One of my best mates Rian (Milito) was my opponent for gameweek 20. He had battered my score on the open day of the season and I wanted revenge here in the reverse fixture. We usually have a weekly FPL talk but this week we were not friends.
The deadlines are in close proximity this time of year, but those that plan ahead and are vigilant were not to be caught out and that includes me. The deadline was at 1.30pm on Tuesday but I planned to use my 'Wildcard', and the deadline for using your first wildcard was at 11am. With this in mind I made my changes before I slept. I knew I would get up well before the deadline but I was not taking any chances and hoped there was not to be any late postponements. I transferred in Tariq Lamptey and Josh King while selling Rayan Ait Nouri and Ollie Watkins. The main thing in using the wildcard however was to get Harry Kane in permanently, so I needed more money. I let go of Emiliano Martinez and got in Angus Gunn in goal which saved £1.5m, and I needed a midfielder for £4.7m or under to be able to get Kane in as he cost £12.1m.
As I scrolled through the midfield options the player I rated the most in that price bracket was Crystal Palace's Will Hughes so that is who I got in. Now I could sell Gabriel Jesus and get Kane, it was a risk to an extent as Rian had Jesus, but I went with it anyway. I wanted to be a real villain, but I never truly had it in me as I was not going to remind Rian of the deadline, but 15 minutes before it I tried to ring and message him but he answered to neither. After the deadline came he rang back to say that he had indeed made a change but as he did not want to take a points hit, he never had an active keeper for the gameweek. The only change he made was to sell Bernardo Silva for his teammate Phil Foden. Surely I could take advantage of having an extra player this week?...
The action started with three 3pm kick offs on Tuesday. With all the games live on Amazon Prime this week I chose to watch Southampton and Tottenham as I had Heung-min Son and Kane playing. But it was another game that I had two men in at Selhurst Park that brought some early points. Crystal Palace got an early penalty against Norwich and it was won by Will Hughes, 'woo'. Odsonne Edouard scored the spot kick and I got my 'fantasy' assist. Little did I know however that even earlier than that Watford had taken the lead at home to West Ham, and the goal was scored by Emmanuel Dennis. This man had been amazing since I sold him, and I only opted for Josh King as Dennis will go to AFCON (there are now rumours he may not mind you) and King is on penalty duty. Rian had Dennis up front, but at least King got the assist, it was a top finish into the roof of the net by the Nigerian. Watford surrendered their lead however as the Hammers went on to win 4-1 as Jarrod Bowen cleaned up points-wise, whilst Palace strolled to a 3-0 win over Norwich as Edouard added 2 assists to his penalty.
In the game I watched; Southampton had taken the lead in the first half against Spurs with a lovely finish from James Ward-Prowse. Spurs got a penalty and drew level through Harry Kane. Son won the penalty so a nice combo for me. The Saints went down to ten men as Mohammed Salisu was sent off as he received a second yellow for conceding the spot-kick, but Antonio Conte's men could not take advantage and it ended 1-1. They were unlucky however as Kane had a borderline offside decision not go his way when he found the net. Fraser Forster was also fortunate as he got the benefit of the doubt from the referee when he did not seem to be fouled and the ball rolled into the net but it was chalked off. Conor Gallagher missed the Palace game with rumours that he has Covid and Southampton's Tino Livramento has a knee injury so this meant Rian was down to just eight men.
In the evening game Leicester and Liverpool clashed at the King Power Stadium. Liverpool got a first half penalty but shockingly Mo Salah had it saved by Kasper Schmeichel, Salah then hit the bar with a header from the rebound. Sadio Mane missed a massive chance to put the Reds ahead in the second half and the Foxes ending up winning the game through Ademola Lookman, 'dammit!'. It was the first time Jurgen Klopp's men had not scored in a league game since March. Salah's points deduction for the penalty miss meant he got a grand total of ZERO! So this was the first week where you got away with not giving him the captaincy. The issue in head-to-head games is if recently you have not captained Salah then you are putting your gameweek in jeopardy. It is certainly easier to take risks when you are just playing in classic leagues. Tuesday ended with me ahead 36-11, but Rian had a Manchester City differential double left to play in Phil Foden and Gabriel Jesus as well as Chelsea's Reece James.
So Wednesday began with Brighton's trip to Chelsea. My fantasy keeper Robert Sanchez started well before being beaten by a Romelu Lukaku header. The very bad news for Chelsea and also Rian came just before the goal however as Reece James hobbled off with a hamstring issue. Despite the fact it helped I do not like to see players come off injured (unless it is Jordan Pickford or Richarlison...'I joke I swear'). Brighton played well and got a deserved last gasp equaliser from a Danny Welbeck header. If there was a bit of luck for me at Stamford Bridge, then there was not to be much later on as Manchester City beat Brentford 1-0 and of course Foden got the winner. It was a very tight offside call but it went in City's favour. Brentford had started well and Ederson was forced into action a couple of times and Cancelo had to clear off the line. In the second half; Foden headed wide and Jesus had a shot saved at the near post by Alvaro Fernandez. So I survived that game despite Foden's double figure haul. I won the head-to-head by 14 points as none of us had any players left in Thursdays game between Manchester United and Burnley which United won 3-1.
Patience is indeed a virtue. And even in this complex and unpredictable season it showed that being reactionary is not always the way forward. If i had used my wildcard earlier then it is highly unlikely I could have got this win, which was my sixth in-a-row as I stay 5th in the Justice League. In terms of classic leagues; I am top of 7, 2nd in 2 and 3rd in 3 as I finish the year at 70,733 in the world.
Happy New Year people!
@DubulDee
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