My opposition this week was Muji. Muji was one of the biggest trash talkers there is, so this season he was even worse as he was at the top of the head-to-head table. He needed no invitation to call someone out but right about now he was really living life. I had to stop him, I obviously needed the points anyway but I had to shut him up somehow.
I had not intended to make any changes this week, but Andy Robertson got injured on international duty for Scotland so I transferred him out to put his teammate Trent Alexander-Arnold back in. To be honest I had started the season with Trent and only put Robertson in when he got injured. With Trent costing £0.7m more this was why I wanted to have good money in the bank to be able these kind of changes. When the deadline had passed I saw Muji made one change and sold Jamie Vardy to get Harry Kane in. Kane had been scoring freely against minnows for England but could he start scoring consistently in the league?
The action began at the King Power Stadium. Muji was lucky that Vardy did not score as Leicester were easily swept aside by a professional Chelsea side 3-0. I was lucky that Muji was one of the few people outside of myself who did not own any Chelsea defenders as Antonio Rudiger, Reece James and Ben Chilwell all contributed. Shoutout Jermaine in the 'Justice League' as he is the only person I know who had all three of them. In the 3pm's, Steven Gerrard got off to a winning start with Aston Villa as two late goals gave them a 2-0 win over Brighton. This of course meant a clean sheet for Emiliano Martinez, so all was well. Martinez had to make a good stop from Tariq Lamptey in the first half. With Robert Sanchez suspended Muji had his backup Jason Steele in goal and he had Shane Duffy in his defence too so this was a very productive game for me.
Burnley drew 3-3 with Crystal Palace at Turf Moor, which justified my decision to bench Tyrick Mitchell. There was yet another goal for Burnley's Maxwel Cornet (£6m), and I may have to pull the trigger on getting him in sooner rather than later, it was a great volley by the Ivorian. Conor Gallagher got another assist for the Eagles and he is someone I also cannot really afford not to have for too much longer, his price has skyrocketed to £6m also. On a day of goals, goals and more goals, there was another 3-3 draw at St James' Park as Newcastle and Brentford could not be separated. Ivan Toney who me and Muji both owned scored for Brentford making it 1-1 against his former club. Karl Darlow really should have done better with it in the Newcastle goal, but I was not complaining. Toney also cleared the ball off the line in the second half, 'hey FPL admins can't we get a bonus point for that?'. Bryan Mbeumo failed to contribute again after I bought him especially for these games against Norwich and Newcastle, my patience is running low I have to say.
Dean Smith got off to a great start at Norwich as they won 2-1 at Carrow Road against Southampton. The Saints' Tino Livramento had been a doubt, but he was passed fit and I thought he would be locked in for points but he blanked. I should have known the Canaries would have the 'new manager bounce', I wonder what Delia Smith cooked for them afterwards? Muji also had Livramento. Watford hammered Manchester United 4-1 and finally put an end to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's reign. Muji had Moussa Sissoko and luckily for me he did not get involved in all the fun. United had the cheek to interview Ole after he was dismissed, why he agreed to it I do not know, maybe Sir Alex Ferguson told him to do it...just like he told the board to hire him in the first place.
I was left to rue leaving Rayan Ait Nouri on my bench as Wolves beat West Ham 1-0. I should have known the Hammers would drop points after their great result over Liverpool before the international break. Raul Jimenez got the goal and Muji had him. To add salt in the wound Ait Nouri got the maximum bonus points. The evening game saw my Liverpool host Arsenal. the Gunners started well and held a good line which meant Liverpool took their time to start creating chances, but then Jurgen Klopp's men took the lead. Sadio Mané headed in Alexander-Arnold's free-kick for the opener. Arsenal made a sloppy start to the second half and were duly put away. Diogo Jota seized on an error by Nuno Tavares and rounded Aaron 'Yardie' Ramsdale for the second, before Mané setup Mo Salah for the third after a good Liverpool breakaway. Jota should have had a second but shot staright at Ramsdale. Takumi Minamino came off the bench to add the fourth from another Alexander-Arnold assist as it ended 4-0. I ate handsomely in this contest but the caveat was Muji had all the Liverpool players I had, and Salah was his captain so we cancelled each other out. At the end of Saturday I trailed 59-54.
There were just two games on Sunday. First up was Manchester City entertained Everton. An old friend in the form of 'Pep Roulette' popped up as Muji's man Ruben Dias was surprisingly on the bench, Muji's other City player Phil Foden passed a late fitness test and started however. This meant I needed Joao Cancelo to outscore Foden, and I got the perfect start as Cancelo's sublime outside of the foot ball created the first goal for Raheem Sterling. City went on to win 3-0 and Foden was taken off before the hour mark, 'great stuff'. Cancelo almost assisted again late in the second half but substitute Riyad Mahrez put the ball wide. So I was now in the lead. If Muji was shocked at the team selection in the Manchester City game then I was to get a massive shock later on. My Leeds' duo of Raphinha and Rodrigo were both to miss their trip to Spurs through injury and I was livid. This meant I would get points from the first two players on my bench in Hee-chan Hwang and Tyrick Mitchell, trust me to have my highest bench scorer Rayan Ait Nouri last, 'I felt sick!'. Back to the actual game and Leeds produced an almost seamless first half and went in deservedly 1-0 through the 'Road Runner' Daniel James. Spurs were better in the second half and Kane hit the post and Heung-min Son's deflected shot struck the bar. They did come back to win 2-1, to my annoyance Son did not contribute, but I had won nonetheless thanks to Pep Guardiola's tinkering.
Back-to-back wins mean I have now moved up to 5th in the table, but I am still 9 points off of Rian (Milito) in first place in the Justice League as he has taken over Muji. I've told Rian I expect my brown envelope to arrive before the next gameweek. I still remain top of 5 classic leagues too. I have Khurram (K) up next and if I can beat him I'll move above him in the Justice League so added incentive not that I needed it anyway.
@DubulDee
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