This article is part of our Fantasy Premier League Rankings series.
We continue with our positional rankings for the 2020/21, this time focusing on defenders. The index score is a bit different from the forwards and midfielders because clean sheets and goals conceded are much more relevent to defenders, though goals and assists still play a major role.
The Liverpool duo of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson were the top fantasy scoring defenders last season, and they project to keep those places thanks to their excellent attacking returns in addition to Liverpool's expectedly strong defense. Remember that goals are more valuable to defenders, so anyone who gets on the score-sheet will have a big leg up on the competition.
As mentioned in the forward and midfielder rankings, these will change as projections change, and those are updated whenever there is a transfer, injury or change in playing time situation. The rankings will not change as frequently as the projections, but be sure that we will have multiple updates leading up to the start of the season.
And, as always, if you have any questions, suggestions or feedback, please feel free to leave a comment below, hit me up in our subscriber Discord chat or on Twitter.
Note: all columns are sortable
Rank | Player | Team | Price | MIN | G | A | SOT | CC | GC | CS | Index |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Trent Alexander-Arnold | LIV | £7.5 | 2,600 | 2.66 | 11.64 | 9.98 | 73.40 | 26.81 | 11.90 | 192.69 |
2 | Andrew Robertson | LIV | £7.0 | 2,700 | 2.00 | 9.42 | 6.24 | 47.05 | 27.84 | 12.36 | 154.24 |
3 | Lucas Digne | EVE | £6.0 | 3,000 | 0.13 | 6.20 | 3.21 | 64.45 | 52.10 | 7.94 | 131.30 |
4 | Enda Stevens | SHU | £5.5 | 3,200 | 2.27 | 4.05 | 4.94 | 31.41 | 37.97 | 13.17 | 128.13 |
5 | Ben Chilwell | LEI | £5.5 | 2,700 | 3.25 | 3.63 | 6.24 | 34.85 | 35.57 | 9.92 | 122.41 |
6 | Matt Doherty | WLV | £6.0 | 2,750 | 4.32 | 2.61 | 12.51 | 22.14 | 35.60 | 10.22 | 120.74 |
7 | Cesar Azpilicueta | CHE | £6.0 | 2,900 | 2.00 | 3.00 | 4.93 | 43.27 | 44.56 | 9.20 | 118.08 |
8 | Serge Aurier | TOT | £5.5 | 3,000 | 1.34 | 5.06 | 4.04 | 34.89 | 40.54 | 10.76 | 117.69 |
9 | George Baldock | SHU | £5.5 | 3,200 | 2.24 | 2.98 | 5.59 | 21.15 | 37.97 | 13.17 | 115.13 |
10 | Marcos Alonso | CHE | £6.0 | 2,200 | 3.45 | 2.09 | 12.45 | 37.04 | 33.80 | 6.98 | 113.55 |
