Welcome to our Fantasy EPL Draft Rankings for Defenders for the 20/21 season! Our Draft Rankings will be an essential part of your preparation for the new season. Use these hints and tips to get ahead of your fellow Fantrax Draft Managers!
Here we rank the Top 80 Defenders, which covers most of the sought after players for each EPL team! As outlined in our Fantasy EPL Draft Strategy Guide, Defenders scored extremely well last season and can offer elite level points on a weekly basis. This year more than ever is the time to get your Defender choices correct!
These rankings are based on the Fantrax Scoring System.
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Defenders Draft Rankings
In order to create these rankings, we have firstly downloaded the Fantrax HQ Tiered Rankings Cheat Sheet as a guideline for where each player should be roughly ranked. We have then customized this Cheat Sheet to our own preferences, and created our specific rankings from there. We recommend you do the same!
These rankings will be constantly updated over the next few weeks, as we gain more information from friendlies. We’ll add new signings as and when they occur.
| RNK | PLAYER | TEAM | TIER |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trent Alexander-Arnold | LIV | 1 |
| 2 | Lucas Digne | EVE | 2 |
| 3 | Matt Doherty | TOT | 2 |
| 4 | Virgil van Dijk | LIV | 3 |
| 5 | Andrew Robertson | LIV | 3 |
| 6 | Willy Boly | WOL | 3 |
| 7 | James Tarkowski | BUR | 3 |
| 8 | Harry Maguire | MUN | 3 |
| 9 | Cesar Azpilicueta | CHE | 3 |
| 10 | Ben Chilwell | CHE | 3 |
| 11 | Aaron Wan-Bissaka | MUN | 4 |
| 12 | Joao Cancelo | MCI | 4 |
| 13 | Kieran Tierney | ARS | 4 |
| 14 | Jack O'Connell | SHU | 4 |
| 15 | Enda Stevens | SHU | 4 |
| 16 | George Baldock | SHU | 4 |
| 17 | Romain Saiss | WOL | 5 |
| 18 | Charlie Taylor | BUR | 5 |
| 19 | Ben Mee | BUR | 5 |
| 20 | Chris Basham | SHU | 5 |
| 21 | John Egan | SHU | 5 |
| 22 | Caglar Soyuncu | LEI | 5 |
| 23 | Joseph Gomez | LIV | 5 |
| 24 | Aymeric Laporte | MCI | 5 |
| 25 | Michael Keane | EVE | 5 |
| 26 | Gabriel Magalhaes | ARS | 5 |
| 27 | Reece James | CHE | 5 |
| 28 | Benjamin Mendy | MCI | 5 |
| 29 | Kyle Walker-Peters | SOU | 6 |
| 30 | Matty Cash | AST | 6 |
| 31 | Dan Burn | BHA | 6 |
| 32 | Timothy Castagne | LEI | 6 |
| 33 | Thiago Silva | CHE | 6 |
| 34 | Luke Shaw | MUN | 6 |
| 35 | Ruben Vinagre | WOL | 6 |
| 36 | Luke Ayling | LEE | 6 |
| 37 | James Justin | LEI | 6 |
| 38 | Lewis Dunk | BHA | 6 |
| 39 | Adam Webster | BHA | 6 |
| 40 | Matt Targett | AVL | 6 |
| 41 | Ryan Fredericks | WHU | 6 |
| 42 | Aaron Cresswell | WHU | 6 |
| 43 | Tariq Lamptey | BHA | 6 |
| 44 | Joel Matip | LIV | 6 |
| 45 | Ben Davies | TOT | 7 |
| 46 | Gary Cahill | CRY | 7 |
| 47 | Jonny Evans | LEI | 7 |
| 48 | Joe Bryan | FUL | 7 |
| 49 | Marcal | WOL | 7 |
| 50 | Mason Holgate | EVE | 7 |
| 51 | Seamus Coleman | EVE | 7 |
| 52 | Kyle Walker | MCI | 7 |
| 53 | Marcos Alonso | CHE | 7 |
| 54 | Shkodran Mustafi | ARS | 7 |
| 55 | Ryan Bertrand | SOU | 7 |
| 56 | Semi Ajayi | WBA | 7 |
| 57 | Matthew Lowton | BUR | 7 |
| 58 | Phil Bardsley | BUR | 7 |
| 59 | Patrick van Aanholt | CRY | 7 |
| 60 | Ricardo Pereira | LEI | 8 |
| 61 | Brandon Williams | MUN | 8 |
| 62 | Liam Cooper | LEE | 8 |
| 63 | Robin Koch | LEE | 8 |
| 64 | Ben White | BHA | 8 |
| 65 | Cedric Soares | ARS | 8 |
| 66 | Ethan Ampadu | SHU | 8 |
| 67 | Javier Manquillo | NEW | 8 |
| 68 | Jamal Lewis | NEW | 8 |
| 69 | Joel Ward | CRY | 8 |
| 70 | Jan Bednarek | SOU | 8 |
| 71 | Oleksandr Zinchenko | MCI | 8 |
| 72 | Issa Diop | WHU | 8 |
| 73 | Jannik Vestergaard | SOU | 8 |
| 74 | William Saliba | ARS | 8 |
| 75 | Frederic Guilbert | AVL | 8 |
| 76 | Luke Thomas | LEI | 8 |
| 77 | Federico Fernandez | NEW | 8 |
| 78 | Eric Dier | TOT | 8 |
| 79 | Davinson Sanchez | TOT | 8 |
| 80 | Hector Bellerin | ARS | 8 |
Tier 1 & 2 – The Fantasy EPL Elite
Top of the pile is Trent Alexander-Arnold. Obviously. The Liverpool right-back is literally in a tier of his own for these Defenders Draft Rankings! He was the second overall points scorer last season, with an average of over 14 points per game. Alexander-Arnold scored four goals and provided 15 (!) assists. The Liverpool man performs well across most scoring categories, but especially key passes! The youngster will be one of the highest-scoring players again this season and looks to be going at around the 6th pick in most mock drafts. In Tier 2 we’ve got Lucas Digne and Matt Doherty, as they are ranked 2nd and 3rd in our Defenders Draft Rankings. Both of these full-backs are incredible Fantrax assets who we would happily draft in the third round! Doherty was the 13th highest scoring player last season, and Digne was ranked 16th overall.
