FPL Gameweek 8 was finally here. After the death of Queen Elizabeth there was no action in gameweek 7 and it had seemed like an eternity since we had seen Premier League football. My opponent was my long-time friend Delvin and he had started the season really well.
The FPL admins had tried to help out as much as possible with the issues caused with there being no action in the last gameweek. All used bonus chips in gameweek 7 had been reinstated, and if you had not made any transfers before the matches were called off then you had two free transfers this week. There were three games called off this gameweek which meant a blank gameweek. I looked at my team and realised that unlike some people I had still had 12 men that were playing but two of them were keepers. All my five defenders were in action, but I did not wish to line up with five at the back so I made one change. With Liverpool's trip to Chelsea postponed, I sold Mo Salah and I decided very early on to bring in Kevin De Bruyne. However De Bruyne's ownership was quite high and with my very average start to the campaign I thought I needed to try something different.
You cannot claw back points on people if you have the same players as them, so I decided to bring in Heung-min Son. Son has been a mainstay in my side in previous seasons, but after he shared the Golden Boot with Salah last season his price skyrocketed to £12m so I had not picked him. As he was scoreless going until the gameweek his value had dropped to £11.7m and with the pathetic manner Leicester had defended thus far I thought I would get him in. I even seriously considered captaining him too, but as usual after you make a transfer the worst case scenarios start to clog your mind. As Son had not been in-form I thought if he gets left on the bench then maybe captaining him would not make sense, I was all over the place and left the captaincy with his teammate Harry Kane. When the deadline passed I saw Delvin deployed his 'Free Hit' bonus chip despite having enough men to not have to use it. I was annoyed as he selected James Maddison in an attempt to neutralise me. Maddison had been a differential for me literally all season, and with his ownership dropping his value had decreased to £7.9m, so I was not expecting anyone to get him in.
The action started on Friday night with two games that both affected our matchup. Aston Villa hosted Southampton and I needed the Saints to score as Delvin had Emiliano Martinez in goal. However in an underwhelming encounter Steven Gerrard's men edged to a 1-0 win thanks to a Jacob Ramsey goal. No favours from Southampton then meant Delvin was already in a good position. In the other match; Nottingham Forest took the lead at home to Fulham, but then fell to a 3-2 defeat. Amazingly none of the three Fulham goals featured Alexsandar Mitrovic, we both had Fulham's Andreas Pereira who only got booked, but another player I needed points from blanked too in Forest's Neco Williams. Friday ended with my opponent ahead 6-4. Three of my players had played and only two of his had.
Saturday began with Manchester City cruising to a 3-0 victory at Wolves. This match was fruitful for Delvin as the clean sheet saw Joao Cancelo also pick up maximum bonus points. Cancelo is a bonus points magnet and I was suffering not having him this season after he was a regular for me last campaign. Bernardo Silva assisted the second goal for Erling Haaland who was of course my opponents captain. I got half of the Haaland points but things were really looking awkward for me despite there being four games left. De Bruyne assisted twice and I was thinking I may have made a mistake in choosing Son over him as I would have given the Belgian the captaincy. In the 3pm kick off; Newcastle drew 1-1 with Bournemouth. Bournemouth took the lead, so as I had Fabian Schar and Delvin had Kieran Trippier, I needed Schar to outdo him and help the Geordies comeback. It was to be Trippier unfortunately whose ball in won the penalty that the equaliser came from, 'damn!', a crucial fantasy assist as everything was working for Delv.
I needed a miracle to keep me in this as I trailed 39-12 before the late kick off. I was extra nervous as I was not indoors to use my telekinetic powers while watching the game to make Son and Kane score. Whilst at a 60th birthday party I found out after the contest had started that Son was only on the bench. I was in a rage but could not show it, to be honest he deserved to dropped but Mr. Conte this was not a good time! Leicester took the lead, but almost immediately my captain Kane levelled, 'yay'. Spurs went 2-1 up before Maddison scored a sumptuous half volley to level things up again. The second half was to be an outrageous one. As soon as it kicked off Leicester made an error and it was 3-2. We were sick of hearing talk of so many goals going in, so my friend Michael put the game on his phone as we ate dinner. Son was introduced in the 59th minute and what took place even I was not expecting. Son scored not once, not twice but three times off the bench! I told the FPL group that you must now refer to him as "Heung-min Father", "all these bitches is my sons!", Nicki Minaj told you back in 2010 and Heung-min Son has let you know this repeatedly since I started the Fantasy Football Files! You see now why I had to get another keeper in my team, poor Danny Ward has more chance of being ill with Cholera than keeping a clean sheet right now. Son's first two strikes were from outside the box, one on each foot, the second was assisted by Kane, before he squeezed the third in at the near post. It was bittersweet for me as I knew now the crazy thought of captaining him was the right one. You just have to trust your gut however mad it may seem. I now somehow was in the lead 58-46 when Saturday drew to a close.
Sunday kicked off with Brentford and Arsenal. I was not sure that the Bees could keep a clean sheet, so I went against my original idea of doubling up at the back so I left Rico Henry on the bench. It was lucky in the end I did as William Saliba much to my annoyance gave Arsenal an early lead, Delvin was right back in it. I desperately needed a goal from Brentford but it did not come as the Gunners won 3-0. To add insult to injury Gabriel Jesus headed the second in, my lead had vanished as Saliba grabbed maximum bonus points, and Jesus got a solitary bonus point despite getting booked. Only one match remained and in a matchup that was swinging like a metronome I was now behind again by 10 points 70-60. Everton were at home to West Ham to round things off and I needed a masterclass from Nathan Paterson as my other player Emerson was only on West Ham's bench. The Toffees defended well and held out for a narrow 1-0 triumph. Paterson had been on course for a bonus point but fell out of the bonus points system late on.
So despite a marvellous performance by Son I was still defeated by five points, I am not sure you know how discouraged I actually am, this one really hurt me. It is probably better that there is an international break now as I need to clear my head. If I had captained Son I would have prevailed. If Saliba did not score I would have triumphed. But this is the FPL life we chose so you have to just accept it. Credit to Delvin however for getting Maddison in to neutralise me. A shoutout to Jermaine aka the Front Room Gooner who got the highest score in the Justice League this week with a whooping 81.
@DubulDee
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