It was the last gameweek before the much maligned Winter World Cup. My poor season thus far needed this break from FPL dramatically, but I wanted to go out of the the first part of the campaign swinging. My gameweek 16 opposition was Dwayne, he had a solid team and was enjoying his best start so far to a season in the 'Justice League'. This matchup was going to be very interesting.
After the server discombobulating last week, by default I had two free transfers. I wanted to get Darwin Nunez in up front, but in terms of the budget I had, it was not really feasible unless I made three transfers. I wanted to get someone into my midfield who I thought was a major goal and assist threat, so as his ownership was so low I decided to get Dejan Kulusevski in. He did really well last season for me, but I had not had him in my team so far this time around. Following injury he was only owned by around 4%, so I believed as Tottenham were playing an attack-minded Leeds side that he could exploit them. Alexis MacAllister was the man I was selling, so this only left me with £5.9m to get a forward in. Fulham confirmed Alexsandar Mitrovic was out, so he was who I was letting go of. After scouring the options, I decided to go with Dominic Solanke. I wanted to have Patson Daka, but I did not know whether he would start for Leicester or if Jamie Vardy would start so I left it alone. Solanke's teammate Kiefer Moore was a differential I thought about, but I would have been really angry if he was not to start for Bournemouth. I wanted to have massive differentials to close the huge gap, but I was not brave enough to confirm a switch here. Solanke would definitely start so this was a safer option. When the deadline passed I saw that Dwayne made a transfer, which was to get Ben White in for Max Kilman, but he interestingly left White on the bench. The problem was as I had not checked his team before the deadline, I then gathered that we now had the same frontline of Harry Kane, Toney and Solanke, 'rage', maybe I should have gone ahead with Moore instead.
The action began at the Etihad Stadium early on Saturday. Everyone had expected a routine home win for Manchester City over Brentford to keep the pressure on Arsenal, Thomas Frank's men however had other ideas. Brentford started like a house on fire, taking the game to City like not many can, and they could have scored twice early on as Frank Onyeka and Ivan Toney were both denied. The Bees were then to actually take the lead. Ben Mee, who I still do not have in my team despite him being the inspiration behind my team name, did well to win a header with three Manchester City players around him, and Toney eventually headed in the opener. I had left my other Brentford men David Raya and Rico Henry on the bench due to the calibre of their opponents, but the other man I had starting produced the goods. I had waited patiently for a Phil Foden return and I finally got it, as he volleyed in Manuel Akanji's flick on with great aplomb. A top-draw strike to end the first half.
Brentford refused to lay down however, and it was almost 2-1 when Henry broke clear and looked for Toney, only for Aymeric Laporte to slide in to deny what would have been a certain goal. As it got later and later, the contest looked destined for a draw, and then the early stages in the title race took a dramatic twist. Pep Guardiola's men were caught on the break again, Yoane Wissa sprinted upfield, he found Josh Dasilva and he played it to Toney to win the game for Brentford in the 8th minute of injury time! Scenes! 'Scarface II' was in full effect, 'Toney' Montana Junior was shooting up the Etihad, bodies everywhere, 'look at the carnage, look at the human rubble!'. 'Push it to the limit Ivan!'. I never thought Brain De Palma would choose the Etihad Stadium as a location for part 2, but here we are. Toney nearly started for part 3, but Kevin De Bruyne of all people got back to clear off the line, as City were all at sea seeking another equaliser. I applauded, then remembered Arsenal could go 5 points clear later on, I was now conflicted! As well as this I was wondering why I did not put down a bet, as Brentford's odds were outlandish to win the game. Nonetheless a nice start to the weekend, as I thought Toney would score, but to get two, this would have been pure ecstasy if Dwayne did not have him too. Gareth Southgate made a mistake not taking Toney to the World Cup, and this was the perfect response from him.
