My gameweek 20 opponent was my cousin Clement. He was enjoying his best season in the 'Justice League' so far and his risqué squad selections had been working a treat for him. He was currently only two points behind me, so this was another 'six-pointer' after just beating Stel. Trying to maintain your position in a head-to-head league was a full-time job I tell you. He defeated me in gameweek 1, so I was out for revenge.
I was strongly considering getting someone in for a one-week punt before some of my side left for AFCON and the Asia Cup as I had enough of waiting for a Moussa Diaby haul, so he was the midfielder that I was willing to sell. I looked again at getting Michael Olise or Phil Foden in, I even looked at Richarlison. In the end, I went with getting Heung-Min Son. It was just going to be for one week as he was going off for international duty, but he excels in home games, and they had Bournemouth this week. I made the decision after closely studying Clement's squad. Unless he used his 'wildcard' as this was his last chance to use his first one, as the calendar year was ending. This allowed me to have yet another differential to him, as our squads were very different and that has rarely happened in my head-to-head games this season. My opponent's only change was to sell Cody Gakpo and get in Alejo Veliz, a huge risk as he comes off the bench, but saying that, Gakpo had not been regularly starting either recently. I captained Mo Salah whilst Clement captained Dominic Solanke. This was an interesting decision as he was a Tottenham fan, but with Solanke in such good form he probably thought he could succeed against Spurs' high line.
The action began back on Saturday (30th December), and things did not start well for my opposition in the early kick-off. He had Raheem Sterling in his side, and he did not start in Chelsea's trip to Luton. The England international was an unused substitute as the Blues emerged 3-2, thanks to another great performance by Cole Palmer. If I ever decided to bypass my dislike for Chelsea, then he would be the first man in my team. This left Clement with only ten men now has his bench was ridden with injured players.
In the 3pm games, Aston Villa just edged past Burnley, 3-2. It took an 89th minute penalty from Douglas Luiz to win it, despite Burnley having Sander Berge sent off when Unai Emery's men were 2-1 up. Ollie Watkins got my gameweek off the mark as he assisted the opener for Leon Bailey (£5.7m), who has become a FPL secret weapon. Zeki Amdouni (£5.3m), another player I have recently mentioned levelled the game up. Then in true FPL fashion, the man I sold Diaby put Villa ahead. The only good thing here was that there was another assist for Watkins. Lyle Foster (£4.8m), who we are glad to see back in action after some personal issues, put Burnley level, before the late spot-kick won it. Foster could be a good third forward option for your team as he now has seven contributions this season despite missing time. He does have a foot issue, so gameweek 21 may be too soon for him, however. Clement owned Ezri Konsa, who on top of Villa conceding two goals, was booked so he did not get any points. Meanwhile at Selhurst Park, Olise, showed I should have got him in as he bagged a brace in Crystal Palace's 3-1 victory over Brentford.
Another player I overlooked continued their good form. Foden assisted twice as Manchester City beat Sheffield United 2-0. Rodri, showed immense composure to net the first and the second thankfully for me was scored by Julian Alvarez. The clean sheet brought Clement much needed points as he had Kyle Walker in his defence. Alvarez almost had a second goal when he charged down Wes Foderingham and the ball just went over the bar. Wolves disposed of Everton 3-0 at Molineux. Hee-Chan Hwang's parting gift to my team was to provide the second goal for Matheus Cunha. Shortly after, Hwang hit the post. Pedro Neto (£5.6m), came off the bench for Gary O'Neil's men and I will be keeping a close eye on him with my midfield due to look in a terrible state due to the upcoming tournaments.
As neither of us had anyone in Nottingham Forest's win over Manchester United, we head to New Year's Eve. Tottenham won 3-1 in their game with Bournemouth, but it was nowhere near as clear cut as the scoreline would suggest. I had to hide behind my sofa on numerous occasions as Solanke was a constant threat. He struck the bar in the first half as well as mistiming a header. On top of that he was prevented twice from going through one-on-one with Guglielmo Vicario by the recovery pace of Destiny Udogie. Son scored Spurs' second as they hit the Cherries on the break meaning the transfer did have a pay-off. Richarlison tucked away the third, meaning I could have got in anyone that I looked at and it would have worked. Veliz came off injured after coming off the bench, and it looks like bad damage to his knee as he was in tears. Clement and I both had Perdo Porro, but this was a rare recent gameweek when he did not return. My lead was widening, so unless Newcastle pulled off a first win at Anfield in the league since the 90's then my cousin had no chance. Saying that, Alisson was his goalkeeper so he was a little conflicted
So, on New Year's Day, Newcastle made their trip to Liverpool. My captain Salah began in the worst possible way as he missed a penalty, and Trent Alexander-Arnold somehow put the rebound over. Salah redeemed himself as he easily slotted in the opener in the second half after a good team move. The Magpies hit back only five minutes later through Alexander Isak's fine finish. It was assisted by one of Clement's Newcastle men Anthony Gordon, but he needed much more if he was going to get anywhere near catching me. Jurgen Klopp's men went 2-1 up before an outrageous outside-of-the-foot assist from Salah allowed substitute Cody Gakpo to score. So, the man Clement sold netted, 'so it is not just me this happens to then!'. A Sven Botman header had Eddie Howe's men dreaming of possibly trying to salvage a point, but Salah was to get another chance from the spot. Martin Dubravka caught Diogo Jota, and a penalty that was deemed by some as controversial was calmly finished. Salah's big haul put to bed any minimal chance there was for my opponent.
The gameweek ended on the 2nd of January as West Ham entertained Brighton. I use the word entertain but not much actually happened as it ended goalless. Clement had been well beaten but he thought he would at least get points from Mohammed Kudus, but he was not given permission to play as the game came a day after the deadline for players who had been called up for AFCON. I had toyed with having Matt Turner in goal, but I was glad I left Alphonse Areola in, as he got 11 points. Areola made good stops from Jack Hinshelwood, Pervis Estupinan, and Adam Lallana. Not that I desperately needed the points, but Pascal Gross came close on many occasions to scoring, including putting a header straight at Areola in the first half.
So, Clement was the sacrificial lamb sadly as I won 81-20, madness! Sorry cousin, all is fair in family love and FPL unfortunately. I did warn everyone my villian-arch would be one for the ages. Despite the big score with over 2m managers also captaining Salah, and many of them having the likes of Palmer, I dropped 5k places overall in the world. More importantly however, I stay in 2nd place in the Justice League, still three points off the leader E-Man.
@DubulDee
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