My old friend Gary was my opposition this week. With the announcement of a couple of teams having a double gameweek, I was caught in two minds as I had not wanted to make a transfer so I would have two free ones for gameweek 22. Knowing West Ham had a double gameweek I considered selling Harry Kane to get Michail Antonio back in. I also thought about getting Ivan Toney again as Brentford had a double gameweek too, but in the end I left the changes alone. I had a feeling this may come back to bite me, I mean this season had not been one for forward planning had it?
Gary made just one transfer and that was to bring in Sergio Reguilon for the injured Reece James. He already had multiple players having a double gameweek in his team in West Ham's Antonio and Vladimir Coufal as well as Everton's Allan. Gary was sitting low in the 'Justice League' table but it looked like he was equipped to do a number on me as not one of my players had a double gameweek.
The action started all the way back on New Years Day as Arsenal hosted Manchester City. The Gunners began well and should have got more than the one goal they had at half-time. Me and Gary both had Joao Cancelo so there was no clean sheet for him. Arsenal capitulated in the second half and City went on to win 2-1. Granit Xhaka and Gabriel have blood on their hands. The only 3pm game saw Spurs win 1-0 away at Watford. Reguilon had a first half effort saved and Harry Kane could have scored a couple of times and should have had a penalty. Josh King almost broke the deadlock for Watford against the run of play, and in the second half Heung-min Son went close when he flicked the ball wide. Son also had a volley brilliantly saved by Daniel Bachmann. All those chances meant me and Gary both could have eaten nicely off of this game, but right at the death Spurs nicked it as Davinson Sanchez headed in Son's free-kick. Both of us got the Son points, but Gary had the added luxury of the Reguilon clean sheet points. West Ham kicked off their double gameweek with a 3-2 triumph away at Crystal Palace. You know who got the first goal as Antonio pounced on a ball from Said Benrahma.
On the Sunday; Brighton won 3-2 at Everton. Brighton had led 2-0 before Anthony Gordon dragged them back into it. And guess what, Allan who rarely does anything as an FPL option assisted Gordon's first goal, 'rage!!'. The Seagulls won 3-2 however, as Alexis Mac Allister's second great strike proved to be the decisive goal. Leeds beat Burnley 3-1, but this match should have been fruitful for me. Junior Firpo's flick from Raphinha's cross was saved in the first half. In the second half with Leeds ahead 2-1, Raphinha hit the side netting when it seemed easier to score. Things were going more and more in Gary's favour. The late game saw Chelsea and Liverpool face-off at Stamford Bridge. There was no chance of me gaining any ground as Gary had all the same players as me in this one. Liverpool flew into a 2-goal lead through Sadio Mane and Mo Salah. Diogo Jota got the 'fantasy' assist for Mane's goal, while Trent Alexander-Arnold supplied Salah's wonderful goal. Chelsea fought back for a 2-2 draw with two very good goals of their own. Unless a miracle happened my defeat had already been sealed as Gary led 52-40 and he still had his double gameweek men left. It did not factor in the head-to-head, but well done to Wolves who beat Manchester United on the Monday 1-0 to win me some money.
With last weekend being the FA Cup, the gameweek concluded well over a week after it started. Firstly Southampton were at home to Brentford and I needed at least 4 goals from Armando Broja...surely this was not too much for? I had to settle for just one however as the Saints won 4-1, Broja raced onto a great ball by Oriol Romeu before slotting in for their third goal. Broja did get me two welcome bonus points. On the Wednesday; Leicester's game with Everton had already been called off, so it was just West Ham at home to Norwich. Antonio was to blank, despite going close in the second half but Gary's points total was still added to as Coufal set up the first of two goals for Jarrod Bowen as the Hammers won 2-0 as well as getting clean sheet points.
The head-to-head was already lost awhile ago as my six-game winning streak came to an abrupt end, but there was a further problem. After Broja's goal on Tuesday I went up into the top 57k in the world, but then after Bowen's haul o Wednesday I fell almost 80k places. I have dropped to 6th in the Justice League with my defeat and I have also come off of the top of a classic league, leaving me top of only six classic leagues now. The next gameweek cannot come quick enough, this was just slow torture.
@DubulDee
Comments