Next up for me was my long-time friend Andrew. He was the inaugural winner of the 'Justice League' but he was the only man who had not won a head-to-head game thus far and I was weary that knowing my luck I may just be his first victim of the 2023/24 season as he has edged wins against me before.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, was confirmed to be out by Jurgen Klopp, so I contemplated getting his teammate Andy Robertson in, but as I did not think Alexander-Arnold's hamstring injury would have him out for too long I decided to keep him for now. Instead, I sold Chris Basham (£4m) and got in Matty Cash (£4.7m). With how far forward Cash had been playing I believed over the next 6-8 games that he would be a good option. With the deadline being on a Saturday for the first time this season, on my way to record the #FootyOnTop show I still pondered getting Robertson in but I was adamant I did not want to take a points-hit just yet. My captaincy sat with Erling Haaland all throughout the international break but just before the deadline I changed it to Julian Alvarez and hoped he started as you just never know with 'Pep roulette'. I highly considered having Mo Salah as my captain, but I did not want the early kick-off curse to rear its ugly head. Andrew, had two free transfers and used them both, I was annoyed as one of them was to get Alvarez in for Nicolas ('Ms') Jackson and the other was to draft in Bryan Mbeumo for Enzo Fernandez. Needless to say, Haaland was his captain.
The action kicked off at Molineux as Wolves welcomed Liverpool. Proceedings began horribly for the Reds as Pedro Neto ran rings around them and Hee-Chan Hwang put Gary O'Neil's men ahead. Neto, continued to taunt Jurgen Klopp's backline but it stayed the same until the interval. Klopp, withdrew Alexis MacAllister at the break and the away side improved. It was to be Cody Gakpo who drew them level as Salah the assist king found him at the far post. After that, Liverpool continued to push Wolves back and in the 85th minute captain-for-the-day Robertson made it 2-1 from another Salah assist. The Scotsman showed that I should have just gone with my instincts, had it been a later kick-off then maybe this would have been the case. Salah, thought he had a third assist in injury time but Harvey Elliott's deflected shot in off the post was later to be given as a Hugo Bueno own goal as it ended 3-1. The Egyptian had mainly been a differential for me in this season's previous head-to-head contests, but this week Andrew owned him too.
In the 3pm's, there was a shock at Old Trafford. No, not the result but Pervis Estupinan was not in the squad as he was struggling with fatigue after Ecuador's qualifiers. I mean, Brighton had beaten Manchester United the last three times they had played, so them running out 3-1 winners was maybe not as surprising as some made it out to be. Estupinan's absence effected Andrew and I, but another Seagulls defender came up trumps for him as Tariq Lamptey claimed two assists. His first assist was for the second goal scored by Pascal Gross, Gross sent Lisandro Martinez back to South America with a dummy and coolly found the net, gross misconduct if you ask me! I had said on 'FPL War' on Friday night that watch out for Gross as he turns into Zinedine Zidane when he plays against Manchester United, and lo and behold it happened again. Andrew and I both also had Kaoru Mitoma but there was no return from him. Jason Steele started in goal, so United's consolation was bad news for me, exactly what Roberto De Zerbi is doing with his keepers no-one knows, he is rotating like they are outfield players. I was to get the points off the bench from Luton's Amari'i Bell as Estupinan did not participate, so you can imagine my anguish when the Hatters conceded to Fulham after 65 minutes. It is demoralising when you check your team after an hour, you get excited at the points your defence have and then their team concede. Carlton Morris my other Luton player put an effort just wide.
Aston Villa beat Crystal Palace 3-1, but bringing in Cash did not pay off as he was booked, further showing me I really should have got Robertson instead. I knew if West Ham were to score against Manchester City, then James Ward-Prowse would be the one to contribute and he did exactly that as the Hammers took the lead at home to the champions thanks to his header. City responded just seconds into the second period however through new man Jeremy Doku (£6.5m), and they went on to win 3-1. Alvarez assisted two of the goals validating my choice of captain as I thought he had equalled Salah's points total, and he had also accumulated more points than Haaland. I was to be left disgruntled as the bonus points system when it was finalised said Alvarez had got two bonus points, but then he was only awarded one, they have since amended the table. The Argentine also hit the woodwork with a free-kick, or I would have been dancing. Tottenham left it late to beat Sheffield United 2-1. Richarlison finally scored as he came off the bench and then laid on the winner for Dejan Kulusevski, Pedro Porro blanked for me as my defenders continued to let me down. The evening game pitted Newcastle against Brentford. Alexander Isak and Miguel Almiron were in Andrew's team, but they were only on the bench. There was no need for him to worry though as his third Magpie Sven Botman collected maximum bonus points as Eddie Howe's men won 1-0, this of course meant his latest addition Mbeumo blanked. Kieran Trippier, returned for the first time this season, but with him being so expensive, Botman at £4.5m may just be the best option currently if you wish to have a Newcastle defender.
Saturday concluded with me narrowly ahead 55-52, so I needed a miracle to even get a draw as he had two players remaining. This is where FPL can scramble your head, it is no secret I have a strong dislike for Arsenal, but as Jordan Pickford was Andrew's keeper, I needed them to put a few past the Toffees. This would then require Sean Dyche's men to score at least twice, and that was as likely as Dyche clearing his throat as they had only managed to score in one game out of their first four, so I was banging my head against a wall it seemed. Pickford was alert in goal, and it took a fine finish from Leandro Trossard to get three points for the Gunners. The save point Pickford gained meant before Andrew even had his last man Jordan Beyer in action for Burnley the scores were already tied at 55. I was livid as with the injuries in his team he was able to beat me with only ten players...'oh the shame!'.
The gameweek closed with Nottingham Forest hosting Burnley. I had earlier tried to manifest Beyer getting sent off and Burnley conceding 4 but as you guessed neither happened as it ended 1-1. Beyer, even got a bonus point so Andrew triumphed 58-55. I would never begrudge a long-time friend, but three defeats in my first five is clearly not what I was hoping for. The glimmer of hope you could maybe say is that as I lay 12th in the table, six of the eight people underneath me finished above me last season. No back-to-back campaigns are the same, but I fully expect there to be real shake-up to the table as it still so early, the key is to bounce back, so I eagerly await gameweek 6. In contrast because so many people did not score highly this week I moved up in every classic league I am in bar one. At the end of Saturday, I moved temporarily into the top 500k in the world, with Chelsea and Arsenal's clean sheets however, this put me back down but I still rose over a million places as I now sit on 294 points.
@DubulDee
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