The Scout explains why Fantasy Premier League managers can still thrive without Erling Haaland (£15.1m), despite his Gameweek 2 hat-trick, and shows how many premium players can be selected in a squad that DOESN'T include the Manchester City forward.
Haaland’s weekend hat-trick at home to Ipswich Town has driven his ownership to 59 per cent, restoring him to a familiar position as the most-popular player in Fantasy.
So has the Norwegian become a MUST-HAVE, despite his massive cost in FPL? Not necessarily. After all, he is not the only premium-priced player who has made a strong start and made himself hard to ignore.
Despite Haaland’s prolific start to the campaign, his total of 24 points has been matched by Mohamed Salah (£12.5m) at the top of the player standings.
Salah is proven Fantasy royalty and offers a sizeable budget saving of £2.6m over Haaland. The Egyptian looks back to his best under Arne Slot, producing double-figure hauls in both of his appearances under Liverpool’s new head coach.
Meanwhile, just 24 hours after Haaland’s hat-trick, Cole Palmer (£10.5m) showed why he was the top-scoring player in Fantasy last season by matching the Norwegian's 17-point haul with a goal and three assists in Chelsea’s 6-2 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Elsewhere, Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka (£10.0m) started the season with a 12-point haul against Wolves in Gameweek 1 and has attacking returns in both of his appearances so far.
Top-scoring players for FPL points 2024/25
| Player | Price | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Erling Haaland | £15.1m | 24 |
| Mohamed Salah | £12.5m | 24 |
| Danny Welbeck | £5.6m | 21 |
| Noni Madueke | £6.5m | 20 |
| Cole Palmer | £10.5m | 19 |
| David Raya | £5.5m | 18 |
| Bukayo Saka | £10.0m | 18 |
| Son Heung-min | £10.0m | 18 |
Palmer, Salah and Saka were among the very best for delivering huge scores in Fantasy last season. Indeed, along with Saka’s team-mate Martin Odegaard (£8.5m), they were the only players to better Haaland’s total of eight double-figure scores in 2023/24.
Palmer led the way with 10 from just 29 starts, while Salah, Saka and Odegaard each managed nine.
The statistics also show that midfielders were far more reliable for bumper hauls last season than forwards like Haaland. Only THREE of the 14 players who recorded at least six double-figure returns in 2023/24 were forwards.
That trio doesn't include Arsenal’s Kai Havertz (£8.1m), who was a midfielder in Fantasy last campaign before being reclassified as a forward for 2024/25.
Players with most double-figure hauls 23/24
| Double-figure hauls | Player |
|---|---|
| 10 | Palmer |
| 9 | Salah, Saka, Odegaard |
| 8 | Haaland, Son, Foden, Rodri |
| 7 | Watkins |
| 6 | Fernandes, Isak, Havertz, Gordon, Olise |
How a squad can look without Haaland
So, how many big-hitting premium stars can you pick if you DON'T have Haaland? Here's a squad that you could pick which costs £100.1m.
A no-Haaland squad has to be flexible and should be structured in a way that allows you to swap in every other big-hitter in Fantasy according to who has the best fixtures.
Salah, is of course, the most expensive midfielder and by having both Palmer and Saka alongside him, you have easy routes to bring in Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-min (£10.0m) and Man City pair Kevin De Bruyne (£9.5m) and Phil Foden (£9.4m), who are all capable of monster hauls.
Up front, Ollie Watkins (£9.0m) has endured a slow start to the season but is now set to embark on a very favourable run of opponents. According to the Fixture Difficulty Ratings (FDR), each of Aston Villa’s next four matches score just two, including a visit to promoted Leicester City this weekend.
As with Salah, having Watkins offers the maximum flexibility in his position in a no-Haaland squad, because every other forward is cheaper than the Villa man. Selling Watkins after his nice run of fixtures would allow you to target Arsenal’s Havertz or Newcastle United’s Alexander Isak (£8.5m) for favourable schedules.
Advantages of having money to spend at the back
Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.0m) and Arsenal’s David Raya (£5.5m) have both enjoyed productive starts to the new season with two clean sheets apiece.
Despite failing to produce any attacking returns, Alexander-Arnold’s owners - who make up 30 per cent of all managers - should be more than encouraged by his numbers. The Reds right-back’s seven key passes and three big chances created both rank top among defenders.
Raya, meanwhile, has added two save points and four bonus points to his clean sheets, totalling 18 points, at least six more than any Arsenal defender. Priced £0.5m less than their starting defenders, the Gunners’ No 1 is making a strong case to be managers’ go-to goalkeeper.
In this squad, both of these premium picks should be played in each Gameweek, with three budget defenders then competing for two spots alongside Alexander-Arnold in a three-man defence.
Villa’s Pau Torres (£4.5m), Fulham’s Antonee Robinson (£4.6m) and West Ham United’s Max Kilman (£4.5m) all have favourable schedules on the horizon and can be rotated according to their fixtures each Gameweek. The same applies to Brighton & Hove Albion's Lewis Dunk and Ipswich's Leif Davis (both £4.5m).
Assess the fixtures to find value in attack
Salah, Palmer, Saka and Watkins occupy four of the seven attacking slots in a 3-4-3 or 3-5-2 formation in our no-Haaland squad, with the remaining three places determined by the upcoming fixtures.
Brighton’s Kaoru Mitoma (£6.6m) has produced attacking returns in both of his outings under Fabian Hurzeler and can be a handy pick in the mid-price midfielder bracket.
The Japanese winger has a goal, an assist and 14 points over the opening two Gameweeks and looks a standout option in midfield in Gameweeks 4-5 at home to both Ipswich and Nottingham Forest.
Mitoma does, however, have a trip to Arsenal up first in Gameweek 3, which is where Villa’s Morgan Rogers (£5.0m) comes in very handy. Rogers has played 90 minutes in each of the first two Gameweeks and his visit to Leicester this weekend allows you to select him and temporarily bench Mitoma.
West Ham’s Tomas Soucek (£5.0m) is a strong alternative to Rogers in this price range from Gameweek 4 – the Czech’s eight shots in the box are more than any midfielder so far this season.
Up front, Brentford’s Yoane Wissa (£6.0m) and Fulham’s Rodrigo Muniz (£6.1m) have favourable schedules to provide great value in Fantasy.
Similarly to Rogers, both of them face promoted clubs this weekend. Wissa, who produced a goal, assist and 11 points in his last home match, is set to face Southampton at the Gtech Community Stadium, while Muniz’s nine shots in the box is a league-high total ahead of his visit to Ipswich.
Again, there are alternatives here, with Brighton’s Danny Welbeck (£5.6m) and Nott'm Forest’s Chris Wood (£6.1m) leading the queue.
Welbeck’s two goals, assist and six bonus points have helped him amass 21 points, just three fewer than Haaland in the forward standings, at roughly a THIRD of the price. Wood, meanwhile, is set to enjoy a very kind mid-term run of opponents. According to the FDR, six of Nott’m Forest’s next eight matches score only two.