How on earth do you stop Erling Haaland?<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the question Thomas Tuchel is asking himself as England prepare to take on Norway in the World Cup quarter-finals.<\/p>\n
None of Haaland\u2019s World Cup opponents have yet found the answer. Ivory Coast have come the closest to containing him, only letting the goalscoring freak<\/a> score once against them.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, Haaland has got braces against Iraq, Senegal and Brazil \u2013 all on the back of a 38-goal season with Manchester City. And now he\u2019s coming for England, whose defence has looked unconvincing to say the least at this World Cup.<\/p>\n This will be Haaland\u2019s first time playing against his country of birth. But he\u2019s used to playing against English defenders on a weekly basis in the Premier League.<\/p>\n So, can Tuchel learn anything from how Haaland has performed against England\u2019s defenders (with the obvious exception of Nico O\u2019Reilly, who has only ever been his teammate, and Jarell Quansah who\u2019s suspended) to decide who his backline should be against Norway?<\/p>\n Marc Guehi<\/p>\n Games: 5<\/p>\n Haaland goals: 7<\/p>\n It\u2019s Haaland\u2019s current City teammate Guehi that he has the best record against. We\u2019re not talking about in training, of course, although you\u2019d imagine that probably happens a fair bit too.<\/p>\n Back when Guehi was at Crystal Palace, he faced Haaland five times \u2013 and saw the striker score seven goals.<\/p>\n It started with a hat-trick for Haaland \u2013 who got in front of Guehi for his first goal \u2013 in their first head-to-head battle in August 2022. From then on, the only time he played against Guehi without scoring was in the 2025 FA Cup final.<\/p>\n No doubt Guehi will be glad he doesn\u2019t have to come up against Haaland at club level anymore, but they\u2019ll be locking horns again in Miami. Gulp.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Trevoh Chalobah<\/p>\n Games: 5<\/p>\n Haaland goals: 2<\/p>\n Haaland\u2019s next favourite victim among England\u2019s centre-back pool is Chelsea\u2019s Chalobah with two goals against.<\/p>\n They both came during the 2024\/25 season, with the first when Chalobah was on loan at Crystal Palace (although it was Guehi who Haaland beat in the air to score in that game) and the second back with his parent club.<\/p>\n For the goal against Chelsea, Haaland nodded the ball past Chalobah, spun him and sent him to the deck before scoring past an oddly positioned Robert Sanchez. It wasn\u2019t a great look defensively.<\/p>\n Chalobah was a late emergency call-up for England\u2019s World Cup squad and we\u2019d be surprised if he was drafted in for his first outing at the tournament against Haaland.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Ezri Konsa<\/p>\n Games:\u00a05<\/p>\n Haaland goals: 1<\/p>\n More promisingly, it\u2019s been nearly four years since Haaland scored in a game against Konsa.<\/p>\n It was his first meeting with Aston Villa back in September 2022 and he\u2019s drawn a blank in the four head-to-heads he\u2019s had with Konsa and co. since.<\/p>\n Konsa played at right-back in one of them but was otherwise in his natural centre-back position.<\/p>\n As for the goal Haaland scored against Villa in 2022, Konsa lost track of him behind him in the box as he latched onto a cross. But since then, he seems to have learned his lesson.<\/p>\n A word of warning, though: Konsa has looked a shadow of himself in this England team compared to the usual stability he enjoys with Villa.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Dan Burn<\/p>\n Games: 8<\/p>\n Haaland goals: 1<\/p>\n England\u2019s saviour?<\/p>\n Like Konsa, Burn has only ever been on the pitch for one Haaland goal, way back in August 2022.<\/p>\n Haaland has failed to find the net from the seven subsequent games against Newcastle in which Burn has featured, either at left-back or centre-back.<\/p>\n Burn had to wait until the last 15 minutes against Mexico for his first gametime this World Cup, but he made the most of them by heading everything in his path.<\/p>\n The campaign for him to become a Haaland antidote starts now.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n John Stones<\/p>\n Games: 2<\/p>\n Haaland goals:\u00a00<\/p>\n While Haaland has been able to call Stones a teammate ever since he joined City in 2022, they have been on opposing sides before.<\/p>\n It was in the 2020\/21 Champions League quarter-finals when Haaland was playing for Borussia Dortmund.<\/p>\n But he drew a blank in both legs before eventually joining City a little over a year later.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Reece James<\/p>\n Games: 4<\/p>\n Haaland goals: 3<\/p>\n Moving onto the full-backs, who in theory will be less occupied by Haaland but still have to be on their A-game, and there\u2019s an interesting trend with James, who\u2019ll be hoping to return to fitness for the Norway clash.<\/p>\n Haaland scored a brace against Chelsea the first time he faced James in the 2023\/24 season, and then again in the reverse fixture.<\/p>\n Since then, Haaland hasn\u2019t scored against James, but both times have also been when the Chelsea captain has been playing in midfield rather than at right-back.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Djed Spence<\/p>\n Games: 3<\/p>\n Haaland goals: 0<\/p>\n Curiously, Haaland has scored in a game that Spence also played in, but it was before the Tottenham full-back had come on from the bench in a February 2025 clash, so it doesn\u2019t really count here.<\/p>\n Spence can be an option to play on either side of the defence. Could he be another unlikely good omen?<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n England\u2019s defence against Norway<\/p>\n And so, with those cold, hard facts undoubtedly at the forefront of his mind, it\u2019s time for Tuchel to pick his anti-Haaland setup (while conveniently overlooking that keeper Jordan Pickford, the problem that\u2019s not a problem<\/a>, has conceded seven goals from six games against the City number nine).<\/p>\n So far, England have gone with a back four of James, Konsa, Stones and O\u2019Reilly against Croatia; James, Konsa, Guehi and Spence against Ghana; Quansah, Konsa, Guehi and O\u2019Reilly against Panama and Mexico; and Spence, Konsa, Guehi and O\u2019Reilly against DR Congo.<\/p>\n Presuming everyone is fit, the evidence above suggests Spence, Stones, Konsa and Burn as the four picks who either know best how to limit Haaland or just have luck on their side.<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s O\u2019Reilly to consider, whose Haaland prevention powers we cannot evidence since we don\u2019t have any spies at City\u2019s training ground.<\/p>\n Whether O\u2019Reilly plays depends on whether Burn plays as a centre-back or left-back, given that he obviously has to start.<\/p>\n To settle that dilemma, we\u2019ll cast our mind back to the only time Haaland has scored in a game Burn has been involved in. Lo and behold, Burn was at left-back that day, so to centre-back he goes. That\u2019s where he was in his Mexico cameo too, after all.<\/p>\n Out drops Konsa and there we have it: Spence, Stones, Burn, O\u2019Reilly. Haaland will be trembling in his boots.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n