Gameweek 18 Best Free Hit Team

With a new Gameweek upon us we take a look at the free hit chip. Using the Fantasy Football Scout members area we can utilise the season ticker and underlying stats to determine the Gameweek 18 best free hit team.

The free hit chip in FPL allows managers, within the same budget and formational limits, to select a team for one particular Gameweek. Managers can attack any given Gameweek with the free hit whether that be to utilise a good set of fixtures, in-form teams or players or a mixture of it all.

Fixtures

Who has the best fixtures?

Aston Villa, Newcastle, Fulham, Nottingham Forest and Tottenham all rank amongst the top five teams with the easiest fixtures.

Who has the worst fixtures?

Manchester City and Brentford rank at the bottom of the ticker this week because they do not have a fixture.

Joining Manchester City and Brentford in the bottom five teams are Arsenal, Liverpool and Luton who have tough fixtures.

Gameweek 18 Best Free Hit Team

Using the Live FPL website we can use one of its fantastic tools to plan transfers weeks in advance. Not just this, but we can also create team drafts to plan for using a chip. Take a look at the best free hit team for Gameweek 18:

Goalkeepers

Fulham seem to be tightening up a the back recently and they go into Gameweek 18 with a match against a poor Burnley. Helping them keep two clean sheet on the bounce recently was Bernd Leno (£4.6m). The German sits as the highest scoring goalkeeper so far and edges every other in his position for bonus points.

Backing up Leno is Martin Dubravka (£4.1m). The Newcastle man between the sticks will only feature in the unlikely event Leno does not.

Defenders

No defender edges Pedro Porro (£5.5m) for assists, total attempts on goal, chances created and non-penalty expected goal involvement in the last six Gameweeks. The Tottenham full-back has multiple routes to points and has been one of the best performing defenders in FPL recently.

Aston Villa picked up clean sheets against both Arsenal and Manchester City recently at home. They play at home again this week against a woeful Sheffield United attack. Lucas Digne (£4.7m) has become favoured in his position and should return to the starting 11 after his ban. Digne is producing some impressive distribution data and takes some set pieces.

Newcastle have a meeting with poor newly promoted side Luton up next. The Magpies have also been one of the best defences in the division this season. Kieran Trippier (£6.9m) offers much more than clean sheet potential though. Trippier has racked up seven assists and leads the way for big chances and chances created amongst defenders this season.

On the substitute bench is Marcos Senesi (£4.4m) who bagged two double-digit hauls in his last two matches and Chelsea back-up right-back Malo Gusto (£4.1m).

Midfielders

Chelsea face Wolves this week and their star player is Cole Palmer (£5.5m). Palmer takes penalties but he also managed a goal and an assist from open play in his latest match.

Liverpool lead a lot of the major attacking metrics this season and recently so investing in their attack could be wise. Mohamed Salah (£13.2m) takes the Liverpool penalties and edges every other player in the game for FPL points so far.

Aston Villa’ home match form and match against the worst side in the league warrants a double up in attack. The favoured winger at the moment is Leon Bailey (£5.6m). The Jamaican has picked up a return in six of his last eight matches.

Tottenham are one of the most attacking sides in the league this season and the stats back that up. Leading the frontline is Son Heung-Min (£9.7m) who also takes his sides penalties.

Newcastle have a great fixture against newly promoted side Luton this week. The Hatters are in woeful form and Newcastle sit second best for expected goals this season so could punish them. With that in mind Anthony Gordon (£6.2m) is the standout. Gordon has racked up 12 returns in just 17 games so far.

Forwards

The standout player and captain this week is Ollie Watkins (£8.6m) which makes him an essential this week. Watkins ranks in the top four players for several key attacking metrics, spearheads the frontline of the most ruthless home team in the league and faces a meeting with Sheffield United this week.

Bournemouth are in fantastic form and they come up against a Nottingham Forest side can’t stop conceding goals. Dominic Solanke (£6.8m) has been edging most players in the game for key offensive metrics in the last six Gameweeks and also takes his sides penalties.

Chelsea’ focal point in attack Nicolas Jackson (£6.9m) could be a fantastic first substitute. Jackson has managed seven returns in his last 10 league matches. He will only feature if another attacker does not. Some managers may prefer him over another attacker in the starting 11.