Best £5m Defenders in FPL 2025/26
The Best £5m Defenders in FPL 2025/26 offer a perfect balance between reliability and value. Sitting just below the premium bracket, these defenders can deliver clean sheets, attacking returns, and bonus points – all without stretching your budget.
In this article, we highlight the standout £5.0m options to consider for Gameweek 1 and beyond, based on fixtures, form, and FPL potential.
Neco Williams
Nottingham Forest were fantastic overall last season. Part of that was due to their elite defence, a defence which ranked joint second best for total clean sheets, and second best for total big chances conceded.
Outside of their fixture against Arsenal in Gameweek 4, their schedule could hold huge defensive potential. In fact, Nuno Santos and his men clash with Brentford, Crystal Palace, West Ham, Burnley and Sunderland in the their first games.
One of their many standouts at the back is Neco Williams. Williams is one of the cheapest routes into a top defensive, but he also offers attacking threat – having ranked among the top five in his position for total shots on goal last season.
Levi Colwill
Chelsea go into their new campaign off the back of securing the Club World Cup trophy and becoming World Champions. Whilst their frontline helped them achieve that, the Blues also kept four clean sheets in seven outings.
Arguably with a better starting schedule than most teams – Enzo Maresca and his sides meet with Crystal Palace, West Ham, Fulham, Brentford, Manchester United and Brighton in their first six games.
The fixtures look good from a clean sheet potential, and Levi Colwill could be the best of the bunch. The English centre-back played more minutes than any of his defender teammates last season – making him a reliable and cheap route into a solid backline. He also produced more defensive contributions than his teammates, which could be key this season.
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Vitaliy Mykolenko
Everton are another side we could look to for defensive potential. The Toffees improved under David Moyes. In fact, rather than finishing in the bottom five, something they had done in the previous three seasons, they ended the campaign in 13th.
A lot of the above was due to their defence – collecting a solid 12 clean sheets. After being a standout at a budget price last season for FPL managers, full-back Vitaliy Mykolenko could once again offer value. As well as having clean sheet potential, the Ukrainian also offers attacking threat – ranking second among his defensive teammates for total attacking returns in the previous campaign.
Nathan Collins
Things could have gone a lot better for Brentford from a defensive perspective last time out. The Bees ranked among the worst eight sides for total goals conceded and total clean sheets kept. The departure of former manager Thomas Frank is also a concern.
With the above in mind, why should we even consider a Brentford defender? Well, centre-back Nathan Collins offers something a lot of defenders don’t, multiple routes to points. As well as sitting third best in his position for total defensive contributions last season, Collins bagged an impressive nine attacking returns.
More Great Options
Tottenham are one side worth monitoring this season. Although they finished 17th in the league last campaign, we could well see improvements under Thomas Frank. Centre-back Cristian Romero is a standout at the back – who had a higher XG (expected goals) than his teammates per 90 minutes last season.
Crystal Palace impressed towards the end of the 2024/25 campaign – failing to lose any of their final eight matches in all competitions. One player who seems to have settled well for the Eagles is Frenchman Maxence Lacroix. The centre-back managed 347 defensive contributions last season – helping him into the top five in his position for that metric.
Fulham could well go under the radar this season. The Cottagers have mixed starting fixtures and failed to convince last season, but one of their assets offers huge attacking threat. Antonee Robinson became a very popular asset for managers last time out – racking up a huge 10 attacking returns.
