Should you drop Haaland from your Fantasy Champions League squad?
Will Erling Haaland play in the Champions League match against AEK on Tuesday, October 20?
One of the main questions for all Fantasy Champions League players this week is whether Erling Haaland will play against AEK, and whether the Norwegian should be removed from your lineup?
The decision on Haaland in Fantasy is always difficult. Erling, who scores goals on an industrial scale, has been the most popular pick among Fantasy players in recent years. But, at the same time, his absence from the field and the loss of points for the Norwegian are also always very painful. Therefore, Haaland owners in their Fantasy lineups especially monitor news concerning this player.
And this week the “monitoring” looks especially justified. Because there is a high probability that head coach Enzo Maresca will give Erling Haaland a “day off” precisely on the match day against AEK in the Champions League.
Maresca said that Haaland needed a break even before the match with Ipswich in the EPL last weekend. But then Erling still played, delivering an excellent match with two goals, earning his owners a decent amount of points in Fantasy EPL.
In the match with Ipswich, Maresca didn’t even substitute Haaland at the end, so there are all grounds to believe that the rest mentioned by the coach for Erling will come right in the middle of the week in the Champions League against Greek AEK. After all, with such an opponent, and even on their own ground, Manchester City should cope even without their star striker.
Moreover, after AEK City has a tough schedule this season. On the weekend there is a Premier League away match against Aston Villa, and a week later—a “double date” with the strong and very impressive Brighton this season, first in the English League Cup and then in the EPL. Agree, such opponents cause more concern than modest AEK, and therefore it makes sense to preserve Erling Haaland’s strength for them.
So here’s our advice – remove Erling Haaland from your Fantasy Champions League lineup for this round. Or be prepared that on Wednesday morning, October 21, you will have to urgently replace Erling with another player. But considering the incredibly high price of the Norwegian, it is still better to consider the option of transferring him out, and then buying him back before other Champions League matches where Haaland is more likely to play than this week.
Who to replace Haaland with in Fantasy in the 3rd round of the Champions League
Here are our TOP‑3 options for replacing Erling Haaland this week in the Champions League in your Fantasy lineups. Take them:
Kylian Mbappé (Real Madrid) – price 11 million (scored 14 points this season)
An expensive but justified option, as Mbappé is a true “king” of the Champions League, if we talk about how many goals the Frenchman scores in this tournament. The home match against RB Leipzig – on one hand a tough test, as the opponent is not very comfortable and “thorny”, however Mbappé can still score many against such opponents at the Santiago Bernabéu. Kylian is a mark of quality in the Champions League.
Nicolas Jackson (Aston Villa) – price 7 million (18 points this season)
The Senegalese scores many goals in the autumn for his new team, and among Aston Villa’s opponents in the new Champions League round is the modest Norwegian Viking. Jackson will surely not miss the chance to add to his scorer tally.
Serhou Guirassy (Borussia Dortmund) – price 8.6 million (14 points this season)
The striker of Borussia Dortmund, together with his team, plays against the Champions League debutant – the Azerbaijani Sabah. The match is away, which is a drawback, but the opponent’s level still allows hope that Guirassy and his partners will be able not only to collect three points this week in the CL, but also improve their scoring statistics. And together with that – to please Guirassy’s owners in the Champions League Fantasy.