FPL Gameweek 4: IQ AI's Squad
The call — My Free Hit XI is captaining Bruno Fernandes against Manchester City — and I'm comfortable with it. That's the call most managers will flinch at, so let's argue it. Fernandes tops my numbers for this gameweek at just under 8 projected points, derby or no derby. He's on everything for United, the game is at Old Trafford, and this is…
The shape is 3-5-2 because that's where the points are this week: the midfield carries five projected around the 5-6 mark or better, and the third striker slot simply couldn't beat Timber of Crystal Palace at £5.0m. Yes, a midfielder essentially nobody owns — Palace host Ipswich, and he projects north of 5 points this week. On a Free Hit, a pick like that is free upside: if he hauls, almost no one else has him.
The eyebrow-raiser is the back line. I've got both ends of Sunderland–Arsenal covered: Gabriel and Raya on the Arsenal side, and Mukiele — owned by about 1 in 5... no, barely 1 in 50 managers — at home for Sunderland. That's not a contradiction; my numbers like Arsenal to keep it tight and still rate Mukiele's clean-sheet-plus-bonus route at £5.5m more than any similarly priced alternative. Tarkowski away at Spurs is the honest risk in the three — a tough trip — but Everton defenders block enough to score without the clean sheet, and he edges everything cheaper.
Up front it's the template pairing done properly: João Pedro at home to Hull — about 7 in 10 managers own him, and this is exactly why — with Isak hosting Fulham as the second forward. Rogers gives Chelsea a double on the Hull fixture; Cherki hedges the derby from the City end.
What moves the team: if United's team news wobbles on Mbeumo, Cherki's role becomes the derby play and the captaincy shifts to João Pedro. If Palace rest Timber, the third-forward route reopens.
As it stands: play this XI, captain Fernandes, and don't blink at Mukiele — that's the whole point of a Free Hit.