11 | Virgil van Dijk | LIV | £6.5 | 2,900 | 3.19 | 0.84 | 11.06 | 7.42 | 29.90 | 13.27 | 105.30 |
12 | Aaron Wan-Bissaka | MUN | £5.5 | 3,000 | 0.06 | 3.39 | 1.09 | 28.35 | 33.78 | 12.73 | 103.39 |
13 | Patrick van Aanholt | CRY | £5.5 | 2,500 | 2.91 | 2.12 | 4.96 | 31.29 | 40.55 | 7.17 | 99.17 |
14 | Nathan Ake | MCI | £5.5 | 2,800 | 2.01 | 1.81 | 8.03 | 8.22 | 29.57 | 12.60 | 95.81 |
15 | Kieran Tierney | ARS | £5.5 | 2,500 | 1.63 | 4.84 | 3.49 | 24.26 | 36.45 | 8.15 | 95.07 |
16 | Stuart Dallas | LEE | £4.5 | 3,000 | 2.33 | 1.23 | 9.04 | 18.46 | 49.90 | 8.34 | 91.03 |
17 | Willy Boly | WLV | £5.5 | 3,320 | 1.21 | 1.04 | 5.22 | 10.65 | 42.98 | 12.33 | 89.40 |
18 | Jack O'Connell | SHU | £5.0 | 3,200 | 0.28 | 1.08 | 3.40 | 14.37 | 37.97 | 13.17 | 88.70 |
19 | Ryan Bertrand | SOU | £5.0 | 2,900 | 0.90 | 1.27 | 3.33 | 31.86 | 49.04 | 7.98 | 88.40 |
20 | John Egan | SHU | £5.0 | 3,200 | 1.94 | 0.22 | 4.70 | 2.76 | 37.97 | 13.17 | 85.77 |
21 | Reece James | CHE | £5.0 | 2,000 | 0.85 | 2.21 | 3.58 | 35.47 | 30.73 | 6.35 | 84.51 |
22 | Romain Saiss | WLV | £5.0 | 2,760 | 2.07 | 0.73 | 6.43 | 10.30 | 35.73 | 10.25 | 83.84 |
23 | Harry Maguire | MUN | £5.5 | 2,900 | 0.76 | 0.09 | 5.46 | 11.56 | 32.66 | 12.30 | 83.13 |
24 | Fernandinho | MCI | £5.5 | 2,100 | 1.09 | 2.07 | 4.91 | 18.70 | 22.18 | 9.45 | 82.91 |
25 | Chris Basham | SHU | £5.0 | 3,200 | 0.28 | 0.99 | 0.91 | 10.33 | 37.97 | 13.17 | 81.90 |
26 | James Tarkowski | BUR | £5.5 | 3,200 | 1.67 | 1.70 | 4.53 | 11.93 | 52.43 | 9.05 | 81.11 |
27 | Aymeric Laporte | MCI | £6.0 | 2,500 | 1.95 | 0.12 | 4.97 | 7.02 | 26.40 | 11.25 | 79.47 |
28 | Aaron Cresswell | WHU | £5.0 | 2,700 | 2.24 | 0.31 | 4.38 | 25.75 | 53.21 | 5.92 | 79.43 |
29 | Luke Ayling | LEE | £4.5 | 2,800 | 1.90 | 1.89 | 4.94 | 14.26 | 46.57 | 7.78 | 79.06 |
30 | Jonny Evans | LEI | £5.5 | 3,000 | 0.93 | 0.97 | 6.35 | 6.34 | 39.52 | 11.03 | 77.80 |
31 | Kyle Walker | MCI | £6.0 | 2,000 | 0.73 | 2.86 | 3.52 | 16.75 | 21.12 | 9.00 | 77.56 |
32 | Adam Webster | BHA | £4.5 | 2,800 | 2.61 | 0.92 | 5.66 | 9.38 | 45.11 | 8.05 | 77.33 |
33 | Toby Alderweireld | TOT | £5.5 | 2,900 | 1.32 | 1.22 | 3.29 | 8.42 | 39.19 | 10.40 | 76.97 |
34 | Ezgjan Alioski | LEE | £4.5 | 2,000 | 2.49 | 1.38 | 6.54 | 19.95 | 33.27 | 5.56 | 76.14 |
35 | Ben Mee | BUR | £5.0 | 3,200 | 1.13 | 1.13 | 6.68 | 9.14 | 52.43 | 9.05 | 75.52 |
36 | Matt Targett | AVL | £4.5 | 2,500 | 0.97 | 1.91 | 3.01 | 27.31 | 47.84 | 5.76 | 75.33 |
