Most managers fill this bracket last. Two or three slots left, forty pounds gone on the premiums, and whoever is left at £6.0m goes in.
That habit is defensible, because the bracket really is poor on average. It is also how people miss the best value in the game.
Part 1: the band is the eighth best of ten
Median points per £1m across last season, by position and price. Only players who reached 1,500 minutes are counted, so this measures what a regular starter returned.
| Position and price | Players | Median season points | Median points per £1m |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forwards, £7-9m | 6 | 177 | 23.9 |
| Goalkeepers, any price | 21 | 113 | 23.5 |
| Defenders, under £5.5m | 79 | 99 | 22.5 |
| Defenders, £5.5-6.5m | 10 | 136 | 22.1 |
| Midfielders, under £5.5m | 48 | 95 | 18.6 |
| Midfielders, £6.5-9m | 21 | 131 | 18.3 |
| Forwards, under £7m | 15 | 108 | 18.3 |
| Midfielders, £5.5-6.5m | 32 | 103 | 16.9 |
| Midfielders, £9m+ | 4 | 157 | 15.7 |
| Forwards, £9m+ | 3 | 128 | 14.1 |
Eighth of ten. A typical £6.0m midfielder returned 103 points, which is worse per pound than a typical £4.5m defender.
The interesting part sits in the gap between that median and the top of the same bracket:
| Points | Points per £1m | |
|---|---|---|
| Median of the band | 103 | 16.9 |
| Best in the band | 180 | 27.7 |
| Gap | +75% | +64% |
No other bracket has a spread like it. Among £9m+ forwards there were three players and they all did roughly the same thing. Among £5.5-6.5m midfielders there were thirty-two, and the top of them earned two thirds more per pound than the middle.
So the rule for this bracket is different from every other one. Elsewhere you can buy the price band. Here you have to buy the player.
Part 2: who the best actually were
Every midfielder priced £5.5m to £6.5m today who played 1,500 minutes last season, sorted by points per £1m. Each points column shows the total and its share of that player's season.
| Player | Club last season | Price | Owned | Total | Points per £1m | Goals & assists | DefCon* | Clean sheets | Bonus | Appearance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elliot Anderson | Nott'm Forest | £6.5 | 11% | 180 | 27.7 | 35 / 19% (4g 5a) | 52 / 29% | 10 / 6% | 16 / 9% | 67 / 37% |
| James Garner | Everton | £6.0 | 0.4% | 159 | 26.5 | 31 / 19% (2g 7a) | 40 / 25% | 11 / 7% | 13 / 8% | 64 / 40% |
| Harry Wilson | Fulham | £6.5 | 7.8% | 168 | 25.8 | 77 / 46% (10g 9a) | 2 / 1% | 9 / 5% | 21 / 13% | 59 / 35% |
| Enzo Le Fée | Sunderland | £6.0 | 12.8% | 147 | 24.5 | 43 / 29% (5g 6a) | 16 / 11% | 10 / 7% | 16 / 11% | 62 / 42% |
| Ethan Ampadu | Leeds | £5.5 | 1.6% | 134 | 24.4 | 17 / 13% (1g 4a) | 38 / 28% | 8 / 6% | 11 / 8% | 60 / 45% |
| Martín Zubimendi | Arsenal | £5.5 | 1.4% | 133 | 24.2 | 28 / 21% (5g 1a) | 14 / 11% | 16 / 12% | 9 / 7% | 66 / 50% |
| Ryan Gravenberch | Liverpool | £6.0 | 2% | 144 | 24.0 | 40 / 28% (5g 5a) | 14 / 10% | 9 / 6% | 17 / 12% | 64 / 44% |
| Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall | Everton | £6.5 | 3.7% | 151 | 23.2 | 61 / 40% (8g 7a) | 10 / 7% | 8 / 5% | 18 / 12% | 54 / 36% |
| Brenden Aaronson | Leeds | £5.5 | 0.9% | 126 | 22.9 | 44 / 35% (4g 8a) | 6 / 5% | 9 / 7% | 5 / 4% | 62 / 49% |
| Marcus Tavernier | Bournemouth | £6.0 | 1.8% | 137 | 22.8 | 47 / 34% (7g 4a) | 6 / 4% | 11 / 8% | 14 / 10% | 59 / 43% |
| Anton Stach | Leeds | £6.0 | 1.1% | 137 | 22.8 | 43 / 31% (5g 6a) | 20 / 15% | 7 / 5% | 14 / 10% | 53 / 39% |
| Alex Scott | Bournemouth | £6.0 | 1.6% | 136 | 22.7 | 21 / 15% (3g 2a) | 30 / 22% | 11 / 8% | 9 / 7% | 65 / 48% |
| Granit Xhaka | Sunderland | £5.5 | 5.1% | 124 | 22.5 | 23 / 19% (1g 6a) | 26 / 21% | 9 / 7% | 8 / 6% | 58 / 47% |
| Matheus Fernandes | West Ham | £6.0 | 2.8% | 135 | 22.5 | 27 / 20% (3g 4a) | 30 / 22% | 8 / 6% | 7 / 5% | 63 / 47% |
* DefCon is the defensive contribution bonus: two points for reaching twelve defensive actions in a match, which is the midfield threshold. The column shows the points earned that way across the season.
