KIERAN TRIPPIER (£4.8m) has reclaimed top spot among Dream Team defenders following Newcastle's 3-1 win over Aston Villa on Tuesday night.
The experienced right-back provided his ninth assist of the season for the game's opening goal with a typically threatening corner.
Ollie Watkins (£4m) scored a consolation goal for the hosts midway through the second half to vanquish Trippier and company's clean sheet but the latter earned three bonus points by way of compensation to bank eight in total from what was a tricky fixture on paper - it was Villa's first defeat at home in the league for almost a year.
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The former Atletico Madrid defender took Fulham for nine points in the FA Cup on Saturday so his combined haul for Gameweek 21 totalled an impressive 17.
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This effort moved him onto 179 points for the season, seven more Trent Alexander-Arnold (£5.7m), Dream Team's next-best defender at the time of writing.
Trippier also became the first player in his position to reach 40 bonus points.
In fact, only team-mate Bruno Guimaraes (£3.7m) has claimed more bonus points (45) among all players at this stage of the campaign.
This should serve as a timely reminder to Dream Team bosses of the England international's pedigree.
Trippier recently suffered a significant dip in popularity although his ownership of 26% still makes him the ninth-most selected asset in the game.
A lean spell of seven points in four games (either side of a one-game suspension) in December prompted plenty of gaffers to ditch him but he's struck back with 45 points across six fixtures since the start of Gameweek 17.
Trippier was far from the only Newcastle defender to come out of Gameweek 21 with their reputation enhanced.
Fabian Schar (£3.2m) catapulted himself into Dream Team's top ten defenders with a 22-point return, 14 of them coming via a rare brace against the Villains.
The Swiss centre-back exhibited poacher-like instincts to score twice in four minutes for his best haul of the season so far.
Schar is now just above William Saliba (£3.3m) in the rankings which is notable given the Arsenal fan favourite features in 40.6% of teams!
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Earlier this week, we flagged Dan Burn's (£3.3m) impressive returns of late while Sven Botman (£3.5m) also added 14 points to his tally this Gameweek.
All in all, Newcastle's first-choice back four combined for 72 points in Gameweek 21 and with Luton, Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth to come in their next three league games, there's every chance of more healthy returns.
