Micky Van de Ven was the hero this gameweek with a stunning display of defensive solidity and unexpected attacking prowess, the Dutchman delivered a colossal 23 point haul and in doing so helped Tottenham become the first ever team to beat Everton at their new stadium. A total more often associated with premium attackers than a budget friendly centre back. That score has now catapulted him to the third highest scoring defender after Gabriel and Timber. Van de Ven’s explosive performance was a moment of pure FPL pain for many, including me. I had just transferred him out for Dan Burn, resulting in a brutal 21 point swing. The Spurs CB had started strong, racking up 27 points across his first four matches. However, after four consecutive blanks including a disheartening zero pointer against Aston Villa and a tricky fixture run ahead, many managers decided to jump ship and were instantly punished.
🤩🔥Most FPL points scored by a Defender in a Single Gameweek :
— ALLABOUTFPL (@allaboutfpl) October 26, 2025
🔹Riise – 27 pts, ⚽⚽🅰️🅰️ + CS
🔹Watson – 27 pts, ⚽⚽⚽ + CS
🔹Timber – 24 pts, ⚽⚽🅰️ + CS
🔹Trent – 24 pts, ⚽🅰️🅰️🅰️ + CS
🔹Van De Ven- 23 pts, ⚽⚽ + CS + DEFCON pic.twitter.com/i3cJEJaUCI
I also found an interesting stat, usually you would suspect that the top players every week in FPL would be attackers or midfielders right? You would be wrong, so far out of 9 Gameweeks 6 of the highest points scorers have been defenders.
Semenyo is the only attacker here and out of 9 Gameweeks we have 6 defenders and 2 defensive midfielders. Who would have thought at the start of the season, just goes to show that football in the league this season has become very defensive. Bournemouth are second in the league with a goal difference of +5, Sunderland are fourth with +4 and Manchester United are somehow sixth with +1. This is why defenders are benefitting, the rise in clean sheets, set piece goals, long throw ins and Defcons are all contributing to this factor. A testament to the new defensive scoring meta, two of the top five all time highest single Gameweek scores by a defender were recorded this season (courtesy of Timber and Van de Ven).
What does this mean going forward, a return to 4-5-1 or 4-4-2 formation and the return of the big at the back set up like we had with Cancelo, James, Trent and Robertson. Maybe because if you look at the top scorers in FPL apart from Haaland and Semenyo at the top, it is all defenders.
Midfielders are not delivering either apart from Semenyo, we do not have the premium assets such as Saka, Salah, Palmer, Foden delivering stable returns. This has been a very strange season, many top managers are finding it tough to get consistent returns as every week a new midfielder/forward pops up that becomes essential. The defenders meanwhile are picking up Defcon returns, goals from set pieces and more importantly consistent returns. Investing heavily in the backline is no longer just about chasing clean sheets, it’s a calculated move to secure consistent returns that were previously impossible to achieve. It maybe time for us to rethink our long term FPL plans.
