I was trying to extend my five-game unbeaten run but my opposition this week in the 'Justice League' was Ravi. Over the years wherever Ravi was in the table he always seemed to get the better of me, so my head was doing overtime.
Usually I wait at least until the last 12 hours before the deadline to make my changes, but after my winning run was halted I reacted swiftly, partially out of anger. Manchester City and Arsenal had a double gameweek so I sold Mo Salah and brought in Kevin De Bruyne as soon as gameweek 22 ended. The Belgian for whatever reason rarely produces when I have him in my team but I was hoping this would be different. Usually it is a choice of him or Salah due to them being premiums and I predominantly go with the man from the team I support. I had a feeling as Ravi owned Salah too that he would bring in De Bruyne and that was exactly to be the case I realised when the deadline passed.
Ravi, of course elected to captain Erling Haaland, but he did not just captain him, he used his 'triple captain' bonus chip, 'damn homie!'. I had strongly considered doing that myself, but decided to captain De Bruyne instead, and held on to my triple captain chip. With me expecting many to use their triple captain this week if they had had not already I figured it was best to hold on to it to see what advantage it could possibly give me down the line. To be precise 354,503 FPL managers triple captained Haaland. This was only topped this campaign by Haaland owners in gameweek 20 (450,812) and the most by Marcus Rashford owners last gameweek (557,362). This matchup was going to be really competitive, if I could somehow avoid defeat against a triple captain then I would be very pleased, but this was a mammoth ask. At least I had Haaland however, imagine coming up against a triple captain you did not have at all.
The weeks action started at the London Stadium as West Ham hosted Chelsea. I was on my way back home after doing our Saturday morning radio show when I heard Chelsea had taken the lead. An annoying start as I had Emerson in my defence. Two of Chelsea's plethora of new acquisitions combined for the goal, Joao Felix (£8m) found the net from a good ball in by Enzo Fernandez (£5m). Both could be really good fantasy players, but the latter could really be great value given what he offers box-to-box. The Hammers levelled and as I still was not watching yet I checked to see who was the scorer and was shocked to see it was Emerson. I pumped my fist on the train like my Mum had just made some Jollof Rice. It was not the prettiest goal, but for a defender it was well taken. He did not celebrate as it was against his old club. Chelsea were denied a late penalty and I was thankful as if they scored a second then Emerson would not have been able to get the maximum bonus points. I did mention in gameweek 21 that Emerson could be a good FPL asset at £4m and with Aaron Cresswell currently not in favour it is proving to be the case. That may change a bit with the Europa Conference League returning imminently but I will enjoy it while it lasts. I almost started Hugo Bueno instead of him so was glad I went with my gut and made the change at the 11th hour.
The 3pm's saw Arsenal at home to Brentford. The Bees started well and Rico Henry put a great cross by Ivan Toney wide. Toney then hit the bar and I breathed a sigh of relief as Ravi had him. Leandro Trossard gave the Gunners the lead, so there was no clean sheet for David Raya, 'damn'. Thomas Frank's men were not to come away empty handed however as Toney equalised somewhat controversially. It was a Kabaddi-type goal that Sean Dyche back when he was at Burnley would have been proud of. Lee Mason was VAR and he forgot to draw the lines to see if Toney was offside. Mr Mason from me and everyone who does not support Arsenal...we thank you expeditiously! in the battle of the birds at Selhurst Park; Crystal Palace and Brighton drew. The in-form Kaoru Mitoma missed a great chance as Vicente Guaita pushed away his effort in the first half. The Seagulls scored through Solly March (£5.1m) who as I previously said has turned into a different man since Graham Potter left. Watch Soloman ironically not score in March after his great recent run. James Tomkins (£3.9m) of all people salvaged a point for the Eagles. Robert Sanchez looked like he had received a brown envelope before the game as his suspect goalkeeping gifted a goal to another enabling defender this gameweek.
Fulham continued their impressive season as they won 2-0 at home to Nottingham Forest. I have Keylor Navas to thank that Ravi's man Alexsandar Mitrovic did not contribute here as he saved from him in the first half. Willian has been really good since arriving at Craven Cottage and he gave them the lead. The second goal had Andreas Pereira lay the ball on for Manor Solomon to bag his first Fulham goal as the Sol's continued to 'Glo' this gameweek, just 'let it shine through' guys. With Leicester's defending being irrational to say the least, I expected big things from Harry Kane, only for Tottenham to get slapped from pillar to post. Rodrigo Bentancur who is now sadly out for the season actually gave Spurs the lead. But Nampalys Mendy (£4.3m) who never scores, smashed in a spectacular volley before the Foxes went on to win 4-1. James Maddison made me pay for not yet figuring a way to get him back into my team as he scored again and there was another goal and assist for Kelechi Iheanacho (£6.1m). In the late game Newcastle conceded a rare goal to Bournemouth. No clean sheet then for Fabian Schar who I had or Kieran Trippier who Ravi owned. Miguel Almiron whose value is ever declining ended his goal drought to get the Magpies a point. Almiron was only in my team still by default as Leeds' Rodrigo Moreno got injured so I was relieved. The Paraguayan was the last man on Ravi's bench so he was fuming. Saturday concluded with me ahead 32-20.
