I was up against Ravi this week as I needed to make amends after my narrow defeat in gameweek 5. Ravi seemed to have my number as I do not recall ever beating him in a head-to-head contest, so I was really up for this. The only change I made was to sell the injured Patrick Bamford and bring back in Michail Antonio, they cost the same amount so it was a straightforward transfer to make.
When the deadline had passed I saw that Ravi had made three transfers, meaning he had taken a big risk by losing 8 points. He sold the injured Mason Mount for Demarai Gray, sold Jack Grealish for Mason Greenwood, and he brought in Tomas Soucek for Yves Bissouma. The fact he got Soucek in angered me as I was hoping the West Ham midfielder would be a differential. I messaged Ravi to mention I saw he bought Soucek in and he had no idea what I was talking about. So I said "in FPL mate", to which he replied "oh am I playing you in FPL?". Ravi left the FPL WhatsApp group awhile ago and it looked like he did not really check his opponent. He defies the head-to-head logic because he has had good finishes in the last two seasons despite not worrying about his opponents. As I thought he would captain Mo Salah, with a view to neutralise I captained the Egyptian despite being very tempted to give the captaincy to Diogo Jota for a third week running, and he did indeed captain Salah.
The action started with something rare as two matches kicked off at 12.30pm on Saturday. Stamford Bridge saw Chelsea and Manchester City lock horns in the biggest game of the weekend. I had Joao Cancelo and my opponent had Ruben Dias as well as Andreas Christensen, but he also had Romelu Lukaku so if Lukaku found the net then it would be bittersweet for him. Lukaku was not to find the net however as Chelsea played more negatively than many thought seen as Thomas Tuchel has had Pep Guardiola's number since he started managing in England, and City asserted themselves on the game. City took the lead through Gabriel Jesus and to my pleasure it was assisted by Cancelo. I was nervous for a bit as the FPL app did not register the assist until the game ended. It was to stay 1-0 and Cancelo almost assisted Jesus again only for it to be cleared off the line. It would have been a fantasy assist as Edouard Mendy got a touch on Cancelo's cross before Jesus shot. Cancelo got maximum bonus points so all was good. In the other early game Manchester United hosted Aston Villa and Ravi had Greenwood and Harry Maguire. Maguire was to come off injured so got clean sheet points, but United were to be beaten by a late Kortney Hause header. The Red Devils did have a chance in injury time to level from the penalty spot but Bruno Fernandes blasted his penalty into orbit after falling to Emiliano Martinez's mind games. Many thought that Cristiano Ronaldo would be on penalty duty so nature will surely now take its cause. Would it be a reach to say that Cristiano is probably happy that Bruno missed?...'sorry had to say it...', this gives CR7 more of a chance of reaching 100 Premier League goals. He has literally killed Bruno here with kindness. Don't worry though Bruno nothing else to worry about apart from the fact that you have lost almost 20% of your FPL ownership as at the time of print you were down to 28.8%, I do not think I have ever seen a non-injured player's ownership plummet so much over a couple of weeks. Cristiano and Lukaku both blanking in the same gameweek, surely this is what dreams are made of! I now had the chance to close the gap in some of the classic leagues I am in.
One of my close friends Michael was able to sort out some tickets for me and my sis for my beloved Liverpool's trip to Brentford, so I was en route to west London whilst the 3pm kick offs were going on. I put notifications on for just the players I had in my team so I knew if any of them scored. I was pleased to know at Elland Road Raphinha put injury-hit Leeds in front against West Ham with a lovely finish into the bottom corner. The Brazilian had not been expected to start after aggravating his hip against Newcastle, but I kept him in so this was a nice differential as many had sold him. He struck the post soon after that otherwise I think I would have exploded. I thought Soucek had levelled in the second half but his was goal disallowed as Antonio took out Illan Meslier. Raphinha should have then got an assist but Mateusz Klich somehow put the ball wide...'Mateusz you son of a Klich, hit the damn target man!'. The Hammers drew level with a own goal, before right at the death Antonio won the game for them. Antonio who was the most transferred-in player in gameweek 6 and he showed great composure to turn past his man and calmly place the ball into the corner, my transfer had worked! Antonio could have had two assists in the first half also as Said Benrahma and Pablo Fornals both had efforts saved from his passes, the ball to the latter was exceptional. Everton beat Norwich 2-0 and Gray assisted the second goal for Abdoulaye Doucoure (£5.6m) giving Ravi points. The first goal was scored by Andros Townsend (£5.5m) who was someone I considered as every right-sided midfield or forward who has played against the Canaries thus far has had a points-haul. The goal was from the penalty spot and not open play but they all get the same amount of points regardless.
