A new week, a new opportunity to make amends in FPL. After disappointingly losing my first game of the season, I could not afford to be defeated once again. Not only was it a loss in my first head-to-head contest, I was also lowly in the traditional scoring ' League of Gentlemen', and I was being bantered after just one game. So this week had to be a big week. Regardless of how early in the season it is, having back-to-back average weeks is extremely detrimental.
My longtime friend Delvin was my opposition and he had quite a good team. I decided not to a make any changes this week, which would give me the chance of making two transfers in gameweek 3 if need be. After contemplating numerous transfers, I had to look at the fact that I chose this team to start the season after considering how their opening three fixtures of the new campaign. So therefore, sometimes, just sometimes after a standard week, you have to have a bit of patience, and just let things play out. There are so many times when I have taken a points hit down the years, or used my wildcard and I have done terribly, so I just went with the flow for once as I was curious to see what exactly unfolded.
A goalfested weekend in the Premier League started with Everton beating West Brom 5-2, but I obviously do not pick Everton players and currently do not have anyone from the Baggies. I am however keeping tabs on West Brom's Grady Diangana and Matheus Pereira who were both amongst the goals. There were also seven goals in the second game at Elland Road, as Leeds beat Fulham 4-3. Leeds are very good going forward, but defensively they need to improve as I could currently score against them and Fulham. I was on a scouting mission here; as I will be adding Helder Costa and Mateusz Klich to my watchlist. I had previously not been impressed with Patrick Bamford in the Championship, as I saw him miss numerous chances, but he has had a very good start to the Premier League season. In terms of Fulham; Aleksandar Mitrovic is one I will be considering, I already have midfielder Harrison Reed but he was on my bench. Delvin had Mitorvic in his team and he bagged a brace in defeat.
The third match on Saturday did not concern my starting lineup either, as Manchester United were beaten by Crystal Palace at Old Trafford. Joel Ward was only on my bench and this was a good thing as he was booked and Palace never kept a clean sheet despite winning. The last match on Saturday, was finally one that was of significance to my FPL team. Arsenal were slightly fortunate to beat West Ham 2-1 at the Emirates. West Ham's Tomas Soucek almost got me some points making a nuisance of himself in Arsenal's box, but he could not quite get that goal the Hammers needed. Delvin had Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as his captain and thankfully he did not score, he did assist the opener for Alexandre Lacazette however, but he would have expected another goal contribution from him.
Sunday, would be a day that would have huge implications for me as I had nine men out of my team playing across the four matches. The first game of the day was between Southampton and Tottenham at St Mary's and I had no fewer than four men across the two sides. Danny Ings and Harry Kane had three goals disallowed between them in the first half, and it looked like it was going to be one of those days. Then Ings scored a brilliant goal to give the Saints the lead, the assist came from Kyle Walker-Peters so this was perfect for me. Then what took place next Mystic Meg could not have even predicted. Southampton's high line was exploited repeatedly by Spurs, and Heung-min Son scored four, yes four times and all four of the goals were assisted by Kane. I literally could not believe what I was seeing and I was chuckling uncontrollably. I left Alex McCarthy on my bench as having two Spurs attackers I deemed it nonsensical to have him in goal, and this was indeed the right decision in the end. Kane was not to miss out on the festivities and scored the fifth goal to give him a 21-point FPL haul as Spurs won 5-2. Ings scored a late penalty for Southampton's second goal. Son will be the first and last player to score four goals in a game and be ousted out of getting three bonus points thanks to the late strike by Kane. I was so proud I kept hold of the Korean, as so many people sold him after Spurs' defeat to Everton, that his value went down. Almost half a million FPL owners brought Willian in to their sides and he did not produce for them despite Arsenal's victory. Son...can I just say 'thank you mate', you are actually now the 'Daddy' to all the people who sold you, you can now quote Nicki Minaj and state 'all these bitches is my sons...'.
Next up was Newcastle and Brighton at St James' Park. Brighton ended the game as a contest within 7 minutes through a Neal Maupay double. The first goal was a penalty, and it was won by Tariq Lamptey, which meant more points for me, as winning a penalty is recorded as an assist in FPL of course. Lamptey came off after 56 minutes, which meant no clean sheet points, but he put in a real shift and is really one to watch for the future, as the game ended 3-0. Chelsea and Liverpool were next to kick off, and the Reds triumphed 2-0 at Stamford Bridge. The first half had been a fascinating tactical battle as Liverpool maintained possession and Chelsea tried to hit them on the break. The Blues' Andreas Christensen was sent off at the end of the first half and Liverpool asserted their control thereafter. In the second period Sadio Mane scored twice to secure the away win for the champions. A lovely team move was finished off with a header for the first, and then you will not see a better assist then Chelsea keeper Kepa's one to Mane for the second goal, 'yikes'. To think I was going to take Mane out for Mo Salah, as I was frustrated after missing out on Salah's hattrick last week, but patience is a virtue. I had already amassed over 80 points in one day before my captain for the week Jamie Vardy stepped on to the pitch in the last game on Sunday as Leicester played Burnley at the King Power stadium. Despite my points-haul, having your captain score is vindication that is always needed. The Vardy goal did not come, so what seemed like a big lead was not as wide as it should have been. If Delvin had big games from Wolves' Raul Jimenez and Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne then he had a small chance of somehow amazingly winning the head-to-head.
So to Monday; the last man I had to play was Sheffield United's John Lundstram, as they travelled to Villa Park. Aston Villa won the game 1-0, but if Lundstram had done what was required then things could have been so different. Lundstram got booked early on, and then if that was not bad enough, he missed a penalty, I was livid. To be honest however it was better he lost me points in a week when I had scored so highly, as with much less points this could have been disastrous. The penalty was saved by Villa's new keeper Emiliano Martinez; Martinez was of course at Arsenal when the season began, otherwise I would have definitely had him in may side, as I rated the performances he made at the back end of last season, and he is at a nice price of £4.5m.
So now I had to hope that De Bruyne and Jimenez did not both have great games. Things got off to a bad start as City were awarded a penalty, that was clinically despatched by De Bruyne. I had to be very thankful nonetheless to Wolves' keeper Rui Patricio as he saved a De Bruyne freekick before the penalty, and he made another good stop from him in the second half. Jimenez missed a sitter in the second period, and for some reason I was 'damn well' near having palpitations despite having over 90 points, 'life should not be like this I am telling you!'. Jimenez did get on the scoresheet eventually, but it was only a consolation as City scored again through Gabriel Jesus to win 3-1. The goal was setup by De Bruyne; I mean the Belgian was just making an interception and it fell to Jesus who scored. That is how good he is, even when he is not trying to assist he still does. All this was just a tad too late for Delv, and I hung on for a victory that should have been more comfortable. John Lundstram may not be in my team next week as punishment, so just letting you know now, he could have carried me to 100 points if he put that penalty away. Still it was nice to get my first head-to-head win of the new season under my belt. I will just end on this; if you took Son or Kane out of your team...my condolences.
@DubulDee
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