Last seasons' champion Andrew was my opposition this week. My old friend from secondary school produced some stunning form to end the season to take the crown. This time around he was in the mix for the title again, and looking at his team before the deadline it looked like it may be difficult for me to get the win this week. He had Heung-min Son in his team and Harry Kane and I of course sold both of them as they did not have a game last week. If I was to try and neutralise him by bringing both of them back then that would mean taking a points hit, which I was reluctant to do.
As usual I drafted different variations of a team before the deadline, but none of them really convinced me. With the deadline looming I went to run some errands with Rian (Milito) beforehand and we brainstormed, I was slowly coming to terms with just making one change and that was taking out Jamie Vardy for Kane. I only had Vardy back for one week, but I did not want to not have Kane when Spurs were playing already-relegated Sheffield United. In regards to the midfield looked at also selling the injured Raphinha, but that left me £0.2m short of getting Son back in. As I had let go of Vardy after one week, I did not want to do this with Gylfi Sigurdsson too, so I resisted selling him.
When I eventually left Milito, Khurram (K) messaged me about 10 minutes before the deadline and told me what he was going to do in regards to his own matchup. He was another man gunning for the title and he was begging me to beat Andrew for him, he suggested as I did not have enough for Son, that I should look at Gareth Bale. I realised that selling Raphinha would give me enough to get Bale in as he was cheaper than Son. I decided not to do it however and left Kane as my only transfer in. I made a change to my starting XI at the 11th hour too. Brighton were playing Leeds and being wary of Marcelo Bielsa's mens' attacking threat, I panicked and decided not to double up. I took out Lewis Dunk and put in Leeds' Pascal Struijk, as the Seagulls' Robert Sanchez was my keeper. Andrew had Emiliano Martinez so as I looked for a differential for the head-to-head I put Sanchez in goal. I also took the captaincy from Jesse Lingard and gave it to Kane. When the deadline passed I saw that Andrew had not changed his team. I messaged him and as it had been his birthday the day before, he had completely forgotten the deadline. His team still looked good enough to get something with a bit of luck, but as it stood Kane and Son were on his bench as of course they did not play last week.
The action started again on a Friday night as Southampton and Leicester met at St Mary's. The Saints were reduced to ten men early on as Jannik Vestergaard got a ridiculous red card, as despite he won the ball his follow through took him into Vardy's ankle. The bookmakers must have been beaming from to ear as punters probably expected a repeat of last seasons' 9-0 demolition in the fixture. It was not to be however as it was actually Southampton who took the lead through a James Ward-Prowse penalty. The Saints defended valiantly as their pride would not let them get beaten so badly again, but were denied all three points. That man again Kelechi Iheanacho's early cross was headed in by Jonny Evans, this meant assist points for me and Andrew as we ended Friday level.
Neither of us had anyone starting the early Saturday game between Crystal Palace and Manchester City. As Chelsea's Antonio Rudiger was injured and in Andrew's starting lineup, it would have brought Phil Foden into the picture, but he was an unused substitute as City won 2-0. This was bad news for me as now it meant his next substitute Son would give him points, 'dammit!'. Ironically this now made the big game for us the next match between Brighton and Leeds. Brighton took the lead through a Pascal Gross penalty, which made putting Struijk in pointless. They went on to win 2-0 and I was left with my head in my hands at the fact I did not stick to my guns with doubling up with Sanchez and Dunk for the double clean sheet points. To make it worse Dunk got two bonus points, it was going to be the maximum until Danny Welbeck scored the second goal. The good things that came out of this game were that Patrick Bamford blanked and he was my opponents captain and Stuart Dallas also blanked despite going close to scoring.
Chelsea's 2-0 win over Fulham had no bearing on our fixture, but I will give Milito a shout-out for having Kai Havertz in his team as he bagged a brace. So another big game for the head-to-head took place at Goodison Park to wrap Saturday up as Everton met Aston Villa. Villa took the lead through a great goal by Ollie Watkins. It was all his own work, as he won the ball off of Mason Holgate and then finished well into the corner. I applauded as if I had enough money to bring Son back I would have actually benched Watkins. Watkins should have had a first hat-trick to be honest, as he was denied twice by Jordan Pickford, one of them he somehow saved with his knee. The Toffees levelled through Dominic Calvert-Lewin and it was assisted by the man I neglected last week Lucas Digne. A late cracker from Anwar El Ghazi won the game for Dean Smith's men. Martinez conceding justified me putting Sanchez in goal, and Andrew had Ezri Konsa too, so I was happy with what I got from this game with 'wasteful Watkins' getting two bonus points. Sigurdsson had a goal-bound effort blocked, but he unfortunately did not produce again. As Everton have a double gameweek next week I will keep him for that before more than likely letting him go. So by Saturday's completion I led 22-12.
Sunday was to be a bizarre day. Firstly, Newcastle lost 2-0 at home to Arsenal but this result did not concern our matchup. During this fixture however pictures emerged from Old Trafford that ahead of the Manchester United-Liverpool game fans had broken into the stadium to protest against United's owners the Glazer's. Considering this was clearly not an impromptu decision, by the looks of things some of these fans clearly did not look in the mirror before leaving the house. Some shameless attire was on display. Police and stewards were unnecessarily attacked and after long deliberation the game was postponed. I and many others were left gutted.
So with the shenanigans at Old Trafford I was now only had 10 active players as I would get Dunk and Struijk's points off my bench as Mo Salah, Andy Robertson and Diogo Jota did not have a game. Andrew also had Jota and had my nemesis Bruno Fernandes, he conceded defeat in the FPL group chat, but I informed it was not over as he had Son to come and would now get half of my Kane points. As well as that a super-show on Monday from Vladimir Coufal could prove to be a major differential. Tottenham and Sheffield United did go ahead, and Spurs ran out easy 4-0 winners over the Blades. I should have taken Khurram's advice as Bale scored a hat-trick! I could not believe it, a change I almost made and look, even with the -4 it would not have made any form of a difference as Bale accumulated 21 points. The original target I had Son scored and assisted to end up with 12 points which was good for Andrew, while my captain Kane got...well nothing! 'Thanks Harry!'. Maybe you do need two tries after all mate. In hindsight instead of being adamant in getting him in, I should have concentrated on the midfield as I would have easily been better off. Kane almost assisted Sergio Reguilón in the last minute which would have been perfect, but the Spaniard shot wide with the goal gaping. At least Spurs held out for the clean sheet I have to say, as they have conceded numerous late goals this campaign. So by calculating the points on our benches Sunday saw me lead 41-26, if West Ham got a clean sheet and Coufal got a goal contribution then I was in some trouble as we both had Lingard.
Monday's first game did not effect our match as they West Brom and Wolves drew 1-1, so to the decider we go as Burnley and West Ham met. Burnley took the lead from the penalty spot through that man Chris Wood. I pumped my fist as that meant no clean sheet points for Coufal, only for him to come straight up the other end and assist the equaliser for Michail Antonio. I did not even know Antonio was fit or he would have been someone I considered myself. Coufal put in a plethora of crosses as the game progressed but luckily he did not assist again as Antonio scored again to win the game for the Hammers.
So I just scraped to victory by eight points, lord knows how things would have ended up if the United and Liverpool game had gone ahead, but I will of course take the win. I now have only lost one out of the last 11 and have cut the gap on 6th place to one point. Games are running out to get into the money positions, but it is still mathematically possible. I have also moved up in five traditional leagues.
@DubulDee
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