Kasper Schmeichel was Ravi's goalie, so Burnley did me a favour by scoring past Leicester twice as it finished all square at the King Power Stadium. I had completely overlooked Jamie Vardy (£10.4m)as I thought his minutes would be managed with the vigour of European football for the Foxes. Add to that the signing of Patson Daka and of course Kelechi Iheanacho, and you will see why I had my reservations as I nearly always have Vardy in my team. Vardy made amends for scoring an own goal by bagging a brace and both goals that were at the right end were really well taken. He has made me eat humble pie as he has started all the league games and has 5 goals in 6. There was a brilliant goal for Burnley's Maxwel Cornet in this one too. In the last of the 3pm matches; Watford drew 1-1 with Newcastle. Sean Longstaff's great strike was cancelled out by Ismaila Sarr's header. Unfortunately all Emmanuel Dennis did in this game for me was get booked.
So to the game I attended; the late kick off at the Brentford Community Stadium. I had to keep my mouth shut being in the Brentford end as the Bees and Liverpool played out a six-goal thriller. For a neutral it must have been thoroughly entertaining, I on the other hand had palpitations watching some of Liverpool's defending. Mo Salah almost gave Liverpool the lead but had his effort from a Diogo Jota pass was cleared off the line very early on. Ethan Pinnock, a player I suggested on the very first 'FPL War' gave the home side the lead. Jurgen Klopp's men levelled through a Diogo Jota header, who decided to score the week when he was not my captain. Jota missed a rebound before getting his goal as David Raya reacted superbly. Mo Salah put Liverpool in front in the second half after just being onside after a check by VAR. The game was like a basketball match; Brentford equalised, Liverpool took the lead again before another late Brentford goal as it ended 3-3. Sadio Mane and especially Salah were guilty of second half misses. Saturday ended with me 53-39 ahead. Ravi only had Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang left and I had Heung-min Son, Robert Sanchez and Tyrick Mitchell, if I lost from here then I would never play FPL again!
Sunday saw Wolves win at Southampton 1-0, but this of course did not effect things. Then the north London Derby did not go the way I expected as Arsenal wiped the floor with Tottenham. Arsenal put on a show in the first half and could have had more. If ever there was an advert for #CounterAttack101 it was here, as some sweeping football from the Gunners showed they knew the severity of a Derby because Spurs did not turn up. Aubameyang did get on the scoresheet for Ravi but he needed more from him. All I asked for was a consolation goal from Son and thankfully I got it as it ended 3-1. This was another major differential just like Raphinha as the Korean who last season was owned by around 50% for a large portion of the campaign is only owned by 11.8% thus far this season.
Monday's 'battle of the birds' at Selhurst Park saw Brighton score a 95th minute goal through Neal Maupay to salvage a point against Crystal Palace. This cancelled out a penalty in the second minute of first half stoppage time by Wilfried Zaha as both teams had no regard for anyone who nipped off to go to the toilet at half-time or left early to beat the rush to get home. No clean sheet for Sanchez then, but more importantly that late sublime finish by Maupay took 5 points away from me as Mitchell was on course for a bonus point. In a week when not many people in the classic leagues I am in got over 50 points this would have been the icing on the cake in a week where my differentials did quite well. I am happy with 64 points however. My third head-to-head victory of the season and the only person to score more points than me in the 'Justice League' was Chad (Goliath) with 67 so well done to him. Still major work to be done in the Justice League as that third win only lifts me to 11th with my 9 points, but I am now top of two more classic leagues as my traditional points total stands at 393.
@DubulDee
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