In what was building up to be the most important week of the season thus far, everyone had been sorting out their teams for the double gameweek. Some people had decided well in advance whether they were going to use one of their bonus chips. And of course you will have some that will just straight forget about the deadline and then moan afterwards like it was not their own fault. The FPL website for awhile has proved to be more trustworthy than the FPL app as, I knew a couple of people who had confirmed their teams and then there has been an issue when the app has been used. With the deadline being on Saturday morning, I was leaving it late just in case any late injury news broke. The only problem is I of course do the #FootyOnTop radio show on a Saturday morning, so the deadline passes in the middle of the show, so if there was any issues then that limits my time to sort things out for confirmation. So there was no surprise that there were technical problems at the station when I got there meaning that I was only able to confirm my team just before the 11am deadline.
My opponent was Darren T, who has recently been presenting the show with me in my co-hosts' absence and this was his first year in the money league. He would have a few changes to make as he had one or two men out with injury. Many FPL players were trying their best this week to have as many players in their team that had two matches. If you were not using a bonus chip, then you were definitely going to have to take a points hit. If all the players you needed to played both their games then this was the week to easily absorb a points hit. I had contemplated using my 'Triple captain' chip, but changed my mind as last year I used it on a double gameweek when Liverpool played twice, and it was just my luck that Sadio Mane got injured against West Ham. My mind was all over the place, but I knew I was going to take an 8-point hit as I was going to make three transfers and I only had one free one. Do I go with Alisson or Ederson in goal as they both had two games? Do I bring a Manchester City defender in? Do I go for Jack Grealish or James Maddison in midfield? Do I bring in Michail Antonio up front? Man...this was stress! I had so many drafts of different teams but then I had only few minutes to decide because of the issues at the station.
I ended up transferring out Leeds' Illan Meslier for Ederson, Heung-min Son came out for Jack Grealish and Burnley's Charlie Taylor for Aaron Cresswell. As Man City played Crystal Palace and Aston Villa I went for Ederson as I thought they had a decent chance of getting two clean sheets as they have been rock solid recently at the back. I thought as everyone is going all in on Manchester City players that I would try something a little different in defence. I drafted in West Ham's Aaron Cresswell to accompany Vladimir Coufal. This double on West Ham players was as the Hammers had Burnley and West Brom, so I hoped as they had kept some clean sheets that they could pull through for me. I was quite nervous about this however, but Cresswell offers a threat from set pieces too, could it be high risk high reward? The last change was selling Heung-min Son for Jack Grealish, and as soon as I did I wished I had gone for James Maddison as he was cheaper. Also I was conflicted as Villa played Man City in their first match of the week and I had Ederson in goal. With Ollie Watkins in my team too, this honestly could end up being a disaster. With so many changes made the app took longer than usual to update, when it finally updated I saw that Darren T had not been able to sort his team. Therefore unless something out of the ordinary happened I should get the win, but the aim of this week was to try to rack up as high a score as possible with the week being so congested.
With the chance of big points being accumulated this gameweek, I thought about going with four at the back, but went against it to go with four midfielders. Despite the fact he was only playing once I started Wolves' Pedro Neto, as he was going to take a late fitness test. If he did not pass it, then that would have meant another man who was just playing once James Ward-Prowse would come in. Southampton were due to play twice but their other game with Leeds was postponed, which allowed them to fit in their FA Cup third round game with Shrewsbury. When the first match of the gameweek's team news came out Neto was fit to start against West Brom. It was to make no difference however as the Baggies came from behind to beat Wolves 3-2. In one of the 3pm games; West Ham scraped past Burnley 1-0, and the early goal came from Michail Antonio. I was not too upset about not having him in my side, as the Hammers kept the clean sheet that I badly needed, meaning the first part of my gamble had worked. Man it was nerve-racking however, so I have no idea how West Ham supporters must have felt as I was only watching for FPL purposes. David Moyes' men sat back and were fortunate not to concede. Even in the first half Aaron Cresswell scored an own goal only for it to be disallowed for offside. Antonio almost got a second from a Coufal cross but Ben Mee cleared of the line, that would have been brilliant for me. In Saturday's last game Leicester beat Southampton 2-0, and you guessed it...James Maddison scored their first goal, I shook my head, I keep on overthinking things and it comes back to haunt me. Harvey Barnes got their second and he was previously in my team, but I had to let him go to reshuffle things after there were one or two injuries in my side. Both goals were assisted by Youri Tielemens who was in my side for a good chunk of last season and is pushing to get back in.
