Is Elliot Anderson underrated or overrated in Fantasy?

The Scout assesses Elliot Anderson's output in Fantasy Premier League this season to determine if managers should consider buying him.

Elliot Anderson's (£5.5m) consistent output from his defensive contributions has been instrumental in giving him his best ever season in Fantasy Premier League.

The Nottingham Forest star ranks SIXTH among midfielders after the first 29 Gameweeks with a total of 131 points, already surpassing his previous best of 102 points from 2024/25.

He only costs £5.5m, but he is owned by only seven per cent of Fantasy managers. So is he being underrated? Or there is a reason why he continues to be overlooked, and are there actually better options? Let's look at the data.

Anderson has earned two points for his defensive contributions in 21 of his 29 starts, which means 32 per cent of his points (42 out of 131) have come from this one metric. 

His meagre tallies of two goals and three assists combine for a tally of only 19 points, or just 14.5 per cent.

Anderson's points breakdown 2025/26

Why Anderson might be overrated

Despite his relatively lofty position of sixth place in the midfielder standings, Anderson has averaged just 4.5 points per start (pps) this season.

When compared with other midfielders who have started a minimum of 10 matches, Anderson's 4.5pps has been bettered by as many as 22 of them.

And in terms of price range in Fantasy, there are five regular starting midfielders at a cost of £6.0m or under who have bettered 4.5pps this season.

Fulham's Harry Wilson (£6.0m) has managed two defensive contribution points all season yet has averaged 5.5pps due to his attacking potential. The Welshman's nine goals and eight assists have delivered five double-figure hauls compared with the ONE of Anderson.

Everton's Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (£5.1m) and Brentford's Dango Ouattara (£6.0m) have each produced four double-figure hauls and averaged over 5.0 points per start.

Leeds United's Anton Stach (£4.7m) and Manchester United's Casemiro (£5.6m) have been the more all-rounded assets in the table below.

They both sit around the 20-point mark for their defensive contributions (DC), while they have also been involved in 10 goals (scoring or assisting), which is twice the total of Anderson's five goal involvements. 

Best midfielders up to £6.0m for points per start, 25/26

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There's also an argument that Anderson's lofty position is partly down to the reduced output of most of the premium midfielders this season.

At this point last season, Liverpool's Mohamed Salah (£14.0m) and Chelsea's Cole Palmer (£10.6m) were the top-scoring players in Fantasy. Salah had already amassed 306 points, while Palmer's 181 points would have been enough for top spot among midfielders this season, ahead of the 172 that Manchester City's Antoine Semenyo (£8.3m) currently has.

Neither Salah nor Palmer have even reached 100 points this season, with the Egyptian suffering a remarkable drop from 10.6 to 4.6 points per start season on season.

Man Utd's Bruno Fernandes (£10.1m) has been the only premium midfielder who has improved when compared with this point last season, up from 5.4 to 6.4 points per start.

Premium midfielders comparison

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Why Anderson might be underrated

Anderson is, quite simply, the most reliable midfielder or forward to own in 2025/26 Fantasy. 

As mentioned earlier, on top of his defensive contributions the midfielder has produced two goals and three assists this season, spreading those across five different matches.

Four of those attacking returns came among the 21 matches in which he earned defensive contribution points, so Anderson has essentially produced a return - either an attacking return or defensive contribution points - in 22 of his 29 starts.

That lofty 75.9 per cent success rate is all the more impressive when assessed against the rest of the 10 top-scoring midfielders and forwards this season.

As you can see below, he's the only one to exceed a 70 per cent success rate, with Fernandes his nearest challenger on 69.2 per cent.

A look at the top-performing forwards shows that only two of them - Erling Haaland (£14.6m) and Jarrod Bowen (£7.5m) - have managed a better success rate than 50 per cent.

However, while Anderson is the most reliable of the 10 players below, his average of 5.4 points per successful match is also the lowest.

Someone like Haaland, for example, more or less doubles that number whenever he doesn't blank, averaging 10.2 points per outing.

Similarly, Joao Pedro (£7.7m), Wilson, Igor Thiago (£7.2m) and Fernandes are all more than 3.0 points per successful match better off than Anderson, which highlights their far greater ceilings for huge hauls.

Top midfielders and forwards for success rate, 2025/26

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So, is Anderson underrated or overrated in Fantasy?

In the inaugural season for the defensive contributions metric in Fantasy, Anderson's output is simply offering managers a new strategy when it comes to picking their players.

You now have the option of selecting very dependable assets with low points ceilings, or you can have high-risk players who are far more likely to frustrate you than reward you with big hauls. 

For example, as many Morgan Rogers (£7.5m) owners will know, the Aston Villa star has blanked in 19 of his 29 starts, giving him a lowly 34.4 per cent success rate.

On the other hand, Rogers has scored eight goals, assisted five more and earned three lots of bumper 15-point hauls. 

Anderson v Rogers, 2025/26

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The mere fact that just a single point separates these two midfielders over the season only serves to highlight the contrasting strategies on offer to Fantasy managers, and having more options can only be a good thing.