37 | Caglar Soyuncu | LEI | £5.5 | 3,000 | 1.01 | 1.05 | 4.83 | 4.16 | 39.52 | 11.03 | 74.82 |
38 | Benjamin Mendy | MCI | £6.0 | 1,800 | 0.08 | 2.42 | 1.54 | 25.01 | 19.01 | 8.10 | 74.19 |
39 | Victor Lindelof | MUN | £5.0 | 2,900 | 0.88 | 0.09 | 1.63 | 5.70 | 32.66 | 12.30 | 74.16 |
40 | Ben Davies | TOT | £5.0 | 2,800 | 0.24 | 1.06 | 2.08 | 13.78 | 37.84 | 10.04 | 72.31 |
41 | Ricardo Pereira | LEI | £6.0 | 1,800 | 2.02 | 1.66 | 3.11 | 17.53 | 23.71 | 6.62 | 71.72 |
42 | Conor Coady | WLV | £5.0 | 3,320 | 0.30 | 0.20 | 1.02 | 4.54 | 42.98 | 12.33 | 71.11 |
43 | Ahmed Elmohamady | AVL | £4.5 | 1,800 | 1.24 | 1.61 | 1.45 | 31.67 | 34.44 | 4.14 | 69.45 |
44 | Yerry Mina | EVE | £5.5 | 2,400 | 1.87 | 1.13 | 7.80 | 10.74 | 41.68 | 6.36 | 68.59 |
45 | Ryan Fredericks | WHU | £4.5 | 2,700 | 0.05 | 2.84 | 0.41 | 24.14 | 53.21 | 5.92 | 68.30 |
46 | Luke Shaw | MUN | £5.0 | 1,700 | 0.07 | 0.74 | 4.10 | 25.22 | 19.14 | 7.21 | 67.88 |
47 | Issa Diop | WHU | £4.5 | 3,000 | 2.47 | 0.81 | 6.40 | 5.37 | 59.12 | 6.58 | 67.84 |
48 | Joe Bryan | FUL | £5.0 | 2,600 | 0.59 | 2.57 | 4.23 | 18.00 | 51.11 | 5.68 | 67.03 |
49 | Michael Keane | EVE | £5.0 | 2,800 | 1.97 | 0.31 | 3.89 | 6.36 | 48.63 | 7.41 | 64.31 |
50 | Federico Fernandez | NEW | £5.0 | 2,500 | 2.02 | 1.38 | 5.62 | 3.55 | 41.94 | 7.01 | 63.89 |
51 | Joao Cancelo | MCI | £5.5 | 1,600 | 0.12 | 0.50 | 4.18 | 21.21 | 16.90 | 7.20 | 63.08 |
52 | Semi Ajayi | WBA | £5.0 | 3,000 | 2.42 | 0.13 | 4.16 | 3.64 | 58.74 | 6.65 | 61.81 |
53 | Joe Gomez | LIV | £5.5 | 2,300 | 0.42 | 0.21 | 1.41 | 5.44 | 23.72 | 10.53 | 61.70 |
54 | Seamus Coleman | EVE | £5.0 | 2,600 | 0.06 | 1.70 | 4.05 | 13.80 | 45.16 | 6.89 | 61.70 |
55 | Kyle Walker-Peters | SOU | £4.5 | 2,600 | 0.05 | 0.56 | 1.39 | 18.59 | 43.97 | 7.15 | 61.39 |
56 | Tyrone Mings | AVL | £5.0 | 3,200 | 0.93 | 0.97 | 2.97 | 6.98 | 61.23 | 7.37 | 61.25 |
57 | Cedric Soares | ARS | £5.0 | 1,800 | 1.00 | 1.27 | 5.08 | 14.79 | 26.25 | 5.87 | 60.66 |
58 | Dan Burn | BHA | £4.5 | 2,700 | 0.11 | 0.20 | 0.52 | 15.78 | 43.50 | 7.77 | 59.89 |
59 | Jan Bednarek | SOU | £4.5 | 3,000 | 0.91 | 1.03 | 1.88 | 3.93 | 50.73 | 8.25 | 59.86 |
60 | Liam Cooper | LEE | £4.5 | 3,000 | 1.17 | 0.12 | 2.11 | 4.07 | 49.90 | 8.34 | 59.42 |
61 | Hector Bellerin | ARS | £5.0 | 2,000 | 1.21 | 0.45 | 2.83 | 11.91 | 29.16 | 6.52 | 57.76 |
62 | Angelo Ogbonna | WHU | £5.0 | 3,000 | 1.78 | 0.13 | 4.21 | 2.94 | 59.12 | 6.58 | 57.04 |
