Managers who have yet to play their Triple Captain chip will no doubt be considering pushing the button on Erling Haaland (£14.9m) in Gameweek 13.
Let’s have a look at the pros and cons of backing the big Norwegian this weekend.
PROS
The fixture
There is no doubt about it. Leeds United at home is about as inviting a fixture as you could wish for. Daniel Farke’s side have lost four of their five away matches this season, collecting their only win on the road against Wolves, and conceding the third most goals on their travels (15). They are also in a rotten run of five defeats in six matches. They very much look there for the taking.
The form
Haaland is an absolute goal machine. After 12 Gameweeks, he has plundered 14 goals, while in all competitions for club and country, he has rattled off an astonishing 32 goals in 22 matches, failing to score only four times in that run. If he keeps scoring at his current rate, he will go on to score 44 Premier League goals, smashing the record of 36 he himself set in 2022/23.
Haaland has had 17 more shots (50) than any player and eight more big chances (24).
Midweek rest
After blanking against Newcastle in Gameweek 12, Pep Guardiola decided to give Haaland a rest for Man City’s Champions League encounter with Bayer Leverkusen. Though he was brought on midway through the second half to try and salvage the match, he will be fresher, as he was limited to a 25-minute cameo.
Emotional century beckons
Haaland was born in Leeds and has an emotional connection with the club he supported as a boy, as well as Man City, due to his father, Alf Inge, having played for the Whites. This is clearly a special occasion for him, as he mentioned the first time he faced them in 2022.
“When I was little I had a Leeds kit with Eirik Bakke on the back and a City kit with my father on it. Not in my wildest dreams did I think I would play at Elland Road for City against Leeds. You can’t even dream about it, because it’s so surreal, with a father who has played for both clubs. I am proud today!” – Erling Haaland, speaking after his last meeting with his boyhood club
Needless to say, Haaland was on target that day, scoring twice in a 3-1 win.
Haaland is also one goal away from his 100th Premier League goal. A strike against Leeds will ensure he reaches his century faster than Alan Shearer (the League’s all-time top scorer) did.
Form of Doku and Foden
The form of Jérémy Doku (£6.5m) should serve Haaland well against Leeds.
The Belgian has been in sensational nick of late. Against Newcastle in Gameweek 12, he produced the match’s highest number of chances created (four) and the most successful passes into the penalty area (four).
Since Gameweek 8, among midfielders, he ranks joint-top for chances created (15) and joint-third for big chances created (three):
Phil Foden (£8.0m) isn’t a million miles away from Doku’s numbers either. He shares top spot for chances created and has supplied two big chances in the same timeframe.
Haaland will be relishing the prospect of getting on the end of the chances these playmakers are carving out at will.
Maximum returns!
As with most Gameweeks, Haaland will be the most popular captain this week. Giving him the armband will essentially mean you are on par with most of the rest of the field, and there’s a chance his ‘effective ownership’ will be north of 200% at your rank tier – so even bog-standard captainers will lose out if he scores.
Triple Captaining means you can cheer on a haul – which is something many of his owners may not be able to do!
Strike while the Norwegian is hot
My old boss used to tell me, “Don’t put off to tomorrow what you can do today”.
Right now, Haaland is fit and rested. For all we know, when another attractive fixture comes along, he may be injured, ill or indisposed for some reason. There’s no time like the present.
THE CONS
Back-to-back defeats for City
While Erling is largely an unstoppable goal machine, it is also true to say that he has blanked in back-to-back matches in all competitions. City lost both of those matches and the doubters might suggest that this is the start of the sort of slump Guardiola’s side endured around this time last year. In a 12-match sequence in November and December 2024, City managed only one win and Haaland scored only four times. Could this be a case of history repeating itself?
Fixture flurry
Man City are also in Premier League action next Tuesday night, so Guardiola may have half an eye on the Gameweek 14 trip to Fulham.
Should City find themselves ahead against Leeds and coasting, will they adopt an energy-conserving, sterile possession approach that limits goalscoring chances? Pep may also opt to bring players off to wrap them up in cotton wool ahead of the fixture flurry. That could be Haaland, or one of his chief goal providers, Doku or Foden.
Either way, the game state may preclude the Haaland goal frenzy Triple Captainers crave.
Gameweek 17 better?
It could be argued that there is a better Gameweek to Triple Captain Haaland: against West Ham in Gameweek 17.
We’ve talked above about Tuesday’s looming Gameweek 14 encounter with Fulham.
But after the visit of the Hammers in Gameweek 17, there’s a full week of rest before City play again.
As for what precedes the West Ham game, City host Brentford in the League Cup three days earlier. Guardiola has been resting his big guns in the cup games so far, and there’s a very good chance of Haaland being given a breather for the clash with the Bees, having played Sunderland, Real Madrid and Crystal Palace in the space of nine days before that.
A possible week’s breather on either side of a game against a West Ham side yet to keep a clean sheet under Nuno…
Free Hit week
Managers who still have the Free Hit chip available to them might want to consider playing that this week instead of the Triple Captain. With Arsenal visiting Chelsea and Manchester United hosting Crystal Palace, a lot of managers will own assets that could cancel each other out. Clean sheets for Arsenal and Palace defenders could well go out of the window, while this could instead be the week to cash in on Aston Villa facing Wolverhampton Wanderers, Brentford entertaining Burnley, and well-rested Man City assets hosting travel-sick Leeds.
It is also worth bearing in mind that, on paper at least, the five Gameweeks after Gameweek 13 do not present quite such attractive fixtures to play the Free Hit chip.
Gameweek 16 is perhaps the next-best option but we all get five new transfers anyway to help accommodate the departure of players to the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
Going for a ‘Hail Mary’ differential Triple Captain
We are, of course, not compelled to put the Triple Captain armband on Haaland. Other players are available.
Managers looking to boost their ranking or catch up on mini-league rivals might want to consider Triple Captaining someone no one else is.
For example, Arsenal have an enticing fixture in Gameweek 16 when they host struggling Wolves. Bukayo Saka (£10.1m) and recent hat-trick hero Eberechi Eze (£7.7m) could have a field day in that fixture.
Equally, Brentford’s Igor Thiago (£6.5m) could tear it up at home to Leeds in the same Gameweek.
Antoine Semenyo (£7.9m) and Bournemouth then entertain Burnley in Gameweek 17.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below…
