Haaland Vs Isak: The Better FPL Pick

Haaland vs Isak: this one isn't close

My numbers have Haaland pencilled in for nearly 48 points over the next six gameweeks. Isak? Around 26. That's not a gap — that's a chasm, and it's worth spelling out why before you spend a transfer either way.

Start with the fixtures, because they explain a lot of it. After the trip to Anfield, Haaland gets Ipswich at home, Aston Villa away, Brighton at home, Forest away and Fulham at home — a genuinely favourable run where he should be good for a solid return most weeks, with two or three of those games screaming captaincy. On his day he goes massive, and this stretch hands him plenty of days.

Isak's run is the mirror image. City at home first up, then Brentford away, Brighton, Arsenal at home, Palace away and Manchester United. Arsenal, City and United in a six-game window is about as unfriendly as the fixture list gets for a striker, and my projections reflect it — usually good for around four points a week across this stretch, which is thin for the price.

Now the honest other side. Haaland costs £15.6m and about 7 in 10 managers already own him — you get no bragging rights, and finding the cash isn't trivial. Isak at £9.1m frees up £6.5m elsewhere, and with only about 2 in 10 owning him, he'd be a genuine point of difference if he hauls. There's a real squad-building argument for the cheaper man in a normal window.

But this isn't a normal window. The projected gap of more than 20 points over six gameweeks swallows whatever you'd gain spending the £6.5m elsewhere — you'd need those savings to return heavily every single week just to break even, and that rarely happens. Isak is a hold-and-revisit once the fixtures turn; he's not a buy right now.

My pick: Haaland, without hesitation. Get him in before the kind run starts, captain him for the Ipswich home game, and let the template be the template — 7 in 10 managers own him because he's the right answer.