My opponent this week was Stel. Stel had not been in the ‘Justice League’ since its start but he beat me on the final day of last season to pip me to 3rd place. I wanted revenge and that would also give me my third straight victory if I could pull it off.
I looked at my team and decided that I would not make my transfers as I was generally fine with how it looked. I considered making a goalkeeper change, however, only solely changing your keeper always seems underwhelming, so I left things alone. Stel made two transfers; he sold Micky van de Ven and Savinho for Antonee Robinson and Alejandro Garnacho. I had Robinson, but I was aware of the threat that Garnacho could pose. With Stel not having Mo Salah I captained him, whereas Stel captained Haaland who once again was the most captained in a gameweek. I was always hoping that Bryan Mbeumo, a star for me last week could contribute as Stel did not have him either. Mbeumo incidentally was the player who was the most transferred in for gameweek 10.
The action kicked off at St James’ Park with the Saturday lunchtime game between Newcastle and Arsenal. Stel had David Raya, so I needed the Magpies to find the net and they obliged after just 12 minutes. Anthony Gordon’s lovely cross was met by an Alexander Isak header which interestingly turned out to be the winning goal. Eddie Howe’s men produced a disciplined defensive display, and Arsenal barely posed a threat because of it. With Stel also having Leandro Trossard, this was a good start for me. Isak (£8.3m) looks to be a real option again with Newcastle having a nice run of fixtures bar facing Liverpool in gameweek 14. Many that owned the likes of Lewis Hall left him on the bench thinking Mikel Arteta’s men would score and will be ruing having missed out on 8 points as he did a great job on Bukayo Saka.
In the 3pm games, Bournemouth shocked Manchester City with a 2-1 triumph at the Vitality Stadium. Antoine Semenyo (£5.6m) gave the Cherries the lead, and he is someone I would love to have ‘but the way my squad is setup’ (Kevin Hart voice), I cannot quite squeeze him in just yet. Evanilson (£5.9m) added a second and he is another option from Andoni Iraola’s side, as well as Milos Kerkez (£4.4m) at the back who assisted both goals. Gvardiol pulled back what turned out to just be a consolation for City with a header as he made it three returns from three since I got him into my side. Pep Guardiola’s men made enough chances to rescue a point, but they could not find the net as Jeremy Doku, Haaland and Phil Foden all went close. Ipswich and Leicester ended in a stalemate at Portman Road. I left Dara O’Shea on my bench, and he almost scored twice which would have killed me as he is owned by less than 1%. Leif Davis who will probably soon be the most popular defender from the Tractor Boys crashed in a sublime volley for the opener. Considering how good his delivery is, Davis is becoming what Luton’s Alfie Doughty was last year. Kalvin Phillips got sent off, and in injury time Jordan Ayew scored a lovely goal after exchanging passes with Jamie Vardy. Vardy saved me here as well as denying clean sheet points for O'Shea, a win-win for me.
Liverpool came from behind to edge out Brighton 2-1 at Anfield. The Seagulls played the Reds off the pitch in the first half and should have scored more than once. Ferdi Kadioglu (£4.5m) played further forward and scored a sublime goal in off the post to give Fabian Hurzeler’s men the lead. If Kadioglu stays up there until some injuries ease for them then he could be extremely useful. Even if he does not stay in that advanced role, he is an adventurous full back who can play on either side and will get attacking returns. Cody Gakpo and a thunderbolt from Salah sealed the three points as my captaincy was vindicated. Gakpo (£7.1m) is also making noise, but not knowing whether him or Diaz will start will deter a few. If Gakpo was a midfielder rather than a forward I am sure his ownership would be higher than 2%. Nottingham Forest thumped West Ham 3-0 at the City Ground as Chris Wood got yet another goal. Another clean sheet for Matz Sels who I of course sold and another Forest player I previously had this campaign Callum Hudson-Odoi, scored the second goal. Lukasz Fabianski made some great saves or the scoreline would have been greater, it was to prove costly for me choosing Fabianski as Aaron Ramsdale was to keep a clean sheet. Southampton just got through to get their first win of the season against Everton. Ramsdale was in good form as he clocked up 9 points. Sod’s law he kept his first clean sheet when I benched him. He made a huge save to deny me points as he pushed a Michael Keane header onto the post.
In the late Saturday contest, Wolves and Crystal Palace could not be separated as it ended 2-2. All the goals came in the second half and although I had no one featuring in the match, it ended being a good one for my opponent. He owned Marc Guehi so when Jorgen Strand Larsen gave Wolves a 1-0 lead, I thought I was safe. After Gary O’Neil’s men went 2-1 ahead however, Guehi grabbed the equaliser as he popped up at the back post after a set piece was not dealt with. Despite that goal, as more of my players had featured than Stel’s, I finished Saturday with a 37-16 advantage.
First up on Sunday, Aston Villa took the lead at Tottenham through the popular Morgan Rogers. Whatever Ange Postecoglou said at half-time worked as Spurs came back to win 4-1. Dominic Solanke (£7.7m) copped a brace as he rewarded his owners’ patience. Dejan Kulusevski (£6.3m) and Heung-min Son both assisted and although he was only a substitute James Maddison (£7.6m) scored a free-kick as Tottenham’s attacking options are not staying quiet. Stel had Maddison so I began to fear that my nicely sized lead could be under threat as he had three players in the other Sunday encounter. So, to Old Trafford we go. Manchester United and Chelsea had a forgettable first half, you could even say a horrible 70 minutes in fact. Bruno Fernandes then scored a penalty, only for Moises Caicedo to level almost immediately with a fine strike. Alejandro Garnacho had a plethora of opportunities to make a difference but made the wrong decisions. Caicedo’s goal meant no return from Matthis de Ligt and with Nicolas Jackson blanking I escaped Stel’s differentials to secure my third straight win.
Monday nights’ game between Fulham and Brentford was just a case of wanting to get to 50 points as I sat on 40. Bryan Mbeumo was a differential for me as Stel and I both had Robinson and Emile Smith Rowe. The Bees took the lead through a belter from Vitaly Janelt. It stayed 1-0 until the 92nd minute when substitute Harry Wilson scored twice to win it for the Cottagers, the second came from a Robinson cross. Mbeumo’s blank meant it ended 51-38 to me.
I have climbed up to 8th now in the head-to-head league and it is nowhere near as painful to look at the table. As I once again was above the average score for the gameweek I have moved up into 600k in the world with 603 points overall. In another gameweek that was not necessarily high scoring with Haaland being the favoured captain choice, getting over 50 points was an achievement, however I still did not have the Justice League’s highest score as Ravi got 59.
@DubulDee
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