The Scout looks at player positions and team tactics to assess the top-performing defenders for the brand new defensive contribution points in 2025/26 Fantasy Premier League.
Centre-backs lead the way
Defenders who featured as centre-backs for their clubs were far and away the top performers for defensive contribution points in the opening round of matches.
Indeed, as many as 12 of the 15 defenders who collected two points from the brand new metric played as centre-backs for their clubs in Gameweek 1, compared with only three wide defenders.
Among the centre-backs was Everton’s James Tarkowski (£5.5m), who took no time to show why he was the top scorer for defensive contribution points in 2024/25.
He would have collected 44 points last season for his actions, the equivalent of 11 EXTRA clean sheets.
By drilling down further and taking each club’s tactics into consideration, managers can get a clearer picture of who to target and why.
Four-man defences
Centre-backs
Arsenal’s William Saliba and Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk (both £6.0m) justified their premium price tags to collect two points for their defensive contributions.
Although Van Dijk’s success was to be expected – he was Liverpool’s second-top performer for this statistic last season on 22 points – Saliba’s display in the Gunners’ 1-0 win at Manchester United suggests a reassessment of the Arsenal defence could be on the horizon.
The Frenchman made 14 defensive contributions, DOUBLE the seven of his fellow centre-back Gabriel (£6.0m).
Four-man defences
| Position | Players | Total |
| Centre-back | Saliba, Senesi, Van den Berg, Tarkowski, Van Dijk, Burn and Schar, Ballard | 8 |
| Full-back | Cash, Aina | 2 |
Sunderland’s Dan Ballard (£4.6m) was the top-scoring player of Gameweek 1, amassing 17 points against West Ham United.
The centre-back provided FOUR different routes to returns in their 3-0 home win – Ballard scored, kept a clean sheet, picked up maximum bonus points and collected a further two points from his defensive contributions.
Newcastle United were the only club to have both their centre-backs rewarded here, with Fabian Schar (£5.5m) and Dan Burn (£5.0m) the players in question.
Along with Tarkowski, AFC Bournemouth’s Marcos Senesi and Brentford’s Sepp van den Berg (both £4.5m), collected two points despite their clubs suffering defeats.
Nottingham Forest’s Ola Aina (£5.0m) and Aston Villa’s Matty Cash (£4.5m) were the only full-backs to collect defensive contribution points in Gameweek 1.
Three centre-back systems
Crystal Palace and Man Utd both started the season with their usual 3-4-2-1 formations at the weekend.
Once again, it's centre-backs who are the standouts, with the Eagles’ Maxence Lacroix (£5.0m), along with Man Utd’s Mathues De Ligt (£5.0m) and Leny Yoro (£4.5m), earning two extra points.
By contrast, Palace’s Tyrick Mitchell (£5.0m) was the only wing-back to earn defensive contribution points in Gameweek 1.
Finally, managers in Fantasy have been used to seeing Rayan Ait-Nouri (£6.0m) playing as a wing-back for Wolverhampton Wanders over the last few seasons.
However, his summer move to Man City immediately showed we can expect the Algerian to be used in different positions by Pep Guardiola.
With Josko Gvardiol (£6.0m) missing out due to injury, Ait-Nouri played on the left of a three-man central defence.
Rico Lewis (£5.0m) was utilised as an inverted wing-back on the opposite flank, supplying an assist thanks to his more advanced role.
Three centre-back systems
| Position | Players | Total |
| Centre-back | Lacroix, Ait-Nouri, De Ligt and Yoro | 4 |
| Wing-back | Mitchell | 1 |