Dwayne was my opposition this week in the Justice League. He had been in the head-to-head league since it began and from what I could remember it was pretty much equal in terms of wins when.we clashed. This season we were both lower than we would like to be in the table so a win would gather much needed pride.
Now usually after using a 'Wildcard' I never look to make any transfers but I allowed myself to got lured in as I saw that Dwayne had already used all of his bonus chips. Jurgen Klopp had said in this press conference that Diogo Jota was still feeling pain his back, so I sold Jota and got in the in-form Callum Wilson, with the fact that after this week Newcastle had a double gameweek. As I believed that Liverpool had winnable games left I did not want to not have three Liverpool men, so I got Cody Gakpo back in for Jarrod Bowen in midfield, meaning another week I was taking a hit in. When the deadline passed I saw that Dwayne's only transfer was to sell Gabriel Martinelli for his teammate Martin Odegaard. We both captained Mo Salah.
There was no early kickoff so the action started at 3pm on Saturday. Bournemouth hosted Chelsea at the Vitality Stadium. As Dominic Solanke has been sitting on my bench and accumulating points I started him as Chelsea had been woeful, so trust the Blues to produce a result. Solanke blanked as it ended 3-1. Joao Felix scored the pick of Chelsea's goals and Matias Vina (4.5m) got a very good consolation for the Cherries, that was his second goal for them and he could be a good differential to end the campaign. With the Coronation of King Charles in the morning we were treated to a live 3pm Saturday match and that was a game that affected both ends of the table as Manchester City entertained Leeds. Last week I had Erling Haaland as a differential and this week it happened again. Haaland, however was not at the races and missed a plethora of chances to let Dwayne off the hook. Luckily for the Norwegian, Ilkay Gundogan was clinical early on and he bagged a brace and both goals were assisted by Riyad Mahrez which was meant points for me. Pep Guardiola's men were awarded a penalty in the second half and despite their managers plea for Haaland to take the spot kick, he allowed Gundogan the chance to get his hat-trick only for the German to hit the post. Leeds pulled a goal back through Rodrigo Moreno and what should have been a straightforward victory ended with City time-wasting to get over the line. With John Stones on the bench this game was nowhere near as fruitful as I expected.
At the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, I was shown that always targeting double gameweeks can backfire. Two men I sold with my wildcard last week in Harry Kane and Pedro Porro combined for Spurs' winning goal. Dwayne had Kane and I was in the mud as he scored with a header. He also had Eberechi Eze so at least there was nothing from him. The last 3pm contest was at Molineux. Wolves edged out Aston Villa 1-0 through a goal by Toti. Dwayne and I both had Tyrone Mings and he could have levelled things up in the second half. Ollie Watkins was also in my opponents' team and he blanked for the fourth game running. In the late game at Anfield, Liverpool kept their late charge for Champions League football alive with a 1-0 triumph over Brentford. After all my reshuffling to my annoyance Jota started the game, so I could have stuck to my original plan to only transfer Bowen out and get James Maddison back in once again which would have meant no points-hit. Salah got the goal, but Gakpo could have scored twice to vindicate bringing him back in, the irony was the first chance came from a ball fired across goal by Jota. My opposition had Trent Alexander-Arnold and Alisson so despite being happy Liverpool kept a clean sheet this killed me in the head-to-head. Dwayne led 44-40 at Saturdays end.
On Sunday, Arsenal survived an early bombardment to win 2-0 at Newcastle, in what could prove to be their most vital three points in the run-in. The man Dwayne got in, Odegaard, scored the opening goal with a well placed strike long range that Nick Pope saw late. Nick Pope did well to deny Odegaard a second at the end of the first half. A second half own goal by Fabian Schar wrapped things up, as an inspired display by Aaron Ramsdale secured the Gunners' clean sheet. Another Arsenal man Dwayne had was Bukayo Saka who had a rare blank as well as this he had Dan Burn who was booked. West Ham beat Manchester United 1-0 in the second game and Emerson was only a substitute so he only got me a point as he came off my bench as Stones did not feature.
I thought Tuesday would be the day I claw back the lead with my Brighton assets only for them to be thrashed 5-1 at home by Everton. Dwight McNeil ran riot with two goals and two assists, one of the assists being a fantasy one as his cross went in off of Jason Steele, meaning along with conceding five goals he ended up on -2, I was devastated! Kaoru Mitoma had an effort that came back off the post and the rebound ricocheted in off of Alexis Mac Allister. See how just one decision can be so costly, I decided to go for Solly March last week over Mac Allister and in that time the latter has scored twice and March has delivered absolutely nothing, well it is May now so I should have known really. March was only a substitute, he came on and then got injured, I wish him a speedy recovery but after all that I am going to have to sell him on now, Dwayne actually owned March too.
So with that collapse at the Amex Stadium I was beaten 58-46, I would have been better off not taking the hit but that is easy to say in hindsight. Not many people flourished in this strange week so overall in the world I went up over 90,00 places despite staying in the same place in the Justice League. My message to any FPL manager is do not break your rules!
@DubulDee
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