My opposition this week was my friend Jacques, someone who I grew up with. But due to my underwhelming start to the head-to-head campaign, there was to be no sentiment this week. Before the deadline, our teams looked very different. However I chose to use my 'Wildcard' bonus chip, and I had no idea whether or not he would even remember that the deadline was at 4pm on Friday. I made six transfers overall with my wildcard. I did not want to make wholesale changes as I have done this in the past when using it and it has backfired on me. I had late thoughts of using my 'Bench Boost' bonus chip, but I ended up sticking with my original idea of using the wildcard. Regardless of who I finally transferred in, I had already decided on Heung-min Son to be the captain this week.
Out went Burnley's Nick Pope, as he had not looked at his best to start the season, so I sought to bring in a cheaper goalie so I could free up space for an outfield player. Joel Ward (Crystal Palace) who was of course injured was also let go of. Newcastle's Alain Saint-Maximin was chucked out, as I said last week, him and his headband had to go, two games was enough for me to see that he was doing my blood pressure no favours. To be honest this is more Steve Bruce's fault than his at times. West Ham's Tomas Soucek, who as I stated two weeks ago would have already gone out of team was sold. Soucek's price had gone down and despite being a little reluctant in doing it, I sold him just in case it went down any further. Harrison Reed (Fulham) was dashed as I did not know when he would start for Scott Parker's men, (which of course meant he would start their next game). And lastly, Southampton's Danny Ings was injured, so I let him go. To be honest, Ings' injury was the catalyst to me sorting out using the wildcard. £8.5m is a good price for a man who scored over 20 goals last season. He had also been reliable to start this campaign, and I had no idea which striker around his price to choose, so I went much cheaper in an attempt to 'spice' up my midfield.
The six new men into my team were Ilhan Meslier (£4.5m), Leeds' young keeper has potential, and he was at £4.5m, which let me save £0.9m on Nick Pope. Leeds do concede a fair bit, but I was hoping I could catch the odd clean sheet from him. I had originally planned to bring in West Ham's Aaron Cresswell, as I wanted another set piece taker in my side, but the FPL app showed that he was injured. As I waited until ten minutes before the deadline to make my changes, I did not have time to check on David Moyes' press conference, to see if there was any chance of him being fit. I therefore went for a cheaper option from the Hammers in Vladimir Coufal (£4.5m), who had impressed me since joining from Slavia Prague. In the midfield I got in Leicester's Harvey Barnes (£6.9m) and Liverpool's Diogo Jota (£6.5m). Barnes is an improving player, despite the fact that I have been quite critical of his decision making at times. His points return this season and last was very good when you consider his price, so I thought that I would select him as he was only owned by 4.1%. Jota has been on fire since signing for my team Liverpool, and I wanted to get in on the act, however I did not know if he would definitely start against Manchester City. The change I feel would be beneficial over a length of time. The last man into my midfield was Southampton's James Ward-Prowse (£5.9m), I believe his set piece ability would be substantial throughout the season. Lastly the player that made the other transfers possible was taking a gamble on Sheffield United's new man Rhian Brewster. Getting him in for the injured Ings meant I freed up £4m.
Once the deadline had gone, I saw amazingly that Jacques had opted to bring in Meslier too, and that he had captained Son. This was uncanny! I left him a voice note and told him 'to get out of my brain', he replied saying that he had intended on making other changes, but the deadline basically caught up with him, so he just went with it. Friday's action started at the Amex stadium as Brighton played Burnley. Tariq Lamptey had been a doubt coming in as he came off at Spurs last week. I therefore put Southampton's Kyle Walker-Peters on the bench, thinking if Lamptey is indeed out, I will get Walker-Peters points' anyway. Lamptey did however start the game. It was a bittersweet game for me FPL-wise. Tariq Lamptey got me clean sheet points as the game ended goalless. But you could have guessed it beforehand, this of course meant the keeper I sold Nick Pope kept his second clean sheet of the season, as well as gaining two bonus points. Lamptey's return could have been even better. He shot over in the first half, and also had a shot blocked in the second period. Watching him play is tiring, the man seems to be everywhere, 'ubiquitous' is actually a disservice to him. In the latter game Southampton won 2-0 at home to Newcastle. No real points here again for the man I shifted Saint-Maximin, which was soothing, but I still was left thinking of what might have been. The clean sheet meant good points for Alex McCarthy, who was on my bench and Walker-Peters ended up getting all three bonus points as well as the clean sheet points. I felt sick. If I had used my bench boost as my gut was trying to tell me, I would have got clean sheets from both my original keepers in the same day, as well as the Walker-Peters haul. The only man from the Saints who I started was Ward-Prowse, and he had a quiet game. What was frustrating is that with Ings out, he would have been on penalty duty. Somehow the referee and VAR missed that Jamaal Lascelles fouled Theo Walcott in the box in the second half and this could have been more points.
