Khurram (K) was my gameweek 13 opposition. He was not one to be played with, Khurram was as dedicated to FPL as I am to eating every grain of my Mum's Jollof Rice. This was definitely going to be a battle. I had beaten his best mate Muji last week, and he was out to avenge him, 'can't we all just along man?'. Me and K regularly talk about FPL, but we were not friends this week, I was not giving any information up.
I was tempted to make a change, but I decided not to in the end as from now to early January the gameweeks come thick and fast, so I wanted to give myself the option of two transfers for gameweek 14. When the deadline had passed Khurram had stated that he highly considered selling Jamie Vardy to get Harry Kane in but he left it, so he had not make any transfers either. This meant we both had 8 of the same players but we both left Southampton's Tino Livramento on the bench. I left Brighton's Robert Sanchez on the bench but K started him and I also benched Brentford's Bryan Mbeumo where K started him. So as it stood it was 5 players cancelling each other out
The action began at the Emirates, as Arsenal scored two second half goals to beat Newcastle 2-0, but neither of us had any starters in this game so to the 3pm's we go. In my opinion the two best central midfielders to ever grace the Premier League; Patrick Vieira and Steven Gerrard locked horns as managers for the first time, as Crystal Palace hosted Aston Villa at Selhurst Park. I left Tyrick Mitchell on the bench as I did not believe that the Eagles would keep a clean sheet and I was right as Villa took the lead in the first half through Matt Targett. John McGinn made it 2-0 quite late on, and I thought I was nailed on for clean sheet points from Emi Martinez when Marc Guehi got a consolation goal for Palace in the 5th minute of injury time, I was fuming. This now meant if Brighton had a shutout in the last game on Saturday I would have missed out on points that my opponent was getting. Khurram had Conor Gallagher and it was a rare black from him. Someone who did bring me clean sheet points was Wolves' Rayan Ait Nouri, as they had a stalemate with Norwich at Carrow Road. Jose Sa was the hero as he made good saves from Max Aarons and Teemu Pukki. Sa was the highest scoring FPL keeper this week with 10 points.
Liverpool continued to break records as they won 4-0 at against Southampton. I did not even have my stream ready and they had almost conceded, before taking the lead through Diogo Jota in the 2nd minute. Andy Robertson decided to assist after I sold him, the man I let go of him for however Trent Alexander-Arnold assisted too as his corner was volleyed in by Virgil van Dijk for the fourth goal at the start of the second half. Before that in the first half Jota got a second from an assist from everyones captain Mo Salah and Thiago scored a deflected third. So all my three Liverpool players contributed, but Jota only got a solitary bonus point as he was robbed. Usually at least Jota would have been a differential but just like his best bud Muji, K had all the same Reds players as me, so no differentials. I was over the moon with the result at Anfield nonetheless.
I needed something big from the late kick-off as Brighton and Leeds met at the Amex Stadium. As I had my Leeds double of Brazilian-born Spaniard Rodrigo Moreno and Brazilian Raphinha I did not feel it made sense to start Sanchez in goal despite the fact Khurram had him. The game was nowhere near as good as I thought it would be considering both these sides can play some good football and it finished goalless. Brighton as usual were wasteful and both sides gave the ball away especially Leeds, as my Leeds combo both literally did nothing. It was so bad you may have not known either of them were on the pitch at times, it was clearly too cold for Samba dancing. Both keepers made key saves, but Sanchez's ones had Khurram brimming from ear to ear...I felt sick. Saturday concluded with me having a slender lead 50-45. I only had three men left on Sunday and K had six, the only differential I had was Heung-min Son so I had basically conceded defeat. I needed a 'Son' and a prayer to narrowly win this.
For the first time this season there were meant to be four games on Sunday at 2pm before the big game of the weekend at Stamford Bridge between Chelsea and Manchester United. They day could not have got off to a worse start for me as Burnley and Tottenham was called off due to the horrible weather. I was livid, my only differential Son was not going to play in this gameweek, meaning unless a miracle happened my defeat was all but confirmed. In a game that did take place despite poor conditions, Manchester City beat West Ham 2-1 to go back above Liverpool in the table. Everything looked good in regards to another Joao Cancelo contribution on the hour mark as City led 1-0, and then he got booked. Fernandinho sealed the win late on for Pep Guardiola's men before Manuel Lanzini scored a special goal with literally the last kick of the game. Cancelo went from 6 points 0(plus bonus points) to 1 point just like that.
Brentford edged out Everton 1-0 at the Brentford Community Stadium. Ivan Toney finally scored at home, as he outwitted Jordan Pickford to score from the penalty spot after Andros Townsend auditioned for WWE and kicked Frank Onyeka in the head. Once it went to VAR there was no way a penalty was not going to be awarded, to be honest it should have been spotted by the referee Darren England or the linesman. Bryan Mbeumo missed another decent chance and I am starting to lose patient with him. Toney got all three bonus points but K had him too as well as Mbeumo better known as 'Mr. Blank'. If there was to be any small hope of even getting a draw I needed Jamie Vardy to blank, so trust him to score twice. I rolled my eyes in disgust, but I would still have a chance if his Chelsea double of Reece James and Antonio Rudiger both scored own goals and got sent off, surely that is not too much to ask right?!
So to that game at Stamford Bridge then. The Blues could have gone ahead twice in the first few minutes but Manchester United survived. Rudiger smashed the bar later on the first half also which would have been even worse for me. The game was to end all square at 1-1 and James got booked, so the only differential that did anything for Khurram on Sunday was Vardy. Man...how I wish he had brought Kane in for him I would have won. So I lost 72-62, but I have moved up almost 60,000 places in terms of classic points in the world. I have also gone on top of another classic league funnily enough as I now also top the 'DD Footy Factory' league. But this defeat drops me to 9th in the head-to-head table as everyone around me won. I could have gone over Khurram in the table with a win, instead I have been confined to mid-table obscurity. No time to dwell on it though as the next gameweek will be here in a flash. Winter weather please have mercy, we do not want any more postponed games, this does however give me a double gameweek if I still own any Spurs players when it comes around.
@DubulDee
Comments