September’s international break is drawing to a close, which means some Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers might be fine-tuning a Gameweek 4 Free Hit.

While you can never be sure of FPL’s upcoming chaos, our Members Area tries to help by providing a Rate My Team (RMT) tool.

Here, we use such projections to build this week’s ideal Free Hit squad. One that fits within a £100.0m budget, with no more than three players per club.

WHAT IS A FREE HIT?

Each FPL team is provided with numerous chips to use throughout the season. The Free Hit can be activated once, at the manager’s choice, allowing them to form a squad for one Gameweek only.

Afterwards, the squad will return to its regular line-up of players for the following Gameweek.

BEST GAMEWEEK 4 FREE HIT

Using RMT’s numbers and the brilliant PlanFPL website, the addition of four cheapest-possible substitutes gives the below squad a value of £99.8m.

The starting line-up has seven players in common with our Gameweek 4 Scout Picks bus team.

Furthermore, Erling Haaland (£15.2m) is recommended as this week’s captain, taking the projected Free Hit score to 68.81 points.

GK: Dean Henderson (£4.5m)

Starting in goal, the Brazilian stoppers at Manchester City and Liverpool are predicted to get slightly more points but for an extra million. Henderson’s Crystal Palace haven’t continued their springtime momentum into these early weeks but they’re about to host newly-promoted Leicester City.

DEF: Andrew Robertson (£6.0m)

Similarly, Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.0m) is tipped to gain a further 0.36 points but raising the extra million over Robertson – who has had more big chances and shots inside the box than his colleague – means too many sacrifices elsewhere. Scout Picks includes both, as Liverpool are yet to concede in 2024/25.

DEF: Josko Gvardiol (£6.0m)

So far there have been no attacking returns for Man City’s left-back, despite four penalty area attempts. The injury suffered by Nathan Ake (£5.4m) on international duty should make the Croatian safer for game time.

DEF: Pervis Estupinan (£5.0m)

Meanwhile, RMT assumes that Brighton and Hove Albion’s attacking left-back will make his first start of the season. He’s £0.5m more than Lewis Dunk (£4.5m) but such a saving on its own won’t bring in Alexander-Arnold. Another defender liked by the algorithm is Aston Villa’s Lucas Digne (£4.5m).

MID: Mohamed Salah (£12.7m)

A straightforward selection here, as the Egyptian King has double-digits in every game so far, ranking second for big chances (five) and joint-top for big chances created (four). This captaincy contender is at home to Nottingham Forest.

MID: Kevin De Bruyne (£9.6m)

Rumours of a De Bruyne demise were foolishly premature. The 33-year-old was only able to start 15 of last season’s league games but is playing almost all minutes while Phil Foden (£9.4m) remains absent. His dozen shots are more than both Salah and Bukayo Saka (£10.1m), producing 12 points in the champions’ other home game.

MID: Eberechi Eze (£6.9m)

Yet Eze has delivered more attempts (15), meaning he was due a goal by the time Gameweek 3 arrived. It subsequently came at Chelsea and now this penalty-taking talisman is against Leicester.

MID: Kaoru Mitoma (£6.6m)

The second part of a Brighton triple-up versus Ipswich. According to RMT, Mitoma will get marginally fewer points than Liverpool’s Diogo Jota (£7.6m) but provides better value.

MID: Morgan Rogers (£5.1m)

Elsewhere, a midfielder who is constantly passing the FPL eye test but is without an attacking return, despite five shots and two big chances created. Team-mate Ollie Watkins (£8.9m) is also backed to do well at home to struggling Everton but is expensive. Soon after, Aston Villa travel to Young Boys in their opening Champions League clash.

FOR: Erling Haaland (£15.2m)

Number one for big chances (seven), shots on target (10) and expected goals (xG, 3.77), the Norwegian machine has just netted consecutive hat-tricks. Does anything more need saying? Just that he’ll be given this team’s armband at home to Brentford.

FOR: Joao Pedro (£5.7m)

Finally, the most-bought player of this international break offers stunning value. On the back of two goals in three matches, Joao Pedro has an attractive fixture and is around for any eventual penalties. However, after representing Brazil, his club manager couldn’t confirm that he’ll start on Saturday, saying: “Hopefully, they [Pedro and Julio Enciso] can train tomorrow and then, of course, they are part of the squad.”