B.Fernandes Vs Palmer: The Better FPL Pick

Fernandes or Palmer? My numbers lean one way — but the gap is closer than the price tag

Bruno Fernandes opens the season at Hull, then gets Ipswich at home — and that's just the start of a very kind run. Everton away, Fulham away and home games against City and Spurs round out a stretch where United's captain should be on everything: penalties, free-kicks, corners, the lot.

My projection has Fernandes at around 33 points over the first six gameweeks — a solid haul most weeks, with the kind of set-piece and penalty security that means he can go massive whenever United click. He's not cheap at £12.0m, and he's not a secret either: about 5 in 10 managers already have him. That's the template, and my numbers say the template is right.

Cole Palmer is the interesting counter-case. At £9.5m he's £2.5m cheaper, and only about 1 in 10 managers own him — if he starts fast, you gain ground on half the game while the crowd scrambles to catch up. His run is favourable too: Fulham away, Brighton at home, then Hull, Brentford and Bournemouth after a tricky trip to the Emirates. I project him for roughly 29 points over the same six weeks.

So here's the honest read. Four projected points across six gameweeks is not a huge gap, and Palmer's price frees up serious money elsewhere in your squad — that £2.5m can turn a bench body into a proper starter. The caveat on Fernandes is the one it always is: United's attack can go quiet, and when it does he grinds out fives and sixes rather than hauling. Palmer carries the opposite risk — Chelsea's forward slots are crowded, and that Arsenal away game in the middle of his run is the toughest fixture either player faces.

But the call has to weigh what my numbers actually prefer, and they prefer Fernandes — not just on raw points, but on how reliably he's the man in his team. Palmer is the value play; Fernandes is the pick.

The verdict: if the budget stretches, buy Fernandes and captain him for Hull away in GW1. If £12.0m breaks your structure, Palmer at £9.5m is a genuinely strong fallback — but don't pick him purely to be different. Fernandes is my pick.