Stel from the 'Shoot the Defence' Network was my gameweek 16 opposition. It was Stel's first season in the head-to-head league, and his original purpose of joining was only because he was tired of hearing the defending champion Darren (D-Man) gloat about his performances. After Stel joined the league we then started the 'FPL War' podcast for Shoot the Defence.
December always brings issues when it comes to FPL. Managers rotate because of the congested fixture list, games get called off due to the weather, there are always injuries and of course now we have players testing positive for Covid. With me having players out I decided to take my first points hit of the season. Up front I sold Ivan Toney (Covid) and Leeds' injured Rodrigo Moreno for Watford's Josh King and Southampton's Armando Broja, these two changes also saved me a lot of money. I had long considered which Watford forward to bring in out of King and Emmanuel Dennis, but I went with King seeking a differential as many were getting Dennis in and King was on penalty duty. Also I had Dennis earlier in the season so thought I would try a different route. The only change Manchester United fan Stel made was to sell Aston Villa's Douglas Luiz and bring in the in-form Fred. As I had taken my first hit of the season I was quite nervous about the way things would turn out and this was all despite Stel not having a keeper as Robert Sanchez did not have a game as Brighton and Spurs' game was called off.
The Brentford Community Stadium opened the gameweek as Brentford hosted Watford on Friday. Brentford went close in the first half as Bryan Mbeumo had his effort turned wide by Daniel Bachmann. King hit the post for Watford and then from the resulting corner Dennis headed the Hornets in front. It helped the accumulator I had on, but I yelled as it was not King on the scoresheet for FPL purposes. I had overthought things as Dennis has never had a prolific season like this in his career, but the Nigerian just keeps on scoring. King shot tamely at Alvaro Fernandez in the second half when played through by Dennis and then Claudio Ranieri's men were made to pay. Brentford levelled on 84 minutes through Pontus Jansson and then won the game in injury time. A pathetic challenge by William Troost-Ekong on Saman Ghoddos gave the Bees a penalty. Mbeumo calmly put the penalty away and contributed for the second game running since I sold him. Luckily for me I cashed my bet out on 83 minutes and 9 seconds as clearly nothing good FPL-wise took place here. Stel already had an advantage as I was stuck on -2.
Saturday's first game saw Manchester City play Wolves. Wolves had coped well before a ridiculous sending off for Raul Jimenez. He got booked and then 48 seconds later the Mexican tried to block the resulting free-kick...Raul you fool! In the second half; Conor Coady (who Stel had) cleared Ilkay Gundogan's header off the line from Joao Cancelo's cross, 'damn, I was denied assist points'. City won the game due to a controversial handball decision...where the ball did not even touch Joao Moutinho's arm. VAR apparently is not there to re-officiate the game, so despite it did not touch Moutinho's arm, because it looked like it did the decision was not overturned, you got that all yes, "Capishe?". Raheem Sterling cheekily put the penalty away, giving Bernardo Silva owners a cheap 'fantasy' assist for winning the penalty. Cancelo picked up his 5th booking of the season so will miss gameweek 17, as City play an injury-hit Leeds maybe he got booked on purpose, was he playing 4D Chess like Michael Antonio did earlier in the season when he got sent off? This didn’t stop Cancelo from getting two bonus points on top of his clean sheet at least.
In the 3pm games Liverpool edged past Aston Villa in Steven Gerrard's return to Anfield and they too needed a penalty. The Reds came close a couple of times in the first half as Emiliano Martinez denied a deflected Andy Robertson header and he also denied ‘everyone's captain’ Mo Salah at the near post. Villa played better in the second half than the first, but Tyrone Mings bundled Salah over and the Egyptian picked himself up to score the penalty. Diogo Jota could have added a second at the end but he shot over from Salah's pass. Jota had only been a substitute as he tweaked something last week at Wolves. With Robert Sanchez not playing it meant I got Martinez's points, and Stel had Salah and Jota, but he did not have Trent Alexander-Arnold, so for a rare occasion Trent was a differential and he scooped up all three bonus points.
