Gameweek 16 pitted me against my longtime friend Andrew. He had been in the ‘Justice League’ since its very start and he was in fact the winner of the inaugural title in the 2019/20 campaign. He could close the gap on me to six points if he beat me, whereas if I won, I would cut the gap on the top 4.
I had long pondered over what to do and in the end, I sold Antonee Robinson for Andy Robertson, Liverpool had not been keeping as many clean sheets as they had earlier in the season nonetheless as I would have had Trent Alexander-Arnold anyway if the game against Everton in the last gameweek had not been called off I got Robertson in. I did not have as much money in the bank as last week I transferred in Brighton’s Kaoru Mitoma rather than the cheaper Georginio Rutter, so with Robertson’s price having dropped to £5.9m I was able to squeeze him in the team. Andrew used his free hit in the last gameweek and decided not to make any changes for this week. We both ended up captaining Mohamed Salah.
There was no early game, so the action started at 3pm on Saturday. Arsenal were held to a goalless draw at home to Everton. With there being a good chance of the Gunners keeping a clean sheet, I had hoped Gabriel Magalhaes was not fit to start. However, he was and he made a huge first half block from Abdoulaye Doucoure as the Brazilian went on to get maximum bonus points. A rare occasion when I was not up against Bukayo Saka, he blanked anyway as Jordan Pickford made a great save from him. Liverpool went behind early on to Fulham and also went down to 10 men as things looked bleak. To my sheer disgust Robertson was the man to receive his marching orders as my transfer was immediately blighted. Arne Slot has proved so far to be brilliant with his in-game management and that continued as the Reds pulled it back to 1-1 as Salah got another assist as he crossed for Cody Gakpo. The Cottagers went ahead again through Rodrigo Muniz, nevertheless, the home side refused to back down and salvaged a point through a great finish by Diogo Jota and could even have won at the end. Saying that, Alisson had to make a good save from Adama Traore in a hectic conclusion. Luis Diaz was a part of my opponent’s team, and he was not to contribute, he also had Raul Jimenez who almost scored when the Robertson sending off occurred.
Newcastle smashed Leicester 4-0. Jacob Murphy (£4.9m) copped a brace and could have had more. Andrew and I both owned Alexander Isak scored but he missed a glorious chance before eventually finding the net in the second period. Isak was also to assist the second Murphy goal. When it comes to budget defenders, there was a haul from Lewis Hall as he got 15 points, he is currently the pick of the budget defenders at £4.6m. As if it was not bad enough, I lost Robertson, at the end of Wolves’ home defeat to Ipswich, Rayan Ait-Nouri was also sent off. Two players sent off in the same gameweek, what did I do in a former life to deserve this luck! This match was horrible to watch as Jorgen Strand Larsen had a plethora of chances and failed to find the net. Add to that, Matheus Cunha got Wolves’ goal and of course Andrew had him. How Cunha did not get sent off too after the melee at the end of the game I do not know, the guy took the glasses off one of Ipswich’s security team as well as elbowing him. Cunha has now been charged but that does not affect FPL in any way, shape or form if you were up against him in this gameweek which is frustrating.
Ollie Watkins was flagged and in the end was only on the bench for Aston Villa’s trip to Nottingham Forest. The man who started in his place, Jhon Duran, gave Villa the lead, before two very late goals from Nikola Milenkovic and Anthony Elanga dramatically won it for Forest. With me banking on Watkins to close the gap on Andrew backfiring I ended Saturday trailing 42-23! At least Watkins never got sent off I suppose! Goodness me.
I needed Mitoma to start off Sunday well for me, but he had an early chance saved by Crystal Palace’s Dean Henderson who was in inspired form. The Eagles went on to win the battle of the birds 3-1 as Ismaila Sarr (£5.7m) bagged a brace and if Oliver Glasner keeps on starting him then he could become the asset he was back when he was at Watford a few seasons ago. The Manchester Derby was the 4.30pm kick-off and City took the lead through a man Andrew and I both had, Josko Gvardiol. Pep Guardiola’s men were heading for a narrow victory when Matheus Nunes gave away an obnoxious penalty which was tucked away by Bruno Fernandes. Then, in the 90th minute Amad Diallo’s individual brilliance won the game for the Red Devils. Just like that Gvardiol lost 8 points in a few minutes. So, at least for now Manchester is red and to be honest so was my gameweek 16 FPL team!
In the rare double of fixtures at 7pm on Sunday, Tottenham ran riot at Southampton, scoring 5 times in the first half. James Maddison (£7.6m) was at the double and Dejan Kulusevski (£6,3m) scored again, and I am ruing be so adamant I needed a Brighton midfielder as he was on my shortlist. My rotten luck this week continued, Pedro Porro was on the bench, however, Destiny Odogie got injured before the half hour mark and Porro came on so therefore played over the 60 minutes needed to get a clean sheet and extend my opponent’s advantage. I mean come on guys, seriously what have I done, you are treating me like Doctor Faustus here man! I am innocent I swear! Brennan Johnson only being on the bench was scant consolation. In the other game Chelsea were 2-0 up against Brentford at Stamford Bridge and Cole Palmer did not figure in the goals, we both had him regardless anyway. Bryan Mbeumo scored a late goal for me as it ended 2-1. Despite Mbeumo’s goal I was still way behind as it stood 60-40 in Andrew’s favour.
One game remained on Monday, I needed the small task of Lukasz Fabianski to keep a clean sheet and make at least nine saves whilst doing so, as well as saving a penalty and getting an assist, not too much to ask is it? Bournemouth tried and tried for over 80 minutes but everything they threw at Fabianski he kept out, so things were going well though I was still clearly going to lose. The Hammers took the lead through a Lucas Paqueta penalty, although then in injury time disaster struck. A needless free-kick was conceded by the away side and Enes Unai produced a peach of a goal for the game to end in a draw. Just like that Fabianski lost 7 points as I lost 60-44.
With the two sending offs I amazingly only finished 3 points below the week’s average, but my overall rank has suffered, and I have dropped to 6th in the head-to-head table too. A shoutout to Boods (Ash) who got the highest Justice League score this week with 69.
@DubulDee
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