The end of the season is here, and it indeed has been an emotional ride. We did not know if the Premier League season would be completed due to the pandemic, but we are very thankful that things were able to resume. Hopefully we do not have to experience another season like this ever again. As I stated early on post-pandemic, although the FPL mini leagues resumed where they left off, the head-to-head leagues were simulated. All the remaining matches ended in goalless draws meaning everyone got nine points added to their pre-pandemic total. If it had ended this way, Jermaine would have been the champion, with Andrew second and Khurram third. I was ready to end the season as there was no way of checking on the FPL app how many points people had, as all participants teams said '0' points. After a discussion in the Whatsapp group however, Gary realised that you can check the new points totals on the actual FPL website. As many players did not send me their scores as I had requested, I had to calculate everything, a long-winded but in the end worthwhile and fulfilling task as it provided consequential changes. Despite I was nowhere near the money positions myself, the top three in the end stayed the same as before the break, but importantly their order changed, which is extremely significant when money is involved.
We knew Andrew was the champion, as Jermaine and Khurram were beaten in gameweek 37. But just like Chelsea and Manchester United were locked on points in the real Premier League going into the last day, so were Jermaine and Khurram, who were deadlocked on 73 points, four behind the champion. Jermaine was my opponent this week, so I would affect who got more money as they were both getting a share of the purse regardless, as the top three all receive cash. Khurram's 111 points looked like it would grab the prize for the highest score, unless someone had an 'Aguerooooo' moment on the final day. All credit goes to Andrew, and what he has done cannot be denied as he only won two of his first seven games, before soaring on to 1st place with relentless form.
So to the action. I had two free transfers to make, so out went Todd Cantwell and Mo Salah, as I did not think Salah would start the final game. Salah's miss against Chelsea in the last game warranted dropping anyhow. In came West Ham's Michail Antonio, who has been on such a hot streak, that I had a feeling that it would stop, but I drafted him in nonetheless. Also I brought Spurs' Son back in to the side. So as all the games kicked off at the same time, I will start with the games that featured the new players I transferred in. In the West Ham versus Aston Villa game; '#OperationAntonio' failed. He missed a golden opportunity to give the Hammers the lead as he shot wide, he then got booked, 'thanks mate!', and was then duly substituted at half time by David Moyes. What a waste...zero points! I would have been better off getting Jack Grealish back in as he scored the opening goal for Villa, thankfully he was assisted by John McGinn. McGinn himself had his shot been more accurate could have grabbed a goal in the first half. The game ended 1-1 as West Ham levelled almost immediately. At Selhurst Park; Crystal Palace and Tottenham also drew 1-1. Harry Kane opened the scoring, and he was my captain this week, so all good, but there was no necessary contribution from Son, so both transfers actually failed miserably. Kane was my captain, when I first did my team, but then I made Son captain after transferring him in. After a conversation before the game on Sunday, Rian (Milito) suggested it would have made more sense to leave it with Kane, so I did and it worked, a rare late alteration that worked well.
Southampton beat Sheffield United 3-1 at St Mary's. There was no clean sheet for Alex McCarthy, but it did not really matter in this case as the goal was scored by John Lundstram, who was of course in my side, it was his 5th goal of the season. A great return as he is registered as a defender on FPL, so we will all be heartbroken when he is down as a midfielder next season. McCarthy had made a really good block from Billy Sharp before conceding. Then after the goal, he denied Lundstram getting a brace with a quite brilliant save to prevent hs left footed effort. Danny Ings got Southampton's third from the penalty spot (his 22nd of the campaign!), and got himself two bonus points too. Those bonus points covered the fact Jack Stephens did not contribute.
Liverpool won 3-1 away at Newcastle, but they went behind after 29 seconds. I had not even got home yet, so I just burst out laughing when I had seen that they had conceded so early on. Sadio Mane and Mo Salah were both on the bench as I thought they would be. After Virgil van Dijk equalised, Divock Origi eventually got Liverpool's second from an Andy Robertson assist, and then Mane came off the bench to make it 3-1. Mo Salah had struck the post just before Mane's lovely goal, so him not scoring justified me selling him. Leicester were denied Champions League football as they were beaten 2-0 at home against Manchester United. Despite no goal from Jamie Vardy, he still became the oldest player to win the Golden Boot with his 23 goals. So I accumulated 56 points and beat Jermaine, handing Khurram second place.
To summarise my season overall, I overthought numerous things, and realised that you sometimes just have to let things flow. I always try to have three Liverpool players in, my team, as there is no better feeling than seeing players from your club get points, but it may not hurt to have just two in on some occasions. This is obviously as Liverpool players are so expensive, that it would give more room to manoeuvre within my budget. I picked no players from Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea all season, and despite fading to mid-table obscurity in the head-to-head table, I comfortably again got over 2000 points overall. I was to win none of my leagues however, as everyone jumped in on the Bruno Fernandes train and many tripled up on United players. With some also having Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford, they stacked some serious points in the resumption, meaning I was ousted from the top in any league I led late on. So we have finally completed the season, amazingly only a few weeks off of a year when it started. With the new season starting on September the 12th, I will be back sooner than you think with the 2020/21 files. For now, thanks for reading people and stay safe. And oh yes, just in case you had not heard...Liverpool are Premier League Champions! I will spend the break being unbearable. Thank you for reading people.
@DubulDee
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