Erling Haaland’s absence sends Dream Team gaffers into meltdown – how to react to prolific poacher’s injury

MANCHESTER CITY’S starting line-up at Luton didn’t just throw a spanner in the works, it lobbed a hammer, a saw and a screwdriver in for good measure.

Erling Haaland’s (£7.9m) absence from the matchday squad sent Dream Team managers into meltdown.

The prolific poacher is the most-popular player in the game with an ownership just shy of 85% and he’s also been the most-selected captain every Gameweek this season.

Pep Guardiola revealed that Haaland has been suffering from “a bone stress reaction in his foot” but was quick to shutdown rumours of a broken bone.

In terms of a timeline for the injury, the decorated tactician appears to be targeting the Club World Cup for a return.

“It’s not ready today,” Guardiola told reporters on Sunday. “Don’t think so in Crystal Palace, hopefully can be ready in Saudi Arabia.”

Later on, City’s head coach offered a slightly more optimistic opinion: “Maybe Crystal Palace is ready, I don’t know, I don’t think so but maybe, so we will see.”

Evidently, Haaland will not be involved in Belgrade in midweek when the treble winners take on Red Star in what is essentially a dead rubber to complete their Champions League group.

City are scheduled to host Roy Hodgson’s side on Saturday, their only Gameweek 16 fixture, but at this stage it seems unlikely last season’s Golden Boot winner will be involved.

Club World Cup fixtures don’t count in the realm of Dream Team so it’s Haaland may not have the opportunity to add to his points tally until he travels to Everton on December 27th!

Gaffers are looking at a potentially significant lay-off for the game’s top scorer (195 points) at a crucial stage of the campaign.

It’s worth noting here that City are one of just two Premier League teams with just one fixture in Gameweek 17 because of their Club World Cup commitments – Brentford being the other.

All this means Haaland may end up playing just one fixture between the start of Gameweek 15 and the end of Gameweek 17.

For comparison, Newcastle, Liverpool and West Ham have SIX fixtures to fulfil in the same time frame.

Barring a rapid recovery in time to face Palace next weekend, Haaland should surely be on the chopping block for the vast majority of Dream Team bosses this week.

While this is something of a headache, gaffers can take solace in the fact most of their rivals are in the same situation.

In fact, how each Haaland owner reacts to this injury is likely to have a significant impact on the overall leaderboard and thousands of Mini Leagues worldwide.

In Haaland’s absence, Julian Alvarez (£4.2m) is likely to lead the line, as he did against the Hatters on Sunday – the Argentine forward returned six points.

However, while backing the World Cup winner may feel natural, gaffers will run into the same problem in regards to the Club World Cup in a week’s time.

Mohamed Salah (£6.7m) is clearly the front-runner to replace Haaland as Dream Team’s second-best striker (168 points) but many gaffers already own Liverpool’s No11 – he currently features in 43.2% of teams.

If not Alvarez or Salah then who?

Ollie Watkins (£4.7m) and Son Heung-min (£4.4m) must surely be considered strong contenders.

Aston Villa have just knocked off Man City and Arsenal in back-to-back home games and their first-choice centre-forward has ten goals and nine assists to his name in all competitions in 2023/24.

As for Tottenham’s captain, he bagged 17 points against Newcastle on Sunday and is currently Gameweek 15’s top performer.

Only Haaland and Salah have scored more league goals than Son at this stage of the campaign.

The main reason to stay clear of Spurs assets has been their lack of European fixtures but with the continental competitions set to pause for almost two months, it’s potentially a great time to back the South Korean superstar.

Darwin Nunez (£4.3m) and Alexander Isak (£4.3m) may also be popular alternatives because of their busy schedules although both are likely to be rotated.

Dream Team managers would be wise to keep some budget in reserve so they can afford to bring Haaland back in when he’s available again, especially if that proves to be Gameweek 18 when City host Sheffield United at the Etihad.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk