Gameweek 12 pitted me against Michael B., he was the twin brother of the current ‘Justice League’ leader Darren B. (D-Man) and he was a consistent FPL performer. I had won four gameweeks on the bounce, but could I make it five?
I never had the necessary optimism that my team was going to do real damage this week, but after being unsure about where the best position was to make a change, I left my side untouched. I was going to sell Josko Gvardiol for Andy Robertson as I had been bittersweet at not being a part of the clean sheets that Liverpool had been accumulating. With the fact Kostas Tsimikas had been starting more games this early in the campaign than usual however, I decided against the transfer. My opponent made one transfer, he sold Bukayo Saka as there had been doubts about his fitness and brought in Bruno Fernandes. Michael and I both captained Mo Salah. He did not have Erling Haaland, but for some reason whenever I had the Norwegian as a differential in a head-to-head clash he drastically underwhelmed.
The action began early on Saturday, as Chelsea travelled to Leicester. The Blues took a first-half lead through Nicolas Jackson. Michael and I both had Cole Palmer but at 1-0 he was denied a goal ironically by his own teammate. Jackson had an effort saved, and when Palmer got to the rebound, Noni Madueke could not get out of the way so blocked the shot. It was soon 2-0 to Enzo Maresca’s men nonetheless, then a very late Jordan Ayew penalty got the Foxes a consolation goal.
In the 3pm kick offs, as my opposition had Gabriel Magalhaes in their defence, I needed Nottingham Forest to score. When I saw Chris Wood was only fit enough to make the bench, I had a feeling they would not find the net and that was unfortunately the case. Saka opened the scoring for the Gunners and then assisted the second for Thomas Partey, so I was extremely lucky Michael sold him. Everton and Brentford had a stalemate at Goodison Park. It was the Bees’ first clean sheet of the season as before the gameweek Mark Flekken had conceded the most goals in the league. Michael and I owned Bryan Mbeumo, so there was no return there. With Michael Keane once again on the bench for the Toffees, I was to get Antonee Robinson’s points off my bench. So, in that regard, trust Fulham to get thumped at home by Wolves. With Michael having Robinson too, in one way it was not as bad as it could have been. If one of my forwards Jurgen Strand Larsen, had figured more in the goals it would have been lovely, however, he was only able to assist the fourth for Goncalo Guedes. Brazilians Matheus Cunha and Joao Gomes were the stars of the show as they both scored and assisted as Wolves’ assets continue to be hard to ignore. Mario Lemina (£5m) has quietly been a solid enabler this season, and despite starting the game in defence due to injuries, he still created the first goal for Cunha with a delightful pass. My opponent had Raul Jimenez in his forward line and the ‘Mexican’ (Uncle Ruckus voice) smashed the bar from only a few yards out when the contest was goalless. His hot streak may be over, and Rodrigo Muniz may soon be back into the Cottagers’ XI. Emile Smith Rowe’s blank stung me, and I was getting a little worried.
The late game had huge consequences at hand. I was in a gameweek where not just Haaland, but Gvardiol were differentials for me in the head-to-head. Against Tottenham’s high line, surely they would deconstruct them, and I would roar into the lead? I mean what could possibly go wrong? Ange Postecoglou’s side decided to turn into prime-Brazil and walloped the Cityzens 4-0. Haaland could have had a hat-trick and Gvardiol gift-wrapped the first two goals for Spurs, ‘I felt sick!’. You need two premium players to help you gather some momentum and between them they only get two points! What is this FPL life? Even worse a player I had earlier in the season, Pedro Porro, got on the scoresheet. Michael did not have any Spurs players, but this felt like I had already lost the head-to-head as it stood 15-15 with him having more players left than me.
Southampton and Liverpool kicked off Sunday’s action. Liverpool took the lead, before the man I was going to bring in Robertson conceded a contentious penalty as the foul looked outside the box. Michael had Caoimhin Kelleher in goal and he saved Adam Armstrong’s penalty, only for Armstrong to put in the rebound. This was huge for the head-to-head despite the Reds still conceding. The Saints then took the lead in the second half as it looked like the upset may be on. Arne Slot’s men were able to fire back though a Salah brace and the Merseysiders escaped with all three points. Salah should have already scored twice in the first period, but got a touch from a nice Ryan Gravenberch pass to catch out Alex McCarthy for 2-2. He then converted a penalty after a handball to seal three points in the 83rd minute. Luis Diaz only got my opponent a point as he started the game on the bench, nonetheless, the penalty save still gave him the advantage, as the Salah captaincy otherwise saw us cancel each other out. In the later match, Ipswich and Manchester United drew, thankfully the Red Devils’ goal did not feature Bruno Fernandes. Michael was the first man I had faced to also have Liam Delap and he could have scored twice as it ended 1-1 with FPL’s top scoring goalkeeper Andre Onana in good form. This meant that I had basically been beaten as it was 53-43 in the opposition’s favour when Sunday concluded, as Salah saved my excruciating gameweek as only the second player to get me a return.
Lukasz Fabianski had to better Kelleher on Monday, if I was to even get a draw. With West Ham away at Newcastle I did not expect much and the likelihood of him saving a penalty were outrageously slim. On top of that he would have to get save and bonus points to get to double figures. Fabianski was to claim an unexpected clean sheet as the Hammers surprised and won 2-0 at St James’ Park. Six points were obviously not enough as he only had two saves registered as I fell to a 4-point defeat, 53-49.
So, the four-game winning streak is over, although after somehow defeating Big Sam’s ‘bench boost’ in the last gameweek, I took this defeat slightly better than I usually would. 49 points had me bang on the average score for the week as Haaland was the most captained again, so Salah’s double did a worthy job, meaning my rank did not get battered as much as I expected. Mike’s brother D-Man is currently thriving, and had the highest Justice League score of the week as he somehow massed a whopping 79 points maintaining his place at the top. I have dropped to 7th, as one of three managers on 18 points as I have the most classic points of the three. Next up is FPL-addict Khurram (K), now that will be interesting.
@DubulDee
Comments