Gucci Mane!
The first game back after the international break can always be tricky, as managers may look to rest players. What made this particular week more complex, was that the Champions League was also starting this midweek too, so trying to guess what managers would do with their starting xi’s became even harder to call. I decided to go into the gameweek with no changes to my side. This was of course after taking a four point hit last week, I thought that it was best to let the players I brought in have another week to prove themselves, and it ended up being another competitive scoring week for me.
Liverpool, started the week’s action at home to Newcastle, and as I knew Roberto Firmino played twice on international duty for Brazil, with Liverpool having a tough away game at Napoli, I had a feeling he would be rested. This made me believe that there would be big things done by Mo Salah and Sadio Mane. As my opponent in the head-to-head league had Salah, I decided to give him the captaincy this week, despite feeling that Mane could have been given it. Firmino, did indeed start on the bench, so I fully expected the rested combination to strike as they did not travel with their respective countries in the break. Mane, always seems to score twice when I don’t captain him, and this was the case again, Salah got his second half goal however, justifying me making him captain. My opponent had also captained him, meaning we cancelled each other out, as I expected, so it was up to my other players to get the job done now, as there was no clean sheet points for Virgil van Dijk at the back.
The traditional 3 o' clock matches, had me feeling good about my keeper selection as Southampton beat Sheffield United 1-0, so Angus Gunn ending up getting me 9 points, as he received addition points for the saves he made and 2 bonus points on top of that, 'great stuff!'. Danny Ings however, did not start and as Soton managerRalph Hussenhutl seems to prefer Che Adams, despite the new singing from Birmingham not yet to finding the net, at £6m I seriously need to consider whether or not it is worth still having Ings for the time being. I had Crystal Palace's Martin Kelly in my starting defence, but with him still out injured, Sheffield United's John Lundstram was inserted in, so just two points came from him in their defeat to the Saints. Chelsea, destroyed Wolves 5-2 at Molineux in a result that I must admit I did not expect. As I have been saying, I have not picked any Chelsea players so far, but Tammy Abraham and Mason Mount were trying their best to make me change that, and they were both on target here. Abraham's hat trick means he is the joint top scorer in the league now, I need to make a decision soon as both their prices are sky rocketing. With Chelsea looking vulnerable at set pieces, I started Joao Moutinho, and he was robbed of an assist as what looked like a Roman Saiss goal, ended up being given as a own goal by Abraham, to the assist went to Saiss, 'rage!'. In the late match; there was a huge shock as Norwich beat Manchester City 3-2 at Carrow Road. This turned out to be a perfect scenario for me, as City lost, and Sergio Aguero scored, so Liverpool move a couple more points away from them and I still got my Aguero points, 'superb!'. Another two players I spoke of before the international break, Teemu Pukki and Todd Cantwell, were both on the scoresheet, and I am seriously considering getting one of, if not both in, they are another two players whose prices are rising weekly. Pukki, started out the season at £6.5m and now he is currently worth £7.1m.
Monday, saw Aston Villa and West Ham draw blanks, a game I had anticipated highly, as I had the Hammers' Felipe Anderson playing, along with Wesley up front for Villa, but there were to be no huge points here from either. It could have been better, as Brazilian Wesley missed a point blank header from six yards. This luckily was not a huge concern as I still won my head-to-head game this week, and my 60 points also meant I had risen in the normal 'League of Gentleman, classic scoring league. So two transfers to make next week, and I am already having issues with who I should put in. I next play one of the favourites for the title in the head-to-head 'Justice League', so it will be very interesting ot see if my changes can make the difference.
@DubulDee
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