FPL Gameweek 26 Best Free Hit Team

As we approach Gameweek 26 of the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) season, let’s try to build its best Free Hit team. To do this, we’re using the fantastic organisational tool of PlanFPL.

One of several chips provided by the game, the Free Hit is an opportunity to select a squad for one Gameweek only. Afterwards, it’s back to your original, regular team.

For FPL managers, it’s an extremely useful weapon.

Fixtures

Below is Fantasy Football Scout’s ranking of Gameweek 26 fixture difficulty.

Who has the best fixtures?

Brighton get a short trip to face last-placed Southampton on Saturday, after consecutive successes over Chelsea. Another team that might have turned a corner is Tottenham, on a run of two wins without conceding – they’re travelling to Ipswich.

A tough set of away fixtures had Brentford waiting a long time to secure their first victory but it’s now three successive ones. They visit Leicester.

Who has the worst fixtures?

The big clashes of Man City v Liverpool and Newcastle v Nottingham Forest make it a week for lower clubs with cheaper players. It’ll be tough for Chelsea too, at Aston Villa.

Meanwhile, things haven’t quite taken off for Graham Potter at West Ham and now they’re against Arsenal.

Best Gameweek 26 Free Hit

Using the PlanFPL website, here is the best Free Hit team:

Goalkeepers

With premium players in tough games, this 15-man squad is way under budget. Bart Verbruggen (£4.5m) is between the sticks, though Brighton are a hard team to call. Whilst they’ve just beaten Chelsea twice, before that came a 7-0 humiliation at Nottingham Forest and a home defeat to Everton.

But this time they’re facing the league’s lowest scorers, which is surely worth a place in this line-up.

Defenders

Arsenal centre-back Gabriel (£6.3m) has two clean sheets from three matches and is an eternal threat at set-pieces. A more surprising goal presence has been Nathan Collins (£4.5m). Fresh from a rare clean sheet, his seven attacking returns – two goals, five assists – are only beaten by two defenders and he ranks joint-fourth in this position for big chances (five).

Milos Kerkez (£5.0m) is part of a backline that’s conceded fewer home goals than everyone else. Four of their last six Vitality Stadium clashes have seen Bournemouth keep a clean sheet.

On the bench, Vitalii Mykolenko (£4.4m) is a cheap part of Everton’s strong defence. They won’t be worried about Man United, who’ve scored once in three outings. Over at Spurs, Djed Spence (£4.4m) has impressed since regularly starting.

Midfielders

Captaincy is so difficult to call because the instinct is to say Mohamed Salah (£13.7m) but he has the hardest possible match, away to Man City. It can’t be Cole Palmer (£11.2m) either because he’s low on form and doesn’t even make this squad.

So maybe giving it to Bryan Mbeumo (£7.9m) or Kaoru Mitoma (£6.3m) could be worth the risk. One has the third-best points total for midfielders and the other has three goals in his last five.

Then, it’s about picking your favourite cheap Bournemouth attacker. Let’s go with penalty-taker Justin Kluivert (£6.0m), even though he was the first one taken off on Saturday.

Leaving Ethan Nwaneri (£4.5m) on the bench is tough because he was great versus Leicester, will remain in Arsenal’s XI and comes at a miniscule price.

Forwards

To be honest, not many FPL forwards have appeal right now. Yoane Wissa (£6.3m) has the fixture but is goalless in four, while Alexander Isak (£9.5m) has blanked in three of his last four. Then again, the Swede brings proven quality and his 11 points helped Newcastle beat Forest in November.

Back to Brighton once more, Danny Welbeck (£5.5m) assisted twice against Chelsea and is about to have a go at Southampton’s weak defence.