My gameweek 7 opponent was the inaugural 'Justice League' champion Andrew. He was having an uncharacteristic start to the season as he had not won a head-to-head game yet and I was worried that I may be his first victim.
With the international break pending I was conflicted. I strongly considered taking a points hit, but I could not forgive myself if it did not come off, so I reluctantly decided against it. The idea I had was to sell the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold for a defender around £5m or cheaper. This would free up the cash to sell Watford's Emmanuel Dennis up front and then I could get in Raul Jimenez. I had said on #FPLWar that once Jimenez got his first goal that he would be an asset. I narrowed my defenders down to either Brighton's Joel Veltman, who made my 'MFF September Team of the Month' or Burnley's Ben Mee. I always look to see if I can get Mee in because he is the inspiration behind the name of my team so it would make great banter. I sat and I pondered but with Saturday mornings being so hectic as I travel almost 9 miles to record the 'FootyOnTop' radio show which starts at 10am, I did my change on Friday night before bed. The only change I made was a simple one as I sold Alexander-Arnold for his teammate Andy Robertson. I was skeptical about a clean sheet as Liverpool were playing Manchester City but hoped Robertson could assist maybe from a set piece with Alexander-Arnold out if not from open play where he usually creates chances anyway.
Vladimir Coufal was a game-time decision as he missed West Ham's Europa League game, so I was preparing myself to get Tino Livramento's points off of my bench. Goalkeeper was another position hurting my head. I felt that Brighton had what it takes to keep a clean sheet against Arsenal which is obviously why I had considered Veltman in defence, but I was cautious about leaving Emiliano Martinez on the bench for a third straight gameweek, as he had done so well in the previous two games. I ended up going with the Argentine despite knowing Andrew had Sanchez too, so this was a little risky. Next it was whether to drop Dennis so I could play all my five midfielders or bench Tomas Soucek. I was to make another reluctant decision and leave Soucek on the bench. This was easily the most nervous I had been approaching a gameweek. When the deadline passed I saw Andrew had sold Luke Ayling for Javier Manquillo, Bruno Fernandes for Mo Salah and Romelu Lukaku for Gabriel Jesus meaning he had taken a 4-point hit as he had two free transfers.
The action started once again at Old Trafford as Manchester United faced Everton. Andrew had made Paul Pogba his captain and a little surprisingly he was not in the United starting lineup. Another man not in their XI was Cristiano Ronaldo who had been captained by 41.7% of fantasy managers, they must have vomited on site when they heard. Both Ronaldo and Pogba came on in the second half, but could not help the Red Devils get the 3 points as Everton got a more than deserved point. Andros Townsend cancelled out Anthony Martial's opener...yes you read that right Martial scored a goal. Townsend (up to £5.5m) is proving quite the differential with his 3rd goal of the campaign he has now amassed 43 points..
The 3pm games saw Burnley and Norwich have a goalless draw at Turf Moor, so bringing Mee in would have done the job. The other change I almost pulled the trigger on would have also worked as Wolves won 2-1 at home to Newcastle. Hee-chan Hwang bagged a brace and both goals were laid on by Jimenez, I really should have just taken the points-hit as Jimenez was to get 2 bonus points too. Sometimes you just have to come out of your comfort zone I suppose. The Mexican was captained by 1.2%. Manquillo got 3 points for Andrew and he also had Conor Coady but he only got 2 points. Leeds edged out Watford 1-0 at Elland Road through a Diego Llorente goal. None of the players we had contributed or as I had Raphinha and Andrew had Stuart Dallas. This of course meant nothing from Dennis proving unless there was a masterclass from Robertson against Manchester City I had messed up. As if Dennis had not let me down by not contributing, he decided to turn into Dennis the Menace and mock referee Simon Hooper. Dennis told him to open his eyes as he was unhappy with the decisions being made and was duly booked, "thanks for nothing mate!", Dennis Hopper would have been more useful. Liverpool play Watford next so he might just get sold. There are forwards around his price that do not get booked every week like the Nigerian.
The other 3pm contest saw Chelsea beat Southampton 3-1 and to many peoples' surprise Romelu Lukaku was not amongst the goals. The Belgian was captained by 37.7%, which was the second highest after Ronaldo. The Saints had levelled through a James Ward-Prowse penalty which was won by Livramento, so if Coufal did not play I would get those points. Ward-Prowse then got sent off however for a tackle that could have put Jorginho in a hospital ward. To be honest Jorginho has committed similar fouls himself since playing in the Premier League. The late kick off saw Brighton and Arsenal in a stalemate. Sanchez's clean sheet was bad enough as I left him on the bench and Andrew had him, but he would also get points for Shane Duffy too. He had left Duffy on his bench but he had he left the injured Alexander-Arnold in his XI so he got Duffy's points in his absence. Duffy almost scored a header so it could have been much worse. Saturday ended with Andrew in front 18-4, however he only had 5 men left to play.
