My opponent this week was my cousin Clement. In his first season in the 'Justice League' he found it difficult, but now he had some experience he was doing much better this campaign. Before gameweek 17 concluded the Premier League had announced that five games were postponed and this left me with only nine active players. This actually meant I had eight as Rayan Ait-Nouri picked up an injury last gameweek and Bruno Lage said he was out of their game with Chelsea. Manchester United v Brighton, West Ham v Norwich, Watford v Crystal Palace, Southampton v Brentford and Everton v Leicester were the games that were off due to Covid breakouts. Things were not looking good at all. I did not want to take another points hit, but it was looking like I had no choice. Others were not as restricted as me however as longtime readers will know I do not pick players from certain teams, and Clement without making any transfers would still have 10 active even if he did not make a transfer, I was a little worried.
After finishing the radio show on Saturday: rumours started emerging on the Twitter timeline that Aston Villa and Burnley was also going to get called off, seen as the proposed mandate they spoke of did not come to fruition I had mixed emotions if it would definitely be off or not. Lo and behold before I even got home the game was indeed postponed, I was now left with seven men, my hand was now forced I was going to have to make two transfers to put out enough people to compete as I was adamant I was not going to use my 'Free Hit' chip yet. I already had Ollie Watkins, but after his double figure haul against Norwich he was the most transferred player in this week as his price shot up to £7.9m. So many would’ve been frustrated at the late news. This stopped me from any mild thoughts I had of possibly taking an 7-point hit, as surely now some players would get triggered into selling again to try and get in an active player, so it was pandemonium. This is the FPL life we chose guys. Live by the transfer, die by the transfer. And in a normal gameweek we live for the benching and die by the benching.
So I was making two transfers, but I was conflicted. I wanted to get Phil Foden in to neutralise Clement but 'Pep Roulette' can strike like a thief in the night! With Leeds' Daniel James out injured one of the exciting prospects in the league Joe Gelhardt was surely going to start. I was thinking of a way to outfox others as well as Clement, and as I know many believe in Chelsea's defence, I was thinking of getting Raul Jimenez in just in case the Blues conceded as they had been recently. Jimenez had the potential to be a decent differential but in the end I went in another direction.
I needed people who I 'definitely' knew were going to start so I tried my hand at trying to figure out Pep Roulette. As Gabriel Jesus was on the bench in the last gameweek I predicted he would start against Newcastle, so I got him in and sold Josh King as Watford were not playing. To make funds available to get him I needed a midfield under £5m. Leeds' Tyler Roberts had scored and assisted in the last few gameweeks so I thought why not, as due to the injury crisis at Elland Road I knew Marcelo Bielsa would start him. I just about got the transfers in before the deadline as my head felt like it was going to explode. I also took my vice captaincy off of Raphinha and gave it to Jesus. Clement must have made his changes late too as he sold Matt Targett for Kieran Tierney and Harvey Barnes for Lucas Moura. Watkins was the only other player he lost to the late postponement so he had nine active men like me now. I was still not sure I could win with the points hit as Clement two transfers were free ones so he was ahead regardless. The dilemma I had was due to the lack of players at my disposal I was forced to leave Heung-min Son in my squad. I hoped he did not do anything, but from a fantasy perspective I left him there for numbers. In normal circumstances him being on the bench as the last sub it would be unlikely he would figure, but here he was going to come into play. I also of course now did not have a goalkeeper.
The action finally began at Elland Road in a 5.30pm kick off as Leeds met Arsenal. I needed Raphinha and Roberts to shine, while Clement had Tierney and Bukayo Saka. Leeds were to put it kindly woeful and Arsenal raced into 2-goal lead. At 0-0 Saka put a rebound wide after Alexandre Lacazette had been denied. When it was only 1-0 Raphinha went on a run and then put a golden chance wide. There was not very good news for me as Saka made it 3-0 with a deflected shot, 'damn'. Not much changed in the second half despite Leeds being slightly better, until the aforementioned Gelhardt went on a little run. Ben White clearly must have Gelhardt or Raphinha in his FPL team cos he slide in and took Gelhardt out even though Aaron Ramsdale was covering the near post. Gelhardt looked like he may run the ball out of play if anything. Raphinha duly smashed the penalty in and it was 3-1, I was out of the minus 'yay', and no clean sheet points for Tierney. Emile Smith Rowe rounded off the scoring as he came off the bench and scored yet again. Unfortunately for me Roberts played more like Julia Roberts, a below-par showing from the man in-form with the few real chances he had on the ball due to the Gunners' dominance. Arsenal could have had double figures really. Saturday ended with Clement ahead 9-5.