On Sunday; Spurs won 3-1 at Bramall Lane to start things off. I of course sold Son as Spurs play Liverpool in gameweek 20 and I would have had him on the bench regardless, so trust him to assist the opening goal for Serge Aurier. Son then hit the post from what would have been another Harry Kane assist. Kane got his goal just before half-time with a fine finish from outside the box into the bottom corner and you knew Sheffield United were not coming back. Despite it not getting me any points shoutout Tanguy Ndombele for his great goal for Spurs' third. Son was Darren T's captain, so it was good he never did too well, otherwise even with his depleted team there could have been a few issues for me. Next up, was another big anti-climax to a game between Liverpool and Manchester United at Anfield, as they had their third goalless there in the last five seasons. Firmino missed Liverpool's best chance in the first half and Alisson made two good saves at the end, and that's all the words this game really deserves to be honest. I was already angry Liverpool did not win their game and later on I was further to be infuriated. I left getting a Man City defender in as I did not want to take a further points hit only for them to win 4-0, and John Stones of all people was to score not just once, but twice! Ederson was of course my keeper, but I could not believe what I saw in regard to Stones. Ruben Dias was to get a 'fantasy assist' on Stones' second and anyone who doubled up on City players at the back was laughing. Raheem Sterling even scored a free-kick, but when I had him in my team when I used my 'Free hit' this guy was kicking field goals like he played in the NFL when given the chance from 12 yards, 'thanks Raheem lad...not!!'.
So we go to the midweek games. West Ham started things off as they were at home again against West Brom. The Hammers won, but there was not to be a clean sheet double for me however as it ended 2-1. The only positive to take was that Coufal assisted the opening goal for Jarrod Bowen. Declan Rice missed chances that were set up by Cresswell and Coufal so I could really have had a field day, the chance from a quickly taken Cresswell free-kick was from a tight angle though. Craig Dawson headed wide from a Cresswell corner and was literally shouting at the TV. So there was no points from Tomas Soucek who was the most transferred in player. And to think as I thought of captaining him at a stage as a differential because I did not believe many others would even attempt to do that. Matheus Pereira got West Brom's goal meaning that he scored three goals in two games in this gameweek, no one saw that one coming. Leicester got their second 2-0 home win of the week as they beat Chelsea. Jamie Vardy had a first half chance saved, and then he came off injured in the second, so it was a massive anti-climax for my vice captain. Barnes assisted Wilfried Ndidi on the Foxes' first goal and yes you already know Maddison got the second. I had more looked at Aston Villa's second game against Newcastle when I picked Jack Grealish, but I was thinking there is now no way he will beat Maddison's points tally now, as their first match was at Manchester City. It looked like a huge error I had made. On Wednesday in that exact game; Pep Guardiola's men got another clean sheet as they beat Villa 2-0. This was nowhere near as comfortable for them as the home win over Palace, as Villa caused numerous problems on the break. This City clean sheet meant John Stones finished gameweek 19 with an astonishing 27 points for a defender, meaning he was the only player to get more points than the aforementioned Matheus Pereira (24).
Thursday just had the one game, and it was to be bitterly disappointing for me. Liverpool lost 1-0 at home to Burnley, yeah you read that correctly. A late goal by 'Austrian Zlatan' Ashley Barnes (a Liverpool fan) from the penalty spot, consigned the Reds to their first home defeat since April 2017 which was against Crystal Palace. Mo Salah was my captain this week and as he started this game on the bench he returned me 8 points from 2 matches, which means that Harry Kane who played just once got more points than he did with 9. That right there just sums everything up. I know many felt my pain as Salah was the most captained player in the gameweek. I was heading for victory but I got nowhere near the amount of points I had hoped for. Saturday concluded the gameweek with the rearranged fixture between Aston Villa and Newcastle. Villa won 2-0 and finally Ollie Watkins scored. Praise Jesus! His first league goal since early November. He had a goal rightly ruled out for offside after, before Grealish assisted the second goal for Bertrand Traore who produced a really smart finish on his weaker foot. John McGinn miss-kicked a Grealish pass too otherwise this game could have been really fruitful. It was lucky that Watkins goal came as despite having a depleted team, Darren had Emiliano Martinez in goal and had Ezri Konsa in defence so Villa's clean sheet meant he got closer to me then he should have been allowed to.
So my third head-to-head triumph in a row, but unfortunately I have lost the lead in another traditional scoring league. This means I am only top of 7 of them now out of a possible 13. With Jamie Vardy out injured now, I will have to make a change or possibly two, and I had originally not planned to make any for gameweek 20. FPL life...
@DubulDee
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