Of the players to have to own ahead of the opening weekend, Erling Haaland shone for Manchester City, scoring 13 points to draw level with Alexsandr Mitrovic of Fulham for most points scored by a striker in the opening round. Most managers will look to bolster three-pronged attacks, with the joint Golden Boot winner, Mohamed Salah, tipped as a go-to striker in what is likely to be a fresh-look front three for this campaign this week’s arrival of Darwin Nunez from Benfica and Sadio Mane’s much anticipated departure. When regular starts are made, FPL Managers will face the decision on which three of Jurgen Klopp players they want.
FPL managers were looking to implement one strategy: starting Harry Kane in GW1 before trading him for Haaland in Gameweek 2 when Haaland plays Bournemouth while Kane plays Chelsea. Many managers have switched Kane to Haaland, and it is easy to understand why. I am not facing this dilemma with my squad, but I will be making a move for Haaland since I’m a City fan and know that he is going to be aggressive in front of the goal, with the likes of KDB assisting him and a few other midfielders. Even without the gelling of Haaland’s new teammates, Erling Haaland is a highly deadly finisher. Playing for the best attack-minded team in the Premier League makes him difficult to ignore. On to Erling Haaland (PS11.6m), the big man has a lot more coming, so his double-digit transfer fee has already caused transfer fever in Fantasy Premier League. One manager’s Triple Captain Chip was used on Erling Haaland, and as the forward picked up 13 points after the 2-0 victory at West Ham, the Norwegian forward has 39 points on the scoresheet alone.
Three high-priced options could throw your Fantasy team’s balance off, leaving no room for high-priced defenders, who have been dominant in recent seasons. Hence, the biggest question is whether to go with an attacking player from Manchester City (Erling Haaland or Kevin De Bruyne) or an attacking player from Tottenham (Harry Kane or Son Heung-min). In their 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace on Friday, Arsenal kept a clean sheet. On his first official appearance for the Gunners, the brilliant William Saliba (£4.5m) was awarded player of the match.
After the GW1, many FPL managers stated that it would be very tough to build a team this time as there are many options in the bank. The clubs have made many trades this summer which has resulted in this.
