My head-to-head opposition this week was my old friend Gary. Gary did well last season in the'Justice League', but he just missed out on the money positions. Before the game we had very different teams, there were only 2 players that we both owned out of our squads of 15. One of them was Mo Salah, so I decided to make Salah my captain. When the gameweek had kicked off however I saw that he let go of Salah to get in Man City's Kevin De Bruyne. De Bruyne is normally a points-machine, but this season by his standards he has started quite slowly. Nevertheless I was very fearful of this change, despite the fact I believed Salah would definitely at least score against Wolves.
The gameweek had started a day late, as some Newcastle players tested positive for Coronavirus. Therefore their match with Aston Villa that would have taken place on Friday night was called off. This would clearly aid many FPL players, as the Friday deadline catches out numerous people. With that game being called off Gary changed his goalkeeper to Southampton's Alex McCarthy instead of Villa's Emiliano Martinez, so this meant we had two of the same players although he had sold Salah. I went into the gameweek with no transfers, as I really liked the look of my team, and this would give me two free transfers next week. A lot hinged on Wilfried Zaha, and whether or not Roy Hodgson would start him or not in his first game back after self-isolation. As well as that Harry Kane had not trained for Spurs, so whether or not he would start the North London Derby with Arsenal was a game-time decision.
Gameweek 11 started with Burnley at home to Everton. Burnley took an early lead through Robbie Brady, before that man Dominic Calvert-Lewin equalised. I mean this guy has to be stopped, he is annoying me. Everyone I face has him because he is more than good value for money. He started the season at £7.5m and is already at £8m now after scoring 11 league goals in 11 games, and £8m is not even that expensive. Second up was Manchester City at home to Fulham, it was not quite the battering that many expected, but Gary did get what he needed from his captain De Bruyne. The Belgian got an assist and scored the second goal from the penalty spot as City won 2-0. Despite the victory, many who doubled or tripled up on City players will possibly feel a little underwhelmed.
In the 5.30pm game West Ham hosted Manchester United. The only man I had playing on Saturday was the Hammers' Vladimir Coufal, so I was hoping for a West Ham clean and a goal contribution to take me to utopia. However, Gary had Aaron Cresswell, so a clean sheet would benefit him also. Things were looking well at half-time as West Ham led 1-0 through a player I previously owned in Tomas Soucek. Soucek will more than likely come back into my team at a point, as he is decent value currently at £4.9m. At the start of the second half I could have got the Coufal assist that I was praying for, he cut in off the right but rather than shooting he tried to tee up Jarrod Bowen, who just could not reach it, my head dropped. Then the inevitable happened and United produced another away comeback. Bruno Fernandes had been on the bench, but came on at half-time and assisted the brilliant first goal for Paul Pogba, which was good news for Gary. The goal should not have stood as the ball went out of play and it was checked by VAR, but such is life. United went on to win 3-1. The evening game was at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea came from behind to beat Leeds 3-1. Patrick Bamford had put Leeds ahead, before Chelsea turned things around. With Gary having Ben Chilwell in defence it was important that Leeds scored. Hakim Ziyech unluckily for Gary came off injured. So Saturday ended with me 39 points behind, as he had taken a four-point hit. Of course however he already had six men play and I only had one play at that stage. I told the 'D&D Footy Factory' whatsapp group that I felt I had already lost my head-to-head, despite there being a long way to go the lead looked quite imposing.
I needed an inspirational and uplifting 'Sunday Service' if I was to cut into this lead. It was essential the 'word' and the 'sermon' were not just to be delivered emphatically by the 'pastor' (my captain Mo Salah), but I needed the 'choir', my supporting cast to do their bit also. Sunday began at the Hawthorns as West Brom met Crystal Palace, and I was happy to see that Zaha was starting. With one of my sisters' birthday approaching I had errands to run, so could not watch the game, but I was listening eagerly on the radio. Palace took the lead through an own goal by Darnell Furlong. It came from a cross by Zaha, so therefore he got a 'fantasy' assist, 'lovely stuff'. West Brom levelled before losing Matheus Pereira to a harsh red card, and that led to Palace turning it on in the second half with their extra man. Zaha drove in a great second goal for Palace, before adding his second with a close range finish for their fourth as the Eagles went on to win 5-1...yes 5. The first time they have scored 5 in a league game since putting 5 past Bournemouth on the last day of the 2018/19 campaign. Zaha delivered and then some, it was an easy decision to leave him in as at least 180,000 had sold him, so I knew that he had the potential to be a massive differential. After all, 'where there's a Wilf, there's a way!'. Zaha shared the maximum bonus points with Christian Benteke who also scored twice.