63 | Kyle Bartley | WBA | £4.5 | 3,000 | 1.27 | 0.86 | 3.60 | 4.02 | 58.74 | 6.65 | 56.92 |
64 | Jack Stephens | SOU | £5.0 | 2,300 | 0.81 | 2.25 | 2.28 | 7.00 | 38.89 | 6.33 | 55.79 |
65 | Antonio Rudiger | CHE | £5.0 | 2,100 | 1.65 | 0.06 | 3.03 | 6.93 | 32.27 | 6.67 | 55.47 |
66 | Ruben Vinagre | WLV | £4.5 | 1,800 | 0.33 | 0.35 | 2.13 | 15.85 | 23.30 | 6.69 | 55.27 |
67 | Jonny | WLV | £5.5 | 1,550 | 0.97 | 1.25 | 2.50 | 12.50 | 20.07 | 5.76 | 54.07 |
68 | James Tomkins | CRY | £4.5 | 2,200 | 1.28 | 1.44 | 3.54 | 3.23 | 35.68 | 6.31 | 53.18 |
69 | Jamaal Lascelles | NEW | £4.5 | 2,500 | 1.44 | 0.14 | 2.78 | 2.60 | 41.94 | 7.01 | 52.90 |
70 | Michael Hector | FUL | £4.5 | 2,900 | 0.09 | 1.56 | 2.68 | 7.02 | 57.01 | 6.34 | 52.36 |
71 | Charlie Taylor | BUR | £4.5 | 2,100 | 0.09 | 1.46 | 0.52 | 13.27 | 34.41 | 5.94 | 51.22 |
72 | David Luiz | ARS | £5.5 | 2,000 | 1.16 | 0.66 | 4.80 | 3.04 | 29.16 | 6.52 | 51.19 |
73 | William Saliba | ARS | £4.5 | 2,400 | 0.30 | 0.24 | 1.12 | 4.57 | 34.99 | 7.83 | 49.53 |
74 | Matthew Lowton | BUR | £4.5 | 2,000 | 0.04 | 1.35 | 0.57 | 13.31 | 32.77 | 5.66 | 49.14 |
75 | Joel Ward | CRY | £4.5 | 2,500 | 0.06 | 0.30 | 1.08 | 7.29 | 40.55 | 7.17 | 48.73 |
76 | Frederic Guilbert | AVL | £4.5 | 2,000 | 0.04 | 1.80 | 2.20 | 14.04 | 38.27 | 4.60 | 48.61 |
77 | Erik Pieters | BUR | £4.5 | 1,500 | 0.23 | 2.73 | 2.64 | 13.00 | 24.58 | 4.24 | 48.42 |
78 | Mason Holgate | EVE | £5.0 | 2,100 | 0.26 | 2.43 | 4.00 | 4.16 | 36.47 | 5.56 | 48.00 |
79 | Paul Dummett | NEW | £4.5 | 2,000 | 0.50 | 0.35 | 3.20 | 8.92 | 33.56 | 5.61 | 46.94 |
80 | Kieran Gibbs | WBA | £4.5 | 1,700 | 0.98 | 1.62 | 1.40 | 12.20 | 33.28 | 3.77 | 46.50 |
81 | Eric Dier | TOT | £5.0 | 1,700 | 0.12 | 1.40 | 1.28 | 5.90 | 22.98 | 6.10 | 43.58 |
82 | Mamadou Sakho | CRY | £4.5 | 2,400 | 0.16 | 0.34 | 0.85 | 3.18 | 38.93 | 6.89 | 43.57 |
83 | Ezri Konsa | AVL | £4.5 | 1,800 | 0.85 | 1.36 | 2.66 | 7.06 | 34.44 | 4.14 | 42.96 |
84 | Tim Ream | FUL | £4.5 | 2,900 | 0.09 | 0.09 | 0.61 | 3.46 | 57.01 | 6.34 | 42.32 |
85 | Oleksandr Zinchenko | MCI | £5.5 | 1,000 | 0.05 | 0.19 | 2.26 | 15.69 | 10.56 | 4.50 | 40.99 |
86 | Dara O'Shea | WBA | £4.5 | 1,600 | 1.78 | 0.22 | 3.44 | 4.69 | 31.33 | 3.55 | 40.34 |
87 | Javier Manquillo | NEW | £4.5 | 1,800 | 0.18 | 1.08 | 0.30 | 6.60 | 30.20 | 5.05 | 38.92 |
88 | DeAndre Yedlin | NEW | £4.5 | 1,300 | 1.27 | 0.26 | 1.14 | 8.57 | 21.81 | 3.65 | 38.13 |
