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Greetings all, and welcome to the latest in our long line of 26/27 preseason previews. On this particular occasion, we’re going to be focused on what has quickly become a very hot topic indeed – the very best DefCon midfielders in FPL.
DefCons only got introduced last season, and I (Joe) think they’re brilliant. For years and years I’d been moaning about centre-backs and defensive midfielders in particular – two of the most important positions in actual football – being essentially worthless.
In seasons past, someone like Anderson would barely have got a look in. Now, they can form the bedrock of your starting XI each week, ticking along at 4+pts per week while the rest of your more mercurial players fluctuate.
Better yet, many of these midfielders are still cheap. DC-friendly defenders basically all got a big price rise in the offseason, but you can still get good, startable DefCon-based midfielders for as little as 5.5, if you like.
But which midfielders to pick? And why?
Excellent questions… me.
Read on to find out!
The most reliable place to start is by simply looking at the best midfielders for DefCons from last season. If they did it last season, they’ll do it again this year… right?!
Well, of course – as with all things in life – it’s not that easy. As we’ll see!
These were the best DefCon mids last season, who are – as of now – actually in the Premier League for this season (i.e. leaving out the likes of Andre at Wolves, and Casemiro). I’ve also left out Wieffer, since he’s a defender in FPL now.
All of this lot got 20 DefCon points or more.
Player | DefCons | DefCon Points | 26/27 Price | 26/27 Team |
Anderson | 515 | 52 | 6.5 | Man City (from Forest) |
Garner | 458 | 40 | 6.0 | Everton |
Ampadu | 416 | 38 | 5.5 | Leeds |
Joao Gomes | 387 | 30 | 5.5 | Villa (from Wolves) |
Scott | 386 | 30 | 6.0 | Bournemouth |
Rice | 376 | 28 | 7.5 | Arsenal |
Mateus Fernandes | 369 | 30 | 6.0 | Spurs (from West Ham) |
Caicedo | 366 | 26 | 5.5 | Chelsea |
Xhaka | 362 | 28 | 5.5 | Sunderland |
Yarmoliuk | 338 | 22 | 5.0 | Brentford |
Szoboszlai | 338 | 20 | 7.0 | Liverpool |
Florentino Luis | 313 | 28 | 5.0 | Ipswich (from Burnley) |
Bentancur | 278 | 28 | 5.5 | Spurs |
Stach | 266 | 20 | 6.0 | Leeds |
I’m going to throw Bentancur out straight away, since Spurs just spent a gazillion pounds on new midfielders – including Mateus Fernandes, also on this list.
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Also – just briefly – it was interesting to see how, while total DefCons usually equal DefCon points, they don’t always.
Not to pick on him again, but Exhibit A is Bentancur. He registered 50 (!) fewer DC’s than Szboszlai, but still scored 8 more DefCon points than him. Rice got almost exactly 100 more DC’s, and still got the same number of points.
Clearly, there’s some randomness about how many times you exceed the 12pt barrier. But, more often than not, just getting loads of DefCons also gets you lots of DefCon points.
Anyway – on with the actual analysis!
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Finally, it’s quite possible some hotshot, hard-tackling midfielder will come into the Premier League this season and be great for DefCons.
Unfortunately, we have absolutely no idea who that will be. We only have 2 seasons’ of DC data from players who have actually played in the Prem, for God’s sake!
Obviously, we’ll keep an eye on this over the first few weeks, and start mentioning said hotshots in our in-season pieces. For now though, I’d only consider the guys who actually racked up DefCons last season.
Yes, I’m giving this guy his own big section. He deserves it.
Anderson was obviously an absolute beast last season. 57 more DC’s than anyone else, and 12 more points too.
Locking in a 4pt floor every week was just wonderful, and a large part of why he was officially my favourite player of 25/26.
Unfortunately, he’s now moved to City.
City had the most possession in the league last season, averaging 60.5%. Forest averaged 46.8%. Based on what he did at Chelsea, I’d expect Maresca’s City to be just as ball dominant, which means Anderson’s team will have the ball roughly 14% more than they did last season… which gives far fewer opportunities for all those tackles and interceptions and whatnot.
This plays into a wider question James and I have pondered, specifically about Anderson. Can you still be a DefCon merchant when your team has the ball a lot?
The stats suggest – yes, actually!
In that list above, you’ll see Rice, Caicedo, and Szboszlai – all of whom played for top 4 teams based on possession. Wieffer is excluded from this list, as noted, but Brighton were 5th in possession.
Spurs were 10th, and Bentancur and Palinha were both top 14 for DC points. Casemiro was 9th, with Man U 8th for possession. Bournemouth were basically tied with Spurs, on 50% possession, and Scott was 7th for DefCons.
Generally speaking, if you’re on one of those possession-based teams, you do need to play a lot of minutes. For those particularly dominant teams, you really needed around 2.8k minutes at least.