Saturday began with Everton at home to Manchester United. I had no one playing here, but my opponent had Dominic Calvert-Lewin who got him an assist, despite the Toffees losing 3-1 after going ahead through Bernard. So for now anyway, it is 'Ole in' at Old Trafford, which ironically is fine with everyone but United fans. The 3pm encounter was at Selhurst Park where Crystal Palace played Leeds. It was a catastrophic one for me. Our decision to put Meslier in goal backfired as Leeds were beaten 4-1. Jacques had at least had Patrick Bamford who had a goal very harshly ruled out for offside, but my sigh of relief did not last long as he scored shortly after anyway. This game was the first time that Palace have scored 4 in a league game since May 2019 when they put 5 past Bournemouth. Their lack of goals meant I thought having Meslier would be a chance to steal some points that not many others would be getting as he is only owned by 4.1% of players. The Eagles' third goal summed up Meslier's day when he misjudged a deflection off of Helder Costa and was beaten on his near post.
The next game was Chelsea at home to Sheffield United and this also ended 4-1. I had left Rhian Brewster on my bench, but he did not get on the scoresheet anyway. I was happy that Chelsea let a goal in as Jacques had Ben Chilwell. But this ended up not mattering to my displeasure as Chilwell scored after an abysmal misjudgement by Aaron Ramsdale at his near post. In the late game; West Ham beat Fulham 1-0. Cresswell ended up starting for them and incidentally Harrison Reed was selected for Fulham. It looked set for a draw before some late drama that 'Eastenders' would have been proud of, (see what I did there?!). Firstly to my anger Tomas Soucek scored what was the winning goal, another 9 points there that I lost. The game looked over, but after that in injury time Fulham got a penalty. After a review by VAR it was given, only for it to be missed by Ademola Lookman. It was frankly one of the worst penalties you will see. I mean Ademola were you not looking at what you were doing...man! Nonetheless the miss got me clean sheet points from Vladimir Coufal and he also thankfully got two bonus points. By the time Saturday ended I had a slender one point lead.
Sunday's action started at the Hawthorns. It looked set for a stalemate between West Brom and Spurs, until Harry Kane scored a very late header. Kane was the most captained player in FPL this week and I wish I had followed suit. The bonus points would have been vital. Son was not as lively as usual. In fact at the time of writing this, he was the fifth most transferred player out, with Spurs having Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal coming up. They then have Liverpool and Leicester after playing Crystal Palace. Talking of Leicester, they and Wolves played out a dull contest next, that the Foxes edged 1-0 through a Jamie Vardy penalty. The handball rule needs changing, once VAR asked the ref to have a look you knew it was going to be given. Despite the ridiculous decision I was not complaining as the handball was by Max Kilman who my opponent had in his defence. It was a case of self sabotage for Vardy however, as he had a second penalty a little later on but he missed it. This lost him two points and it took him out of the bonus points conversation. As well as Kilman, Jacques also had Wolves' Raul Jimenez and Daniel Podence, so I was glad to come out unscathed outside of the penalty missed by the reigning Golden Boot winner. Harvey Barnes did not start to my annoyance, but he did come on in the second half. I was soon wishing he had stayed on the bench as he blasted over a good chance.
The big one between Manchester City and Liverpool was next to kick off. Jurgen Klopp went in with an attacking side, so Jota started. Liverpool began brightly and took the lead through a Mo Salah penalty. Some brilliance from Gabriel Jesus levelled things up, and the assist came from Kevin de Bruyne, which helped Jacques. Jacques would have been clear, but luckily de Bruyne missed a penalty later in the first half. Another scandalous handball decision, but in the current climate it was always going to be given. In the second half Jota shot straight at Ederson. It could have made me bringing him in a masterstroke, but it was not to be. Only one match remained and I only led by 8 points. I needed Aston Villa to score to win the head-to-head, as he had Arsenal's Gabriel Magalhaes in his defence. With not even two minutes gone John McGinn had a goal ruled out, 'damn!'. But Villa did score through an own goal by Bukayo Saka later in the half anyway, 'great stuff'. I thought Arsenal would make a comeback but Ollie Watkins bagged a brace to make sure Gabriel would not allow Jacques to beat me as Villa sent shockwaves through the league once again with a 3-0 triumph. All hail Dean Smith! Jacques will also rue having Emiliano Martinez on his bench as his clean sheet would have helped him avoid defeat.
I somehow got to 51 points, meaning my lowest score this season is the 50 I got in gameweek 6, but I have dropped from first place in a few traditional scoring leagues I am in. Thank god there is an international break now as I need a bit of time away from the hectic FPL life. I could have had more points this week if I never made any changes, and now my brain is fried! Back-to-back head-to-head wins nonetheless.
@DubulDee
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