With Arsenal defender Gabriel a major injury doubt to face Tottenham Hotspur this weekend, and media reports suggesting he could even be ruled out for one to two months, The Scout highlights the best replacements.
Nico O’Reilly (Man City) £5.0m, 2.1% owned
The Manchester City left-back is the most-bought defender in the Gameweek, earning 103,000+ new owners ahead of Saturday’s 11:00 GMT deadline.
Having recently secured a regular starting role, O’Reilly has proven to be one of the most consistent defenders in 2025/26 Fantasy. He has blanked just once over his seven starts, totalling 49 points across those contests.
Following City's visit to Newcastle United this weekend, Pep Guardiola’s side have home matches against Leeds United, Sunderland and West Ham United across the subsequent five Gameweeks, which lifts their chances of clean sheets.
And O’Reilly’s numbers suggest he can also deliver attacking returns during that period. His eight shots and seven shots in the box both rank top among defenders in Fantasy across the last four Gameweeks.
The 20-year-old's pitch-time over the mid term also looks promising, with his positional rival Rayan Ait-Nouri (£5.7m) set to depart for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) next month.
Daniel Munoz (Crystal Palace) £5.8m, 16.3% owned
Along with his team-mate Marc Guehi (£5.1m), Crystal Palace’s Colombian has mainly kept pace with the Arsenal defenders over the opening 11 Gameweeks.
Munoz has combined a goal and three assists with five clean sheets to rank fifth in his position on 60 points, just seven behind Arsenal’s Jurrien Timber (£6.1m) in second spot.
His potential for goals in particular marks out Munoz as the likeliest Eagles defender to score. The wing-back’s 12 shots place joint-second among all defenders in Fantasy this season, while his 10 shots in the box are just one off second spot.
Palace’s immediate schedule looks hugely encouraging for their key players, with visits to three of the bottom six sides – Wolverhampton Wanderers, Burnley and Fulham – across the next four Gameweeks.
Trevoh Chalobah (Chelsea) £5.1m, 8.1% owned
The centre-back has emerged as one of the most consistent defenders in Fantasy during his breakout campaign with Chelsea.
Chalobah has blanked just twice in his 10 appearances thanks to his multiple routes to returns. He’s produced two goals, an assist, five clean sheets, eight defensive contribution points and two bonus points to total 55 points. Indeed, his 5.5 points per match is identical to that of Arsenal's Riccardo Calafiori (£5.8m).
Enzo Maresca’s side visit promoted pair Burnley and Leeds in the next three Gameweeks alone, with a home encounter against Everton also on their agenda in the upcoming five rounds of matches.
William Saliba (Arsenal) £6.0m, 11.6% owned
The Frenchman has been left trailing in the wake of his fellow centre-back Gabriel, with his total of 39 points less than HALF the 81 of the Brazilian.
However, Saliba does tend to offer more threat from set-pieces on the rare occasions that the Brazilian has missed out for Arsenal.
As a secure route into a defence that has already helped the Gunners serve up a league-high seven clean sheets, Saliba could be the ideal replacement with Gabriel sidelined.
Marcos Senesi (AFC Bournemouth) £5.0m, 26.0% owned
AFC Bournemouth’s centre-back is the No 1 player for defensive contributions in 2025/26, earning two extra points in NINE of his 11 appearances.
Despite that success, there’s no doubt that Senesi has been a big disappointment for his 26.0 per cent backers of late, with just 14 points across his last five outings.
However, his upcoming run of four home matches over the next six Gameweeks looks set to boost his prospects for clean sheets.
In home matches this season, the Cherries have conceded the joint-fewest big chances, or situations where a player is expected to score. They have allowed their opponents only three in five contests.
According to the Fixture Difficulty Ratings (FDR), where the difficulty of each fixture is ranked from one to five, with one being the easiest possible match and five being the hardest, three of those four matches at the Vitality Stadium score only two. Those favourable encounters are against West Ham, Everton and Burnley.
Joachim Andersen (Fulham) £4.5m, 2.8% owned
The Fulham centre-back is second only to Senesi for defensive contribution points, earning 14 of them across his 10 appearances.
If you’re looking for a cut-price defender you can rotate in and out of your team, Andersen’s schedule certainly ticks the box for a number of Gameweeks to come.
Four of Fulham’s next eight matches - at home to Sunderland and Nottingham Forest and away to Burnley and West Ham - score only two in the FDR.