Gameweek 24 turned out well for most template teams and those who captained Erling Haaland. All but one of the Great and the Good gave him their armband and - by playing for one of the four teams that has Double Gameweek 25 - Haaland is backed to succeed again by both Captain Sensible and Rate My Team. 

In fact, many FPL managers intend to use their Triple Captain chip on him, as Man City face Chelsea and Brentford. Not being able to do this is one of the reasons given to avoid a Free Hit this week, although doing so would allow users to stock up on some one-week Man City and Liverpool doublers like differential Jeremy Doku and Nathan Ake.

The Dutch defender is picked out as a Trent Alexander-Arnold replacement because, like Trent, left-back rival Josko Gvardiol has picked up an injury. Another candidate is Luton’s Alfie Doughty, picked by all four of our Scout Squad contributors in a selection understandably dominated by the two title-chasers. Unanimous Darwin Nunez has been booked in four successive matches.

However, all decisions need to have a wider chip strategy in mind. Should Blank Gameweek 29 be a Free Hit or something built towards? When is the best time to Wildcard? It’s a chaotic time. In these next five, Brentford are the only team currently guaranteed to play six times whilst Chelsea’s Cole Palmer could remain on just three.

Still to come before Saturday morning’s deadline are the opinions of Zophar and FPL General. Fellow Pro Pundit Simon March has already wondered whether managers should play both an attacker and that day’s opposing defender.

As always, check out the Gameweek 25 page to quickly access all recent articles, plus the standard press conference updates from managers. Visit our Members Area for comparison tools and an in-depth collection of Opta data.

Over on our YouTube channel, alongside the usual Scoutcast and Deadline Dilemmas episodes is General’s Orders, as well as a Q&A with Sam and Az.