Five Gameweeks into the 2026/27 Fantasy Premier League season, a clear pattern has emerged among the format's most dependable performers. James Tarkowski, Everton's £6.2m centre-back, sits second in the overall points standings with 43, trailing only Brighton's Pascal Gross on 47. What makes Tarkowski's case notable isn't just the total, but how he's accumulated it: a goal, an assist, three clean sheets, six defensive contribution points and seven bonus points, spread across multiple scoring mechanisms rather than a single route.
Why defenders are outperforming on consistency
Tarkowski is one of only five players to have started at least four of five Gameweeks without recording a single blank - and all five are defenders. Alongside him are Manchester City's Josko Gvardiol, fellow Everton centre-back Jarrad Branthwaite, Leeds United's Tarik Muharemovic, and Crystal Palace wing-back Anan Khalaili. This isn't an isolated quirk. Widening the sample to players who have blanked no more than once in four-plus starts produces a list of 32 names - and 24 of them are defenders, against just five midfielders and three forwards.
The introduction of defensive contribution points has clearly reshaped the value calculus for defenders in Fantasy. Players who tackle, intercept and block regularly now have a scoring floor independent of goals or clean sheets, which explains why so many defenders are proving steady rather than streaky. Gvardiol is the exception worth flagging: his four goal involvements have kept him among the top performers, but he has yet to register a single defensive contribution point. That makes him more reliant on attacking returns than his positional peers, and arguably a less secure long-term pick despite his popularity - he's owned by 26% of managers.
Centre-backs lead, not full-backs
A closer look at the 24 consistent defenders shows the reliability is concentrated at centre-back rather than in wide positions. Seventeen of the 24 are centre-backs, compared with just six wide defenders and one player, Brighton's Maxim De Cuyper, now classified as a midfielder. That's a meaningful distinction for squad planning: the eye-catching performances of attacking wing-backs like Khalaili can create a false impression that wide areas are just as reliable as central defence, when the data suggests otherwise.
Club-level patterns reinforce this. Brighton, Everton, Leeds and Newcastle United each contribute three players to the consistent-defender list, suggesting their backlines carry above-average appeal for managers seeking steady returns rather than high-variance gambles. Brighton's spread - De Cuyper, Luka Vuskovic and Lewis Dunk - shows depth across multiple defensive roles, while Everton's Vitalii Mykolenko has blanked only once, offering a cheaper alternative to higher-profile teammates Tarkowski and Branthwaite.
Value at the budget end
Consistency isn't confined to the pricier end of the market. Hull City supply two defenders - John Egan and Ryan Giles - who have blanked no more than once despite sitting in the ultra-budget bracket. For managers balancing a limited budget across 15 squad slots, these are the kinds of picks that free up funds elsewhere without sacrificing weekly output.
None of this guarantees future returns; Fantasy Premier League remains a game shaped by fixtures, form and team selection, all of which can shift week to week. But early-season data on defensive contribution points does point to a structural change in how value is distributed across positions, and managers building squads for the long haul would do well to weigh that shift carefully.