Then again, minutes drove DC’s for teams with less possession too. Anderson, Garner, Ampadu, Fernandes, Xhaka etc. all played 2.9k+ minutes.
There were some bizarre outliers. Florentino Luis somehow hit 28 DC pts despite only playing 2.1k minutes.
For the most part though, minutes – along with obviously being a very active (and good) defender – drove DefCons more than possession.
Coming back to DefCon demon Anderson, who some are calling the James Tarkowski of midfielders…
I still think he’ll be really good. He almost certainly get as many DC’s as last season. He could also lose literally 100 DC’s – 20% of his result from last season – and still finish right around the top 3, based on these numbers.
I haven’t particularly got any concerns about starts or minutes. He’ll start every game he’s available for, and I doubt he’ll be subbed off all that much, and certainly not until the last 10 mins or so.
I doubt he scores 4 goals again this season, but who knows – he could walk into a few, since he plays for a much better team now. Rodri was hardly a goal machine, but still put up seasons of 7 and 8 goals for City.
He’s got 5 and 6 assists the past 2 seasons, and I’d expect him to at least hit that again this season – again, playing for a much better team (and he’s just a really good passer too).
All told, he is more expensive than the other players on this list who get most of their weekly value from DefCons. I also think he’s probably worth the extra 0.5, and I will be very, very tempted to have him in my team.
Okay, let’s whip through the rest of these guys a bit quicker, or we’ll be here all day. Not that there’s anything wrong with chatting about DefCon midfielders all day, of course.
I love him, he’s currently in my draft, and – if he’s definitely fit to start the season – there’s a high chance he’ll be in my starting squad.
He was obviously a way behind Anderson, but he was also 42 DC’s ahead of 3rd place. If you’re talking minutes, this guy plays basically all of them – 3.4k in 25/26, and he literally started every game.
Better yet, he’s also on set pieces – writing my team-by-team set piece guide recently is what originally made me fall for him. That helped him hit 7 assists too last year.
Given that Anderson will almost certainly get fewer DC’s this season (even if he still gets plenty), and probably fewer goals too, I think Anderson is probably better value at 6.0 vs 6.5.
As noted, there was another big dropoff between 2nd and 3rd in last season’s DC’s. There’s also another price drop too, though, with Ampadu only costing 5.5.
He racked up plenty of minutes – 3.3k, on 35 starts. He only got 5 goal involvements, compared to the 9 of the top 2 guys, and his xGI was much lower too. His 8 clean sheets were middling too, and I doubt Leeds do much better this season.
If you want a truly budget mid, who will probably start every week and get you DefCons pretty regularly, I think he’s fine.
In an Anderson-like move, he goes from the 18th-ranked team in the league (Wolves) to the 6th-ranked (Villa).
I don’t really have to overthink this one. He’s 5.5, so is Ampadu, and I’d take the latter out of the two of them. There are far fewer uncertainties, and Gomes had even less attacking threat than Ampadu last season.
Interesting one… and if he was 5.5, he’d be even more interesting.
He started 34 games last season, but only hit 2.8k minutes, so clearly got subbed a lot. His xGI of 6.74 was solid, and he got 11 clean sheets. Unfortunately Garner’s xGI was much better, at 8.28 (helped by being on more set pieces), and he also got 11 cleans.
Again, assuming fitness, I don’t see any reason to take Scott over Garner.
God, I wish he was cheaper.
In 25/26 Rice absolutely stuffed the stats sheet, as they say in basketball. Not only was he 6th in DefCons, but he also got 13 goal involvements, plus 18 clean sheets.
This wasn’t a fluke either. His two previous seasons he got 11 and 16 goal involvements, plus 11 and 17 clean sheets. He starts almost ever game, and is always in the 2.8-3.2k minutes range.
Ugh… but he’s also 7.5.
I get why, obviously. He’s really, really good. Unfortunately Szboszlai fills a similar role, as we’ll see shortly, and is 0.5 cheaper, and might be on pens this season.
The heart wants what the heart wants… but sorry, Declan – you’re just too expensive for me.
35 starts, 3k minutes, 7 goal involvements, 8 cleans, joint-5th for DC points, and all playing for the worst team in the league. That’s good going.
Unfortunately, he went to Spurs.
Come on – I don’t mean that in a mean way! Along with it being a big change in playstyle for him, they just have a lot of other centre mids. I assume he’ll start, since they paid 85 mill for him, but he could get subbed off a lot too.
Too many question marks, and – at 6.0 – he’s not notably good value.
Ho ho hooo, this one is tempting.
Caicedo ‘only’ got 366 DC’s last season, but piled up a massive 455 the season before. He starts every game when he’s healthy. I, like lots of people, assume Chelsea will be really good this season. And, most intriguing of all, he’s only 5.5.
His attacking output amounts to 4-5 goal involvements per season, which isn’t great, and Chelsea’s rubbish defence last season saw him only get 6 cleans. I’d have to think the latter gets better this season, at least.
