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            <p>The Gameweek 1 deadline is fast approaching - and to help Fantasy Football Hub members with their final drafts, we've put together a special question and answer article.</p>
<p>Brand new for the 2024/25 season, FPL content creator and pundit Holly Shand will be penning a weekly Q&amp;A, covering all the important talking points.</p>
<p>We've published dozens of pre-season articles in our <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/fantasy-premier-league-ultimate-guide-fpl-tips"><strong>Ultimate Guide to FPL</strong></a>, which this season comes with an in-brief summary of some of the key highlights and bookmakers' odds.</p>
<p>Some of these topics are covered in more detail and we've provided links to them where relevant.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/join?via=hollyshand"><strong>Win your FPL mini-league or your money back!</strong></a> </span></p>
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<h2>Should we go for Salah or Haaland?</h2>
<p>The biggest decision when setting up our teams for Gameweek 1 is which premium pick to go with from the start: <strong>Erling Haaland (£15.0m) </strong>or <strong>Mohamed Salah (£12.5m)</strong>. Or is it viable to go with both?</p>
<p>When the game launched many believed Erling Haaland was an expensive luxury, however we are now seeing a significant swing among engaged managers towards the Norwegian.</p>
<p>For me, not including him has never been a consideration.</p>
<p>He's the best goalscorer in the Premier League and has an excellent set of opening fixtures. Manchester City top our <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/fixture-ticker">fixture ticker</a> from an attack perspective over the first four gameweeks.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/ai-team-rating">Hub AI</a> predicts Haaland to be the best captaincy pick from Gameweek 2 to Gameweek 4, with Salah winning the race in Gameweek 1 when he faces Ipswich at home.</p>
<p>Both have had a full pre-season, so there's an argument to include both, but I've not been able to get the balance right with both in <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/holly-shand-fpl-team-reveal-24-25">my team</a>.</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/bigmanbakars-best-fpl-gameweek-1-drafts-salah-haaland"><strong>BigManBakar's best Haaland and Salah draft</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Another key factor against Salah is that teammate <strong>Diogo Jota (£7.5m) </strong>looks set to start the season out of position as the number nine. He's £5.0m cheaper than Salah - that's valuable funds to beef up other positions in your squad.</p>
<p>Haaland over Salah is the strategy for most, especially if you can attempt to cover Salah with Jota.</p>
<p>The City forward wins must-have status in my eyes and it's imperative to have at least one of these two in your Gameweek 1 squad.</p>
<div id="attachment_65492" style="width: 910px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-65492" class="size-full wp-image-65492" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Salah-v-Haaland-23-24.jpg" alt="Mohamed Salah v Erling Haaland" width="900" height="731" /></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-65492" class="wp-caption-text">Mohamed Salah v Erling Haaland</p>
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<h2>Eze, Gordon or Jota?</h2>
<p>While most of the early pre-season discussion was around a stacked £6.5m price bracket, momentum has shifted to those priced at £7.0m-£7.5m, with a significant interest in <strong>Diogo Jota (£7.5m) </strong>due to reasons mentioned above.</p>
<p>He's now a direct competition to <strong>Eberechi Eze (£7.0m) </strong>who has been a popular pick since the FPL game launched, in one third of teams.</p>
<p>Eze played his first pre-season minutes on Sunday looks like he's avoided a transfer in this window - at least for now.</p>
<p>He has an attractive run of opening fixtures, with the hope that Crystal Palace can continue the momentum they showed since Oliver Glasner took over as manager.</p>
<p>The England midfielder produced eight goal involvements in his final 10 games of last season.</p>
<p>Our AI predictions put him as the fifth-highest scoring player in the first four gameweeks and third among midfielders, on 26 predicted points.</p>
<p>With Michael Olise gone in the window, he should dominate on set-pieces.</p>
<div id="attachment_66050" style="width: 910px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-66050" class="size-full wp-image-66050" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Eze-v-Jota.jpg" alt="Eberechi Eze v Diogo Jota" width="900" height="731" /></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-66050" class="wp-caption-text">Eberechi Eze v Diogo Jota</p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Anthony Gordon (£7.5m) </strong>also comes in at a similar price tag and given the colossal popularity of <strong>Alexander Isak (£8.5m)</strong> in the game, doubling up with Gordon becomes a viable differential move.</p>
<p>He's a particularly attractive option in Gameweek 1 when Championship play-off winners Southampton visit St James' Park - Gordon produced over 80% of his goal involvements in home games last season.</p>
<p>Gordon isn't locked in my opening squad as he's played just 45 minutes in pre-season. Eddie Howe has stated that he's behind other players in terms of fitness, so it's unlikely he plays close to 90 minutes in this game. He also reportedly remains a transfer target for Liverpool.</p>
<p>Right now I'm on Jota and Eze in my squad but I will be monitoring <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/premier-league-predicted-lineups">Friday's press conferences</a> closely before locking in that decision.</p>
<div id="attachment_66051" style="width: 910px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-66051" class="wp-image-66051 size-full" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Gordon-home-away-23-24.jpg" alt="Anthony Gordon's home and away record" width="900" height="731" /></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-66051" class="wp-caption-text">Anthony Gordon's home and away record</p>
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<h2>Who is the best premium midfielder?</h2>
<p><strong>Cole Palmer (£10.5m) </strong>is the most-owned midfielder in the game, having finished last season as the highest-scoring fantasy player.</p>
<p>But many engaged FPL managers are opting for his cheaper team-mate <strong>Christopher Nkunku (£6.5m) </strong>instead.</p>
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