The second part of the 'service' took place at Bramall Lane as Sheffield United faced Leicester. Jamie Vardy hit the post in the first half and it looked like being one of those days, as the game headed for a 1-1 draw. But then in the 90th minute; James Maddison fed Vardy who won the game with a very composed finish. He kicked the corner flag and was booked, as he is a lifelong Sheffield Wednesday fan and wanted to rub it in as he was overawed with emotion. Vardy's late show stole him all three bonus points at the death. So far, so good. the only blemish was that as Harvey Barnes did not play for Leicester, Gary got the points off of his bench for Patrick Bamford.
The third game was the north London derby between arch-rivals Spurs and Arsenal. I had stupidly thought that the form-book would go out of the window, and that Arsenal would get the result, but they were beaten 2-0. Harry Kane who I was happy to see start, supplied Heung-min Son on the first goal, and Son returned the favour on the second. Son's goal was a lovely strike from long range, while Kane crashed a shot in off the bar. Arsenal were better in the second half, but you never really felt like they would cause serious damage. Kane got three bonus points, and Son got two. This Sunday was proving to be very fruitful, and although I believed my team would do well beforehand, even I was a little surprised at how well things were going. The services' 'benediction' came at Anfield, as Liverpool entertained Wolves. Wolves began the game well, and it took an error from Conor Coady for Salah to give Liverpool the lead. The 'pastor' had scored, the 'congregation' of 2,000 at Anfield rose to their feet. Yet more points for me, I was grinning from ear to ear. Salah assisted the third goal for Joel Matip, as the Reds went on to win what could have been a potential banana skin 4-0. Diogo Jota was only a substitute as Jurgen Klopp felt he was still too friendly with his old teammates to show the killer instinct that was needed. And for once this season, the intervention of VAR meant a penalty decision was rightly overruled keeping Liverpool's clean sheet intact. Sunday's 'blessings' meant that I had completely wiped out the 39-point deficit, with Salah getting the maximum bonus points. Add to that the clean sheet points for Andy Robertson and I now astonishingly led by 16 points. I amassed 86 points in one day! Easily the best individual day I have ever had since playing FPL.
Only Che Adams producing the performance of his life could save Gary on Monday, as we both had the same keeper in McCarthy. Brighton took the lead so there was no clean sheet for us, but Southampton were to draw things level just before half-time. The goal came from Jannik Vestergaard, and the corner was of course taken by James Ward-Prowse, edging me closer to 100 points. The Saints were to win the game after a controversial second half penalty. The referee at the centre of things was David Coote, who is the only ref to ever be mentioned in the 'Fantasy Football Files' on multiple occasions, and believe me that is not a good thing. Ward-Prowse originally had the ball in his hand, but the penalty ended up being taken by substitute Danny Ings, and he duly converted. I have got a lot of love for Ings, 'but bro you stole my points here man!, I wanted to get that century bro!' Ward-Prowse you are the captain, put your foot down and tell him what time it is!
So 'oh yes' I felt the power, yes I felt the spirit, in the name of Jesus, the Sunday service somehow got me through. Hallelujah! Praise the lord! All this service was missing was a Whitney Houston rendition from Randy Watson and his band Sexual Chocolate. Unlucky Gaz you will not lose too many games getting that high of a total. My points haul means I am back on top of all but one of the traditional scoring leagues, and I am now fifth in the head-to-head league after back-to-back wins...we move!
@DubulDee
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