‘Love the mind games’ - Newcastle United stars’ gutsy Man City fantasy football choices contrast Burnley

Newcastle United stars made gutsy fantasy football chances ahead of visiting Manchester City last weekend, just a week after Burnley's players backed Erling Haaland to breach their own defence.

A trip to take on the Champions was always going to be a challenge for the Magpies, who ultimately lost 1-0 at the Etihad Stadium but, if their Fantasy Premier League selections are anything to go buy, Eddie Howe's men had every belief they could keep a clean sheet in the North West.

Over six million people play the top flight's official fantasy football game with a growing number of professionals entering a team, which scores points depending on players' on-pitch performance, into the game. That includes a handful of Newcastle United players, who have been uncovered by FPL Focal.

Ahead of the Gameweek 2 deadline, the Magpies stars moved en masse to remove all the City stars from their fantasy teams, either moving them onto the bench or selling the usually high-scoring stars altogether.

Defender Kieran Trippier transferred out Jack Grealish from his side and benched 91% owned Erling Haaland. Harvey Barnes, Matt Targett Sean Longstaff and Anthony Gordon all also benched the Norwegian talisman with Fabian Schar going one step further and selling the striker from his team and bringing in Aston Villa star Ollie Watkins instead - having faced the Villain man in Gameweek 1.

The moves from Newcastle United stars come after Burnley players captained Erling Haaland against their own side for the curtain-raiser match of the season. All eight Burnley players listed as having fantasy football teams on the site owned Haaland for the opening fixture, despite the star playing their own side - with centre-back Dara O'Shea the only one to bench the striker.

Josh Brownhill, Lawrence Vigouroux and Jack Cork all captained Haaland and collected double points for his brace, while Charlie Taylor, Louis Beyer, Hjalmar Ekdal and Zeki Amdouni all started the forward but didn't give him the armband.

Haaland did bag a brace in that first fixture so, although Burnley stars left Turf Moor without any Premier League points, they did at least benefit from the star's goals in the fantasy game. For the Newcastle United fantasy managers on Saturday, benching Haaland proved a wise decision as he was kept at bay by the Magpies back line.

Reacting online, one football fan wrote: "I love Newcastle players for this."

Another added: "This is crazy. Newcastle players pretty confident it seems, every player has subbed out Haaland from their FPL team."

Meanwhile, others said they "loved the mind games" and joked that the decision must have been part of a team talk.