Not many Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers will be using a Gameweek 5 Free Hit – but if you are, we’re here to help.

While you can never be sure of FPL’s upcoming chaos, our Premium Members Area can help by via the Rate My Team (RMT) tool.

Here, we use its points 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 5 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 £99.9m.

The starting line-up has five players in common with our Gameweek 5 Scout Picks bus team.

Furthermore, Mohamed Salah (£12.7m) is recommended as this week’s captain, taking the projected Free Hit score to 63.79 points.

GK: Emiliano Martinez (£5.0m)

Starting with the goalkeeper predicted to bag the most points, Aston Villa’s number one Martinez. About to host the Wolverhampton Wanderers side that’s had the third-fewest penalty area shots (28) so far, he should be free from any potential Champions League rotation.

DEF: Andrew Robertson (£6.0m)

Like last time, Liverpool team-mate Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.0m) is backed to get slightly more points than Robertson but for a whole million more. Opponents Bournemouth look good under Andoni Iraola and have accumulated the fourth-most shots on target (22). They pulled off a spectacular Merseyside win three weeks ago but, two seasons back, they were hammered 9-0 at Anfield.

DEF: Pedro Porro (£5.5m)

Meanwhile, Spurs have conceded at least two goals in each of their previous four meetings against Brentford. Yet Porro’s attacking bursts are normally hard to resist. Over these opening four rounds, he’s been the defender with most shots (eight) and has created the second most (10).

DEF: Lewis Dunk (£4.6m)

RMT again likes Pervis Estupinan (£5.0m) but, seen as he is yet to start and was unused during the 0-0 against Ipswich Town, it’s probably wiser to pick Dunk. He was one of 2023/24’s biggest attacking threats from the back and Brighton and Hove Albion have conceded just twice so far. It’s a far cry from last season’s start, where their first shut-out didn’t come until Gameweek 20.

MID: Mohamed Salah (£12.7m)

Naturally, the week that 938,000 flocked to buy someone with double-digit hauls in each appearance was the same week where he blanked at home to Nottingham Forest. That’s how FPL tends to work. But faith should be kept in one of its all-time greats, as he’s on the most box touches (42) and second-most shots on target (eight). Erling Haaland (£15.2m) is set to face Arsenal, therefore Salah gets the latest armband.

MID: Cole Palmer (£10.6m)

One goal and four assists had arrived in Gameweeks 2 and 3, so non-owners were relieved to see Palmer blank in a quiet Bournemouth display, featuring no shots and just 0.03 expected goal involvement (xGI). However, this time he’s at home to West Ham United, who Chelsea beat 5-0 in May.

MID: Son Heung-min (£10.0m)

A third premium midfielder gets the nod, albeit one with a mixed start to 2024/25. Son blanked in three of four outings but brought in two goals and 16 points versus Everton. Underlying stats are also poor but RMT believe he’ll be the next-best after Salah.

MID: Eberechi Eze (£6.9m)

Robbed of an incorrectly disallowed Gameweek 1 goal, Eze owners will feel similarly wronged from last Saturday, where Jean-Philippe Mateta (£7.4m) took Crystal Palace’s penalty. We thought it’d instead be the midfield talisman but Oliver Glasner later said that the duo share such duties.

This won’t massively deter FPL managers though, as Eze only took one of them last season. It hasn’t stopped him being ranked third for goal attempts (18), although only two have been labelled as ‘big’.

FOR: Ollie Watkins (£8.9m)

Finally off the mark with an Everton brace, Watkins is backed as this week’s best forward. On the joint-most big chances (eight) and with the second-highest expected goals (xG, 2.76), he had previously been underachieving.

Yet his potential at home to Wolves could slightly be affected by Aston Villa’s trip to Young Boys. Gameweek 4 was the first time he’d exceeded 65 minutes and back-up Jhon Duran (£6.0m) keeps scoring goals in cameos.

FOR: Dominic Solanke (£7.5m)

Considering Brentford aren’t a pushover, it’s strange to see Spurs favoured so strongly. Completing their triple-up is goalless new signing Solanke, whose two matches have seen five shots inside the box and one big chance. As a team, Ange Postecoglou’s lot has the joint-second-most attempts on target (24).

FOR: Joao Pedro (£5.7m)

In a comparable case of bad luck to Salah, last week’s most-bought asset with over 1.3 million purchases didn’t take part because of an unannounced knock from international duty. If passed fit for Gameweek 5, Pedro takes penalties for the side that’s had the most shots (67). Although Forest showed last week that they shouldn’t be underestimated at all.

Should Pedro again be ruled out, fellow cheap forwards Jamie Vardy (£5.7m) and Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£5.9m) are alternatives. They’ll be facing each other at the King Power Stadium.