Gameweek 17 pitted me against my cousin Clement. He had occasionally missed deadlines in the past, but for some reason he seemed to have my number whenever we faced each other. He was propping up the table this season, but I was still weary and even more so as l lost last week.
I decided not to make any transfers as I was not unhappy with my team. I had thought of selling Ollie Watkins as Jhon Duran was ahead of him but thought I would give him more time. I had an issue at the back as Rayan Ait-Nouri was suspended, so that meant my only other backup defender was Michael Keane and he does not start anymore since Jarrad Branthwaite is fit. When the deadline had passed, I saw that my cousin had sold Erling Haaland for Alexander Isak. I messaged him to say that how surprising it was he had remembered the deadline when he was up against me and the fact that Isak was his captain. Isak was my vice-captain as I could not take it off Salah as Liverpool were up against Tottenham’s high line. Salah was indeed the most captained player this week. Clement said he did not realise he was playing me and he did not even know that Isak was his captain, hmm…somehow it was not a coincidence to me.
The action started at Villa Park, early on Saturday. Watkins was on the bench again as I rued keeping him. Duran gave Unai Emery’s men the lead in the first half after good work by Youri Tielemens and Morgan Rogers. Clement and I both had Josko Gvardiol, and he should have found the net in the first period as he ended up getting 0 points. Rogers added a second goal for the Villans in the second half as he had a double figure haul. Despite a late Phil Foden goal, the home side held on to beat City at Villa Park in successive seasons as Pep Guardiola’s horrific run was prolonged. Watkins could have scored when he came on, but with him not returning it was already advantage Clement.
In the 3pm’s, my poor luck continued. The best home record in the league was dealt a huge blow as Brentford were beaten 2-0 by Nottingham Forest. Bryan Mbeumo was a differential for me in the matchup but he obviously blanked. My cousin had Yoane Wissa so him not returning either was the only positive. Clement’s captain Isak did not even need a minute to give the Magpies the lead at Ipswich. Jacob Murphy scored another banger, before the Tractor Boys’ kamikaze defending, and incompetent attempts to play the ball out from the back saw Isak grab a hat-trick. I was fuming, although having him too partially covered the blow you do not want to see your opponent get 34 points from one player. I had Dara O’Shea in my side, so he produced a big fat ‘zero’ too.
At the London Stadium, Kaoru Mitoma (who Clement and I both owned), could have given the Seagulls the lead at West Ham only for a good save by my keeper Lukasz Fabianski. Two second half goals saw the game end 1-1 as Jarrod Bowen, who regular readers will know I overlooked got a fantasy assist for Mohammed Kudus’ equaliser. If Liverpool never had West Ham coming up in gameweek 19 then Kudus (£6.2m) would be someone I would seriously be looking at. I was up against Crysensio Summerville too in this game, so I was thankful he was only on the bench and got a single point. Arsenal won 5-1 at Crystal Palace in the late game. Gabriel Jesus, in honour of Christmas swapped his manger for a brace as the Gunners ran riot. My first bit of fortune in the gameweek came as you do not wish injury on anyone, but Bukayo Saka came off injured restricting him to just one point for Clement. With the way Mikel Arteta’s men attacked had Saka stayed on when they were 2-1 up, he would have probably helped himself to a double figure haul. My opponent also had Marc Guehi, now I never want Arsenal to do anything constructive however here, them scoring five was helpful as Guehi ended on minus-one. With Saka being so heavily owned as he is set to miss up to six league games, managers will be scrambling around for the best person to replace him and there will be some interesting choices. Moneywise the like of Heung-min Son and Bruno Fernandes will come to the fore, but Son has not been the same this campaign. With Manchester United faltering some may look for more budget options than Fernandes, so they can strengthen other areas of their team. Saturday ended with me trailing 38-25.
Sunday, saw Everton ironically help their neighbours Liverpool once again in the title race. Last week it was Arsenal, this week they held Chelsea to a goalless draw. Cole Palmer was a rare differential in the head-to-head and he almost assisted Nicolas Jackson as Jordan Pickford saved with his legs. I had worried about leaving Emile Smith Rowe on the bench and after Watkins not doing a job, I was even more concerned, in the end he was not even in the squad as he was injured. To my surprise and in the end disgust, Aaron Ramsdale who was 50% likely to play on the FPL site ended up starting and duly kept a clean sheet whilst sitting on my bench. Antonee Robinson who I sold last week got six points again and I was losing the will. Wolves had their first game under Vitor Pereira and dealt with Leicester 3-0 at the King Power stadium. Goncalo Guedes (£5.3m) scored and assisted and if Pereira looks to play his compatriot, then he could be a midfield enabler. Sadly, for me Jorgen Strand Larsen, was not amongst the goals as I may have to reconsider my budget forward in this hectic fixture period. Manchester United’s game did not influence the matchup, but can I say hold tight Bournemouth as they won 3-0 at Old Trafford for the second year in a row. Amad Diallo was the most transferred in player and he left them upset as he blanked.
The last match of the gameweek was the most important one. Clement had no less than four players, three Liverpool men and one from the team he supported Tottenham in Pape Sarr. This was going to be tense; I wanted the team I support to thrash Spurs which could ultimately have me lose this week, and I was willing to take the fall, there was no confliction on my behalf. Arne Slot’s men took the lead through Luis Diaz, and it was the perfect combination for Clement as it was setup by a superb Trent Alexander-Arnold cross which extended his lead by 8 points. Alexis Mac Allister made it 2-0, but James Maddison pulled a goal back. The Spurs goal took away the chance of a double clean sheet for my cousin. Just before the break Salah found Dominik Szoboszlai, for 3-1 as I cut into the deficit. Then Salah took over in the second period. He got the next two goals as somehow I now found myself in the lead. Liverpool went to sleep and allowed Ange Postecoglou’s men to score twice before Diaz got his brace as Salah assisted again to give me an even bigger lead as a crazy game finished 6-3 to the Reds.
So, I committed theft, amazingly with only two players contributing in Isak who I was up against as a captain and of course Salah, I got an unlikely victory, 73-57. It is complex simplicity but picking the right captain is so important, how I pulled this off is outrageous. Salah is just unbelievable; he is the first man to have double figure goals and assists before Christmas in Premier League history. I maintain 6th place in the Justice League, however my rank dropped as with there being a plethora of clean sheets on Sunday, I could not relate as my defence looked like a binary code. A shoutout to Muji who got the highest score this week in the Justice League with 99 points.
Happy Christmas to you all guys, thanks for reading see you at the interval in the festivities for gameweek 18’s roundup.
@DubulDee
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