'If it's not broke...'
Week 3 was here, and as I said, after his performance against his former team Southampton in week 2; Sadio Mane was drafted into my squad, as he is so costly, I had to make three transfers overall to fit him in. Two of the three transfers were free, as I did not make one in gameweek 2. Out came Felipe Anderson (West Ham, £6.9m), Matt Doherty (Wolves, £6m) and I also had to let go of Andy Robertson (£7m), as you can only have three players from the same side, and I already had Virgil van Dijk and Mo Salah from Liverpool. In came, Mane (£11.5m), Grant Hanley (Norwich, £4m) and John Lundstram (Sheffield United, £4.1m). The two previous gameweeks, I had Salah as my captain, but I decided to change that and give the captaincy to Mane, in hindsight it was the wrong decision.
The week started on Friday night, as Aston Villa entertained Everton at the iconic Villa Park. Villa took the lead through a player I first noticed last season in a Champions League game, Wesley. The tall Brazilian came to my attention when Club Brugge smashed Thierry Henry's Monaco 4-0 in a Group Stage game, so when Villa got him, he was on my shortlist of players for my fantasy team this season, as his physical nature I felt should adapt quite easily to the English game, so watch this space as I may get him in. Villa's second goal was scored by Anwar El Ghazi and assisted by my 'secret weapon' John McGinn, in the very last minute of the game, I had of course until then, been cursing at the television, as to why I had started him this week, but he is now of course my best mate for his late assist.
Saturday, started with Norwich and Chelsea; a game I had really looked forward to. That man Teemu Pukki was at it again with a goal and an assist, 'sigh'. I decided against putting him in yet again, and by the time I do probably put him in, his value will be so high that it will maybe not seem as worth it, as he will surely have a barren spell soon... well, he better anyway! Another bargain, Todd Cantwell was the man to score from Pukki's assist, and despite it being early in the season, showed that points per value is very important, he is at £4.7m currently and he will continue to rise if he keeps up his goal involvements, as he also has two assists thus far. Mason Mount, scored for Chelsea, and as I said as we are part of a Fantasy League for money, I may have to break my rule of not selecting any Chelsea players, as he thrives on getting into the oppositions' box. Tammy Abraham's two goals could well see him go on a run also, but he is now priced at £7.1m and may not start every game with Oliver Giroud about. Hanley, almost scored in this game, which would have been lovely, but Kepa denied him, which meant as Norwich conceded 3, he got me no points, again 'sigh'.
In the 3pm games, Angus Gunn got me a clean sheet as Southampton beat Brighton 2-0 at the AMEX Stadium, so a good thing I started him over Ben Foster, as Watford were beaten 3-1 at home by West Ham. Luckily, Lewis Dunk had a goal disallowed, or it could have been all so different, 'well done VAR!'. I decided to leave Martin Kelly on the bench, and this looked like a bad decision as Crystal Palace led 1-0 late on at Manchester United, but United eventually levelled, before losing the game. Leicester, won 2-1 away at Sheffield United, so no clean sheet points from Lundstram, and on the other side Youri Tielemens was not featured in any of Leicester's goals. As much as I am a fan of the Belgian, his value is slowly starting to decrease, I may have to consider getting rid of him, which means if I do, in true FPL fashion, he will start scoring and assisting. In the late game; Liverpool hosted Arsenal, and they got a 3-1 win. It had been 3-0 until the 85th minute, when Lucas Torreira pulled back a consolation, which means for the third week running, I had been denied a Liverpool clean sheet late on, 'annoying'. Salah, bagged himself a brace, how I wish I had left the captaincy with him, as Mane who I had restructured the whole team for was not part of any of the goals from a points perspective. Ironically, Mane was substituted for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, so he actually got me the solitary point midfielders get for the team keeping a clean sheet. If I had left Salah as captain, then I would have got an additional 12 points, 'if it's not broke, don't try and fix it...', was circulating my ears, but the main thing as always is that Liverpool had won the game.
Sunday, saw Manchester City win away at Bournemouth, and Sergio Aguero was at the double, 'points, points, points'. City also should have had a penalty, that no doubt he would have taken. Raheem Sterling, gave his weekly reminder that he is a must-have in FPL, but the fact I like to have Mane and Salah in my team, does not make having Sterling financially feasible. The week finished with Spurs at home to Newcastle, and Burnley away at Wolves. My opponent in the money league, had Aguero as his captain. So while I was sitting there looking at Aguero score, I remembered he was getting double the points I was getting with him having Harry Wilson too, whom came off the bench and scored for Bournemouth, what should have been a straightforward victory now looked in jeopardy. I found myself needing Spurs to score, after they went behind against Newcastle, as my opponent had Martin Dubravka in goal, or I needed Joao Moutinho or Raul Jimenez to do something for Wolves, who were also trailing to Burnley, through yet another Ashley Barnes goal. Moutinho, was taken over off before the hour mark, so he only got me one point, 'yikes!'. I had got so desperate I decided to watch the Wolves game on my laptop, whilst the Spurs game was on the television. As Jimenez sent a ball across the face of goal in the Wolves match that someone should have got on the end of, I looked up and Lucas Moura shot over for Spurs, an opportunity he would usually gobble up. In the third minute of injury time, Jimenez struck the post, the second game in a row that he had hit the woodwork, I had confined myself to the fact I was going to draw or worst case scenario lose my head-to-head game by a point. Then, in the 7th, yes 7th minute of injury time, Wolves got a contentious penalty, that I must admit I thought VAR would overturn, but they did not, and Jimenez scored it, scenes!
So a last minute penalty saved me, and it gives me 2 wins from my opening 3 head-to-head matches, but overall the changes did not work greatly as no one got significant points that I transferred in, hopefully those players will come good in the coming weeks. This week did show however, why I cannot have a team I despise like Manchester United with players in my squad, because that drained me keeping an eye on both games and willing them on, 'fantasy' was momentarily bordering on reality. Hopefully next week will not prove to be so melodramatic.
@DubulDee
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