My gameweek 22 opposition was my good friend Rian (Milito). We usually speak regularly but this week we were not friends. When we last spoke before the matchup, he had not checked who he was up against, and he almost said what he was looking to do as he had 3 free transfers. I informed him not to say a word as he was playing me. I was locked in and needed a win after back-to-back defeats.
I had two free transfers after not making one last week and I thought strongly about getting Cody Gakpo in up top hence his form but instead thought I will target Southampton and got in the heavily owned Chris Wood. Jorgen Strand Larsen was the man to make way, he will probably be back in my side before the end of the season, however. As I was getting in a popular forward my other transfer in midfield needed to be a differential. Leicester were my target now as they had been conceding despite Ruud van Nistelrooy being at the helm now. Fulham travelled there and Alex Iwobi was doing well and attracting managers, so I went for Harry Wilson (£5.2m) who was owned by less than 1%. I hoped Wilson started as last campaign when I got him in, he was left on the bench for most of the games, this season Marco Silva seemed to have more confidence in him it seemed. Luis Diaz made way as I fully regretted getting him thinking Liverpool would beat Manchester United heavily and he would contribute. Rian made four changes, so took a 4-point deduction. He sold Joe Gomez, Bernardo Silva, Matheus Cunha and Joao Pedro for Neco Williams, Anthony Elanga, Alexander Isak and Raul Jimenez. I captained Wood, as although he was highly owned, I knew people would go for Mo Salah, Isak or Cole Palmer, the latter was my opponent’s captain.
The action began early on Saturday at St James’ Park as Newcastle met Bournemouth. The Cherries took the lead through a nice finish by Justin Kluivert. Eddie Howe’s men fought back through a Bruno Guimaraes header from a Lewis Hall corner as Hall continued to produce for his owners. Andoni Iraola’s men did not let that deter them however as they went on to impressively win 4-1, as Kluivert helped himself to a hat-trick and assisted the fourth goal against his dad’s former club. At £5.6m Kluivert is a great option as he is also on penalties, he is staggering still owned by under 7%. Isak’s blank was bad news for us both and showed why I have an issue with captaining people in the early kick-off. The Swede did not even have a shot on target. In addition, I still had Jacob Murphy in my team, and he was substituted just after the hour mark.
In the 3pm’s, Liverpool looked like they were heading for a goalless draw with Brentford when up stepped substitute Darwin Nunez with a brace at the depth to seal a huge victory. Salah’s blank was another to hurt us both but at least this week he was not my captain. Andy Robertson was only a substitute and if Kostas Tsimikas is going to stay in the starting XI, I may have to offload the Scotsman. Harry Wilson justified me transferring him in as he assisted the second goal for Adama Traore as Fulham won 2-0 at Leicester. It was a classy finish by Traore. Luckily Jimenez did not contribute for Rian. I was to get no clean sheet from Lukasz Fabianski as West Ham fell to a 2-0 defeat at home to Crystal Palace. Jean-Philippe Mateta (£7.3m) was amongst the points again as he copped a brace. I really need to squeeze a player from the Eagles into my team.
In the late game, I needed a favour from Aston Villa as my opponent had Gabriel Magalhaes in his defence. The Gunners went into a 2-goal lead, only for Unai Emery’s men to salvage a point, so all was good. With Arsenal’s set piece threat, it is always squeaky bum time when you are up against Gabriel. Saturday concluded with me ahead 17-4.
Sunday, saw Brighton beat Manchester United yet again as it ended 3-1 at Old Trafford. This meant a blank from Amad Diallo, who I was worried about after his hat-trick last week. Kaoru Mitoma (£6.3m) scored for the second time since I sold him, and I may have to bring him back. When I checked Nottingham Forest’s score, I saw they well 3-0 up in the first half so was hoping Wood at had least assisted. Luckily for me he scored and assisted as for once I was spot on with my captain choice. Southampton pulled two goals back in a nervy ending for Nuno Espirito Santo’s team as it finished 3-2. Rian’s Forest pair of Williams and Elanga were to blank to his frustration as my lead widened.
In the last Sunday contest, Manchester City looked like their old selves as they won 6-0 at Ipswich. Phil Foden bagged a brace and assisted. More importantly for my team, Kevin De Bruyne got three assists. He was the last City player to touch the ball on Foden’s first goal so got a fantasy assist. He also setup Foden’s second for him to finish from close range and played in Jeremy Doku for the fourth goal just after the interval. De Bruyne could have scored himself as he had two decent chances that he put over. All that and the Belgian was not to finish amongst the bonus points as they went to Foden, Doku and Kovacic. I was not pleased at that nonetheless I was clearly not unhappy at De Bruyne’s double figure haul which was accompanied by Josko Gvardiol’s clean sheet points. Rian also had Gvardiol, but at Sunday’s completion my lead had stretched to 44 points as it was 59-15.
Chelsea hosted Wolves on Monday in what was a formality regarding the head-to-head battle despite the fact Palmer was Rian’s captain and he had Robert Sanchez and Nicolas Jackson. The Blues went on to win 3-1 even though Palmer did not return. Sanchez and Jackson’s blanks too meant that I comfortably triumphed 62-23. My score was well above the week’s average score so in terms of recent form I got a rare green arrow for my rank. I moved up to seventh in the Justice League table too. Shoutout to Boods (Ash) who got the highest score in the head-to-head league with 82, demolishing Muji as he captained Foden. Nice for me to get back to winnings ways but I need more!
@DubulDee
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