Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear. Just when you start to wonder whether or not Erling Haaland is still the golden boy of Fantasy Premier League he goes and takes a sledgehammer to the Manchester United defence in the derby. Lesson (painfully) learned.
Two goals and an assist in Manchester City’s Sunday stroll at Old Trafford ensured that Haaland recorded his first double-digit return since Gameweek 4 to punish the millions of managers who entrusted others with their captain’s armband. Only Arsenal’s hat-trick hero Eddie Nketiah outscored Haaland in FPL at the weekend.
Haaland’s exploits make this weekend’s captaincy decision tough to call once again. The Norwegian will certainly have more backing with City hosting Bournemouth at the Etihad, but he faces strong competition with Mo Salah another leading candidate as Liverpool travel to Luton.
Son Heung-min has a trickier fixture on paper but is in red-hot form ahead of Monday night’s game against Chelsea under the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium lights. It’s a London derby with added spice as a certain Mr Pochettino takes on his former employers for the first time.
i‘s top scorers in Gameweek 10
- Son Heung-min – 10 points vs Crystal Palace: The Spurs skipper continued his fine form at Selhurst Park with a clinical finish taking him to eight goals and nine goal involvements for the campaign.
- Mo Salah – 8 points vs Nottingham Forest: Salah left it late (just as he did in the Merseyside derby) but eventually got his points. He has provided attacking returns in 14 Anfield games in a row.
- Douglas Luiz – 7 points vs Luton: The Brazilian was outscored by Moussa Diaby and John McGinn but performed better than the hugely popular Ollie Watkins as Villa stretched their winning run at home to 12 games.
Like their north London neighbours Arsenal are still unbeaten in the Premier League but they face a stern test of their title credentials at St James’ Park on Saturday evening.
The Gameweek 11 deadline is at 11am on Saturday 4 November:
This is an extract of i’s Fantasy Premier League tips. Sign up here to receive the newsletter every week this season for our full 11-player team, advice on the best captain and more!
Gameweek 11 fixtures
3pm kick-off unless otherwise stated
Saturday 4 November
Fulham vs Man Utd (12.30pm)
Brentford vs West Ham
Burnley vs Crystal Palace
Everton vs Brighton
Man City vs Bournemouth
Sheffield United vs Wolves
Newcastle vs Arsenal (5.30pm)
Sunday 5 November
Nottingham Forest vs Aston Villa (2pm)
Luton vs Liverpool (4.30pm)
Monday 6 November
Spurs vs Chelsea (8pm)
Ederson (Man City)
Ederson was restored to City’s starting line-up at Old Trafford, after being given a post-international break breather, and performed well with a strong one-handed stop from Scott McTominay the pick of his three saves on the day.
The Brazilian has kept four clean sheets in nine league matches and looks a safe bet to earn a fifth shutout in Gameweek 11 with Bournemouth the visitors to the Etihad. The Cherries have scored just four goals away from home so far, while City have only conceded twice in four matches on their own turf.
Price: £5.5m Points: 34 Gameweek 11 fixture: Bournemouth (h)
Kostas Tsimikas (Liverpool)
After a shaky performance in the Merseyside derby, Kostas Tsimikas looked much more assured against Nottingham Forest in his second start since Andy Robertson suffered a long-term shoulder injury.
The Greek left-back has registered consecutive six-point hauls over the past two gameweeks thanks to back-to-back clean sheets and an attacking return may not be far away either.
Only Kieran Trippier has taken more corners than Tsimikas (13 to seven) among defenders since Gameweek 9.
Price: £4.5m Points: 13 Gameweek 11 fixture: Luton (a)
Hwang Hee-chan (Wolves)
To borrow a cliche from your favourite football pundit you have to worry about Sheffield United. While all three of the promoted sides are struggling, the Blades are the only Premier League team still winless after 10 games and are naturally rooted to the foot of the table as a result.
Their upcoming opponents Wolves, on the other hand, are unbeaten in five and seemingly making steady progress under Gary O’Neil. Hwang Hee-chan has emerged as a key player under his new manager with a total of seven league goals only bettered by Haaland, Son, Salah and Callum Wilson.
With Pedro Neto sidelined due to a hamstring injury, Hwang is the go-to Wolves attacker.
Price: £5.5m Points: 49 Gameweek 11 fixture: Sheffield United (a)
Darwin Nunez (Liverpool)
Darwin Nunez’s finishing may still be erratic (as evidenced by that open goal miss against Toulouse last week) but he isn’t nicknamed Captain Chaos for nothing: Liverpool’s No 9 is a constant threat and looked extremely sharp during the 3-0 win over Forest on Sunday.
A goal and assist in that game means the Uruguayan has only failed to register a goal or assist once in his last seven Premier League matches. Minutes have been an issue – he has only started four league games so far – but it would be a surprise if he didn’t start against a muscular Luton side at Kenilworth Road on Sunday.
Price: £7.4m Points: 47 Gameweek 11 fixture: Luton (a)
Erling Haaland (Man City)
We were hardly going to omit the big man from this week’s tips after giving him the big build-up now were we? The reason why some FPL managers opted to sell Haaland – against our best judgement it should be noted – is because of his dwindling xG numbers; that is no longer a concern.
Haaland’s xG of 2.06 against United was superior to his previous four league appearances combined and were it not for Andre Onana’s best efforts, he would have walked away with the match ball.
Unimpressive as United’s defensive efforts were, it would be a surprise if Bournemouth fared much better against a reinvigorated Haaland.
Price: £14m Points: 79 Gameweek 11 fixture: Bournemouth (h)