The Scout picks out clubs and players who can be paired together effectively in opening squads for 2026/27 Fantasy Premier League and give FPL managers a great run of early fixtures.

Brentford and Leeds 

Owning a defender from both Brentford and Leeds United can help you immediately profit from a great run of home matches over the first five Gameweeks.

By rotating them (starting one and benching the other) according to whoever has the home fixture, you would face only TWO clubs who finished in the top 11 last season.

That occurs in Gameweek 2, when Leeds host Brentford themselves, and in Gameweek 3, when Brentford face Sunderland.

This run is also reflected by the Fixture Difficulty Ratings (FDR), with all of those fixtures scoring no more than three.

Brentford and Leeds rotation, GW1-5

GW
Club
Opp.
FDR*

1
Brentford
Spurs (H)
3

2
Leeds
Brentford (H)
3

3
Brentford
Sunderland (H)
2

4
Leeds
Newcastle (H)
3

5
Leeds
Crystal Palace (H)
3

*1 = easiest possible fixture, 5 = hardest possible fixture

Who will be the best budget defenders?

As one of three promoted clubs last season, Leeds defied expectation by avoiding relegation thanks to their solid defensive displays at Elland Road.

Daniel Farke’s side kept six clean sheets in home matches in 2025/26 – a total bettered by only four clubs – but managed a mere two clean sheets in away matches.

While Jaka Bijol seems very unlikely to remain under £5.0m after a fine breakout campaign where he averaged 4.6 points per start, fellow centre-back Joe Rodon could easily remain under £5.0m.

The Wales international averaged 3.3pps by contrast in his 33 starts, producing 18 defensive contributions (DC).

Wing-back Jayden Bogle delivered a respectable one goal and five assists but picked up a mere four DC points all season.

Brentford, meanwhile, kept five clean sheets both at home and away, with Caoimhin Kelleher finishing as the second top-scoring goalkeeper in Fantasy on 143 points.

Kelleher started last season at just £4.5m and, along with centre-back Nathan Collins, could rise to at least £5.0m this time around.

Centre-back Sepp van den Berg and full-back Michael Kayode may well remain in the budget bracket, though, and offer contrasting routes to returns.

Van den Berg collected 26 DC points in 30 starts and, despite failing to score, had 22 shots in the box – more than any other Brentford defender.

Kayode’s 34 chances created ranked second for the Bees, although he did only collect six DC points all season.

Next: Coventry and Nottingham Forest