Gameweek 6 pitted me against my good friend Rian (Milito). We usually speak weekly on FPL but there was no chance of it this week as I checked early on who I was facing, he did not look until just before the deadline as he was wondering why I had not raised any FPL-related conversation. I needed to win after losing three out of my first five matches so I would have liked an easier opponent, if there are any in a highly competitive 'Justice League' this campaign.
There were numerous players I wanted but there was no way I was going to use my 'wildcard' yet. I usually have three Liverpool players as there is nothing better than getting points from the team you support but after selling Cody Gakpo a few weeks ago, I just had two and one of them was injured in Trent Alexander-Arnold. Therefore, I decided to sell Alexander-Arnold and get Andy Robertson in, a move I had pondered last week. This transfer saved me £1.5m and the problem when that happens especially when you are in a head-to-head league is if you lose a game then you feel like you should have used more of your budget, so although I was trying to minimise my point deductions, I was drawn into one prematurely. I wanted variation in my team, so although I began it the season with Tomas Soucek, as since I have got in James Ward-Prowse, I did not currently want two West Ham midfielders, so Soucek was sold. Eberechi Eze and Pedro Neto were highly considered but I went with Moussa Diaby. Diaby, got the nod just before the deadline as I liked the games Aston Villa had coming up, he has been a little unlucky thus far also so I am expecting a couple of massive hauls from him. I let the pressure of playing Rian get to me, as this season I am trying to be ruthless, so if I see someone does not have a player that I have I am more likely to captain them. Obviously, there will be weeks like last week when my opponent gets in someone I have chosen to captain, in that case it was Julian Alvarez, but this will not regularly be the case. Mo Salah was my captain until 1.25pm and as I took the points-hit I went for the safe option and gave it to Erling Haaland as I knew he would be Rian and basically everyone else's captain as Manchester City hosted Nottingham Forest. Rian, rang me as soon as the deadline passed and informed me that he had got Alvarez in which I knew he was likely to do as we had previously spoken about it, and he also got in Bryan Mbeumo as he sold Nicolas 'Ms' Jackson and the injured Gabriel Martinelli respectively. He thought I would captain Alvarez again but he went with Haaland regardless.
With no early kick-off the action began at 3pm on Saturday. I was not left to rue not transferring Eze back in this week as Crystal Palace and Fulham ended in a stalemate at Selhurst Park. The Cottagers have now kept three clean sheets in their opening six league games and with their very affordable backline of Bernd Leno (£4.6m), and Tim Ream and Issa Diop at £4.5m they are notable enablers to start the season. With Kenny Tete currently injured Timothy Castagne is starting and he is also £4.5m, the Belgian was a solid FPL option when he was at Leicester. The caveat is Marco Silva's troops have some difficult games coming up. Luton were at home to Wolves, and the away side went down to ten men before the first half ended. This left me expectant of points, but it was the man I overlooked Neto who gave the ten men the lead with a fine solo strike, he then went on to do about three different celebrations in one as he continued his great start to the campaign. The Hatters, were to be awarded a harsh penalty and Carlton Morris put it right into the bottom corner as I got the points I desired as it ended all square. The irony is his other goal was a penalty on the opening weekend against Brighton and that was an extremely harsh call also, his owners are feeling rather fortunate, but he still has to put the spot-kicks away or it would not matter, if he missed we would be crying. Luton, have a double gameweek up next so expect Morris' ownership to shoot right up. When I checked during the game, he was up to 2.3% after scoring the penalty, whilst writing this he was at 3.5%, so at this rate he will be up to £5.6m before you know it. I own Amari'i Bell too, but also at £4m is Issa Kabore who won the penalty and he may be a good option if you wish to have a Luton defender for the double gameweek.
Manchester City beat Nottingham Forest 2-0 at the Etihad. I was happy to see all my three players named in the XI by Pep Guardiola, the only issue was Rian had all three of them too. One of the men, Phil Foden, gave City the lead as he fired into the corner after being found by Kyle Walker. That man Haaland made it 2-0 with a header assisted by Matheus Nunes (£5m). With Bernardo Silva and Mateo Kovacic as well as the legend Kevin De Bruyne injured, Nunes may be a good option. Any hope of another hat-trick for Haaland against Forest went out of the window when Rodri lost his cool and tried to throttle Morgan Gibbs-White at the start of the second half and the Cityzens were reduced to ten men. Rodri will now miss three games asserting the fact Nunes will be looked to more by his manager. Alvarez, was the most transferred in player and the FPL curse struck as he blanked for only the second time this campaign.
