Josh was my opposition this week in the ‘Justice League’. After speaking to him before the season started he was eager to amends for not finishing in the top half last campaign. He had been studying the fixture list hard making notes before selecting his players and to be honest I would've preferred to have not been playing him so early on.
After not making any transfers in gameweek 2; I had two free transfers available. Usually when I make changes the players I bring in go straight into the starting XI, but for the first time this was not the case for me. I wanted to free up some cash as now price changes were constantly happening. Despite being club captain Watford’s Troy Deeney had been warming the bench so his value dropped to £5.4m, so I sold him for his teammate Emmanuel Dennis. At the time I made the transfer Dennis was £5.1m but now he is up to £5.2m, so good thing I did it when I did. The other change was to sell Brighton‘s Joel Veltman whose value had also dropped (£4.4m), in came Tino Livramento who Southampton just brought from Chelsea. He had looked lively at right back, so for me it made sense as I feel Southampton will soon have some fixtures he can do damage in.
When the deadline passed I saw that Josh had made two changes meaning a 4-point hit. He sold the in-form Mason Greenwood for West Ham’s Pablo Fornals. Fornals had been someone I considered if I was to let go of his teammate Tomas Soucek, but I was not bold enough to make the change, his low ownership could make him a major differential. He also sold Brentford’s Ivan Toney who I of course had and got in the man who was on fire Michail Antonio, I was not amused in the slightest. I decided to keep faith with Patrick Bamford when I could have easily got Antonio in. Antonio and Bamford are similar prices due to Antonio‘s stock regularly rising with his impressive start to the season.
The action started at the Etihad as Manchester City entertained Arsenal. However the Gunners would have left not entertained but traumatised as Pep Guardiola's men won easily 5-0. It was already 2-0 before Granit Xhaka was sent off and it then became a training session if it was not one already. The whole point of getting Joao Cancelo in was for some assists, but Ilkay Gundogan was on set piece duty and when Riyad Mahrez came on in the second half Cancelo touched the ball less as the Algerian hogged the right wing. Cancelo when he did get the ball put some really dangerous crosses in but no one could get on the end of them, he also could have got a 6th goal right at the end but could not hit target when he got in behind Arsenal's defence...well they say it is a defence anyway.
The 3pm games saw my faith get repaid. Ivan Toney scored his first Premier League as Brentford took the lead at Villa Park. Toney's calm finish is hopefully a big sign of what is to come from him this season. Many have already sold him, but I feel he still has something to offer, so I am sticking with him despite the drop in his price to £6.4m. Emi Buendia levelled for Aston Villa however as it ended all square. I would have loved for Josh to have been punished for selling Toney, but the man he sold him for Antonio was at it again as he assisted and scored in West Ham's 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace. I would have been angry anyway but remember he was also Josh's captain so it was double the damage. Antonio's assist was for Fornals so Josh targeting this game for his two changes was a masterstroke. His other West Ham player was Aaron Cresswell and his long ball created Antonio's emphatic left foot volley for the second Hammers goal so this game had killed me. On Saturday night I had a nightmare that I drowned in bubbles, damn you West Ham! There was no contribution from my Czech partnership of Vladimir Coufal and Tomas Soucek here to my disappointment.
Everton got a very good away win at Brighton with goals from Demarai Gray and a penalty from Dominic Calvert-Lewin. At just £5.5m I am keeping tabs on Gray, as he is only owned by 3.1%, he is quite rapid and can shoot well off of both feet, the winger has now scored in consecutive games. Brighton's Robert Sanchez who was on my bench was Josh's keeper so no clean sheet for him there. There was another 2-2 draw at St James' Park between Newcastle and Southampton. Callum Wilson made me look like a fool again for letting go of him before the season as he scored at home again; Josh had him and things were starting to look bad here. The Magpies were denied a win by basically the last kick of the game as James Ward-Prowse scored a penalty after Newcastle had themselves just scored in injury time.
Liverpool hosted Chelsea in the big game of the weekend at Anfield. Chelsea took the lead then the Reds levelled through a penalty after Reece James was sent off for handball. My vice-captain Mo Salah was the man who converted the spot kick and he really should have had a second but shot tamely in the second period. Josh had Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold; so my only differential was Diogo Jota who did not start but came on when Roberto Firmino got injured in the first half. Saturday ended with me being crushed 55-32.
On Sunday; I needed my differentials to have a huge day if I stood any chance of clawing things back. Burnley and Leeds met at Turf Moor. We both had Patrick Bamford, so really it came down to Raphinha (me) v Jack Harrison (Josh). In the first half Raphinha got played in by Rodrigo but seemed to be confused with whether to shoot or cross and he ended up putting the ball wide with his right foot...I hung my head. It would have been easier to score. Bamford was lucky not to score an own goal when he headed a Burnley corner against the post. Bamford was to get his goal late on as his slight touch from close range got Leeds a point. This was after Chris Wood's slight touch from a Matthew Lowton shot had given the Clarets the lead. In the other 2pm kick off; my captain Heung-min Son scored from a free-kick. His intention had been to put the ball into a dangerous area; but no one got a touch on it so it went straight in as Tottenham beat Watford 1-0. It was great as for the first time all my captains had scored in the first three gameweeks, but I still needed more so I had fallen to defeat. Match-winner Son did not even get the maximum bonus points either as they went to Sergio Reguilón. So I had already lost before Manchester United got a 1-0 win at Wolves. Josh had Luke Shaw and Bruno Fernandes to give him yet more points in a game Wolves really should have won, they could have scored 3 in the first 12 minutes as Trincao and Adama Traore caused havoc.
The loss was by 11 points 73-62. I had well and truly been Antonio'd! Now it is time for the international break and for me to plot how I can get myself up the table. Overall I have 204 points, an average of 68 per gameweek, which normally is far from shabby, but due to the hauls of the likes of Antonio, Said Benrahma and Mason Greenwood, I find myself already with some ground to make up. At least I have some money in the bag to make some decent changes however as two defeats in my first three head-to-head contests is far from good enough. See you after the international break.
@DubulDee
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