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            <p><strong>Erling Haaland (£14.0m) </strong>is the most-owned player in Fantasy Premier League (FPL) - but with just two double-digit hauls in eight weeks, is our cash better spent elsewhere?</p>
<p>No player is 'essential' in FPL but Haaland arguably comes close, with nine in 10 managers backing him despite him being comfortably the most expensive pick in the game.</p>
<p>And while many FPL managers will question whether selling Haaland is a serious prospect, it is the reality for tens of thousands of fantasy fans who have sold him in the last week.</p>
<p>Here, we'll examine Haaland and Manchester City's stats, analyse what may have caused them to lose two league games in a row, see how those who have vowed not to own the striker this season are doing so far and whether <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/ai-team-rating">Hub AI</a> keeps the faith.</p>
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<h2>Is Haaland falling in popularity?</h2>
<p>The City talisman was the 13th most popular transfer out ahead of Gameweek 8, having been taken out of 255,000 teams.</p>
<p>His blank against Arsenal has prompted another 126,000 managers to ditch him ahead of Gameweek 9 to date.</p>
<p>Some, including Hub partner <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/fpl-gameweek-8-review-saka-misses-city-game-haaland-and-son-blank-budget-gems-emerge">FPL Raptor</a>, deciding against including Haaland in their Gameweek 8 Wildcard squads, with his failure to score getting them off to a strong start.</p>
<p>But he is still in 88.5% of FPL teams, so remains the highest-owned player by some margin, with <strong>Bukayo Saka (£8.6m) </strong>in around half of squads.</p>
<div id="attachment_56057" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-56057" class="size-full wp-image-56057" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Haaland-Getty.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="683" /></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-56057" class="wp-caption-text">Erling Haaland. Picture by Getty Images</p>
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<h2>How have Haaland and Manchester City performed this season?</h2>
<p>Haaland is the top scorer in the league, with eight goals in eight games.</p>
<p>He has had the most shots on goal (32), all of which have been in the box, the most on target (15) and is first for expected goal involvements (xGI).</p>
<p>Fifteen big chances have come his way, although he has still slightly exceeded his expected goals (xG) tally of 7.85.</p>
<p>By this point last season, Haaland had already scored 14, massively outperforming his 7.65 xG.</p>
<p>He finished the season with 1.29 goal involvements per appearance - and he is not far off replicating that this season, with 1.12.</p>
<p>Haaland is the third highest scorer in FPL so far this campaign on 55 points, with <strong>Ollie Watkins (£8.2m) </strong>on 59 and <strong>Mohamed Salah (£12.6m) </strong>on 69.</p>
<p>City have scored 17 goals in eight games (sixth), ranking sixth for xG behind Everton, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Brighton and Newcastle.</p>
<p>While it is early days, FPL fans are used to seeing City at the top of the tree when it comes to goalscoring. This may be explained by missing important players.</p>
<div id="attachment_58695" style="width: 907px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-58695" class="size-full wp-image-58695" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Haaland-stats-2.jpg" alt="" width="897" height="731" /></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-58695" class="wp-caption-text">Erling Haaland's season so far</p>
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<h2>The impact of no Rodri, De Bruyne and Grealish</h2>
<p><strong>Kevin De Bruyne (£10.2m) </strong>lasted just 23 minutes of the opening game of the season before going down with a hamstring injury.</p>
<p>The midfielder was initially ruled out for up to five months following surgery - a hammer blow for City's creative potential.</p>
<p>De Bruyne led the league for expected and actual assists last season, ranked third for key passes and second for big chances created.</p>
<p>But things have worsened for City since, with <strong>Jack Grealish (£7.3m) </strong>limited to 13 league minutes since sustaining a knock to his knee against Sheffield United in Gameweek 3.</p>
<p>While less influential than De Bruyne, the England international ranked third among City players for key passes, second for big chances created, second for expected assists (xA) and third for assists.</p>
<div id="attachment_58691" style="width: 910px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-58691" class="size-full wp-image-58691" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/KDB-v-Grealish.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="731" /></p>
<p id="caption-attachment-58691" class="wp-caption-text">Kevin De Bruyne and Jack Grealish's stats last season</p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3>Rodri red card a key moment</h3>
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