My gameweek 9 opponent was Dwayne. Last season was not a great one for him, but he had started this campaign really well. In fact we were both on 15 points in the head-to-head 'Justice League' and also he was very close to me in the classic scoring 'League of Gentlemen' too. For these reasons I was heavily considering using my 'Bench Boost' bonus chip. A couple of things however stopped me from using it in the end. The first was that I did not want to make any transfers and Vladimir Coufal was a doubt for West Ham, so I viewed it as being a waste if he was not going to be fit. Secondly Brighton were playing Manchester City and I did not expect Robert Sanchez to keep a clean sheet. And lastly I thought maybe it just might be best to hold onto it for later on in the season when many others would have used it already.
When the deadline passed, you guessed it Dwayne had activated his bench boost, 'dammit!', I was crushed. Alisson was his starting goalie and Emiliano Martinez was his substitute goalkeeper and I needed a clean sheet from the latter as he was obviously my starting keeper. As well as that he had Trent Alexander-Arnold so it could may well come down to what I needed in reality would defeat what I needed in fantasy, which would make things easier if I were to go and lose of course. He had not made a transfer in gameweek 8, so he had two for this week, he sold the suspended James Ward-Prowse for Andros Townsend and to neutralise me he brought in Joao Cancelo for Tyrone Mings. He was seeking the double Manchester City clean sheet points against Brighton, whereas I was cautious. I had wanted to bench Cancelo as Brighton were a handful for City last season at the Amex Stadium, and I was not sure they would keep a clean sheet. I did not have the balls to bench him for Tino Livramento, though the Southampton man had looked really lively this season. If City were not to concede I would feel really silly. I did not see the point of activating the bench boost for my reluctance to bench one man however .
The action started on Friday as Arsenal played Aston Villa. Arsenal took the lead through Thomas Partey and Martinez was kicking himself as he should have done better. Then came a massive decision, as VAR's intervention meant Craig Pawson changed his original decision and Arsenal were awarded a penalty. Martinez saved Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's spot kick but the Arsenal frontman put the rebound in. It was the first time that I had a keeper in my starting XI who saved a penalty. After his antics in the Copa America in the summer I knew he was going to save the pen, unfortunately none of his teammates were vigilant enough to prevent the goal. The Gunners went on to win 3-1, but with Martinez's saves he was to get 10 points. Jacob Ramsey's consolation goal for Villa was the goal of the night and luckily there was nothing from Danny Ings who my opponent had.
Saturday began with Chelsea and Norwich. The Blues cruised to a 7-0 win, but the Chelsea defender who Dwayne had Andreas Christensen did not play, this was a clearly good for me, but there was still a long way to go. By the way, my deepest condolences to any of you who decided to captain Kai Havertz, as the German was the only Chelsea starter who blanked. 7 goals and the false 9 did not find the net, sod's law that. The 3pm Saturday games saw Hee-Chan Hwang get his fourth of the season (his first since I owned him) as Wolves took the lead against Leeds at Elland Road. I was on course for maximum bonus points from him, but then right at the death Leeds levelled through a Rodrigo Moreno penalty and he stole the maximum points, Hwang still got two however. The really bad news to come from Elland Road was that Raphinha came off injured, there is now no indication if he’ll be fit for gameweek 10. As it was before the hour I just got a measly point from him. At St Mary’s; Southampton conceded early on to Burnley, so I thought I had dodged not starting Livramento, but then he was to score 'unbelievable scenes!'. It was a flaming header too, a man playing right back the same height as me glided through the air like a bird, I felt sick! He almost scored again so it could have been much worse as the tie ended 2-2. Another 2 goals for Burnley's Maxwel Cornet (£6m) who am I monitoring.
