FPL Challenge Gameweek 4 Tips and Team Reveal

In this article we take a look at FPL Challenge Gameweek 4. As well as picking out some of the best players for the round ahead specific to the Challenge structure we also bring in @FPLReaction to share his team and thoughts ahead of the new round.

FPL Challenge Gameweek 4 is here. With exciting new badges to earn and prizes to win FPL Challenge have made some massive changes. With that in mind our tips and team reveal could be exactly what you need to have success.

What is the Challenge this week?

As we can see the Challenge for Gameweek 4 is ‘Too Big at the Back’.

Clean sheets are worth double points and you can only pick two goalkeepers and three defenders.

Fixtures

Above we can see all of the Gameweek 4 fixtures. Manchester City v Brentford, Liverpool v Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa v Everton, Brighton v Ipswich and Crystal Palace v Leicester are amongst the fixtures worth targeting from an investment perspective. All sides also play at home this week which gives them even more appeal.

Due to the Challenge our focus will be on goalkeepers and defenders this week so lets take a look at some below.

Top Picks

Goalkeepers

There are lots of great options to pick from this week in the goalkeeper bracket. Three consecutive clean sheets for Liverpool could make them a standout side this week from an investment perspective and for those looking to spend a bit more budget between the sticks then Alisson (£5.5m) should be a consideration. Manchester City’s Ederson (£5.5m) also comes in at the same price.

Managers looking for a mid-priced option could select Emiliano Martinez (£5m). Aston Villa are yet to convince defensively but they face-off against an Everton side who have failed to score in two of their three matches. Aston Villa also play at home which is a venue they were considerably better at last season.

Some FPL Challengers will be looking to pick a budget option between the sticks this week and the most popular will likely be Dean Henderson (£4.5m). Although defensively ropey thus far the Eagles produced the fourth best expected goals conceded data last season. They also come up against newly promoted Leicester this week which adds to their overall appeal.

Those yet convinced by Dean Henderson and Crystal Palace could consider whoever starts between Jason Steele (£4.5m) and Bart Verbruggen (£4.5m) for Brighton this week. To avoid waiting on the deadline an alternative option for Challengers could be Chelsea’s Robert Sanchez (£4.5m) who faces Bournemouth away.

Defenders

Amongst the best defenders for Challenge this week is Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7m), a player many will be eyeing up. As well as benefitting from clean sheets the full-back offers considerable attacking threat. In fact, no defender so far has bettered him for non-penalty expected goal involvement, chances created or big chances created.

A cheaper route into the Liverpool defence but who still offers some attacking threat is Andy Robertson (£6m). The Scotsman may fall short of his teammate for several attacking metrics but he has edged him and every other defender for total crosses and successful crosses this season.

Manchester City are another side we should look to this week. The champions rank as the best side in the league for big chances conceded, shots in the box conceded and total shots on target conceded which is a good indication of clean sheet potential this week against Brentford at home.

One player who could benefit from the above and offer offensive potential is Rico Lewis (£4.7m). Lewis produced an assist in his latest match against West Ham. Teammate Josko Gvardiol (£6m) continues to start for Manchester City but has so far failed to recapture his 2023/24 end of season scoring form thus far.

There are plenty of other great defenders picks to choose from this week. Brighton centre-back Lewis Dunk (£4.5m) could become a popular budget pick against Ipswich. Fulham full-back Antonee Robinson (£4.6m) could be a shoo-in after producing back-to-back assists in his last two matches.

Aston Villa’s Lucas Digne (£4.5m) and Chelsea’s Levi Colwill (£4.5m) could also be a consideration. Some may even back Gabriel (£6m), William Saliba (£6m) or Pedro Porro (£5.5m) as they clash against each other with their sides Arsenal and Spurs.

@FPLReaction Team Reveal

Notes

The budget is very generous this week so you don’t necessarily need to go cheap in any position if you don’t want to.
I do see the appeal and high upside of cheap goalkeepers this week however and may still opt for one.
For now, as you can see, I am going heavy on both Liverpool and Manchester City, the two big teams playing at home. I also think they both have the best chance to keep clean sheets.
I think Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold are shoo-ins for me based on the attacking data they have been producing. Rico Lewis also felt like a must-have due to his position and assist in the last match.
Trent feels like the standout captaincy option this week, I think he is most likely to haul when compared to every other defender.

Gameweek 3 Challenge Review

Notes

Last week was a bad one for most and the promoted sides failed to do much at all.
The above resulted in a poor round overall.
My risk with a triple Ipswich defence against Fulham didn’t work, although they only conceded one goal.
Szmodics also failed as my captain, four points felt like a return this week.
I should have ended three points better off as I didn’t change Walton to Muric when the line-ups released, something I will be on top of this week.
My round rank was around 200k but overall I still sit 34k.

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