Gameweek 20 pitted me against Dwayne. In previous seasons regardless of where he was in the 'Justice League', he always seemed to raise his game when he was playing me and this season he was just above me in the table.
With Liverpool taking on Manchester United, although I had tried not to overload my team with players from Arne Slot’s side despite them doing so well thus far, I believed this may be the week to go for it. Looking at Dwayne’s team he had Luis Diaz, and as the Colombian banged in two against the Red Devils in the reverse fixture, I thought why not get him in, as it would neutralise if he did well again. Who to transfer out to get him in was the issue. At first, I thought to get rid of Kevin De Bruyne as transferring him in as an expensive differential had not worked, with City having West Ham at home however, I changed my mind and instead sold Bryan Mbeumo. I was really conflicted here, but I was thinking of parting ways with soon anyway as Brentford’s fixtures did not look great for a couple of weeks from gameweek 21. They played this gameweek against Southampton and I expected him to score, so just hoped De Bruyne would outdo him. My opponent made one transfer; he sold Jens Cajuste for Tomas Soucek but only left Soucek on the bench. That was not to be it from him as he dropped the bomb and used his ‘triple captain’ bonus chip! We both handed Mo Salah the captaincy, but Dwayne had the edge with it here now. He interestingly lined up all his five defenders as he had the security of the bonus chip.
The action began at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The game got off to a fast start as Dominic Solanke gave Spurs the lead only for Newcastle to instantly reply through Anthony Gordon. The Magpies scored again before the break and that was surprisingly the last goal in an open game. Dwayne and I both owned Alexander Isak and he was the man who got the winner. There was a slight element of fortune about the goal, but we did not care. Jacob Murphy got the assist for the goal, so at least there was points for me there that made a difference. The early Solanke goal was helpful as the opposition had Lewis Hall in their defence. In the 3pm fixtures; Bournemouth aided me as they grabbed a late winner against Everton. He had Ashley Young in his team, so I was grateful there was no clean sheet. Milos Kerkez provided the goal for David Brooks as left backs continue to shine in FPL. Another of my opponent’s defenders did not deliver as Crystal Palace and Chelsea drew 1-1 at Selhurst Park. Marc Guehi was the man in question, as ironically it was a man we both owned in Cole Palmer who denied Palace of a shutout before Jean-Philippe Mateta levelled it up.
Manchester City scored 4 as they looked more like their old selves as they beat West Ham. Erling Haaland was at the double and Phil Foden got the fourth goal, De Bruyne assisted it, but I had obviously hoped for much more from him. I previously spoke of Savinho being a differential and he helped himself to three assists. Going away to Brentford will not be easy, but with Ipswich after that there could be some points in Pep Guardiola’s men before they face Chelsea and Arsenal, even then there could be points about for them. I thought Josko Gvardiol was going to bring in clean sheet points only for Nicklas Fullkrug to get a consolation goal. St Mary’s was the location for my worst nightmare. Brentford took the lead and as Mbeumo did not score I was okay. The Cameroonian then made it 2-0, I was fine with that as I expected him to score. I had to go and do something only to come back to see at full time that it was 5-0! Mbeumo got a brace and then setup the fourth goal. Yoane Wissa who loves a late goal added a fifth and Dwayne had him. Mbeumo accumulated 19 points and adding to the misery was the fact Aaron Ramsdale was my keeper as Lukasz Fabianski was out injured, it cannot really get worse than this. I was thinking Diaz could do damage to United but with De Bruyne only getting an assist it clearly looked like I had sold the wrong the person.
Sunday, saw another of Dwayne’s backline not return as Fulham and Ipswich drew 2-2 at Craven Cottage, meaning a rare blank from Anfernee Robinson. Liam Delap was a terror once again as he continued to do well since I sold him as he scored a penalty. Next up it was the big one, Liverpool and Manchester United. The Red Devils showed a stubbornness, clearly displaying they were not going to roll over for their bitter rivals and in the second half they took the lead. Lisandro Martinez crashed a shot in off the bar and left Anfield silent. Soon after Cody Gakpo scored a superb goal to level things up, as I have said if Gakpo was a midfielder rather than a forward I would have had him in a long time ago, but it is too hard to get a forward at that price the way my team currently looks. Salah was the most captained this week and he rewarded managers when he tucked away a penalty. However, United were to shock the home side as Amad Diallo scored a late equaliser as it finished 2-2. Diaz was withdrawn after just an hour as my transfer was worthless, the thought of the team I support destroying a team I despise got the better of me. With Salah being Dwayne’s triple captain, his lead was extended despite Alisson being his other player and he did not return. I now had a 12 point-deficit as it stood 58-46 as Andy Robertson blanked for me.
Monday, staged the last match of the gameweek as Wolves entertained Nottingham Forest, in the end it was the away side that did the entertaining. Wolves had a bag of chances but did not take them as Forest win 3-0 producing a classic counter attacking display. Chris Wood was the most-transferred player in this week, and he scored the second goal as his great campaign continued. Jorgen Strand Larsen was the guilty player regarding the missed chances for the home side as he could have had a hat-trick on another day and that would have made the head-to-head very interesting. Instead, it was a straightforward win for Dwayne as Ola Aina’s clean sheet points gave him a 64-49 victory.
With the cup competitions coming to the fore there has been a nice break to reflect and decide on what to do next, so we will see if I can recover. I was partially naive this week and it cost me, there is no sentimental value in FPL, and I should have just stuck with the midfield I had. A shoutout to the highest Justice League scorer this week, Delvin with 84 points.
@DubulDee
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