Erling Haaland has failed to score in his last two Premier League games – so are those Fantasy Premier League players who have left him out of their teams tactical geniuses, just lucky or perhaps even reckless?
The 24-year-old Manchester City striker was the Premier League’s top scorer in each of the past two seasons and is leading the race for the Golden Boot again with 10 goals in seven matches.
It is therefore logical that he has been selected in 73.3% of FPL teams – more than any other player in the league. However, Haaland failed to score in City’s last two league games, against Newcastle and Fulham.
With a cost of £15.4m, he is the most expensive player in FPL, and for that reason some team owners are weighing up his value.
City’s next two Premier League fixtures after the international break are against Wolves and Southampton – the bottom two teams in the league – so there could be goals on the cards for the powerful Norwegian.
BBC Sport spoke to some of the FPL team owners who have adopted a no-Haaland approach to find out whether their decision is based on his price tag, their own club allegiances or just the need to prove a point.
‘It’s about being totally stubborn’ – Chris Sutton
Pundit and former Premier League striker Chris Sutton told BBC Sport’s Fantasy 606 podcast that he will start a petition to have Haaland banned from FPL because he says he’s making the game boring.
“The top players just all basically have the same team,” Sutton said. “I think they think they’re an elite group.”
He explained his decision not to have Haaland in his team, saying: “For me, it’s just about being totally stubborn. I like to go a bit leftfield and not with the Tommy template stuff.”
‘I kept hanging in’ – Hillard Harriers FC
Since selling Haaland in gameweek three, FPL player @FPL_Harriers has jumped up in the FPL rankings from 2.1m to 46,671 after gameweek seven with his team Hillard Harriers FC.
He told BBC Sport his decision to trade the striker came after Haaland scored a hat-trick against Ipswich – “I thought I was safe”.
Perhaps with another player it would have been a winning move immediately, because how often does lightning strike twice?
But with hat-trick king Haaland the ‘safe’ element lasted only so long – “until he hit another one the following week against West Ham and my rank got crushed”.
Those successive trebles for Haaland were followed by two goals against Brentford and another strike against Arsenal.
“But I kept hanging in,” @FPL_Harriers added. “The form of Bukayo Saka, Morgan Rogers, Emile Smith Rowe, Mohamed Salah, Cole Palmer, Ollie Watkins and now Antoine Semenyo meant that despite all the Haaland goals, I wasn’t too far away.”
Chelsea attacking midfielder Palmer, who costs £10.8m, has scored six goals and registered five assists so far this season, meaning he is tied at the top of the table with Haaland on 67 points.
Liverpool winger Salah is the third-highest scorer in the game, with 62 points from four goals and four assists, plus six clean sheets, and costs £12.7m.
Arsenal’s Saka is just behind Salah with 54 points from two goals and seven assists, costing £10.1m.
Aston Villa striker Watkins costs £9.1m and has scored 41 points so far.
‘The price doesn’t offer enough balance’ – @FPLVeteran_
Shane, who runs the account @FPLVeteran_ and co-hosts a weekly FPL podcast, told BBC Sport that he has opted so far not to select Haaland this season because of his price tag.
“I think the price doesn’t offer you enough balance for what he’s worth,” said Shane. “You’ve got people like Cole Palmer who’s significantly cheaper, or Dominic Solanke, who’s half the price.”
Tottenham striker Solanke, who earned his first England call-up in seven years last week, costs £7.6m.
Shane also considers it possible to get a better return on players listed as midfielders, such as Salah and Palmer, rather than out-and-out strikers like Haaland.
“Midfielders get an extra point for a goal, they get an extra point for a clean sheet and, typically, if they score, they’ll get the three points bonus. If Haaland’s not scoring, he’s not accumulating points,” Shane said.
Midfielders are awarded five points for every goal they score, as compared to strikers, who are awarded four. They also receive a point for a clean sheet, which strikers do not.
Shane said that his stance on Haaland had become “a little bit of a hill to die on”, adding: “I don’t know if that’s going to go well. We’ll see at the end of the season.”