FPL Gameweek 25: Gabriel Martinelli, Diogo Dalot and five tips for players to sign this week

The return of the Champions League, plus Europa play-off games, means midweek alterations and weekend rotations once again become a factor for Fantasy Premier League managers to take into account as we move into a fractured period of fixtures.

Some teams have double gameweeks across the next ten days or so, including Premier League leaders Liverpool - but the following week, GW 26, will see four clubs without any fixtures - again the Reds are one of them.

Here are our selections and tips for GW25 for five players worth considering as transfers to bring in if you don’t already own them.

Sheffield United, Everton, Fulham, Nottingham Forest - that’s the upcoming fixture list for Brighton in the Premier League, four teams with a combined two wins from their last 16 games between them. If the Seagulls were in slightly better form it might make them a more tempting proposition, but even so they’re a good enough team to score plenty of goals in that run.

Staying slightly safe with a pick, though, Pascal Gross is in good form to average 6.5 points per game over the last month, takes set pieces and is a regular 90-minute performer. Regardless of the rotating cast of attackers around him, the German is always central to Brighton’s best attacking performances and is only owned by 5.6% of FPL teams - despite being a top 10 midfielder by points this season.

If you’re looking at the teams who have double gameweeks, Brentford possibly aren’t the way to go - they face Liverpool then Man City, just three days apart. But Liverpool themselves will surely see a chance to rack up six more points in quickfire fashion as they look to hold top onto top spot, against the Bees at the weekend and Luton on Wednesday.

All three starting forwards scored at the weekend but rotations could be made as the games ramp up; therefore we’ll look to defence for an addition and it’s Andy Robertson who stands out as an option. The left-back returned for his first league start since GW8 at the weekend and with Trent Alexander-Arnold suffering a recurrence of his own knee injury, the left-back will take on greater prominence as an attacking outlet now.

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With the extra possibility for a clean sheet in midweek, a quick return on signing him for 0.1m less than his original price could well be in the offing.

Gradually, more and more FPL managers have been gravitating towards Luton assets over the past few weeks, and while their most popular player is Alfie Doughty (owned by 7.7%), Elijah Adebayo is increasingly in demand (4.5% and rising). Now is the time to sign the striker, who has four goals and an assist in his past three games.

This week Luton enjoy a double gameweek, albeit a tricky pair of fixtures against Manchester United and Liverpool, before a blank in 26 with no match. But then comes another double gameweek in GW28 featuring trips to Crystal Palace and Bournemouth, so it feels like a smart time to invest in their one or two of their cut-price players. Only Darwin Nunez, Julian Alvarez and Dominic Solanke have taken more than Adebayo’s 14 shots in the box over the past six gameweeks.

Finally, with Manchester United not looking a bunch of absolute chaos merchants of late, it’s worth considering an addition there with an enticing run of games ahead which sees Luton, Fulham, Everton and Sheffield United as four of their next five opponents. Just be aware, the other fixture there is away to Man City.

Diogo Dalot is a lock-in at full-back right now, with Aaron Wan-Bissaka injured and the Portuguese capable of playing either side of the defence; he’s played every minute of the last six, assisted against Aston Villa at the weekend and claimed a clean sheet in the game before that against West Ham. More could be on the way with that line of matches, if United have discovered how to add some consistency.

Amid the goals and celebrations following Arsenal’s big win over West Ham, the usual suspects are again owned by large section of FPL managers - Bukayo Saka (59%), William Saliba (36%), Gabriel (20%), Martin Odegaard (15%).

Yet missing those kinds of numbers on account of a much slower campaign than last year is Martinelli (6%), but some improved showings of late mark him out as a potentially smart addition ahead of a good run of games. He’s managed to tally at least 0.3 xGI (expected goal involvements) in five of his last six league games and has taken a minimum of two shots in four of the last five. The suspicion is he’s on the brink of a big run of form again, so facing the league’s bottom two in his next three matches might be ideal timing.