Him and Ampadu are very close, for me. He plays for a better team, but he’d also cost you a Chelsea spot, with Leeds spots being… less important.
They’re neck and neck, frankly.
James’s favourite player of all time (I’m only half-joking) put up 362 DC’s last season, started 32 games, and got 2.9k minutes – all solid, if hardly spectacular.
He did also get 6 assists though, and while this far exceeded his 3.73 xGA, he also takes a lot of set pieces, and therefore gets plenty of opportunities.
If you’re saving your Chelsea spots, it probably comes down to Xhaka vs Ampadu in the 5.5 bracket.
I’d just about lean Ampadu, since I trust his starts and minutes a bit more, but – again – they’re very, very even.
Casual that I am, I can’t say I’m enormously familiar with Yarmoliuk’s game. Frankly, I can’t even picture what he looks like in my head. What certainly catches the eye, however, is a 5.0 price point.
Then again… he’s also cheap for a reason. 30 starts and 2.6k minutes is a bit below what we’re looking for, and his xGI was a measly 2.61. If you want a budget bench mid who actually starts, and might get you 4pts in a pinch, he’s fine. I’d have no plans to deliberately start him, though.
Actually the most boring one here, since everyone already knows about him, and tons of people already have him (47.1% ownership, at the time of writing). Not that I can judge – I’ve got him myself, too.
Like Rice, even in addition to DC’s, he has so many routes to points. Set pieces, maybe pens now, plays for a good team. He’s got 13 and 16 goal involvements the past two years too, on 11.59 and 13 xGI.
I wish they’d made him 7.5, or Rice 7.0, so that this would actually be an interesting decision.
As things stand, it’s dull, but you should probably just get him.
Easily the most bizarre entry on this list. He only started 25 games, and played 2.1k minutes… yet still managed to rack up 313 DC’s… and on top of that, somehow got 28 actual DC points, 8 more than Szboszlai, who got 25 more DC’s than him.
What a character.
Ipswich are probably going to be one of the worst teams in the league, but he also did all of that for Burnley last season. Like (a more fun) Yarmoliuk, you can have him as your budget 5th mid to start the season, but I’d probably prefer to wait and see if he actually starts, and if he’s back to his DefCon-pinching ways.
A really intriguing option all round.
He did lucky with his actual DC points last season, getting 20 on only 266 DC’s. He also only started 28 games, and played around 2.4k minutes.
Working in his favour, however, is the attacking output. He got 5 goals and 6 assists, which admittedly far exceeded his xGI, but that was still a solid 7.35.
He’s at a slightly awkward price point, however.
Between him and a fit Garner at 6.0, I’d take Garner easily. I’m also not sure he’s worth 0.5 more than Caicedo, Xhaka, or his teammate Ampadu, especially since the numbers suggest his attacking returns will come down, and he did get so lucky with DC points.
Nah. Not for me.
Okay, so Le Fee did finish last season comfortably behind this lot in terms of actual DC points – 16, compared to 20+ for the rest.
I want to talk about him anyway, however, since he’s in both mine and James’s current drafts right now.
In terms of actual DefCons, he finished 12th among midfielders still in the league this season. He got 319 – 19 fewer than Szboszlai, for example, 43 behind teammate Xhaka, and obviously miles off the 400+ crew – Anderson, Garner, and Ampadu.
He also got some of the best attacking returns out of this bunch, however, with 5 goals and 6 assists. Better yet, these matched almost perfectly with his 5.22 xG and 5.95 xGA. These came from being one of the penalty takers, and one of the set piece takers too, and he plays a relatively advanced position in open play.
He also started 33 games, and hit 2.9k+ minutes, so neither of those are concerns.
Add that all together, and it’s a lot of routes to points.
6.0 is a fair price point, but also makes him slightly awkward, since you could just have Xhaka or Caicedo for 0.5 less.
His attacking returns feel more sustainable than either of those guys. You’re losing some DC’s over Caicedo, but those returns probably balance that out. He got 37 more total points than Caicedo last season, while only playing around 140 more minutes.
Again, if you desperately need to save money, neither Xhaka nor Caicedo is a massive downgrade (bearing that valuable Chelsea spot in mind for the latter).
Right now though, I’m leaning towards just spending a little extra to get him, particularly since he starts the season with Ipswich, Fulham, and Brentford.
Okay, to summarise, here are my current rankings by price point/tier.
The problem with writing an article about the best midfielders for DefCons is that you just want a midfield full of DefCon merchants.
Anderson, Szobszlai, Caicedo, Garner, and Xhaka it is. You can keep all your fancy goals and assists – we’re keeping it tight at the back, and that’s it.
Even if you haven’t become a full DefConvert like me, hopefully this has helped you pick your own midfield ahead of the 26/27 season.
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Either way, cheers for reading everybody, and be sure to check out all the rest of our preseason goodness!
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