In the 5.30pm kick-off; Brentford were beaten 3-1 at home by Everton. I started Jason Steele in goal but as Roberto De Zerbi is switching his keepers like socks, I had no idea if he would start on Sunday, so I was secretly hoping Jordan Pickford could keep a clean sheet but it was not to be. The good thing was that Mbeumo blanked. Abdoulaye Doucoure (£5.5m) scored the opener with an aesthetically pleasing volley and then smashed the woodwork with an identical effort. With Luton and Bournemouth both at home next on the horizon for Sean Dyche's men and Doucoure only owned by 0.5% he could be a real differential; they then play Liverpool, and you would have no issue benching him for that. There was also an 8pm kick-off as Manchester United were given extra recovery time after playing Bayern Munich on Wednesday. The Red Devils, have been awful to start off but got their first away victory as they edged out Burnley 1-0 at Turf Moor. Many were perplexed to see Jonny Evans in United's XI but with their injuries Erik ten Hag did not have much choice. The irony was Evans ended up being the best player on the pitch, he had a headed goal disallowed and then he assisted the winner. Bruno Fernandes scored a sublime volley to win the game after Evans found him with a well flighted left footed ball. Marcus Rashford blanked to my amusement as Rian had him, Rashford showed his decision making left a lot to be desired once again. However, Andre Onana hit back at his critics with a good performance as he got a clean sheet after being sold by many FPL managers. This clawed things back for Rian as he ended Saturday two points ahead, 31-29 thanks to the Cameroonian.
With so many teams in Europe this season, Sunday was littered with matches. Four of the five matches kicked off at 2pm, headlined by the north London Derby. I benched Pedro Porro, so I had no one in this game, but Rian had William Saliba in his defence. Arsenal took the lead through a Cristian Romero own goal, but Tottenham fired back through Heung-min Son after great work by James Maddison. Maddison was incidentally on Rian's bench so with Joao Pedro not starting for Brighton there was cause for concern if he never came on (but we will get to that game later anyway). Maddison, sent Bukayo Saka for cheesecake before cutting the ball back to his captain to finish off the post. Romero's nightmare afternoon continued as he was penalised for a handball that he could not do much about and Saka put the spot-kick straight down the middle for 2-1, before Maddison and Son linked up again as it finished 2-2. Luckily for me Joao Pedro did come on for Brighton (saving me from nine Maddison points) as they came from behind to win at home against Bournemouth. I was angry at first with De Zerbi as he benched Kaoru Mitoma, but he came on at half-time and bagged a brace in a 3-1 victory after Dominic Solanke had given the Cherries the lead. Pervis Estupinan, assisted the third goal but Rian and I both had him. Brighton's first goal was an own goal 'assisted' by Billy Gilmour who at £4.9m recorded his third assist of the season, with De Zerbi now trusting him he is only owned by 0.4%, could he be that major differential?
Aston Villa recovered from a defeat in Europe with a 1-0 win over hapless Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. In a contest flooded with corners I was worried Mauricio Pochettino's men would get a late equaliser after Ollie Watkins put Unai Emery's men ahead. The goal came on the break after Malo Gusto had been sent off for the Blues, Diaby passed to Watkins who was challenged but then he slapped the rebound in at the near post, Robert Sanchez will be very disappointed. I was so close to an assist, but at least having Matty Cash paid off with clean sheet points. Ben Chilwell was benched again and when he came on he got booked returning Rian a big fat zero, add a Raheem Sterling blank and I was strolling to the finish line. Liverpool, won for the fifth time in-a-row as they survived an early barrage from West Ham. The man I sold Soucek was denied and the chatterbox that is Michail Antonio had a chance too before the Reds took the lead. A swift counter attack saw Salah fouled and he picked himself up to score from the spot. The Hammers were soon to be level however, Vladimir Coufal's cross was met by a deft header from Jarrod Bowen. Darwin Nunez missed a sitter from a lovely Salah pass, but he made amends by scoring a more complex opportunity than the one he missed. Diogo Jota came off the bench to round off the scoring as Jurgen Klopp's men scored 3 for the third successive home game. Nothing from Robertson meant I did not actually need to make any transfers, but hindsight is a beautiful thing.
The gameweek was rounded off with a contest that neither of us had players in between Sheffield United and Newcastle, but when it ended we were ruing the fact that we ever so badly missed out. The Blades had defended doggedly to begin the season only for them to be humiliated 8-0 by Newcastle! Yep, the Magpies took a dump all over Bramall Lane. Many FPL managers kept faith with Kieran Trippier and they were rewarded as he assisted three times, some doubled up at the back and two of the other three defenders found the net as big Dan Burn and Sven Botman both scored headers, many have drafted the latter in recently. Botman was someone I mentioned last week and he has risen to £4.7m as he edges closer to Trippier's ownership. The Geordie 'blade runners' have some tasty fixtures coming up until they meet Arsenal in early November.
So, after all my worrying and the points deduction I went on to triumph 72-41, me and Rian actually watched the north London Derby together while I listened to Liverpool's game on the radio and I thought he was going to punch me the way I celebrated Salah and Mitoma's goals. At the end of Saturday I was flying in terms of classic points, but Newcastle's unpredictable emphatic blunting of the blades meant everyone caught up with me as so many people have Newcastle defenders, man, we both missed out here, nevertheless I am up to 8th in the Justice League despite my slight drop overall.
@DubulDee
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