'It's not over 'til the fat lady sings!'
A huge game for me this week, as I played D-Man aka 'Black Pep' in the head-to-head league. I knew there was not much margin for error, so I intentionally did not make a transfer last week, so I could have two free transfers this week. Out went Kiko Femenia from Watford as he had not been as productive as last season thus far and they were away to Manchester City, so even if I had kept him, he would not have started anyway. I also let go of Southampton's Danny Ings as he was behind Che Adams in the pecking order, so I deemed letting him go as being a low risk decision.
The weekends action started on Friday night, with the south coast derby between Bournemouth and Southampton, the first of the players I transferred in was in action, as Diego Rico started for Bournemouth. Bournemouth, took the lead early on through Nathan Ake, and the corner was taken by Rico, so a good start, only problem was I had Southampton's Angus Gunn in goal, so I was hoping he did not let in too many goals. Gunn, of course went on to let in three, so he only got me a point, the last goal he let in meant that Callum Wilson unfortunately stole the bonus point that Rico was going to get. Ings did not start the game, and although he came on in the second half, he did not contribute points-wise, so my decision to take him out was vindicated. The one to watch now after this game is Bournemouth's keeper, Aaron Ramsdale. After getting rid of Asmir Begovic, Eddie Howe fully trusts the 21 year-old to be his number one, and he made 6 saves here to get 3 bonus points, Ramsdale could be a steal at £4.5m.
Saturday's early kick off between Leicester and Spurs, did not feature any players in my fantasy side, but I was doing a scouting job. James Maddison, scored the winner, and he will definitely feature in my team at a point as I had him for part of last season. Ricardo Pereira in defence has had a very solid start to the season for the Foxes, and he got Leicester level. The Portuguese full back is currently valued at £6m and he is the fifth highest scoring defender thus far, last season he was a very good option also.
Only two players from my team featured in the Saturdays 3pm games. I decided to finally give in and draft in Teemu Pukki, though I thought his purple patch may just come to a halt. He was not to find the net, as Norwich lost 2-0 away at Burnley. I am not ruing the decision however just yet, as Norwich do have some fixtures he can score in to come, as they have already played Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City. Leaving Ben Foster on my bench for Angus Gunn ended up being a masterstroke, as Manchester City destroyed Watford 8-0 and Foster's points ended up in the minus. Sheffield United, won 2-0 away at Everton to my surprise. To be honest I did not expect too much from Everton, but I at least thought they would score, so therefore I left John Lundstram on my bench. To my anguish, Lundstram assisted the second goal for Lys Mousset, meaning he totalled 12 points, 'yes 12!', and he was on my bench, 'stress!'. I was now praying that Roy Hodgson would not start the returning Martin Kelly at home to Wolves on Sunday, as Grant Hanley did not feature for Norwich in their game. If Kelly did not play for Palace, then I would get the points that Lundstram got when the final points tallies were put together. My friend Richi, had reassured me that with Mahmadou Sakho back, that it was unlikely Kelly would start, but I was still anxious to say the least. After Saturday's games, I only had 26 points, but I still had more than half of my team to play on Sunday, so there was a glimmer of hope.
Trailing my opponent by almost 30 points, I needed some goals, assists and bonus points if I was to have any chance of completing an epic comeback. The day started well, in the early games Martin Kelly was on the bench, and did not feature as Palace and Wolves drew 1 all. In addition to that, West Ham beat Manchester United 2-0, and Felipe Anderson assisted the first goal by Andriy Yarmelenko, 'lovely jubbly!', the comeback could be on...'
The latter games were also fruitful, Liverpool won 2-1 away at Chelsea, and Mo Salah got an assist for the first goal by Trent Alexander-Arnold. Aston Villa, lost 3-2 away at Arsenal, despite the Gunners only having 10 men, but this did not stop the Villa players I had from getting me points. Villa's two goals were scored by John McGinn and Wesley, so they both got bonus points on top of their game points. As Kelly did not play, I of course got the 12 points from John Lundstram, so the comeback was complete! 70 points for the week after thinking I only had 26 after Saturday ended. I pipped my co-host D-Man by a measly 2 points for a fourth head-to-head win of the season, I put the positive energy out there, and it came through, 'never give up!'.
@DubulDee
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