Scott Dann, Patrick van Aanholt and Charlie Daniels are the fantasy football defenders likely to bag you the most points for goals and assists.

Selecting defenders in fantasy football is very different to selecting midfielders and strikers.

Defenders primarily earn their points through clean sheets, which are a result of a team effort, whereas midfielders and strikers earn theirs from goals and assists, which are more through individual actions.

For that reason it’s often sensible to pick defenders who regularly play for teams you expect to get plenty of clean sheets.

Defender: Scott Dann has scored five goals this season.
Sunderland's Patrick van Aanholt celebrates scoring his side's first goal
Four goals: Sunderland's Patrick van Aanholt celebrates scoring for his side

Last season that would mean picking them from Arsenal (18 clean sheets), Manchester United (also 18), Manchester City (16), Leicester (15) and Tottenham (13).

That presents two problems though. Firstly, defenders from these clubs are expensive so you can’t really afford to fill your defence with them, and secondly, once you’ve picked the team you want a defender from, who do you go for?

One way to decide is to look at which defenders are more attack minded and get points from goals and assists as well as clean sheets.

Based on last season’s performances the top three Premier League defenders on that front are Dann, former Chelsea defender van Aanholt and Daniels.

Dann scored five goals for Crystal Palace and assisted one according to figures provided by Opta. That’s worth 38 points on the Fantasy iTeam game at seven for a goal and three for an assist, or 33 points on the official Premier League game at six for a goal and three for an assist.

Charlie Daniels of Bournemouth holds off pressure from Jonathan Leko of West Brom
Five assists: Bournemouth's Charlie Daniels in action
Toby Alderweireld of Tottenham Hotspur and Jermain Defoe of Sunderland compete for the ball
Spurs strike: Two assists and four goals for Toby Alderweireld

Van Aanholt scored four and assisted three - 37 points on Fantasy iTeam or 33 on the Premier League game - and Daniels assisted five and scored three, either 36 or 33 points depending on which game you use.

Tottenham’s Toby Alderweireld’s two assists and four goals were worth an additional 34 or 30 points last season on top of the 65 or 52 he earned for his 13 clean sheets, again depending on which game you use.

Everton’s Ramiro Funes Mori scored four and assisted one (31/27 points), while Manchester City’s Aleksandar Kolarov scored and assisted three (30/27 points).

Arsenal’s Laurent Koscielny scored four goals, as did Bournemouth’s Steve Cook and West Brom’s Craig Dawson worth an additional 28/24 points each. Aaron Cresswell’s four assists were worth either 26 or 24 points depending on your game of choice.

Total points won for goals and assists

Scott Dann: 38

Patrick van Aanholt: 37

Charlie Daniels: 36

Toby Alderweireld: 34

Ramiro Funes Mori: 31

Aleksandar Kolarov: 30

Steve Cook: 28

Laurent Koscielny: 28

Craig Dawson: 28

Aaron Cresswell: 26

Most assists in 2015-16

Héctor Bellerín: 5

Charlie Daniels: 5

Simon Francis: 4

Daryl Janmaat: 4

Christian Fuchs: 4

Alberto Moreno: 4

Aaron Cresswell: 4

Most goals in 2015-16

Scott Dann: 5

Toby Alderweireld: 4

Steve Cook: 4

Ramiro Funes Mori: 4

Patrick van Aanholt: 4

Laurent Koscielny: 4

Craig Dawson: 4