Best FPL Gameweek 36 Free Hit Team

Discover the best FPL Gameweek 36 Free Hit Team right here, as those activating it may need clarity on who to pick.

One of several chips provided by the game, the Free Hit is an extremely useful weapon. It’s an opportunity to select a squad for one Gameweek only, before returning to your original, regular team.

We take you through the fixtures to help pick out the best starting XI for the new round ahead. So let’s dive in.

Fixtures

Below is the Fantasy Football Scout Fixture Ticker for Gameweek 36.

Who has the best fixtures?

Hoping to secure a top-five finish, Man City will arrive in Southampton confident of bagging a sixth win and fifth clean sheet in seven matches. To join them, Nottingham Forest are relying on three points against East Midlands rivals Leicester.

Also facing a relegated team is Brentford, whose recent win at Forest was part of three in a row.

Who has the worst fixtures?

The Anfield clash between Liverpool and Arsenal is not only tough for both, but guessing their intentions won’t be easy for FPL managers. Arne Slot’s side barely tried versus Chelsea, while Arsenal have been doing their own rotations based on the Champions League semi-finals.

Speaking of the Blues, they head to Newcastle for a huge clash in the race for next season’s European top table.

Best Gameweek 36 Free Hit

Using the PlanFPL website and its fantastic tools, here is the best Gameweek 36 Free Hit team:

Defence

Picking out clean sheets is pretty tough, both in general and for this specific Gameweek. The number gets fewer by the season, with just three in Gameweek 35 so far, and this next round has a lot of close fixtures: First v second, fourth v fifth, seventh v eighth, 10th v 13th and 15th v 17th.

Therefore, we’re doubling up on Forest’s backline with Ola Aina (£5.2m) and Matz Sels (£5.2m). They’ve not kept one for a while but Leicester are notorious for their 2025 goal shortage.

Meanwhile, Man City are being surprisingly consistent with their shut-outs. And there’s always the idea that Josko Gvardiol (£6.4m) will return to goal-scoring. Or even setting them up, like Brentford’s Nathan Collins (£4.6m). The 6ft 4in centre-back’s two recent assists put him on seven for the season, with his six big chances also ranking fifth-best amongst defenders.

Second place in this metric is Crystal Palace’s Daniel Munoz (£5.3m), also racking up the most shots on target (12). He is on the Free Hit’s bench, alongside out-of-position Ryan Sessegnon (£4.2m). The Fulham man scored his fifth goal in nine on Saturday, until it was ruled out for handball.

Midfielders

As predicted by many, Kevin De Bruyne (£9.5m), Bryan Mbeumo (£8.2m) and Jarrod Bowen (£7.7m) all produced in Gameweek 35.

The Belgian’s goal was the only thing needed to defeat Wolves, continuing his fruitful run of starts. Then again, Mbeumo’s owners and captainers are probably disappointed that he ‘only’ picked up an assist in a 4-3 win over Man United. But in the reverse win over Ipswich, also 4-3, he bagged a brace.

Should the Red Devils heavily rotate like on Sunday, Bowen will be expecting to secure nine or more points for a fourth match in a row. Consistent in attack, he hasn’t blanked successively during his latest 17 appearances.

Whereas record-breaking Mohamed Salah (£13.8m) hasn’t secured double digits in a while. It’s still hard to go against him when chasing the European Golden Shoe, though.

Fresh from being demoted to Bournemouth’s bench for the first time this season, Antoine Semenyo (£5.7m) sits on our sidelines here. He’s trolled many FPL owners throughout 2024/25 but came on at Arsenal, making it two goals and two assists in five.

Forwards

If it wasn’t for this fixture, Omar Marmoush (£7.6m) would be one of this week’s most sold. Three successive blanks were captained by many, all attacking returns have been at home, while Erling Haaland (£14.8m) is now lingering. But he’s a striker versus Southampton.

At least Yoane Wissa (£6.7m) is in form, netting in his latest four outings. Like Mbeumo, he scored twice past Ipswich in Gameweek 9. The night before, Forest’s Chris Wood (£7.0m) did the same against former club Leicester.