25/26 was the Year of the Defender in EPL Draft
- Andrew
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
The 2025/26 season may well go down as the Year of the Defender in Fantrax. Recent changes to defender scoring, a surge in set-piece goals, and unprecedented positional depth have completely reshaped the Draft Premier League landscape. In this deep dive, we examine the historical data behind the defender renaissance, compare the position to midfielders and forwards, and explore what it all means for Fantasy EPL managers heading into the 2026/27 season. Is this a lasting shift in Fantasy EPL strategy or merely a one-season anomaly? And should Draft Premier League managers be rethinking how they value defenders altogether?
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The reinvention of the defender was one of the defining themes of the 2025/26 season. I touched on the position briefly in the season recap article, 38 Gameweeks Later, but this time we're going much deeper. We'll explore the historical context, compare defenders with the other positions, and examine just how dramatically the changes to defender scoring have altered the Fantrax landscape. Some of the data and themes from the previous article will inevitably make another appearance, but there's plenty more to uncover this time around.
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Defender Scoring Changes Balanced Positions
Ever since the defender scoring tweak first took effect in the 2024/25 season, the strategy of investing more heavily in defenders has quietly gained traction. By reducing the punishment for conceding the first goal, the changes restored much-needed balance to the position and significantly raised the floor of defender scoring.
The table below highlights the impact of that change using a reasonably broad filter of defenders with 10+ starts, allowing us to capture both regular starters and viable streaming options. The average defender performed poorly in both 2022/23 and 2023/24, but there was a sharp improvement from 2024/25 onwards, with point totals moving much closer to those of midfielders and forwards across several key metrics.
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