The obvious thing to do this week if you own Erling Haaland and if you still have your triple captain chip is to combine the two for Manchester City’s home games against Chelsea and Brentford.
The real question is why wouldn’t you do this?
It’s true that City are likely to have another double gameweek later in the season but you can’t guarantee that Haaland will be fit by then or that the desire to start him in every game will still be there in a tight title race like we have at the moment.
It may be that you think there are genuinely better candidates for the triple captaincy – Chris Sutton put the case for Darwin Nunez in this week’s Fantasy 606 podcast for Liverpool’s double this week away to Brentford and at home to Luton.
It will still only really pay off though if Nunez significantly outscores Haaland and the bookies won’t be on your side in that one.
If you’re determined not to follow the crowd though you can cover yourself by simply captaining Haaland this week – getting double points for his score rather than triple – and saving the chip for another opportunity.
One of those presents itself soon when Dominic Solanke has two home fixtures against Sheffield United and Luton in a double gameweek 28 for Bournemouth.
Don’t forget though that lots of managers will probably cover themselves that week by captaining Solanke just like you might be captaining Haaland this week as your insurance policy.
Captaincy
If you don’t go for Haaland this week then make sure you still give the armband to a double gameweek player and preferably an attacker.
Kevin de Bruyne or Phil Foden for Manchester City, Diogo Jota, Darwin Nunez or Luis Diaz for Liverpool, Ivan Toney for Brentford.
Fixtures to target
Again we’re looking at the teams with the double gameweek and the big decision for a lot of managers this week will have been what to do about Trent Alexander-Arnold following the recurrence of his knee injury.
I’m not sure replacing him with another Liverpool defender is the way to go given that they immediately blank in gameweek 26.
The next port-of-call has to be the Manchester City defence for their double against Chelsea and Brentford, in which case I would go for Nathan Ake.
As with most City players, there’s no guarantee he’ll start every league game but Josko Gvardiol’s injury makes him even more valuable on that left-hand side and Guardiola has already told us this season that Ake is one of their most dangerous weapons on the attacking set-pieces.
If you don’t want to go for a City defender then I think the next best bet is an Arsenal player, even though they only have the one game this week away to Burnley.
Gabriel is the best choice, £0.5m cheaper than his fellow centre-back William Saliba, but both have proved their goal-scoring prowess recently as well as playing in the meanest defence in the division.
Statman Dave was also recommending Brentford goalkeeper Mark Flekken on the Fantasy 606 podcast. He may struggle to keep a clean sheet against Liverpool or Manchester City but he’ll still rack up the save points as he did in the recent 3-1 defeat at home to City and he’s also guaranteed a fixture in gameweek 29 when so many other teams will blank on FA Cup quarter-final weekend.
Differentials
I’m toying with the idea of going for Diogo Dalot or Harry Maguire as my Alexander-Arnold replacement this week, both of whom are cheap and well under 5% ownership.
Manchester United are away to Luton in gameweek 25, they then host Fulham and Everton either side of the Manchester derby in gameweek 27 when you’d aim to put your United defender on the bench.
If they get knocked out of the FA Cup at Nottingham Forest in the fifth round then they will also have a home fixture against Sheffield United in gameweek 29.
Gamble of the week
Sutton’s idea of going with Nunez as your triple captain would definitely count as the gamble of the week but just remember who suggested it if it doesn’t pay off.
