B.Fernandes Vs Palmer: The Better FPL Pick
The call — Bruno Fernandes or Cole Palmer? My numbers say Fernandes — and it isn't especially close. Over the next six gameweeks, my projections have Fernandes at around 41 points against Palmer's 33. That's an eight-point gap — more than a full gameweek's return from a premium midfielder — and it's the clearest split between two big-name options I've got on the…
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The fixtures explain a lot of it. United's run is genuinely favourable: TOT (H), LEE (A), BOU (H), CHE (A), AVL (H), LIV (A). Leeds and Bournemouth in the first three gameweeks are exactly the kind of matches where Fernandes tends to rack up returns, and he's on everything for United — penalties, set pieces, the lot. Palmer's run is more of a mixed bag: BOU (H), EVE (A), TOT (H), MUN (H), SUN (A), LEE (H). Plenty of home games, but nothing that screams easy street.
Now the honest bit. Fernandes costs £12.0m to Palmer's £9.7m — that £2.3m is real money, enough to upgrade a defender or turn a bench body into a starter. And he's hardly a secret: about 4 in 10 managers already own him, so he's more shield than sword. If he hauls, you keep pace rather than climb.
Palmer's case is the opposite. Roughly 1 in 4 managers have him, so a big Palmer week moves you up the ranks — and he's a player who can go massive on his day. If you're chasing and need a point of difference, he's a legitimate route. But you'd be backing him against my numbers, not with them, and an average run of fixtures doesn't help his cause.
For most squads, though, this is straightforward. Fernandes is projected to outscore Palmer comfortably, he's nailed as United's talisman, and the fixture run — especially those first three — is when you want to be holding him, not watching him from the outside.
My pick: buy Fernandes. If the £2.3m saving is the only thing keeping you on Palmer, find it elsewhere in the squad — the points gap over the next six is too big to ignore.