My gameweek 36 opponent was my long time friend Delvin. I was locked in a battle for the top 4 and I had to keep on winning there really was no margin for error. I was 5th and Delvin was in 7th just 3 points behind, this was a six-pointer if ever there was one. His team looked solid and I was wary that despite it being a double gameweek I could not afford to take a massive points-hit despite there being many players I was looking at.
The lure of a double gameweek always seems to get me although many times players I let go of or do not go through with bringing in outscore players in their two games. I considered Jarrod Bowen who I have not owned all season and Wilfried Zaha but stuck with Raphinha as Leeds had two games. Instead I made my change up front and sold Harry Kane. As Tottenham played Liverpool in the double gameweek I would have had Kane on the bench anyway so replaced him with Jamie Vardy and this freed up a decent amount. At the back I was going to bring in Mason Holgate for the injured Tino Livramento, but then at the last minute I sold Wout Weghorst for Richarlison up front. The only change Delvin made was to let go of Phillippe Coutinho and bring in Bernardo Silva. We both captained Mo Salah.
There was no early game this week, so the action started at 3pm on Saturday. Brentford beat Southampton 3-0 at the Brentford Community Stadium. My rival was amongst the points early on as Ivan Toney assisted Pontus Jansson from a corner to give the Bees the lead. Christian Eriksen got a ‘fantasy’ assist for the second goal immediately after by Yoane Wissa, but luckily he was only on Delvin’s bench, the last substitute at that. David Raya was on my bench and he topped up his clean sheet with a save point and this outdid my starting keeper. This was because at the same time Watford lost to Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park as Wilfried Zaha scored a penalty. Foster did get two save points however as he made six saves. Foster had another game in the week to outscore Raya otherwise going with the keeper who had a double gameweek was in a position to possibly be pointless.
Aston Villa trounced Burnley 3-1 at Turf Moor, thankfully my opponent did not own any Villa players. But for me it was another blank for Connor Roberts. The Welshman started like a house on fire but since I have owned him he has only blanked. The Clarets have a double gameweek next week or I would actually sell him. In the other game at 3pm; Chelsea took a 2-0 lead at Stamford Bridge only to be pegged back later on for a 2-2 draw against Wolves. Rayan Ait-Nouri started but it was to be another blank at the back for me this week.
In the first of the latter kick offs, just when you thought Manchester United could not embarrass themselves any further they were thrashed 4-0 by Brighton at the Amex Stadium. The cameras cut to Cristiano Ronaldo at a stage and he had a bemused expression as he looked on in disbelief at how bad his team are. If you don’t laugh you’ll cry as they say. Tariq Lamptey did not start the game but he was only on my fantasy team’s bench anyway. Back in 1995 former United legend Eric Cantona after kung-fu kicking an abusive fan said to journalists, “when the seagulls follow the trawler it‘s because they think something will be thrown into the sea”. Cantona many years later went on to say that there was no actual meaning to what he said despite it being dissected by numerous people down the years. One thing is for sure however these ‘Seagulls’ followed many other teams into shitting on the Red Devils! United have now conceded their most amount of goals ever in a Premier League season.
In Saturday's last contest; Liverpool and Tottenham had it all to play for at Anfield in a rare Saturday evening 7.45 kick off. The game was not as exciting as some felt it might be and ended 1-1 which really did not help either side at all. Knowing how dangerous my opponents team was having already sold Harry Kane I could not afford to sell Heung-min Son too otherwise I would just be giving the 3 points to Delvin. And it was the Korean who gave Spurs the lead as he went just 2 goals behind Mohamed Salah In the Golden Boot race. Liverpool levelled through a deflected shot by Luis Diaz as the spoils were shared. Saturday ended with me ahead 16-12 but more of my team had played thus far.
