I usually check who my opponent is well in advance, but I had been so busy I had not had a look. On Friday evening, I was talking to Rian (Milito) as we both mulled over the fact neither of us had Erling Haaland. Then I thought let me check who I am up against in gameweek 3...you guessed it lo and behold it was Rian. Both of us had lost our opening two games, so something had to give here. The phone call ended not too long after that and we were not going to be friends for a couple of days. The irony is this would have happened on Sunday anyway as the teams we supported, Manchester United and Liverpool were facing each other.
Originally, I was not going to make any changes to my team, although I knew I had to check on the situation with Phil Foden. I did not do my due diligence on Friday regarding press conferences, so I did not realise until Saturday morning that Pep Guardiola had ruled out Foden. I would have brought in Manchester City’s new signing Savinho but as he had a knock, I went with someone I knew would start in Bernardo Silva, this move also neutralised my opponent. Rian made two transfers resulting in a four-point hit. Out went Alejandro Garnacho and Ollie Watkins for Cole Palmer and Rodrigo Muniz. Chess was clearly in process here as I had both players. I left my captaincy with Mo Salah as he loves going to Old Trafford, whilst Rian gave his to Bukayo Saka.
The Emirates Stadium hosted the first contest of the gameweek. Arsenal took the lead against Brighton thanks to some quick thinking by Saka and a clever lobbed finish from Kai Havertz. The perfect combination for my opponent to my disgust. I messaged him to say it was over as I viewed more contributions from those two players. However, Declan Rice was sent off and Brighton fought back to salvage a point. With Rian also having Gabriel from the Gunners, Joao Pedro’s equaliser was welcomed. Havertz had a shot saved brilliantly by Bart Verbruggen with his legs and Saka stretched for a ball in and it was saved, so I had some luck in this game.
In the 3pm affairs; it did not influence the head-to-head, but I made a mistake overlooking any Brentford assets as Bryan Mbeumo (£7.1m) and Yoane Wissa (£6.1m) continue to shine as the Bees won 3-1 at home to Southampton. Another game that did not affect the matchup but needs a mention was at Goodison Park. Bournemouth staged a very late comeback to prevail 3-2 after being 2-0 down. Antoine Semenyo (£5.6m) was on the scoresheet as he continues to impress. The problem for those like me in getting him in is that he is now a midfielder, last season he was a forward and the options in midfield are vast but he is on the ‘watchlist’.
Fulham drew 1-1 away at Ipswich. Antonee Robinson at least got an assist, but it was yet another blank for Muniz, when you think of what the likes of the Wissa and for instance Danny Welbeck have returned, I am disgusted. You would expect at least one contribution against Manchester United, Leicester and Ipswich. Rian rued letting Ollie Watkins go as he assisted Amadou Onana as Villa won 2-1 at Leicester. There were two early goals at the City Ground as Nottingham Forest and Wolves drew 1-1. This meant Matz Sels conceded again when I started him, as well as a blank from Rayan Ait-Nouri. Chris Wood scored again and at £6.1m looks a bargain. He is slowly creeping out of differential territory however, as he is owned by 7.8% now. Forest play Liverpool after the international break, but then have Brighton and Fulham after that before travelling to Chelsea. Following Chelsea, they have Crystal Palace, Leicester and West Ham, so even outside of Wood, having a Forest player could be worthwhile.
In the late encounter, Manchester City triumphed in a potentially tricky trip to West Ham 3-1. Haaland made non-owners suffer once again as he bagged back-to-back hat-tricks! This is just silly now; the man almost costs a sixth of your FPL budget and he is rising (currently £15.2m), but 7 goals in 3 games shows exactly why. Bernardo assisted the first and collected two bonus points as my transfer paid off. Ruben Dias’ own goal was good for me as the opposition had Josko Gvardiol in his defence. Despite a couple of good things happening, I was still facing another deficit when Saturday concluded, Rian led 33-16.
Sunday, saw Chelsea and Crystal Palace draw 1-1 at Stamford Bridge. Eberechi Eze’s fine goal cancelled out Nicolas Jackson’s opener. Jackson continues to prove that he would have been a better pick for me to replace Dominic Solanke, than a man who also played in this game Jean-Phillipe Mateta. With Eddie Nketiah now signing, Mateta might not even be the starting striker for the Eagles anymore, so my choice of forward continues to look like a poor one. Palmer got his 4th assist of the season on the Jackson goal as he again shows that he is a must-have even at £10.6m. The Blues have favourable fixtures after the international break, so his ownership is ever-increasing. In the other 2pm kick off, Newcastle left it late to edge Tottenham out 2-1 at St James’ Park. Jacob Murphy’s unselfishness allowed Alexander Isak to open his account for the campaign to win it. Rian and I both owned the Swede as well as Pedro Porro who only got a point. The goal by Ange Postecoglou’s men was needed as Nick Pope was my opponent’s keeper.
As Rian and I both owned Diogo Jota, it was up to my captain Salah to try and complete a comeback. Two goal contributions could get the job done, and Salah ended up doing that and more as he once again proved to be a nightmare at the 'Theatre of Dreams'. Liverpool went let their bitter rivals off the hook to an extent as they cut Manchester United open time and time again as it finished 3-0 at Old Trafford. Luis Diaz had a first half brace and both goals were assisted by Salah. In the second half, Salah helped himself to a goal and missed another great chance soon after as Arne Slot’s men kept another clean sheet. Not having a defender from the team I support was killing me. Salah’s 17 points meant that I had won 71-52 as I was finally off the mark this season.
Facing another gameweek without Haaland is becoming extremely scary, however, if I was to draw for my ‘Wildcard’ after the international break, squeezing in the big Norwegian would require a lot of drafting. Anyway, we shall see, all I know is I am happy to finally get off the mark. 200 points after 3 gameweeks is usually a solid score, only with Haaland’s web of destruction my rank is weak. I will try to make full use of this early interval.
@DubulDee
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