Haaland cleared to start, leaving FPL managers weighing captaincy and transfers ahead of gameweek eight
Enzo Maresca confirmed on Tuesday night that Erling Haaland (£13.7m) is fit to start against Aston Villa on Saturday in gameweek eight, after being an unused substitute in Manchester City's 5-1 Champions League win against AEK Athens, immediately putting him at the top of captaincy contenders for the weekend. Haaland has eight goals from seven league games this season but has not scored in his past four Premier League appearances against Aston Villa.
Chelsea attackers are the leading alternatives for fantasy managers, with Joao Pedro (£7.9m) their best asset to date on five goals and three assists and Cole Palmer (£9.7m) offering a higher ceiling because he takes penalties. Arsenal's Bukayo Saka (£9.6m) picked up a quadriceps injury in the Champions League on Wednesday night, while Liverpool's Dominik Szoboszlai (£6.8m) and City's Antoine Semenyo (£8.3m) are already ruled out long term. The Saka, Szoboszlai and Semenyo absences are affecting template midfield options ahead of transfers and captain choices.
Manchester City midfield interest is heavy given the hope that rotation will be eased with Semenyo ruled out; Rayan Cherki (£8m) is seeing the most transfer traffic. Phil Foden (£6.8m) stood out with a midweek hat-trick and Jeremy Doku (£7.5m) has three goal involvements in three games, making both prominent transfer and captaincy considerations.
Brighton assets occupy three of the top five positions in the game, led by out-of-position defender Maxim de Cuyper (£5.3m), with Pascal Gross (£6.2m) one point behind him and level with Haaland, and centre-back Luka Vuskovic (£5.1m) in fourth. Bart Verbruggen (£4.6m) sits among the top three goalkeepers and Charalampos Kostoulas (£5.7m) is in the top three strikers, reflecting Brighton's strong presence among FPL assets.
Brighton have scored a league-leading 23 goals and conceded a league-lowest five this season, and have won two of their last three Premier League matches against Liverpool. De Cuyper is listed as a defender but functions as an attacking £5.1m winger eligible for clean sheet points, and he is the highest-scoring asset with five goal involvements in seven games, the most of any defender. Gross is on penalties and has nine goal involvements, ranking second for key passes (19) and big chances created (six). Liverpool have yet to win at home in the league this season, scoring two goals and conceding five.
Vuskovic leads defensive contribution points for Brighton, who have five clean sheets in seven games; he has secured the two-point defensive contribution bonus in four of those matches, added two goal involvements and registered a leading four big chances among defenders. Leeds United's Tarik Muharemovic (£5m) has hit DefCons on four occasions and registered his second assist of the season last time out after six shots in the box. Coventry City's Bobby Thomas (£4m) leads with 84 defensive contributions and has had 10 shots in the penalty area.
Josko Gvardiol produced one goal, two clean sheets and three assists in his opening five games but was benched against Liverpool and Ipswich Town in gameweek six and seven. With reports that Nico O'Reilly is struggling with a back problem, Gvardiol could be set for a run. With this in mind, I would keep hold of him unless you are sitting on a stack of transfers and have no other issues in your team.
Haaland's confirmed availability for the Manchester City start against Aston Villa on Saturday makes him the principal captain choice for gameweek eight, with Chelsea attackers, City midfield options and Brighton's high-scoring assets forming the main alternatives managers must consider.