To Sunday and I needed Leeds to do me a favour as Delvin had three Arsenal men in his side. There was only 5 minutes on the clock and the Gunners took the lead before doubling it in the 10th minute. Illan Meslier was clearly given a brown envelope before the game as he miscontrolled the ball to gift Eddie Nketiah his first goal. Luke Ayling was sent off for a nonsensical challenge but Leeds did pull back a precious goal for me in terms of the head-to-head. Diego Llorente's goal stopped Delvin from getting a double clean sheet from Aaron Ramsdale and Gabriel so I was more than thankful as Jesse Marsch's men made a real fist of it with ten men. Raphinha seems to have given up sadly and me bringing him back in has been unsuccessful as he was booked and then taken off before the hour mark so I did not even get a point from him. Bukayo Saka blanked for Delvin which was great news.
Everton gave their survival hopes a real boost as they won 2-1 at Leicester. James Maddison who we both had did not make the squad as he had a hamstring issue. Richarlison got a fantasy assist for what turned out to be the winning goal by you guessed it…Mason Holgate. Sometimes just sometimes taking the big hit can work as defenders get 6 points for a goal of course. Being a Liverpool fan I had faint hope that Newcastle could get a point at the Etihad but Manchester City swept them aside 5-0 to move closer to the title. Delvin’s team had Joao Cancelo and he assisted the first goal for Raheem Sterling, he had Bernardo Silva too but he did not feature. Sunday finished with it being 28-22 in favour of Delvin.
Liverpool‘s second game of the week was away at Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa. Andy Robertson was not in the squad, Diogo Jota started but Salah was only on the bench. Things could not have started any worse as Liverpool went behind to a contentious goal from Douglas Luiz. Joel Matip replied instantly and Sadio Mane won it in the second half. As we both owned Robertson the game did nothing for either of us with our captain blanking.
Wednesday saw Marcos Alonso get Delvin clean sheet points as Chelsea pushed Leeds a step closer to relegation with a 3-0 win. Raphinha again looked like he had given up and virtually substituted himself in the second half when it looked like Jesse Marsch was going to take off a different player. Ben Foster had a massive game as Watford and Everton somehow ended in a stalemate. Foster’s 10 point haul meant 14 overall this week and for once I had made the correct decision with my choice of keeper. This of course meant a blank for Richarlison who ironically Foster made a great save from. Maddison started for Leicester and got on the scoresheet, but that was only after to my great pleasure a double from Vardy. Vardy’s wife may be in the midst of a court case but the verdict here is he is still a top striker as Leicester beat Norwich 3-0. Maddison could have had a hat-trick if it were not for Angus Gunn’s heroics. Wolves were hit with a Kevin de Bruyne masterclass as he scored an amazing 4 goals as they all but clinched the title unless a real miracle takes place. City won 5–1 at Molineux and Sterling grabbed the 5th goal as Cancelo assisted him for the second time this week. Bernardo also assisted for Delvin. Wednesday ended with me 57-52 ahead but he had three Arsenal men left and I just had Son left in the Derby.
So the gameweek climaxed at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. First things first I needed a Spurs goal to the neutralise Delvin’s double clean sheet threat. But while this was needed in the head-to-head another battle had come to the fore. Rian (Milito) had amassed an outrageous score as despite taking an 8-point hit, he had captained de Bruyne and was flying. My highest score of 146 in a gameweek this campaign was in real danger as he owned Son as well as Saka and Nketiah. The game saw Kane bag a brace and Antonio Conte’s men went on to win 3-0 as Rob Holding was sent off for two bookings. The second booking came as he threw an elbow that the late Macho Man Randy Savage would have been proud of. Son scored the 3rd to cement my victory and I just hung on to the highest score in the ‘Justice League’ too this season as Rian amassed 138 in my other war.
So a massive win for me as incidentally Rian’s opponent was Darren B my co-host, so I am now level on points with him in the race for 4th. With the scores being so high this week despite my head-to-head win I fell overall in the world to 317,000. At the time of the screenshot of my team below the average was 74, but it actually ended up being 79 so with my points deduction my score of 74 fell under the average so my drop overall was to be expected. At least seagulls didn’t shit on me this week at least!
@DubulDee
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