My opposition this week in the head-to-head league was a guy I grew up with called Dean. He was a new person to the league and had started with two wins and two defeats like myself. The difference between us was that I tried to alter my team before every gameweek, but thus far he had not changed his team. I am always weary of this, as with the luck I have, I was beaten last season by what I describe as a 'default' team. He had Chelsea's Timo Werner as his captain, and I had already said on Saturday's 'Footy OnTop' show that I believed he would break his Premier League duck against Southampton, and I may have just tempted fate. I made no transfers this week, so I have the option of using two transfers for gameweek 6.
The weeks' action started at Goodison Park as Everton and Liverpool faced off in the Merseyside Derby. The game finished 2-2, but will be remembered for all the wrong reasons, as the VAR (David Coote) took centre stage. Liverpool took the lead after only two minutes with a goal from Sadio Mane. The goal was assisted by Andy Robertson, so good news for me. Mane then missed a good chance for his second goal, firing wide after another ball into the box from Robertson in the first half. Mo Salah also had a decent opportunity that he shot tamely on his right foot into the hands of Jordan Pickford. In the second half; my decision to leave Salah in my team was justified as he scored a sublime volley to put Liverpool ahead, but Everton were able to get a point. The actual game was overshadowed however as Pickford went unpunished for a callous challenge on Virgil van Dijk and Liverpool were denied a late winner because of a highly contentious offside decision.
Saturday's second encounter saw Chelsea at home to Southampton. This game had a dramatic impact on the head-to-head game, as Timo Werner scored two first half goals and he was Dean's captain. Southampton pulled a goal back through Danny Ings, but that was the only good thing to come out of this game for me. The pain deepened as Werner assisted Chelsea's third goal for his compatriot Kai Havertz. The game somehow finished 3-3 after a late Southampton goal. I was further stung in the next game as Manchester City just snuck past Arsenal with a 1-0 win. City were the better side, but Arsenal had some good chances, and could have got a point on another day. The issue for me here was that the winning goal came from another of my opponents' players Raheem Sterling.
Saturday's last game was Newcastle at home to Manchester United. Newcastle took the lead early on, so I thought that the bleeding had stopped for the day as Dean had United's Aaron Wan-Bissaka in his side. But oh no...my suffering was nowhere near over, as the Red Devils scored three late goals including one for Wan-Bissaka. Trust me to be on the receiving end of the right-back's first ever league goal, I felt sick! He smashed the ball into the roof of the net like it was an Instagram thot. Despite all the three players I had play on Saturday be productive, I was still behind to someone who had not changed their team by massive 35 points because of Werner. I needed something special if I was to win here.
Sunday's first match was a 1-1 draw between Sheffield United and Fulham, but I had no one active in that game, so we go to the second match. In the battle of the birds; Crystal Palace and Brighton also drew 1-1 at Selhurst Park. This was a game I would have not minded finishing goalless, as I had a defender from each team in my side. Wilf Zaha's first half goal for the Eagles meant no clean sheet points for Tariq Lamptey. But I thought I was going to at least get points from Joel Ward, only for the Seagulls to level in the 90th minute through Alexis MacAllister, 'seething'. The action then moved to the Tottenham Hotspur stadium where Spurs flew into a 3-0 lead against West Ham. Here Harry Kane's superb start to season continued. First he setup another man in great form Heung-min Son after 40 seconds with a smart ball over the top. England's captain then bagged a brace. His first goal showed great footwork, before unleashing a low drive from outside the box. His second a simple header as the Hammers defence went for a stroll. Kane now has a ridiculous 12 goal contributions (5 goals and 7 assists) in five league games. West Ham quite unbelievably were to fight back late on however for a memorable point, 'scenes!'. In normal circumstances the antics of Son and Kane would somehow have had me ahead in the head-to-head game, but Dean also had Son in his team. So therefore the fact I had him as my captain was only half as effective as it would usually have been. If I had captained Kane, who was my vice-captain this week, things would have been a whole lot different as Dean did not have him. Later on, Jamie Vardy had been listed as questionable, and ended up not starting as Leicester lost at home 1-0 to Aston Villa in the last game of the day. Despite Vardy not playing I just needed Leicester to score, as my opponent had Villa's Emiliano Martinez in goal, but it was not to be, 'pain!' . This was a huge setback as the lead I had clawed back had now gone again. 'FML!!'.
There was still a slim chance of stealing a head-to-head win on Monday, but there was literally no room for error whatsoever. Things were looking up after the first game, as it saw the first goalless draw of the Premier League season at the Hawthorns. West Brom and Burnley's stalemate meant a clean sheet for Nick Pope. Pope's solid performance got him three bonus points, as well as two more points for the six saves he made. I was now somehow in the lead by a point or two, but I needed something from Helder Costa in the last game of the week. Leeds were at home to Wolves to round things off at Elland Road. The problem here was that as Dean had not changed his team, he had players who were either injured or suspended, so therefore he would get points off his bench. He had Wolves' Max Kilman in defence, so I badly needed Leeds to score. This really was not the time for a Wolves clean sheet. Things went left unfortunately, and when I say left...I mean left! Not only did Marcelo Bielsa's men fail to score, but Wolves grabbed a late winner, and it was assisted by Kilman! What the hell were the odds of this happening! 'Jesus Christ!'. Kilman does not even usually play, but because of injuries he has just 'killed' me in FPL, you could not write it I swear. A Kilman assist and a Wan-Bissaka goal in the same gameweek, clearly I am being taught a lesson for something I did in a former life. This makes no sense. I guarantee it will not happen again. I amassed 81 points and still lost due to Kilman getting Dean 12 points. I am top of all but one traditional scoring league that I am in, but yet somehow I have lost three out of my five head-to-head (Justice League) fixtures. A tear dropped onto my laptop as I was writing this I'm telling you, I cannot even say it is bittersweet, as I am actually livid. I am next up against Chad (DJ Goliath), a person who needs no introduction to run his mouth, I simply cannot afford to lose. On the other hand, this is the most amount of points that have ever accumulated after just five FPL gameweeks.
@DubulDee
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