Gameweek 28 pitted me against one of my closest friends Rian (Milito). We usually have a quick FPL talk ahead of every gameweek, but this time there was no such thing happening, this week it was war!
I usually by this time of an FPL season would have ran through all my bonus chips or only had one left maybe, but this time around I still had all my chips in place bar my 'triple captain' chip. It was a 'blank' gameweek with only seven matches rather than the usual ten taking place because of the Quarter-Finals of the FA Cup. With there being a combined six players from Liverpool and Brighton in my team, as well as the likes of Riyad Mahrez and Emerson Palmieri who did not have games either, I used my 'free hit' bonus chip. Using a free hit is always fun as you take a punt on some players who you may not usually look to, or players who you have wanted but could not quite squeeze in. Rian resisted from using his free hit and he made two transfers as he sold Erling Haaland with Manchester City not in action and Solly March to get in Kai Havertz and James Maddison. As he only had one free transfer it was nice for once to not be playing catch-up. He decided to captain Gabriel Martinelli.
The action started on Friday night as Newcastle travelled to Nottingham Forest. I had not owned the very popular Kieran Trippier thus far so I thought that I would get him in for this week. Early on however there was an error by the dependable Sven Botman and Emmanuel Dennis' lovely chipped finish put Steve Cooper's men ahead. The Magpies had been keeping clean sheets with ease for the majority of the season, and having Fabian Schar had meant I had benefitted a lot of the time. Trippier, however with his chance creation and tackles won had nearly always got in amongst the bonus points so trust him not to the week that I had him in. And this was all despite Eddie Howe's men coming back to win the contest 2-1 through a brace by Alexander Isak. My opponent had Trippier too so it could have been worse but it would have been a nice start. Trippier teased his owners as he stood over the injury time penalty that won Newcastle the game, before Isak eventually cooly stepped up to slot it home.
Saturday saw Aston Villa comprehensively put Bournemouth away 3-0 as I expected. This showed that I should have gone with Villa treble in the team after all. Ollie Watkins and Emiliano Buendia were in my side and they both returned. Watkins supplied Jacob Ramsey for the Villans second goal and Buendia scored the third a minute from time with a close range header. Brentford and Leicester could not be separated at the Gtech Community Stadium as it ended 1-1. Matias Jensen (£4.8m) who I had been keeping tabs gave the Bees the lead with his fourth home goal in five games. Rian and I both had David Raya and Ivan Toney but neither of them delivered. James Maddison (another man we both had) produced a lovely through ball which was finished off by Harvey Barnes (£6.7m) for his 9th league goal of the season. Barnes surprisingly is only owned by 2% despite his goal tally. With my opposition having Ben Mee in his defence too the Maddison goal was crucial.
Southampton and Tottenham played out a thriller at St. Mary's. The opening goal showed why I cannot have players from teams I despise in my side. Pedro Porro, Spurs' January signing had a difficult start to Premier League life but after being very impressed with his performance in a defeat at Wolves, he was one of the first names I put in my free hit side. Porro smashed in the opener in first half injury time and I pumped my fist like Liverpool were playing. It took me a few seconds to regain my composure as the goal was assisted by Heung-min Son who was my captain this week. Son has been savagely underwhelming this season but I thought it would be good for a punt for a week for a differential. Che Adams levelled before Harry Kane headed Antonio Conte's men back in front. Ivan Perisic made it 3-1 before a late Tottenham collapse saw the Saints salvage a point. Theo Walcott rolled back the years with a tidy close range finish and then a debatable penalty was clinically dispatched by James Ward-Prowse.
Wolves hosted Leeds and I thought that Julen Lopetegui's men would make a statement as they had been much improved since he took over. But all that we witnessed was Leeds running riot. Like a fool I took Villa's Marty Cash out of my team to put in Craig Dawson at the 11th hour only for Leeds to come and pump Wolves 4-2. Wolves conceding early was bad enough but I sold Wilfried Gnonto for Watkins with the free hit and he supplied the first goal for Jack Harrison. Javi Gracia's men went 3-0 up before Wolves pulled two goals back but Jonny Otto who scored Wolves' first was sent off. The deal was sealed with a goal from Rodrigo Moreno, I heard he was fit again as he was in my side when he got injured, but I was not sure he would feature, so after having him in the free hit team, I replaced him with Maddison. Rodrigo's goal was assisted by Crysensio Summerville who I of course sold. Saturday had been bittersweet to say the least and there was still a game left. That remaining game was the late kick off at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea and Everton drew 2-2. Rian had two Chelsea men in Ben Chilwell and Kai Havertz, so Everton scoring was extremely helpful. Havertz, however, netted the Blues' second goal from the penalty spot to aid my opponent. The Toffees' equaliser left me with egg on my face as Aboulaye Doucoure headed in from a flick-on by James Tarkowski. Tarkowski who had not produced in the first few games I had him for, then when he returned eight points he was on my damn bench and now this the following week, would have been much more useful than the big fat zero I got from Dawson, 'FPL life' eh. So Saturday concluded with me ahead 46-23, but he had a trio of Arsenal players to play and I only had Wilfried Zaha.
So to the decisive game at the Emirates. The head-to-head was almost sealed early on as Zaha raced through but Aaron Ramsdale made a great low save pushing his shot onto the post, the ball then actually almost ricocheted back into the goal off of Ramsdale's head, 'dammit!'. Arsenal took the lead through Martinelli and I was now in danger, especially if they kept a clean sheet too. Bukayo Saka setup the opener and then scored himself, and I was thanking my lucky stars Rian had Martin Odegaard rather than him. The Gunners went 3-0 up and I was heading for a narrow defeat but then Palace helped me out. In their first game without Patrick Vieira at the helm, Jeff Schlupp scored a scruffy consolation goal, 'woohoo'. This took no less than seven points from Rian with them not getting a clean sheet; four from Oleksandr Zinchenko, two from Martinelli as captain and one from Odegaard. Mikel Arteta's men added a fourth but as none of my opponents players featured in the goal I went on to victory.
So it was to be a hard fought win. Despite not clearing 50 points with six of my XI returning and one of them being my captain the use of the free hit has to be seen as a successful one. Now it is time for a much needed FPL break with the internationals returning. Man..free hits are fun aren't they!
@DubulDee
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