# Ezri Konsa heads the defensive picks for Round 7

> Ezri Konsa leads defenders at 3.08 xPts, ahead of Dayot Upamecano (2.85).

By the evmax model · 14 July 2026 · https://evmax.ai/round/7/defenders/

Ezri Konsa tops the defensive rankings this round at 3.08 xPts, priced at £4.8m. Dayot Upamecano (2.85 xPts) is the next-best option.

> Defenders from high-scoring expected fixtures offer attacking returns on top of clean-sheet potential — the best of both worlds.

That 3.08 is the safe floor; the model's ceiling has Ezri Konsa at 3.08 if the clean sheet holds and a goal or assist arrives on top.

**Bottom line:** Start Ezri Konsa — 3.08 xPts at £4.8m is the best defensive value this round.

## The data

| # | Player | Team | xPts | Price | Pts/m | Ceiling | Owned % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ezri Konsa | England | 3.08 | 4.8 | 0.64 | 3.08 | 3.0% |
| 2 | Dayot Upamecano | France | 2.85 | 5.3 | 0.54 | 2.85 | 4.9% |
| 3 | Marc Guehi | England | 2.83 | 5.1 | 0.56 | 2.83 | 6.2% |
| 4 | Nico O'Reilly | England | 2.80 | 4.7 | 0.60 | 2.80 | 10.8% |
| 5 | Jules Kounde | France | 2.76 | 5.4 | 0.51 | 2.76 | 6.3% |
| 6 | M. Llorente | Spain | 2.73 | 5.5 | 0.50 | 2.73 | 4.5% |
| 7 | William Saliba | France | 2.62 | 5.3 | 0.49 | 2.62 | 13.0% |
| 8 | Aymeric Laporte | Spain | 2.44 | 5.5 | 0.44 | 2.44 | 9.2% |
| 9 | V. Livramento | England | 2.42 | 4.6 | 0.53 | 2.42 | 0.1% |
| 10 | Lisandro Martinez | Argentina | 2.41 | 4.6 | 0.52 | 2.41 | 7.0% |
| 11 | Djed Spence | England | 2.40 | 4.5 | 0.53 | 2.40 | 0.5% |
| 12 | Cristian Romero | Argentina | 2.38 | 4.9 | 0.48 | 2.38 | 5.8% |
| 13 | Facundo Medina | Argentina | 2.33 | 4.0 | 0.58 | 2.33 | 9.4% |
| 14 | Cucurella | Spain | 2.31 | 5.1 | 0.45 | 2.31 | 27.0% |
| 15 | Pau Cubarsi | Spain | 2.22 | 5.0 | 0.44 | 2.22 | 6.1% |

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Method: Market odds (de-vigged) → Dixon-Coles scorelines → 50k Monte-Carlo simulations, scored on the official FIFA World Cup Fantasy points table.
Data license: CC BY 4.0 (attribution: evmax, https://evmax.ai). Machine-readable JSON: https://evmax.ai/api/round/7/defenders.json