Sunday opened with Manchester United's trip to Leeds. Wilfried Gnonto was lively, but it was Crysensio Summerville who looked most likely to score for the home side. Just when the game looked like it could end goalless up stepped 'Meek Meals'. Marcus Rashford scored yet again with a well timed header from a Luke Shaw cross and Ravi owned both players as the head-to-head...was turned on its head. Erik ten Hag's men went on to get a slightly flattering 2-0 victory and I was now very doubtful about my chances as the triple captain had not even played yet. So to the Etihad we go. Manchester City took an early lead against Aston Villa through Rodri. The corner was taken by Riyad Mahrez so it was a good start. Haaland setup the second goal for Ilkay Gundogan after making a smart run to get to a De Bruyne pass. City were to then have a penalty after some great simulation by Jack Grealish earned it. Everyone of the 350-odd-thousand who triple captained Haaland thought he would obviously take the penalty. However after a prolonged debate it was taken and scored by Mahrez, 'woohoo!'. I have no idea why he was given the responsibility but nonetheless I was pleased. Haaland came off at half-time after a clash with Emiliano Martinez and I thought the FPL gods were blessing me. But it was to be bittersweet as there were to be no further goals for City as De Bruyne blanked. Villa pulled one back which was great for me however as it meant no clean sheet for Ravi's keeper Ederson. Sunday finished with Ravi ahead 56-54, what a turnaround despite him only getting 45 minutes and an assist from Haaland. That is how vital the triple captain is.
Monday gave us the Merseyside Derby. Some thought Everton could cause a surprise after their win over Arsenal but the home side had other ideas. After James Tarkowski hit the post from a corner, Liverpool broke faster than lightning. Darwin Nunez found Salah and the Egyptian hit the back of the net as it looked like Jordan Pickford had left the stadium. Pickford tried to telegraph the ball in and was so wide of his goal it looked like he had been photoshopped. Trust Salah to score when I sold him, typical FPL life scenario that. In the second half, early on, the Reds broke on Everton again after Andy Robertson won the ball from Alex Iwobi. Robertson found Salah, he played it over to Trent Alexander-Arnold and his ball took a slight deflection before Cody Gakpo easily tapped in his first Liverpool goal. Things were looking good but then Robertson unnecessarily kicked the ball after the whistle had gone and Everton were enraged. A mêlée broke out and Robertson was booked which lost me a crucial point as it stayed 2-0. That deducted point also took Robertson out of the bonus points, but I was still more than content with the clean sheet considering how bad Jurgen Klopp's men had been at the back. I now led 59-54.
So it was all up to the last game at the Emirates Stadium. In an early title battle Arsenal and Manchester City locked horns. I somehow needed Ben White, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Martinelli to all blank. As well as this I needed De Bruyne to outperform Haaland and Mahrez to deliver once again. Things looked to have got off to a decent start when White was not included in Arsenal's starting XI. Eddie Nketiah missed a great chance, then not even two minutes later he was ruing his miss even more. Haaland beat William Saliba in the air, and Takehiro Tomiyasu fulfilled a dream of playing for Pep Guardiola as his poor back pass was expertly put in by De Bruyne. Despite Aaron Ramsdale being well off his line it was a hell of a finish by him on his 'weaker' foot. Remember back when David Silva was at the club, all De Bruyne wanted to do was be able to talk in that infamous Champions League against Napoli in 2017. He has 'talked' on numerous occasions since then and after some silence with only one return in his previous three outings he was talking once again. Ederson was then cautioned for time-wasting losing a point for Ravi which was again good news. Then some thought the Brazilian keeper should have been sent off as he collided with Nketiah and conceded a penalty. Bukayo Saka then showed great composure to level the proceedings up from the spot. In the second half; Ramsdale thwarted Haaland or it may have been curtains for me. Jack Grealish put City 2-1 up, then 1o minutes after that, Gundogan tore forward and found De Bruyne, who setup Haaland for 3-1 to Pep Guardiola's side. It was bittersweet as the De Bruyne assist was essential for me, but the Haaland goal meant things were more or less level depending on how the bonus points went. As it stood De Bruyne would get the maximum points but if Haaland got a bonus point I was in trouble. Then to compound my fears straight after the Haaland goal, De Bruyne came off and White came on for Arsenal, 'nooo!'. Ravi gained a crucial point while De Bruyne could not do any more damage. Arsenal fans lobbed objects at De Bruyne when he left the pitch and he did not even flinch, even his body language was 'talking' excessively! He felt invincible, no pun intended. He even pushed Mikel Arteta when he tried to keep the ball from him when he wanted to take a throw-in, De Bruyne was in beast mode.
After the game I anxiously waited for the bonus points. Luckily De Bruyne was clear for the maximum return, but as Saka and Grealish were level in 2nd this meant no bonus point for Haaland, 'phew!'. So it somehow finished in a draw 93-93 when I thought I was going to lose by two points. It was a great decision to let De Bruyne 'talk' as my captain as he outscored Haaland. It was ironic someone called Kevin massively contributed to Arsenal's losing their first home league game as now Newcastle are 'alone' as the only unbeaten 'home' team in the Premier League. Surviving a triple captain felt like a win despite the table clearly will not reflect that. So consecutive draws for me as I am now six games unbeaten and I improved my world rank as I slowly try to improve what has been an underwhelming campaign by the standards I have previously set.
@DubulDee
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