We have teamed up with Fantasy Football Scout to help bring you hints, tips and advice during the 2026/27 Fantasy Premier League (FPL) season.
Scout will be using their expertise to provide advice and gameweek tips, which should prove useful in ensuring you win your mini-leagues.
Through the first five gameweeks of the season, our back line have been reliable assets for FPL managers, as Scout have detailed below.
Top three FPL points scorers
Jan Paul Van Hecke (£4.9m)
So far this season, JP has registered 24 points in FPL and has already shown he has excellent routes to consistent points. FPL managers like to invest in players who can return FPL points through several different metrics, and in JP's case we have already seen two clean sheets, a goal, two bonus points and defensive contribution points.
So far this season, the Dutch international has registered 43 defensive actions, which has resulted in him registering two extra defensive contribution points, which defenders can pick up after amassing 10 defensive actions (blocks, clearances, interceptions and tackles won) in a game.
Our number six did this against Everton (13) and he has been unlucky not to return more defensive points. Against both Brentford and Aston Villa, he registered nine, missing out on the extra points by just one action in both games.
In attack, JP has had five attempts on goal and of those, three have been classified as big chances. In addition, he has created five chances for his teammates, which only Savio (£6.5m) and Andy Robertson (£4.4m) can better.
Antonin Kinsky (£4.5m)
Goalkeeper Toni is our second-highest scorer in FPL through five games, registering 18 points in the opening portion of the season. Like JP, Toni has registered two clean sheets this season and has also picked up save points in three of our five matches.
Shot stoppers register a save point for every three saves that they make in a match, and against Brentford in Gameweek 1 the Czech goalkeeper made five saves. Those five stops against the Bees on opening day are his most in a match so far this season, missing out on a second point by just one save.
Of all Premier League goalkeepers, Toni is tied top for clearances, having made five in the opening matches. He is also one of only three goalkeepers in the game who have created an attacking chance for his teammates this season.
Andy Robertson (£4.4m)
Andy is our third highest-scoring player in FPL so far, just one point behind Toni with 17 points from the opening five matches.
The Scotland captain has registered a clean sheet and an assist this season, as well as two defensive contribution points, which came against Brentford in Gameweek 1.
Throughout the season, the left back has registered good underlying attacking numbers, and these have been steadily growing. In Gameweeks 4 and 5, he supplied his season-high tally of seven crosses, and in the last two matches has created six chances.
This season Andy’s eight chances created put him second across the team, and no player has created more big chances than his three. His 24 crosses is a team-leading tally, and he has been directly involved in 20 per cent of the chances that we have created when he has been on the pitch; only Savio can better that percentage with 33 per cent.
Best of the rest
The rest of our team have also been posting some good numbers in FPL. Rodrigo Bentancur (£5.5m) has registered a team-leading 60 defensive actions this season and has registered a team-leading four defensive contribution points, but he has just missed out on the points in a couple of other fixtures too.
Midfielders need 12 defensive actions to record the points, and in Gameweek 2 Rodrigo recorded 11, while he recorded 10 in Gameweek 4, meaning in those matches he just missed out on additional points. His consistency with defensive returns makes him a great budget-friendly midfield option for FPL managers.
Sandro Tonali (£5.3m) has returned 14 points this season, but our midfielder has been unlucky not to receive more. Sandro has had a team-leading eight attempts on goal this season and created four chances for his teammates. He has also recorded 42 defensive actions, registering two defensive contribution points.