I had to stop the current losing streak I was on, it was driving me nuts! Gameweek 24 saw me up against Darren T, he was a regular guest on the 'FootyOnTop Show' and he actually beat me in our first meeting of the season, so I was after revenge. The small break after sorting my team for the prolonged gameweek 23 meant that I felt a little refreshed and confident that I could have a decent week.
With the conclusion of the African Cup of Nations you would have thought Mo Salah wanted to have a little rest, but he informed Liverpool that he wanted to play against Leicester, so with minimal money in the bank I had to use my 'Wildcard' bonus chip and replenish the team to create spsce to get Salah back into my side. In goal I sold Brighton's Robert Sanchez for Brentford's David Raya as Thomas Frank announced he was back from injury. The only change I made at the back was to let go of Trent Alexander-Arnold for his teammate Andy Robertson as Robertson was cheaper. As Crystal Palace had Norwich and Brentford coming up I drafted in Odsonne Eduoard finally, and I got back Armando Broja as I sold my Watford double of Josh King and Emmanuel Dennis. The Hornets duo had not worked for me so I felt it was time to break it up. Those changes allowed me to work on my midfield, Kevin De Bruyne who I really did not want to sell went out for Salah, and Lucas Moura was sold for his teammate Heung-min Son who was also back after a spell on the sidelines. This only left me with £4.6m so as I had sold Will Hughes, the best value in that bracket came in Jacob Ramsey who I had been looking at as a differential anyway due to his low ownership. Ramsey was young, hungry, can pass and had a good eye for goal, Gerrard clearly trusts him despite his youthfulness so it all made sense.
I knew Darren had Harry Kane, so I captained him to neutralise him, saying that he had Diogo Jota too so I could have captained him also to be fair. I had thoughts about giving the captaincy to Son but jut went with Kane. When the deadline passed I saw Darren had not made any changes.
The midweek action started on Tuesday. None of us had anyone in Newcastle's 3-1 win over Everton, but in the future I will consider Kieran Trippier for his set piece threat. West Ham entertained Watford, and for large portions of the game the Hornets were the better side, but the Hammers got the victory through a deflected shot from Jarrod Bowen. I was so annoyed that Foster could not get the clean sheet that was needed and I would have preferred him to be beaten by a better goal to be honest. Foster did deny Bowen of a second with a fine save as he pushed his effort onto the post. Darren had Dennis so it was good to know he did not find the net, whereas King went close in the second half after a good run almost made me regret selling him. Neither of us had anyone in the 1-1 draw at Turf Moor between Burnley and Manchester United, but Wout Weghorst is making it hard for me to ignore him after getting a great assist. With us both having just one player in action Tuesday ended with us level at 2-2.
On Wednesday; Manchester City had a routine 2-0 win over Brentford at home. The second goal was scored by De Bruyne making me clench my fist as I knew this was going to be the case, but did not want Salah's price to sky rocket so it is what it is. Joao Cancelo almost scored a brilliant solo goal but his shot did not match his mazy run. City's first was a penalty won by Raheem Sterling who my opponent had, but he also had Bernardo Silva who luckily blanked. Darren had Brentford's Pontus Jansson too so he only got a solitary point. Crystal Palace came back to get a 1-1 draw at Norwich, but it should have been more. To my disgust Eduoard was left on the bench. The Canaries took the lead through Teemu Pukki and it was supplied by an Adam Idah touch after only 38 seconds. As I had it on the Tottenham-Southampton game I had no idea the match at Carrow Road had even started, my Tyrick Mitchell clean sheet point hopes were thrown out of the window not even a minute in. Idah at just £4.9m has started the last five games under Dean Smith and could be a good enabler having returned a goal and two assists in his last three outings. The Eagles levelled in the second half as Wilf Zaha bent in one of the goals of the season, but then a few minutes later he missed a penalty. Mitchell had been fouled for the spot-kick so you can imagine my anguish as Zaha scuffed the penalty, I believe he said he kicked his other foot, as the ball rolled away like it had been kicked by a 2-year old...Wilfried 'Haha'. Unfortunately that fitted in with the luck Patrick Vieira has had this season really.
In the aforementioned contest at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Spurs looked destined for three points before losing 3-2 to the Saints. I thought Son had given Antonio Conte's men the lead but it turned out to be an own goal by Jan Bednarek. It only took Ralph Hasenhüttl's men five minutes to level and it was more than deserved as they were the better side and you guessed it Broja got the goal after reacting quickly in the box. I had left him on my bench and bowed my head in shame. The FPL site said he had a 50% chance of playing and as I did not hear the press conference I wrongly trusted he would not play. This was disappointing from me as I am the first to say do not listen to the FPL site solely. It could have been worse for me as Broja should have had a second, but he drove well wide after being clean through on goal. Son gave Spurs the lead in rather controversial fashion as Broja was down after a strong aerial challenge from Emerson Royal. The goal was assisted by Lucas Moura, trust him to actually do something after I sold him, but Southampton won the game with late two headers from James Ward-Prowse crosses. Harry Kane did not do much, and if it was not for an upcoming double gameweek I would probably get rid of him, Sergio Reguilón should have scored from a ball from Kane in the first half however.
The last clash on Wednesday was at Villa Park as Aston Villa and Leeds played out a thrilling 3-3 draw. The 'Road Runner' Daniel James gave Marcelo Bielsa's men the lead with a tidy finish, as Rodrigo another man I previously owned assisted it. It turned into the Phillippe Coutinho show after that. First, the Brazilian finished cooly with a low shot to level things up and then he supplied Jacob Ramsey not once but twice to put the Villans 3-1 up. Ramsey finished both goals with aplomb, but Coutinho's passes especially the second assist were delicious. In stoppage time in the first half Tyrone Mings then somehow let little James out-jump him and it was 3-2 as Rodrigo got a 'fantasy' assist, before Diego Llorente salvaged a point in the second half. Nothing for me from Raphinha then but Ramsey's brace was more than I expected so the blank by the Brazilian was covered. Emi Martinez was the only active keeper Darren had, and add on top of that he also had a blank from Ollie Watkins so this game was quite fruitful. Wednesday concluded with me ahead 39-23.
So it was left to Thursday, I was not 100% comfortable with my lead as we both had Jota, so it was Andy Robertson and Mo Salah for me up against Joel Matip and James Maddison for him. I say up against Matip, but that is strictly fantasy head-to-head talk as anything positive he did was good for the team I supported. Liverpool went on to beat Leicester 2-0 and without Kasper Schmeichel's awareness it could have been much more. Jota bagged a brace and I was left to rue not making him my captain as he proved a real fox in the box on both goals. Matip actually assisted the second goal which of course benefitted Darren. Salah did not start as I thought, but he came around the hour mark and nearly scored twice. He was not able to get the ball over Schmeichel when clean through on goal, and he also hit the bar with a curling shot that no keeper would have reached. Maddison's blank meant that I had won as none of us had anyone playing in Arsenal's 1-0 win over Wolves.
So I was finally back to winning ways as it ended 62-52 in my favour, but I could have and should have had more points. I moved up to 7th in the Justice League with the win, but overall I have dropped to 190,000 in the world as heavily owned players like Jarrod Bowen, Aaron Ramsdale, De Bruyne and also Coutinho all produced as well as those that captained Jota of course.
@DubulDee
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