The internationals provided a welcome short break to another stressful FPL season. With the late start to the campaign, the close proximity of the gameweek deadlines has not always given time to thoroughly assess things. So therefore having what was basically two weeks off gave the opportunity to have a refresh, but in my case I had who was probably the worst possible opponent I could get upon the return of Premier League football. Gary my long time friend was my rival this week, and he ironically nearly had all the same players I had! This meant as usual a million things were running through my head in terms of how to counter him, I had beaten him in our first meeting, but here I was not so sure.
I decided to bring Diogo Jota (£6.6m) back into my side as he scored in Liverpool's last game before the break against Wolves, and he has been on fire for Portugal too. I initially gave Jota the captaincy too. Then upon looking at Gary's team again I felt he will probably do something drastic, so I made another change meaning a 4-point hit. I had already sold Ilkay Gundogan (£6.1m) to get Jota in and then I sold Gareth Bale (who had dropped to £9.4m) too and got Mo Salah (£12.4m) back into my team. Salah has a great record against Arsenal and I was hoping for a possible two goal contributions to counter the fact we had many duplicate players. I then took the captaincy from Jota and gave it to Salah, as Gary already had Jota in his side. This would increase the differential if Salah contributed, but had I made the right decision taking it from Jota? 'Hmm'. When the deadline passed I saw that Gary had made two changes also and had taken a 4-point hit too. He also sold Gareth Bale and in for him came my nemesis Bruno Fernandes, 'I was raged!' His other transfer was to sell Heung-min Son and bring in Riyad Mahrez. I was now even more sceptical about my chances of victory.
The first match of the week did not have an effect on our head-to-head, but let me shoutout West Brom anyway for their 5-2 win over ten-man Chelsea. Right now let us get to it. Leeds played Sheffield United in the Yorkshire Derby and won 2-1. Me and Gary both had Patrick Bamford, but where I started him, Gary left him on the bench and got away with it as he drew a blank. The only good news was Raphinha another Leeds man we both had assisted the first goal for Jack Harrison. The other negative here was that the third Leeds man we both had Pascal Struijk was left on the bench by Marcelo Bielsa. Next Manchester City won 2-0 at Leicester. Again 'Pep Roulette' struck as Ilkay Gundogan, John Stones and Joao Cancelo were all left on the bench by Guardiola. The only change I oversaw was that with the Champions League in midweek that Gundogan would be rested which is why I sold him, but Stones not starting broke me. This meant as Tyrick Mitchell was still questionable for Crystal Palace's Monday game against Everton, therefore I was already down to just ten players. As even if he was to be fit, Patrick van Aanholt would still start ahead of him at left back. The advantage was with Gary as he had Ben Mee and Vladimir Coufal on his bench and they would both start for their respective teams. So Cancelo not starting for him was not detrimental as Stones not starting for me evidently was. I clearly was far from amused. I had been fortunate however that Mahrez did not get on the scoresheet in Man City's win as he was denied by Kasper Schmeichel in the first half and put a good chance wide in the second.
Saturday's final game was at the Emirates as Liverpool travelled to Arsenal. Diogo Jota disappointedly was on the bench but came on to score the opener and then the third goal as Liverpool won 3-0. My captain Salah had a goal sandwiched between the Jota brace, but as I said I really needed two contributions from him as the differential, so effectively I would have benefitted more from keeping Jota as the captain despite Gary having him too. This was as Jota got three bonus points despite being booked, it was all an oxymoron, 'complex simplicity'. Salah was denied a second by Bernd Leno otherwise it would have surely been over for Gary. Anyway I was grateful Jota scored even once as when the teams were announced I was pessimistic with him not starting. I was made to sweat when it was Andy Robertson who came off for Jota but as it was the 60th minute he still got clean sheet points and he played so well he got a bonus point also despite not finishing the game. It is always good to beat the Gunners anyway, and you can catch me in a post-match analysis with JR the Front Room Gooner in this link.
Sunday's first game was Southampton's 2-1 win over Burnley, which was good for me as it meant only a single point for Ben Mee. So to St James' Park we go, where Newcastle got a late equaliser to salvage a point in a 2-2 draw against Tottenham. Son was only on the bench and came on at half-time when Spurs led 2-1. Both Jose Mourinho's mens' goals were scored by Harry Kane of course, the second a really good finish into the bottom corner. Kane was the most captained man in the gameweek, showing you what people think of Newcastle. Kane could have had a hat-trick but hit the outside of the post when he possibly could have tried to square the ball for Son. In Sunday's third match; Aston Villa came from behind to beat Fulham 3-1. After a brace from substitute Trezeguet, Ollie Watkins got his goal. Normally this could be a differential, but not here as you guessed it...Gary had him too. Both of us had Emiliano Martinez in goal and in spite of not getting a clean sheet, he got two points for the saves he made. Now it was the time for my nemesis Bruno Fernandes in the final Sunday match. Brighton took the lead and looked comfortable until just past the hour when Fernandes assisted Marcus Rashford before United went onto win 2-1. I was livid, his captain had contributed, he was not to get bonus points luckily, but now all Gary needed was a good Monday and he would topple me, as my lead was now only 13 points.
Everton and Crystal Palace drew 1-1 in Monday's first game and Mitchell was on the bench, but did not come on, so I definitely had just ten men for the gameweek. Then Wolves and West Ham met, and it was the worst possible start as Jesse Lingard scored a superb solo goal to give the Hammers the lead. I did not realise until later on that the goal was actually assisted by Coufal, I was now doomed, the worse possible combination for me. What made it worse is that I recently sold Coufal so it was a bitter pill to swallow. Lingard carried the ball so far I had forgotten he received a pass before it until another replay deeper into the game. If it was not looking over for me already then Lingard added an assist for West Ham's third goal for Jarrod Bowen as they eventually won 3-2. Lingard was the most transferred in player in gameweek 30 so left many people rejoicing. I was far from jubilant however as I suffered my first defeat since gameweek 23, and I remain 8th in the head-to-head league. Nonetheless my 65 points this week have moved me up in 8 different leagues and I am now back on top of another traditional scoring league.
@DubulDee
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