It’s been an international break of big FPL announcements. Not only has the new Fantasy Challenge game launched – with our weekendrecommendations already published – but seven teams have been given a Double Gameweek 34. To those recovering from a devastating Gameweek 29, this dive into chip planning provides a much-needed boost.

You see, former champion Simon March believes luck is needed to succeed at FPL, of which Blank 29 brought virtually none. The worldwide average score was 12 points, so we collected some tales of woe from across the community. 12 of the ‘Great and the Good’ managers opted for Free Hit 29 but Sergio Reguilon’s red card led to a suspension and a disastrous chain of FPL events.

Ivan Toney, Son Heung-min and Ollie Watkins were the highest-profile flops. In fact, some are even selling the latter – FPL’s top scorer but without any upcoming doubles – in order to make room for Mohamed Salah. Both are unanimous Scout Squad picks.

A series of articles examines the returning defenders, midfielders and forwards but surely none will have a bigger impact than elite asset Salah. Rate My Team (RMT) backs him as a captaincy contender for the next two Gameweeks and Liverpool rank highly on our fixture frisk. It’s just about finding someone else to sacrifice. Fitting him in is one of the pros of Wildcard 30 but one con is the awkwardness of Spurs’ next few weeks.

Pro Pundits have shared their opinions on chip usage. For example, Zophar thinks those still with a Free Hit should use it in Gameweek 34and Wildcard now, like FPL General, while Lateriser intends to Wildcard in Gameweek 35. Either way, Pras has detailed the players to target for each popular chip strategy.

Still to come before Saturday’s deadline are Tom Freeman’s thoughts, plus Captain Sensible. The injuries and minutes played during these internationals have been expertly tracked, a few differentials are picked out and this week also brings the first round of our latest FFS Members Cup.

As always, check out the Gameweek 30 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, Burning Questions and Deadline Dilemmas episodes are General’s Orders and his 59^th Minute podcast.