Everton took the lead early on against Watford, and to my annoyance the goal was assisted by Demarai Gray. Luckily his Toffee double up did not go to plan as Townsend went on to blank as Watford quickly dropped their 'wat-less' tag and crushed Everton 5-2. Emmanuel Dennis who I of course sold for Hwang came off the bench to score, get two assists and is now injured in an action packed last half an hour. If Hwang had not scored I would have really been in my feelings. Josh King made Rafa Benitez's men bow down as he bagged a hat-trick getting revenge for barely being used while at Everton last season and he let them know about it in his post-match interview, 'king sh-t!' right there believe me. I was happy to know that Ismaila Sarr blanked as things remained tight despite me being at an obvious disadvantage. Crystal Palace drew 1-1 with Newcastle at Selhurst Park. My faith in Tyrick Mitchell was rewarded as his cross setup the opener for Christian Benteke. The Magpies were to equalise from a sublime overhead kick from Callum Wilson. Importantly Alain Saint-Maximin blanked for Dwayne. The late kick-off saw Manchester City win 4-1 away at Brighton. Alexis Mac Allister's penalty meant I avoided what would have been extra points for Dwayne with his City defender double. Cancelo got booked, so my outrageous idea to bench him would have worked, sometimes however crazy it seems you have to go with your gut. Law of averages as no team keeps a clean sheet every week, and City had the most shutouts before the gameweek started. But Cancelo can be a goal and assist threat, and he had a decent effort saved by Sanchez. Phil Foden was great again breaking more lines than the ones in his eyebrows. Saturday ended with me ahead 27-26, but with his bench boost Dwayne still held the advantage.
Sunday's three games all had massive implications on the head-to-head battle. At 2pm there were two games. There was the worst possible start for me in Brentford's home game with Leicester as Youri Tielemens scored the goal of the season thus far. Right-footed from well outside the box I applauded but a tear almost came to the eye, Dwayne's differential had struck. Also in the first half my differential Ivan Toney had a goal ruled out for a tight offside call and he had a header well saved by Kasper Schmeichel. Leicester went on to win 2-1 and I now have a decision to make on Toney. Toney is a great player, and I do not think he has had a bad game this season, but 2 goals and 2 assists in 9 games is not really doing it in FPL. The pluses are that he will always start and he takes penalties, but his value has dropped since I first had him. In the other game; West Ham edged Spurs out 1-0 at the London Stadium. The game was quite dull and had turned the channel to El Clasico, and as soon as I did Michail Antonio got the winner. Antonio is another man I was contemplating selling but he may have saved himself for a few weeks with that key goal. To add to my frustration, another of my differentials Heung-min Son missed a chance he normally gobbles up in the first half. I was looking at a defeat if Liverpool did the job at Old Trafford as it was 43-38 to Dwayne when you consider Tielemens would get 3 bonus points.
So to the last game as Manchester United faced my beloved Liverpool. I was really nervous as though Liverpool had been scoring for fun in all competitions, when they play United away they seem to go into a shell. Thankfully Sunday was not the day for that, as the Reds trounced their bitter rivals 5-0...yes 5! And 4 of them were in the first half, United went down to 10 men in the second half but Liverpool eased off from further embarrassing them just so Ole Gunnar Solskjaer could keep his job for just a bit longer, how nice of them. The Red Devils actually had the first real chance but Bruno Fernandes' shot was so poor it almost ended up in orbit like his penalty earlier in the season against Aston Villa. Literally straight after that Mo Salah who me and Dwayne both captained supplied Naby Keita for 1-0. I had previously said you could drive a bus through United's team, and you can add an aeroplane to that as soon after the Merseysiders made it 2-0. We all know Harry Maguire has the mobility of a bus, but he and Luke Shaw not for the first time got in each others way, the ball broke to Keita who fed Trent Alexander-Arnold and his ball was put in by Diogo Jota. Dwayne‘s man Trent fed my guy Jota, so I still needed more from Jota if I was to squeeze the win. Keita then assisted Salah for a close range finish for 3-0. Salah added 2 more, one just before and after half-time as Jurgen Klopp's men ran riot. Salah’s third was from a sumptuous ball from Jordan Henderson with the outside of his foot. The win filled me with more joy than you can believe, but despite Jota's double figure haul he got no bonus points. Alexander-Arnold outscored Andy Robertson and with Dwayne having Alisson too as pointed out I therefore lost.
If it means it works in Liverpool's favour then I can take head-to-head defeats like that on the chin really. I have now dropped to 8th place in the Justice League despite having more traditional points than everyone above me, bar the leader Muji who has 643 to my 606. In the traditional leagues I am now top of 5, 2nd in 2 and 3rd in 2 more.I have also jumped up to 212,855 in the world. So my two highest weekly scores this season have led to defeats, there really is a huge amount of luck in how the fixtures are computerised in a head-to-head league, but 103 points is my highest amount in quite awhile and the only man in the Justice League to get more than me this week was...Dwayne, "oh the irony!" I'll dust myself off and look to gameweek 10. FPL life is the life we chose...
@DubulDee
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