Tom Hadley – a one-time world number one in FPL – is the newest addition to our ever-growing team of contributors for 2025/26.
He’ll be providing data-driven articles regularly this season, continuing with this one.
DefCon is fast becoming the name of the game this season, and I think we’re all starting to realise just how powerful it can be to rack up those consistent extra points.
Now, we all know about the centre-backs. We can set and forget the likes of Marcos Senesi (£4.7m) and James Tarkowski (£5.5m).
But in this piece, I want to put into play how important picking the right cheap midfield can be for your squad – and how DefCon is a factor.
CAICEDO THE MAIN MAN
It was apparent last season how good Moises Caicedo (£5.6m) is for DefCon. He was the main man in 2024/25 and will almost certainly be the up there with the top contributors again this year. But his attacking output has historically never been great, and despite a couple of returns this year, he has scored with both of his shots on target so far and has had minimal chance involvement. The returns don’t seem at all sustainable and I wouldn’t be surprised if he goes on a long run without another goal or assist.
Granted, he’ll likely be hitting DefCon every week and you can’t argue with 3-5 points regularly. But his price point at £5.6m I feel is too much to be back-up; you almost want to be playing him every week at that price. I personally believe we have a lot more options that are better enablers and have higher ceilings than him right now.
OTHER £5.5M OPTIONS
First off, let’s start at his price point. If we’re taking purely DefCon here, there’s only one that comes close to him and it’s Elliot Anderson (£5.5m) I think the fact he missed DefCon in the first three games has put people off him, but for me it’s only positive signs. He missed DefCon points in each match by just one contribution – another day we could be looking at 100% hit rate and the best asset at the price point. Not to mention that he currently has a 2/2 game success rate under Ange Postecoglou.
His attacking potential is far superior to that of Caicedo and he just feels like a player with a much higher ceiling. He ranks highest for passes in the opponent half and is amongst the very top players in the league for final third passes. Add to that his share of set pieces – I have complete faith in him to start picking up those returns.
THE APPEAL OF A CHEAPER PICK
Now we move down the bracket to a very interesting selection of players at £5.0m – and I think these guys are most crucial, especially if you plan to Wildcard soon.
Tyler Adams, James Garner, Josh Cullen, Granit Xhaka and the new Burnley man Florentino are all £5.0m, all starting every week and all topping this DefCon list.
Now at this price, you don’t want to play them every week. You don’t even feel the need to. But what they offer is strong backup to your squad.
A lot of these players have a very consistent floor score of four points. For me, they can happily sit on the bench until I need them. When they are auto-subbed on, or even if I have to play them, I will do so gladly, knowing that there’s a great chance I get at least four points. So I have no need to rush to deal with whatever issues the rest of my squad may have. They are the key to very strategic, patient play.
£5.0M OPTIONS
Now which one to pick?
Last week I activated my Wildcard and I went for Xhaka. He may not be *pure* DefCon but he’s the captain, talisman and very capable of an attacking return, as we saw in Gameweek 5. His DefCon numbers have been very good regardless, particularly away from home. He’s hit DefCon twice from two away games so far but zero times at home – he does however have two home attacking returns and a couple of near-DefCon misses. I don’t plan to play him much, but happily will of needs be and he is perfect for a potential Bench Boost in Gameweek 8. He feels like the perfect blend of defensive contributions, attacking potential and minutes reliability.
I believe Florentino is a real dark horse budget option. An unknown, of course, but his DefCon numbers at Benfica were superb. I scanned through the season and he hit it most weeks, despite being in a team with a vast amount of possession. I think there’s a great chance he only enhances those numbers at Burnley and his score of 18 against Forest seems to suggest just this. He has been eased into the side at first but I doubt he is dropped after his excellent display last week. He may not score many goals but it wouldn’t surprise me if he hits DefCon basically every week!
A third name I wanted to highlight is the popular Stach. DefCon wise, he just misses out on the top ranks with an average of 8.40 per 90 minutes and a 40% hit rate. But it’s his attacking potential that catches the eye: over two shots and two chances crested per 90 minutes with a large share set pieces. He has by far the greatest attacking potential out of the £5.0m options. His floor is probably the lowest here, due to the lower DefCon numbers, but his ceiling is definitely the highest. Probably a better pick to play more often than one to offer as backup with that high floor.
You really can’t go wrong with any of these options. Adams is very nailed on and consistent (but will pick up a booking or two). Garner has started superbly and has a goal in him as we have seen already, while he even has a small share of set pieces.
This is why I’m very cool on the Caicedo pick, despite his tremendous consistency. You can get such excellent backup value for £5.0m, or a higher ceiling pick to play every week in Anderson.
IN SUMMARY
To summarise the above, here are my best picks in each bracket.
To play each week:
- Anderson
- Stach
- Caicedo
Best back-up bench enablers:
- Xhaka
- Florentino
- Stach