Three things the percentages give away
Appearance points are 35% to 50% of every line. Two points a start, thirty-odd starts, seventy points before anything happens. Nobody in this bracket is picked on talent alone; they are picked on being certain to play.
There are two ways to earn the rest, and almost nobody does both. Harry Wilson took 46% of his season from goals and assists and 1% from DefCon. Ethan Ampadu took 13% from attack and 28% from DefCon. The bracket splits cleanly into creators and destroyers.
Two players did both. Anderson and Garner each took roughly 19% from attack and another 25% to 29% from DefCon. That is exactly why they lead on points per pound. Everyone else runs one engine.
Part 3: set pieces
Order of duty is published by the game, and it is a claim about intent. Actual volume is better, so here is what these players really did last season.
| Player | Corners taken in 2025/26 | Direct free kicks | Penalties | League rank for corners |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| James Garner | 110 | first choice | third choice | 1st in the Premier League |
| Anton Stach | 102 | first choice, 3 goals scored | none | 3rd |
| Granit Xhaka | not in the top group | first choice | none | none |
| Enzo Le Fée | not in the top group | second choice | second choice | none |
| Alex Scott | not in the top group | fourth choice | none | none |
| Elliot Anderson | not in the top group | none | third choice | none |
| Ethan Ampadu | none | none | none | none |
For scale, the only players above Stach were Dominik Szoboszlai on 104 and Garner on 110. Declan Rice took 95 for Arsenal.
Two details matter more than the totals.
Garner faces no competition for the job. He took 100 of his 110 corners from the left, while Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall took all 43 of his from the right. Everton split the duty by foot rather than by hierarchy, so there is no one to lose it to.
Stach scores from his own free kicks. Three goals directly from dead balls last season, which is a scoring route that survives a bad team around him.
The order of duty published today reflects last season. Eight of the seventeen ever-present clubs changed manager this summer, and set-piece hierarchy is among the first things a new coach rewrites. Everton, Leeds and Sunderland kept theirs, which is why Garner, Stach and Xhaka carry less of that risk than the rest.
Part 4: which numbers travelled and which did not
Three of the fourteen earned their season somewhere else.
| Player | Where the numbers were earned | Where he plays now | What changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elliot Anderson | Nottingham Forest | Manchester City | Everything |
| Harry Wilson | Fulham | Leeds | Team quality and role |
| Matheus Fernandes | West Ham | Spurs | Team quality and role |
Anderson is the one to think hardest about, because his 180 points are the best in the bracket and the least likely to repeat.
His DefCon points came from playing in a Forest side that defended deep and won the ball back constantly. Manchester City are the opposite by design, and their new manager is Enzo Maresca, whose Leicester side was praised for forcing errors rather than tackling. A team with two thirds of the ball does not rack up clearances, blocks, interceptions and tackles.
City also conceded 0.92 goals a match last season and kept sixteen clean sheets, the best in the league. There is no defending left to do in the volume DefCon requires.
The reasonable expectation is that Anderson stays a good footballer and loses most of the 29% of his points that came from defensive work.
Part 5: what to actually do
James Garner at £6.0m is the pick, and he is injured for the opening weekend. A groin problem has him due back on 22 August, a day after the Gameweek 1 deadline. That makes him a Gameweek 2 buy rather than a Gameweek 1 one, and a price drop while he sits out would only improve the entry.
He is the only player in the bracket who combines all four of the things this analysis looked for.
| Garner | |
|---|---|
| Certainty of playing | 38 starts from 38 |
| Defensive floor | reached the threshold in 53% of starts |
| Attacking ceiling | most corners in the Premier League, first choice on free kicks |
| Ownership | 0.4% |
| Manager change | none |
Everton spent roughly £60m this summer entirely on midfield and attack, so the shape around him is unchanged. His 0.4% ownership means he is a genuine differential in any mini-league.
Anton Stach at £6.0m is the same idea, one tier down. Second most corners in the league, three free-kick goals, 36% DefCon hit rate. The catch is 28 starts against Garner's 38, so the rotation risk is real.
Granit Xhaka at £5.5m is the budget version. First choice on Sunderland's free kicks, 41% DefCon hit rate, 32 starts, no manager change.
Enzo Le Fée is fine and expensive in the way that matters. His 147 points are real. He also sits at 12.8% ownership, the highest in the bracket, while ranking outside the leaders on both routes to points. Owning him keeps pace with the field rather than beating it.
What would change this
The DefCon rule is unchanged for 2026/27, so the mechanism holds. Two things could still undo it.
Clearances, blocks and interceptions now earn one bonus-system point per three actions instead of one per two, which trims the bonus that defensive midfielders collect. Garner took only 8% of his season from bonus, so the damage is small, though it points the same way.
The bigger risk is minutes. Every figure above rests on players who started. A hit rate measured over starts says nothing about whether a player starts, and one injury turns the best pick in the bracket into a bench filler.
All figures cover the 2025/26 Premier League season and come from our own records. Prices and ownership are as at 15 August 2026. Corner and free-kick volumes are as reported by Opta.