My long-time friend Jacques was my opposition in gameweek 25. He had been running riot this season and was top of the 'Justice League'. Ironically I beat him in our first encounter this season but a lot had happened since then.
It was a double gameweek for four teams and I had the intention of having three Liverpool men in my side. Being an Arsenal fan Jacques already had three Gunners players in his team. I was fighting with the idea of bringing in an Everton player as they had a double and I left my decision extremely late. I decided to use my 'triple captain' bonus chip this week on Mo Salah. Jacques captained Bukayo Saka.
As I only had one free transfer I reluctantly made three transfers in the end meaning an 8-point hit. James Maddison picked up yet another knock, so after taking a hit last week to get him in, I had to sell him and got in Cody Gakpo. Kevin De Bruyne was sold for Mo Salah as he was the only premium midfielder I had so for the budget it had to be him that went out. The last transfer was the one I was most unsure about. James Tarkowski had been such a threat at set pieces I let go of his injured teammate Nathan Patterson to get him. The issue here was that they played Arsenal in their second game and I expected them to lose, so if they did not keep a clean sheet at home to Aston Villa I was screwed. I had thought Jacques would take a hit too as he did not have a full team but he surprised me and only made one transfer selling Sven Botman for Tim Ream. With his anaemic team this week I also thought he would use his last available bonus chip which was the triple captain that I used, but when I spoke to him after the deadline he said he kept it because he knew no one else in his mini leagues would have theirs. Again I had overthought things. My panic about having a full team meant I was now even further behind to the league leader than I needed to be before a ball had been kicked.
The action began last Friday as Fulham hosted Wolves. Julen Lopetegui's men took the lead in the first half through Pablo Sarabia which was helpful as it meant no clean sheet for Ream. Fulham levelled in the second half through their in-form super sub Manor Solomon as it finished 1-1.
Saturday had no early game, so to the 3pm's we go. Everton did Everton things when I needed them most. Unless they pulled a miracle against Arsenal bringing Tarkowski in failed as they were beaten 2-0 at home by Aston Villa. It could have been worse if it not for Jordan Pickford's heroics. Leeds beat Southampton 1-0 at Elland Road. The only goal came from the unlikely source of left back Junior Firpo. A blank from Wilfried Gnonto then, and on top of that Cryrensio Summerville somehow put the ball wide after coming on as a substitute to complete a dismal game for me.
Arsenal kept the ball rolling as they won 1-0 at Leicester. The Foxes never turned up as Arsenal's goal came from Gabriel Martinelli who was one of the three Arsenal midfielders Jacques owned. Another of my players was not to start as Emerson Palmieri was only on the bench as West Ham crushed Nottingham Forest 4-0. This meant I was to get Hugo Bueno's points off of my bench so I could have done with Wolves not conceding. Things were not looking good at all. In the 5.30pm game I was to be left disappointed yet again. Pep Guardiola left Riyad Mahrez on the bench as Manchester City won 4-1 away at Bournemouth. Jacques had Kevin De Bruyne and he was not in the squad but the way Saturday had gone so well in his favour thus far it did not matter. Haaland scored and assisted to aid us both. Jacques also got clean sheet points from Nathan Ake as he was subbed before City conceded, literally nothing was going my way.
The final Saturday game was Liverpool's trip to Crystal Palace. In a rather average game both teams hit the woodwork. Jean-Phillippe Mateta hit the bar for Palace in the first half, and then to my dismay Salah hit the bar in the second half. FPL really is a game of fine margins. Salah also would have got an assist as he rolled the ball to Trent-Alexander Arnold on a set piece but Alexander-Arnold's goalbound shot hit his teammate Jordan Henderson. It really was not my day. On Sunday; finally one of my differentials in the head-to-head did something in terms of goalscoring, as Harry Kane scored the second goal as Tottenham poured more misery on Chelsea. I was already en route to a crushing defeat and the midweek games were still to be played.
Wednesday saw Arsenal have a straightforward 4-0 home win over Everton as I expected. Arsenal winning was bad enough but the repercussions of this were brutal. All three of Jacques' Arsenal players scored in Saka, Martinelli & Odegaard. On top of this Saka assisted too. I had been battered by a team of seven men with no goalkeeper, 'lord...give me strength!'. All I could answer with was a Mo Salah goal. This was nowhere near enough as Andy Robertson and Cody Gakpo did not start the 2-0 victory over Wolves at Anfield.
So a crushing 28-point defeat as Jacques accumulated an amazing 86 with just seven players active. Can we just null and void the season please! I can't take this.
@DubulDee
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