In the 3pm games; Bournemouth piled more pressure onto Frank Lampard's Everton with a surprisingly straightforward 3-0 victory at the Vitality Stadium. Marcus Tavernier opened the scoring after more Jordan Pickford nonsense on a shot from Solanke. At a mere £4.9m Tavernier is a viable option after the World Cup. Tavernier was to make it consecutive weeks with a goal and an assist, as his header across goal was headed in by you guessed it, Moore, for 2-0 after some industrious work from Phillip Billing. Jaidon Anthony added a third after poor marking on a set piece. The Toffees' fans showed their disgust at the final whistle and threw the players' shirts back at them. I would throw an Everton shirt that came near me, so I cannot blame them really. It looks like the World Cup has come at just the right time for them as things look very sticky. Liverpool, survived a few scares to see off Southampton 3-1 at Anfield. Alisson (who was Dwayne's keeper), was again called into action more times than he should be. Darwin Nunez was at the double, both goals showing that he is growing in confidence and at 23, his ceiling could be getting higher. Nunez's brace came after Roberto Firmino flicked in Andy Robertson's free-kick for 1-0, but then Che Adams levelled after slack marking by Jurgen Klopp's men on a free-kick. Robertson assisted the second from Nunez so it was a good game for me despite the fact Mo Salah did not contribute. As Dwayne had him as captain too though, this was not as bad as it could have been. Salah had a low shot saved in the first half after good work by Nunez, but he should have had a penalty in the second half as he was pulled down, but nothing was given.
The cinema continued at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. After we had a gangster film at the Etihad, Tottenham and Leeds gave us a good old fashioned western shootout. Leeds took the lead three times, but Spurs just got the three points thanks to their newly found goal-machine Rodrigo Bentancur. The other Rodrigo, Moreno, gave Jesse Marsch's team the lead for the second time with a rasping left foot volley. Crysensio Summerville (£4.4m) had given Leeds the lead well beforehand, scoring for the 4th game in-a-row, then after some 'kabaddi' in the box, Kane levelled with a goal many thought would be chalked off. Ben Davies made it 2-2 before Rodrigo Moreno scored again with a classy low finish past Hugo Lloris, before Bentancur turned into John Wayne to seal a much needed three points for Antonio Conte. Spurs only turn up in second halves, so you were forgiven if you arrived late to the cinema. Kulusevski was brilliant throughout apparently, (as my D&D Footy Factory co-host D-Man was present at the game), and he got an assist as he setup Bentancur's second. A shame great performances do not always translate to bonus points. Leeds' 3 goals were welcomed as Dwayne had Eric Dier at the back.
Meanwhile, I was rewarded for putting Danny Ward in goal as he got his 6th clean sheet (which puts him joint-2nd) of the season as Leicester won 2-0 at West Ham. Ward is the 6th highest points scorer amongst keepers in FPL, and this is all after he had conceded 22 goals in his first 7 games, the most ever to start a Premier League season, now that is some turnaround. At £4.1m it is hard not to have in your team. The Foxes took the lead through James Maddison. Maddison's comprehensive finish into the roof of the net was his only real action as he then came off with a knee issue, thankfully he is okay for the World Cup. Things were going well for me for once, at half-time in the 3pm kick-offs I already had 44 points, when they ended I was already on a whopping 74, I still had one player left and this was already my highest score this season.
The 5.30pm match saw Newcastle play Chelsea. The Magpies went close on a couple of occasions before Joe Willock smashed the ball in for the winning goal, after good work by Miguel Almiron. Dwayne had the in-form Paraguayan in his team, so to get off with him only assisting seemed like a huge bit of fortune. So my last man Fabian Schar, returned taking me to 81 points as he got a bonus point too, however this was cancelled out by Dwayne's man Kieran Trippier who still returned a bonus point despite being booked. With no one playing for either of us on Sunday, this meant Dwayne needed 29 points between his Arsenal duo of William Saliba and Granit Xhaka in Saturdays's 7.45pm game at Molineux. The task was obviously insurmountable, Arsenal won 2-0 but his duo only returned 7 points for him as Martin Odegaard was at the double. I had won, 'yay! There is justice in the world!'.
Despite none of our players featuring on Sunday, I just had to point out that Alexis MacAllister scored after I sold him, as Brighton ended up losing 2-1 to Aston Villa. Typical! But nevertheless nothing was going to taint my triumph. In fact, with Haaland being the most captained player, as he blanked I moved up almost 1.5 million places overall in the world. Almiron was the most transferred-in player but he only got an assist and no bonus points, so this also contributed. Most importantly I am off the bottom of the table in the Justice League, so another small positive heading into the World Cup. 81 was easily the highest score in the head-to-head league this week. The next highest incidentally was the 60 my opponent got, as a plethora of FPL managers failed to get to 60 points. So I am out, FPL returns just before the end of the year. Hope you enjoy the World Cup and you have a blessed Christmas too people!
@DubulDee
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