag-mosquera","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-white"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=742427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/742428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=742427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=742427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=742427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}