89 | James Justin | LEI | £4.5 | 1,000 | 0.53 | 1.13 | 1.36 | 11.03 | 13.17 | 3.68 | 37.85 |
90 | Mohammed Salisu | SOU | £4.5 | 1,800 | 0.59 | 0.67 | 1.18 | 2.02 | 30.44 | 4.95 | 36.05 |
91 | Joel Veltman | BHA | £4.5 | 2,000 | 0.30 | 0.19 | 0.80 | 1.48 | 32.22 | 5.75 | 35.98 |
92 | Gary Cahill | CRY | £4.5 | 1,700 | 0.11 | 0.88 | 3.20 | 2.65 | 27.57 | 4.88 | 35.75 |
93 | Tariq Lamptey | BHA | £4.5 | 1,200 | 0.02 | 1.44 | 0.40 | 11.14 | 19.33 | 3.45 | 34.78 |
94 | Fabian Schar | NEW | £5.0 | 1,200 | 1.43 | 0.07 | 3.50 | 2.45 | 20.13 | 3.37 | 33.22 |
95 | Joel Matip | LIV | £5.5 | 1,000 | 1.15 | 0.09 | 1.66 | 1.49 | 10.31 | 4.58 | 32.81 |
96 | Kortney Hause | AVL | £4.5 | 1,600 | 0.93 | 0.17 | 2.35 | 2.24 | 30.61 | 3.68 | 32.07 |
97 | Konstantinos Tsimikas | LIV | £5.0 | 700 | 0.09 | 1.08 | 1.64 | 10.31 | 7.22 | 3.20 | 31.45 |
98 | Darnell Furlong | WBA | £4.5 | 1,200 | 0.60 | 0.38 | 2.10 | 8.34 | 23.50 | 2.66 | 30.82 |
99 | Pablo Mari | ARS | £4.5 | 1,600 | 0.20 | 0.16 | 0.75 | 0.82 | 23.33 | 5.22 | 30.80 |
100 | Kurt Zouma | CHE | £5.0 | 1,400 | 0.14 | 0.36 | 2.49 | 2.52 | 21.51 | 4.44 | 30.52 |
101 | Brandon Williams | MUN | £4.5 | 800 | 0.40 | 0.07 | 1.07 | 8.78 | 9.01 | 3.39 | 29.35 |
102 | Ciaran Clark | NEW | £4.5 | 1,000 | 1.57 | 0.06 | 2.71 | 0.96 | 16.78 | 2.81 | 28.68 |
103 | Cyrus Christie | FUL | £4.5 | 1,200 | 0.47 | 0.50 | 2.01 | 6.70 | 23.59 | 2.62 | 28.51 |
104 | Conor Townsend | WBA | £4.5 | 1,300 | 0.04 | 0.47 | 0.71 | 8.21 | 25.45 | 2.88 | 27.51 |
105 | Andreas Christensen | CHE | £5.0 | 1,200 | 0.12 | 0.03 | 1.25 | 2.75 | 18.44 | 3.81 | 25.05 |
106 | Ben White | BHA | £4.5 | 1,100 | 0.35 | 0.43 | 1.10 | 2.33 | 17.72 | 3.16 | 24.04 |
107 | Ainsley Maitland-Niles | ARS | £5.0 | 800 | 0.07 | 0.89 | 0.63 | 6.23 | 11.66 | 2.61 | 23.72 |
108 | Barry Douglas | LEE | £4.0 | 900 | 0.06 | 0.05 | 1.36 | 7.05 | 14.97 | 2.50 | 22.67 |
109 | Yan Valery | SOU | £5.0 | 1,000 | 0.02 | 0.22 | 2.44 | 3.95 | 16.91 | 2.75 | 22.34 |
110 | Davinson Sanchez | TOT | £5.5 | 1,000 | 0.07 | 0.06 | 1.06 | 0.97 | 13.51 | 3.59 | 21.16 |
111 | Phil Bardsley | BUR | £4.5 | 800 | 0.02 | 0.47 | 1.40 | 4.27 | 13.11 | 2.26 | 19.57 |
112 | Bjorn Engels | AVL | £4.5 | 1,000 | 0.61 | 0.10 | 0.73 | 1.46 | 19.13 | 2.30 | 19.52 |
113 | Martin Montoya | BHA | £4.5 | 700 | 0.01 | 0.37 | 0.92 | 6.40 | 11.28 | 2.01 | 19.45 |
