My gameweek 15 opponent was Boods (Ash). He was another manager who had only been in the ‘Justice League’ for a couple of seasons as I got him in to make the league more competitive. He was a very good FPL player who came above me last campaign as he finished in 2nd place, and I was looking to claim a big scalp as well as getting my 3rd consecutive win.
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I had three free transfers that I could make. I toyed with different drafts, and I was looking for a differential, so I strongly considered getting Kevin De Bruyne in, but with my concerns over his fitness in the end I decided against it. One transfer I was unequivocally doing was selling Erling Haaland. I know he will go on another run soon, but I wanted more of a budget. I brought Ollie Watkins in for him as Villa had decent fixtures starting with a home game with Southampton. Manchester City and Newcastle are not easy fixtures by any means, but Watkins is more than capable of delivering in them. I reluctantly sold one of my enabler forwards in Liam Delap for Alexander Isak. In midfield I wanted a Brighton player, and I was going to draft in Georginio Rutter but ended up buying Kaoru Mitoma. The plan was to captain Mo Salah, but then around 8am on Saturday, Liverpool’s game with Everton at Goodison Park was called off because of Storm Darragh. I usually do not like captaining someone in the early fixture but given Salah’s form I was going to go with him despite him not returning last time when the Reds won 1-0 at Crystal Palace. I then gave the captaincy to Watkins, however, as soon as I did it, I thought with them having a tough trip to Leipzig midweek in the Champions League that he may not start. With the deadline still being at 11am despite the Merseyside Derby not taking place, I was of course live on the radio doing the ‘FootyOnTop’ show, therefore I never had a real chance to change my captain to Cole Palmer who was my vice-captain. Salah was the most captained in gameweek 15, so vice-captaincy was essential just in case you were busy on Saturday morning like me.
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Boods, had two free transfers and sold Luis Diaz and Dominic Solanke for Bukayo Saka and Will Lankshear. He captained the man that I sold Haaland and the worries that I had suddenly increased as if not having the Norwegian was not enough to make you hide behind the sofa anyway.
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To the Saturday 3pm kick-offs, and Watkins benched for the visit of Southampton to my annoyance, my gut again was trying to tell me something. The man who started in his place, Jhon Duran, scored a good goal that he made himself after gathering the ball, turning past a defender and then slotting past Joe Lumley. Watkins came on and almost contributed twice in the second period as it ended 1-0. Boods had Watkins too, but my captaincy had been wasted. Luckily Morgan Rogers who my opponent also had from the Villans did not return either. Brentford had another goal-fest at home as they beat Newcastle 4-2. I was rewarded for keeping Bryan Mbeumo as he opened the scoring with a tidy run and finish. The Magpies levelled shortly after as my decision to bring in Isak was vindicated as he headed in what originally looked like a shot by Jacob Murphy. Yoane Wissa, another player I shortlisted put the Bees back ahead before Harvey Barnes equalised. Nathan Collins (£4.5m) put Thomas Frank’s men ahead again before Kevin Schade wrapped the game up in the second half and to my joy Mbeumo assisted it. A very fruitful game for me to say the least.
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Manchester City dropped further points in the title race as they were held to a 2-2 draw at Selhurst Park. Daniel Munoz (£4.7m) has been accumulating a lot of points since I sold him and he gave the Eagles the lead, the second successive home game he has scored in. Haaland tied things up with a looping header and I was thinking he was going on to do real damage, fortunately that was the only goal he was to get. Will Hughes (£4.9m) got his second assist as his corner was headed in by Maxence Lacroix, only for Rico Lewis to level things up with a top-class finish. Just my luck as Boods owned him, although he was then sent off which neutralised the goal as it was his second yellow, so it was not all negative. Haaland had two bonus points originally but then it changed to just one, which obviously helped. Josko Gvardiol's blank was a harmful one as he was a differential in the head-to-head.
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In the late game, Nottingham Forest surprised Manchester United with a 3-2 victory at Old Trafford. I say surprised, but Nuno Espirito Santos’s men won at Anfield near the start of the season, so they have shown what they can do on the road. Boods had Mazraoui and Forest’s Ola Aina so both teams conceding was a massive help. Mazraoui in fact was only a substitute so only played 24 minutes. Chris Wood was at it again as I continue to miss out on his points, the man has been a revelation. Saturday ended with me a point ahead in a low scoring affair, 24-23.
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Sunday, saw Fulham hold Arsenal to a 1-1 draw at Craven Cottage. Boods and I both had Emile Smith Rowe, who was taken off just before the hour mark. I had my head in my hands when I thought the Gunners had won it right at the death, only for Saka’s goal to be ruled out because Gabriel Martinelli was offside. Saka was the most transferred-in player so this devastated many. I survived big time here! Ipswich took an early lead against Bournemouth, and I thought I was going to get clean sheet points from Dara O’Shea, only for the Cherries to steal 3 points with two late goals. Leicester were to also come from behind. The Foxes were trailing 2-0 at home to Brighton, when Jamie Vardy (£5.6m) scored and assisted as he continues to impress under new manager Ruud van Nistelrooy, I may have to get him back in my team at this rate. Mitoma put an excellent chance wide in the first half to frustrate me even further.
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The latter game, had Tottenham take an early 2-0 lead over Chelsea. Dejan Kulusevski, scored the second someone I had briefly looked at before getting eventually getting in Mitoma. The Blues were to fightback and go 4-2 ahead. Spurs’ obnoxious defending gave away two penalties and of course Palmer scored them both. I ripped out whatever remained of my hair as he should have been my captain choice as soon as I knew Liverpool were not playing. To be quite honest I am lucky Boods did not pick Palmer as captain, or it would have been curtains for me. I thought I would have a small lead by Sunday’s end, which would have virtually guaranteed victory with me having more men than Boods left. However, substitute James Maddison setup a consolation goal for Heung-min son to give my opponent three precious points. This meant that he had a two-point lead going into Monday, 48-46.
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Boods and I had Lukasz Fabianski as our keeper on Monday, however, I had Rayan Ait-Nouri and Jorgen Strand Larsen. So, if the latter two both completed 90 minutes without getting booked and Wolves were not battered then I could squeeze the victory. The first half ended goalless, but West Ham took the lead through Tomas Soucek’s header before the hour mark, it was assisted by Jarrod Bowen (£7.4m), who I did not transfer in merely as I did not want him up against Ait-Nouri along with my insistence on having a Brighton attacker. Gary O’Neil’s men levelled and fortuitously Ait-Nouri made the goal for Matt Doherty with a great cross to cement my win. The Hammers won the game through a lovely goal by Bowen, who is still only owned by 6.9% despite continuing to be a steady performer.
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So, a 54-50 win, which sees ne climb to 5th in the head-to-head league, as I have won 8 out of my last 10 since I went into the bottom three. Although I was above the week’s average score, my rank still dipped as not having Palmer as captain was detrimental. A shoutout to Coach Kojo who got the highest score in the Justice League with 78. These December deadlines come thick and fast (pause!), so no time to ponder, I need to keep winning.
@DubulDee