Sunday was jam packed with four games. Crystal Palace and Leicester faced off in the first live Sky Sports match. This meant I had a stream for Tottenham and Aston Villa on my laptop, and at a stage I had West Ham and Brentford on my phone too, it was manic! In regards to the game at Selhurst Park any hopes of a clean sheet for the Eagles were dashed when Joachim Andersen got caught and Kelechi Iheanacho scored. Jamie Vardy made it 2-0 as he continued to make me eat humble pie with his 6th of the campaign. Palace fought back for a point, but unfortunately you do not get points for your player sending someone for a 'hot dog' as Mitchell turned Ricardo Pereira inside out before substitute Michael Olise scored. Olise followed up his own effort which which had been blocked, so no assist for Mitchell. Jeffrey Schlupp who always seems to score when he comes off the bench salvaged a point for Patrick Vieira's men.
Heung-min Son was on his game to my satisfaction as Tottenham remembered how to win as they got past Aston Villa 2-1. My only regret was not giving Son the captaincy as he was my original choice but I went with Ivan Toney in the end looking for a massive differential. Son laid on the first goal for Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg. He almost assisted again but Emerson Royal put his chance over. Son should have scored himself on the hour mark but was denied by Martinez's legs. Villa levelled before Son's ball in was turned into his own goal by Matt Target, giving Son a 'fantasy' assist. Thanks Heung-min you son of a gun, you have made this horrible week look just a tad less horrible, I should have made you captain as only 0.3% did. Andrew had Danny Ings and he almost got an equaliser. Brentford just will not stop and they won 2-1 at West Ham through a last gasp goal from Yoanne Wissa. Coufal was somehow fit to start, which meant no Livramento points. The Bees had taken the lead through Brian Mbeumo (£5,5m) who put the rebound in after Sergi Canos' shot was saved. It would have been nice if Canos had scored as Toney had passed to him. Before the goal Toney almost found the net but Lukasz Fabianski saved well down low from his volley, "damn!". The Hammers levelled through Jarod Bowen (£6.3m) so it was inevitable that Soucek would get the assist as the points piled up on my bench, this was turning into a horror flick. To be fair to Coufal he was very unlucky, Bowen put a header wide when it would have been easier to score from his cross a far easier chance than the goal Bowen scored on the half volley. Coufal also had an effort saved by David Raya making a block with this legs. There was no return from Michail Antonio who me and Andrew both had, Antonio was captained by 10.7% of managers which was third this week, literally nothing was working for anyone.
The final encounter was the biggest one as Liverpool entertained Manchester City at Anfield. However the only team to entertain in the first period were the visitors as they setup perfectly to deny Liverpool space and passed the ball crisply, despite their great play they could not get the breakthrough they needed. Liverpool were much better in the second half and almost took the lead when Ederson saved well from my differential Diogo Jota. The Reds were to go ahead through Sadio Mane after some great work from Mo Salah. City were to level through Phil Foden and to my dismay the goal was assisted by Gabriel Jesus. The head-to-head was way too close for comfort. Salah was then to produce a moment of sheer individual brilliance to make it 2-1. Aymeric Laporte is still turning around as we speak, I had paid for not trusting Salah in a big game as he continues to stack points with his 6th of the season. Pep Guardiola's men were to level again however as honours were to be even. Salah's 13 points were welcomed by the 3.9% who smartly gave him the captaincy.
Rian (Milito) hollered me after the game, and as Jota got booked I was thinking that I had lost to Andrew by a single point, I was fuming. Rian told me to count again and then I realised I had completely forgot to add the bonus points to my total so I therefore had 2 more points from Son and also a point from Martinez, so I won by just 2 points, this was so cruel on Andrew. I had to apologise as I had told him that I think he had won. FPL head-to-head life is just strange like that isn't it? My highest score so far this term of 76 saw me defeated, but my worst score so far got me a win. There is a huge element of luck to the way the fixtures are set. This was an outrageously poor week for many, the average of 38 in gameweek 7 reflected this. A big shoutout to the highest point scorers in the Justice League this week with Stel getting a whooping 61, and Chad (Goliath) and Muji also passing 50 points. It is now the international break and I have some serious thinking to do.
@DubulDee
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