114 | Christian Fuchs | LEI | £4.5 | 700 | 0.15 | 0.20 | 1.01 | 3.33 | 9.22 | 2.57 | 19.04 |
115 | Florian Lejeune | NEW | £4.5 | 400 | 1.57 | 0.02 | 2.00 | 0.77 | 6.71 | 1.12 | 18.40 |
116 | Nathan Ferguson | CRY | £4.0 | 600 | 0.39 | 0.40 | 1.38 | 3.54 | 9.73 | 1.72 | 17.84 |
117 | Alfie Mawson | FUL | £4.5 | 1,200 | 0.04 | 0.04 | 0.49 | 0.86 | 23.59 | 2.62 | 17.19 |
118 | Shkodran Mustafi | ARS | £5.0 | 600 | 0.32 | 0.30 | 1.56 | 1.91 | 8.75 | 1.96 | 16.63 |
119 | Neil Taylor | AVL | £4.5 | 800 | 0.07 | 0.15 | 0.14 | 4.47 | 15.31 | 1.84 | 16.17 |
120 | Eric Bailly | MUN | £5.0 | 700 | 0.06 | 0.02 | 0.25 | 0.49 | 7.88 | 2.97 | 15.96 |
121 | Sead Kolasinac | ARS | £5.0 | 600 | 0.07 | 0.56 | 0.28 | 3.05 | 8.75 | 1.96 | 15.77 |
122 | Ahmed Hegazi | WBA | £4.5 | 800 | 0.43 | 0.04 | 0.63 | 1.33 | 15.66 | 1.77 | 15.07 |
123 | Fabian Balbuena | WHU | £4.5 | 700 | 0.47 | 0.03 | 1.90 | 0.76 | 13.80 | 1.53 | 14.61 |
124 | Rob Holding | ARS | £4.5 | 700 | 0.09 | 0.07 | 0.97 | 0.36 | 10.21 | 2.28 | 14.12 |
125 | Kevin Long | BUR | £4.5 | 800 | 0.08 | 0.08 | 0.32 | 0.56 | 13.11 | 2.26 | 13.97 |
126 | Martin Kelly | CRY | £4.5 | 600 | 0.01 | 0.38 | 0.09 | 2.56 | 9.73 | 1.72 | 13.23 |
127 | Arthur Masuaku | WHU | £4.5 | 500 | 0.07 | 0.40 | 0.92 | 4.02 | 9.85 | 1.10 | 13.04 |
128 | Emil Krafth | NEW | £4.5 | 600 | 0.06 | 0.50 | 0.10 | 1.33 | 10.07 | 1.68 | 12.51 |
129 | Japhet Tanganga | TOT | £5.0 | 500 | 0.04 | 0.06 | 0.73 | 1.59 | 6.76 | 1.79 | 11.98 |
130 | Wes Morgan | LEI | £4.5 | 500 | 0.04 | 0.04 | 1.87 | 0.23 | 6.59 | 1.84 | 11.90 |
131 | Jarrad Branthwaite | EVE | £4.0 | 600 | 0.08 | 0.07 | 0.28 | 0.35 | 10.42 | 1.59 | 10.18 |
132 | Timothy Fosu-Mensah | MUN | £4.5 | 300 | 0.01 | 0.03 | 0.13 | 3.27 | 3.38 | 1.27 | 9.88 |
133 | Maxime Le Marchand | FUL | £4.5 | 600 | 0.04 | 0.03 | 0.15 | 0.66 | 11.79 | 1.31 | 8.88 |
134 | Steven Sessegnon | FUL | £4.5 | 400 | 0.01 | 0.04 | 0.55 | 0.87 | 7.86 | 0.87 | 6.75 |
135 | Diogo Dalot | MUN | £5.0 | 200 | 0.00 | 0.05 | 0.03 | 1.45 | 2.25 | 0.85 | 5.86 |
136 | Phil Jones | MUN | £5.0 | 200 | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0.48 | 0.63 | 2.25 | 0.85 | 5.49 |
137 | Axel Tuanzebe | MUN | £4.5 | 200 | 0.01 | 0.02 | 0.09 | 1.04 | 2.25 | 0.85 | 5.48 |
138 | Ryan Sessegnon | TOT | £5.0 | 100 | 0.15 | 0.13 | 0.38 | 0.92 | 1.35 | 0.36 | 4.45 |
139 | Max Kilman | WLV | £4.0 | 200 | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0.06 | 0.11 | 2.59 | 0.74 | 4.11 |