Let’s be honest: there’s very little noise amongst Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers about activating a Free Hit chip in Gameweek 11.
But every week we put together a Scout Picks XI which is pretty much a Free Hit in all but name. So, what do the ‘machines’ think?
While you can never be sure of FPL’s upcoming chaos, our Premium Members Area can help via the Rate My Team (RMT) tool.
Here, we use its points projections to build this week’s ideal Free Hit squad. One that fits within a £100.0m budget, with no more than three players per club.
WHAT IS A FREE HIT?
Each FPL team is provided with numerous chips to use throughout the season. The Free Hit can be activated once, at the manager’s choice, allowing them to form a squad for one Gameweek only.
- READ MORE: How do you use the Free Hit chip?
Afterwards, the squad will return to its regular line-up of players for the following Gameweek.
BEST GAMEWEEK 11 FREE HIT
Using RMT’s numbers and the brilliant PlanFPL website, the addition of four cheap substitutes gives the below squad a value of £99.9m.
Check out how this starting line-up has compares with our Gameweek 11 Scout Picks bus team.
Furthermore, Mohamed Salah (£12.8m) is recommended as this week’s captain, taking the projected Free Hit score to 64.02 points.
GK: Andre Onana (£5.0m)
Not the outright top goalkeeper anymore, Onana is still part of a Manchester United backline that’s collected four clean sheets and conceded the fifth-fewest attempts on target (35). Under the instructions of Ruud van Nistelrooy, they welcome newly-promoted Leicester City to Old Trafford. Although the Foxes have scored in every match so far.
DEF: Pedro Porro (£5.5m)
In front is a trio of attacking full-backs. Porro is actually without an attacking return since Gameweek 1 but he ended last season with three goals in eight matches and as the best defender for shots. He’s also in the lead for them this time (19), boasting clean sheet potential versus the Ipswich Town team ranking last for shots (100).
DEF: Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.0m)
Piecing together an XI with both Salah and Erling Haaland (£15.3m) required too many sacrifices elsewhere. And the decision to not include FPL’s expensive forward frees up a lot of money – enough to squeeze in the number one defender for expected goal involvement (xGI, 3.36).
Additionally, the substitutes don’t need to be quite as cheap anymore, hence the inclusion of Joachim Andersen (£4.3m) and Cameron Archer (£5.0m).
DEF: Rayan Ait-Nouri (£4.7m)
Saturday sees the bottom two sides meet at Molineux. Very popular right now, Ait-Nouri is being bought by the bucketload because he’s the joint-best defender for goals (three) and got into some dangerous positions while blanking against Crystal Palace.
MID: Mohamed Salah (£12.8m)
When the big-hitting decision needed to be made, there was no hesitation in picking Salah over Haaland. He tops RMT for Gameweek 11, earning the armband thanks to a whopping 12 returns in 10 matches.
Now FPL’s top points-getter, he’s comfortably ahead of everyone else for penalty area touches (96) and is by far the best midfielder for shots on target (19).
MID: Son Heung-min (£9.9m)
Our vice-captain comes from Tottenham Hotspur’s attack, as the league’s top scorers host an Ipswich defence that has conceded 13 in its latest five matches. And it’s certainly been a campaign of home comforts for Son – all six returns have taken place there.
What could hold him back is game time. He was removed before the hour mark on Sunday, as Ange Postecoglou explained “he was never going to play more than sort of 55 or 60 minutes” when rebuilding fitness.
MID: Bruno Fernandes (£8.2m)
Meanwhile, heading into Gameweek 10, Fernandes was the biggest expected goals (xG) underachiever. His 28 shots hadn’t brought an actual goal but everyone else with at least 16 did so at least once.
But against Chelsea, he eventually brought joy to those who’d kept faith. Sticking to FPL tradition, will this start a fruitful boom period that coincides with a new manager bounce?
MID: Jarrod Bowen (£7.5m)
Of course, the stoppage time winner that triggered Erik ten Hag’s dismissal came from a Bowen penalty. It means the West Ham United winger has netted in his last two home outings, about to host the side that’s just gifted Southampton their first win.
MID: Bryan Mbeumo (£7.8m)
Similarly to Bowen, there are multiple routes to points for Mbeumo. A couple of recent penalties mean he’s recorded seven goals in this season’s five home matches. No wonder he was the most-bought player for Gameweeks 9 and 10!
Opponents Bournemouth are hard to predict, though. Seven points have just arrived from Arsenal, Aston Villa and Manchester City but preceding that was a defeat at Leicester.
FOR: Dominic Solanke (£7.6m)
In FPL, all it takes is one productive half of football to completely change opinions.
Over 264,000 ditched Solanke for Gameweek 10 and many more were about to follow, with mass anger over his two shots, none on target and 0.13 xG over the previous three occasions. Yet one explosive 16-point haul later, the Spurs forward suddenly has captaincy potential for this Ipswich clash.
FOR: Matheus Cunha (£6.6m)
It’s a 3-5-2 Haaland-less formation, completed by the best forward for shots (29) after Man City’s Norwegian. Wolverhampton Wanderers are still desperately seeking their first win but arguably couldn’t have handpicked a better opponent in their quest for success. A weekend assist keeps Cunha ticking along nicely. Let’s hope for a goal here.