Tier 3 – The Machines
Tier 3 is made up of our points scoring machines. These defenders perform to a very high standard every single game; they don’t need clean sheets or attacking returns to post double-figure scores! Ranked in 4th place we’ve got Virgil Van Dijk, closely followed by his Liverpool teammate Andrew Robertson in 5th. We’re a bit lower than most on Robertson. Willy Boly, James Tarkowski, and Harry Maguire are ranked 6th through to 8th. These three center-backs perform incredibly well for aerial wins, which are worth one point each in the Fantrax Scoring System. Along with the slightly higher-ranked Van Dijk, the likes of Boly, Tarkowski and Maguire will easily rack up a decent points tally based on their defensive statistics. The Chelsea pair Cesar Azpilicueta and Ben Chilwell round out Tier 3 of our Defenders Draft Rankings. All seven players in this tier average around 10 points per game or more, and we would highly recommend trying to draft one of these players in the first five or six rounds of your draft.
Tier 4 – The Good Hands
In Tier 4 we’ve got some defenders who are pretty good scoring players, or those that could be set for a breakout season. Aaron Wan-Bissaka is ranked in 11th overall, and he’s a really solid Fantrax asset to own. Next up we’ve got a couple of potential breakout stars; Joao Cancelo and Kieran Tierney. Both of these full-backs had fairly average first seasons in the Premier League, but we think they will perform really well during this campaign. Rankings of 12th and 13th reflect this. Sheffield United trio Jack O’Connell, Enda Stevens, and George Baldock complete Tier 4 of our Defenders Draft Rankings. We’re expecting a bit of a decline in The Blades’ performances this year, but we’re still backing these three players to perform really well this season.
Tier 5 – The Dependables
In Tier 5 we’re getting down to some really dependable defenders, who you should still be able to start in most games during the season. Wolves defender Romain Saiss is ranked 17th overall and is possibly unlucky not to make the tier above. Burnley and Sheffield United players Charlie Taylor, Ben Mee, Chris Basham, and John Egan are ranked 18th through to 21st respectively. Caglar Soyuncu is up next, closely followed by new Chelsea defender Thiago Silva who comes in at 23rd. Joseph Gomez, Aymeric Laporte, Michael Keane, and new Arsenal man Gabriel Magalhaes are up next. Reece James and Benjamin Mendy round out Tier 5. They score well when they play, but how often they play is a question we don’t know the answer to!
Tier 6 – The Streamers
Tier 6 is the start of defenders who will offer you really good value at times throughout the season but may not do enough to justify a full-time place in your roster. A lot of the Defenders mentioned in this section of our Draft Rankings are streamable assets. Young full-backs Kyle Walker-Peters and Ruben Vinagre are ranked 30th and 31st, and these are players that we’re pretty keen on ahead of the new campaign. If you can pick any of them up towards the end of the draft, you will have done well! Other players of note in Tier 6 are Aston Villa and West Ham full-backs Matt Targett, Matty Cash, Ryan Fredericks and Aaron Cresswell.
Tier 7 – The Punts
Tier 7 is filled with players who you will be able to happily add and remove from your roster throughout the season, depending on form and fixtures. Some of these players score well when they play, but they are currently not first choice. Other players mentioned in this section of our Defenders Draft Rankings are simply players that start every game and might score well during a particular match-up. Premier League new boys Joe Bryan and Semi Ajayi are ranked 47th and 54th. Matthew Lowton and Phil Bardsley are worth noting here. We’re currently unsure which of the Burnley defenders will start the season in the side; whichever one does has Tier 6 or maybe even Tier 5 value.
Leicester City’s points scoring monster Ricardo Pereira is ranked 58th overall, as he has huge concerns over his return from a serious injury. If he was fully fit he would be in Tier 2, but at the moment there are concerns he may not feature full time until Christmas.
More Fantasy EPL Draft Rankings: Goalkeepers | Defenders | Midfielders | Forwards | Top 200 | Tiered Rankings Cheat Sheet
Our 20/21 Fantasy EPL Draft Kit is here!! Check out our dedicated page for essential pre-season content, including Draft Rankings, Team Previews, and Draft Strategy articles!
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