Chelsea beat Leeds 3-2 and again it took a penalty...in fact it took two. Before the Blues' first spot-kick however Leeds had one of their own as they took the lead. Marcos Alonso hacked down Daniel James and Raphinha scored from 12 yards. With many selling Raphinha as Leeds also have Manchester City in gameweek 17 this was a minor differential. Alonso redeemed himself when he set up the equaliser for Mason Mount. In the second half Raphinha was adjudged to have brought down Antonio Rudiger and Jorginho scored his first penalty. With Romelu Lukaku on the bench this meant Stel would get Jorginho's points so I was not best pleased. Leeds levelled before Mateusz Klich fouled Rudiger and Jorginho went to the opposite side of the goal to score his second spot-kick. These damn Chelsea defenders even when they do not keep a clean sheet they are scoring, assisting or winning penalties, ‘they make me sick!’ Leeds tried to bum-rush Rudiger as they felt he dived and he had a smirk on his face when one of the penalties was given knowing fully well he acted a little. Luckily for me Lukaku came on for Alonso in the 87th minute, so unless Conor Gallagher did not play on Sunday then Stel would not get Jorginho’s massive 15-point haul or it would be curtains for me. Southampton were beaten 3-0 by Arsenal at the Emirates, so starting Tino Livramento did not work out. Also Stel had Ben White in his defence so the Saints not scoring was a big blow. Broja went off injured and it was not looking good for gameweek 17 let alone this gameweek.
In the late Saturday game Norwich and Manchester United locked horns. I needed Cristiano Ronaldo not to score and I was hoping Fred did not continue his recent form either. Ronaldo had a shot saved in the first half as he took too much time when he could have hit it first time. Then he was to get his goal in the second half as the recurring theme continued of penalties being awarded as he won a slightly soft one. Max Aarons put his hands on Ronaldo and needed no invitation to go down. Tim Krul tried to outfox him but it was to no avail as he sent him the wrong way. Norwich played quite well but just did not have enough in the final third and when they did hit the target David De Gea kept them at bay with a couple of great saves. Things could have got worse for me as Ronaldo put the ball over from point blank range after good work by Rashford as it ended 1-0. Saturday ended with me on 44 and Stel on 38, this was going to be tight.
So Sunday was James Maddison and Chris Wood for me, up against Callum Wilson and Connor Gallagher for Stel. Chris Wood has a great record against West Ham since he joined Burnley, but he did nothing for me this time as he was taken off on 59 minutes so he did not even get me 2 points. The game ended goalless at Turf Moor. In the other 2pm kick off Leicester entertained Newcastle. Maddison had a first half free-kick go just over onto the roof of the net. The Foxes then took the lead as the cunning Maddison went over Jamal Lascelles' dangling leg, and yet another penalty this week saw Youri Tielemens make it 1-0. A fantasy assist for Maddison then for winning the penalty. In the second half Maddison played a great ball for Harvey Barnes, and he laid on the second for Patson Daka. Maddison then assisted the 3rd goal for Youri Tielemens to get his brace. Maddison was not finished there however as in the 85th minute he scored with his left foot to make it 4-0 after a playing a 1-2 with Daka. I was chuffed, Maddison had put me in a good position now. All I needed now was for Gallagher not to provide a box-to-box masterclass. Things did not start well in the last game; as he scored the opening goal for Crystal Palace in their home game with Everton after Demarai Gray gave the ball away. Palace went 2-0 up before Everton pulled a goal back. When it looked like the game would end 2-1 to the home side in the dying seconds, Seamus Coleman tried to take a quick free-kick that was blocked. The ball then fell to Gallagher who with his sixth effort of the game produced a brilliant strike to make it 3-1, it was so close for Stel but not quite enough as I won the head-to-head.
I have to be thankful that Jorginho was on Stel's bench or I would have easily lost here. so two wins on the bounce for me as I move up to 7th in the Justice League. I have now broken the 1000 point barrier for the season and I am still top of six classic leagues. I came off the top of the' DD Footy Factory' league but went top of the 'Football Talk Podcast' league so hopefully I get a shoutout on their podcast again, we shall see.
@DubulDee
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