I anticipated there being more postponements on Sunday but luckily there were not. Chelsea asked for their trip to Wolves to be called off but it was rejected, and you can see why they asked as they were not at their best and it ended goalless. Wolves were aggrieved as Daniel Podence's first half goal was disallowed. Raul Jimenez was adjudged to have inferred with play as he missed the ball before Podence put the ball in the net and Jimenez was in an offside position when the initial pass was made. This meant clean sheet points for Reece James who Clement had.
Newcastle hosted Manchester City; and the Magpies should have had a bit of optimism considering the way they performed in the second half against Liverpool. However this ended up being a routine win for Pep Guardiola's men. Pep Roulette came back out to play but for once it did not effect me. Phil Foden, Ilkay Gundogan and Jack Grealish were all on the bench. City took the lead when Joao Cancelo who me and Clement both had hooked a hopeful ball into the six-yard box, and Ciaran Clark clearly still playing in Clarks since his sending off at Norwich seemed to duck under the ball, and Ruben Dias opened the scoring. It was scandalous defending! Cancelo then went marauding centrally from his full back position as he does and turned away from his man before unleashing an unstoppable drive for 2-0. Then there was controversy as Ederson took out Ryan Fraser, no penalty was given by Martin Atkinson and it was somehow not even checked by VAR, unbelievable scenes! City went on to win 4-0 and Jesus supplied the 4th for Raheem Sterling, which I happily settled for. So at least one of my transfers did something though he earlier on missed a point blank header. Clement had Callum Wilson too, so his blank I also welcomed. There was one game left and Clement had 35 and I had 28. Clement had Alisson and Lucas Moura left as differentials whereas I had Diogo Jota, Trent Alexander-Arnold and of course Son.
So off to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium we go for the Super Sunday match between Spurs and Liverpool. Liverpool's first choice midfield was out with Covid or illness, and it showed as their defence was given minimal protection as Spurs were cutting through them like a hot knife through butter. Harry Kane remembered that he is paid to score goals and gave Spurs the lead after an incisive pass from Tanguy Ndombele. Kane should have been sent off for a callous challenge on Andy Robertson, but it was not even checked by VAR. England captain tax at its finest! Kane could have broken Robertson’s leg but said after the game he thought he ”got the ball“. If he thought he got the ball then ‘I think‘ me and Tinashe are getting married. The Reds struck back through Jota as the head-to-head battle took a twist in my favour. In a game that for neutrals must have been brilliant, I myself had palpitations. Jurgen Klopp's men took the lead through Robertson but it was not long before it was 2-2. Alisson miskicked the ball and Son slipped it into the open goal, 'yuck' I was getting points from Son, though I was now ahead anyway as Robertson's goal was assisted by Alexander-Arnold. Robertson was sent off for a kick on Emerson Royal as VAR decided to be awake, but Spurs could not capitalise as it finished 2-2. Royal himself could have been sent off for a push on Jota where Liverpool should have had a first half penalty. Ironically if I had not made any changes I would have still won, fancy that, but hindsight is a beautiful thing.
So after having conceding defeat to Clement after Saka scored I came back to win. How I pulled this victory off I don’t know. My 4th win on the trot means I am up to 5th in the Justice League. My points hit meant I have come off of the top of two classic leagues now however as Big Sam now tops the 'One Up Front Mandem League' and the 'DD Footy Factory' league.
Happy Christmas people!
@DubulDee
Comments