'Jack-uum v The Assist King'
My opponent in the 'J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League' this week was Jonathan, who after an average start, had been accumulating points well. After looking at his team, I assumed that as I was not going to make any changes, that as he had some heavy-hitters in his team, this could well be a defeat, unless someone really stepped up for me. I was being stubborn and sticking to not making any transfers, as I wanted to have two free transfers next gameweek. This would then mean if those changes did not work over the next few gameweeks after that, then it would be time to use my second 'wildcard' and revamp things completely.
The weeks' action started on Friday night as Sheffield United entertained West Ham. Despite it being only the first match, it was very important as John had two defenders from the Blades in his team. One of them of course was John Lundstram, who I also had, but if they were to keep a clean sheet, this would of course have given him an early advantage. The other United defender he had was Jack O’Connell, so I hoping he did not get any bonus points. Sheffield United scored an early second half goal, and it looked like the three points were coming in for them until West Ham levelled in injury time. The goal went to VAR and had fantasy owners biting their fingernails, as so many people have doubled or in some cases tripled up on Sheffield United players in their backline. The goal from Robert Snodgrass was harshly disallowed for a handball by Declan Rice, to be honest there was nothing Rice could do to avoid it, but the unethical change to the handball rule worked in United's favour. I suppose if any team needed some luck with a decision it was them, as VAR has cost them a lot of points thus far. So I was already six points behind going into Saturday.
The traditional 3pm games, had Chelsea beating Burnley 3-0, Tammy Abraham was amongst the scorers which gave John points. There was no shutout from Brighton as they lost 1-0 away at Everton, so I did not get a significant contribution from Lewis Dunk. It was actually lucky Dunk did not get sent off, as Theo Walcott did not go down when he was pulled back by the Seagulls' captain. The VAR viewed it and still somehow did not give a penalty. In the match at the King Power Stadium between Leicester and Southampton, I had two of my forward line playing in this game, in Jamie Vardy and Danny Ings. There was a good start as my captain Vardy assisted Leicester's opener for Dennis Praet. Danny Ings did get on the scoresheet to continue his great scoring run, but before his goal he hit the bar twice. Even after scoring, Ings had another good chance that he should have buried, but he placed it to the side of goal that allowed Kasper Schmeichel was on and he was able to make a very good save. Vardy also had a goal disallowed, but this indeed was easily the right decisIon. So both strikers contributed, but especially from Ings' perspective, it could have been so much more. My Wolves experiment failed me once again, as they drew 1-1 at home to Newcastle. So there was nothing worthy for me here from Adama Traore and Raul Jimenez yet again. The tragic irony here was that the goal was scored by Leander Dendoncker, and the 'fantasy' assist went to Joao Moutinho, who took the set piece the goal came from, and I have previously owned both players, 'aaarrrggghhh!'. The Traore-Jimenez combo that has worked so well this season, did almost produce a goal to be fair, but Martin Dubravka made a great save to deny Jimenez' first half header.
In Saturday's evening match Liverpool won away at Tottenham 1-0, the goal was scored by Roberto Firmino and assisted by Mo Sala, which brought me some points. It could have been more for the Reds, and Salah himself had a good chance before the goal came. Both of us had Sadio Mane, but he was John's captain. So Saturday finished with us both locked on 42 points, meaning I needed Kevin De Bruyne to have a rare quiet game as my opponent had him. As well as that I needed a clean sheet from Watford's Ben Foster and something from Aston Villa's Jack Grealish. With how well De Bruyne has played this season, despite having two men left to play, I had already partially conceded I would more than likely lose, unless the fantasy football gods were looking over me.
Sunday had started well as Ben Foster got the clean sheet I needed, as Watford won 3-0 away at Bournemouth. Then came what unfortunately for me was the plot twist. I obviously needed De Bruyne to not have a good game, but Manchester City beat Aston Villa 6-1 and the Belgian assisted twice. Sergio Aguero scored a hat-trick again showing me that I should have stuck to my original plan when I used my 'wildcard' on Christmas Eve. Jack Grealish, had not been able to get on the ball as much, as City completed dominated, he did have a chance in the second half however, but he blazed it over. Villa got a penalty right at the end, and I thought Grealish would take it, but as he has already missed one this season, Anwar El Ghazi took the penalty instead, dashing any hopes I had of victory. I fell to yet another narrow defeat, this time by just two damn points, it would have been by just one point but Grealish decided to get himself booked near the end. Thanks Grealish you did 'Jack!!'.
@DubulDee
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