Gameweek 9 saw me pitted against the person I have known the longest in the ‘Justice League’, my friend Jermaine. He was a solid FPL player and was one of the managers who had been in the league since it first began. Despite doing well in classic points in terms of head-to-head matches, I was looking for back-to-back wins for the first time this season.
I had no intention of making any changes this gameweek but when Arne Slot confirmed Diogo Jota was to miss more time with a rib issue, I had to seek a replacement. After a long look I narrowed it down to two options, either Bryan Mbeumo or Jarrod Bowen. With there being such a massive difference in ownership I almost went for Bowen as at the time his ownership was under 6%. In the end I went with Mbeumo as I had wanted him in my team for quite a few weeks now, he was owned by well over 30% but that did not deter me. Jermaine did not make any transfers; I am not sure whether that was his original plan or because he was caught out by the deadline being on a Friday. We both had Erling Haaland as captain, despite something telling me he would not go crazy against Southampton. I knew a few people who were using their ‘triple-captain’ bonus chips but that did not enter my mind here.
The action started on Friday night at the King Power Stadium, as Leicester hosted Nottingham Forest. Ryan Yates gave Forest the lead, but that man, Jamie Vardy, levelled to get me off the mark in the gameweek. A Chris Wood brace secured the points for Nuno Espirito Santo’s men, and it is getting even harder to ignore Wood now (pause!), at the time of print he was flagged for gameweek 10 so that is something to keep an eye on for Nuno’s press conference. I led 8-0 on Friday thanks to Vardy’s goal.
Saturday, saw Aston Villa take the lead late on against Bournemouth. I desperately needed a goal from the Cherries as Emiliano Martinez was Jermaine’s keeper and just when I thought the game was over, up popped Evanilson with a header in the 96th minute to steal a point. Brentford were involved in another high scoring home game in their encounter with Ipswich. The Tractor Boys went into a 2-0 lead as George Hirst who no one owns scored and assisted. Yoane Wissa’s brace at the end of the first half drew things level. The man I brought in, who Jermaine also had Mbeumo, scored a penalty to put the Bees ahead. One of my forwards Liam Delap, was the man to make way for the aforementioned Hirst, but he came on to level things up with a smart finish getting across his marker. This was only for Mbeumo to win the game in rather fortunate fashion as his cross missed everyone and ended up in the back of the net. Again, one of my transfers had worked as Mbeumo accumulated 15 points.
As I intended to let him go soon, I was hoping for a return from Lewis Dunk, only for him to get injured in the warmup before Brighton and Wolves played at the Amex Stadium. Once the match kicked off things worsened for me as Danny Welbeck who was in my opponent’s team gave the Seagulls the lead. It was to end 2-2 and thankfully there was no more contribution from Welbeck. Manchester City took an early though of course Erling Haaland, however to the shock of many it was to be the only goal in the game as Southampton battled and gained some respect. Haaland could have had 5 on another day and I was glad I was patient with my triple captain chip. Josko Gvardiol walked away with maximum bonus points as bringing him in continues to be a successful move. Jermaine had Rico Lewis, so he also benefitted from only City’s second clean sheet of the season. In the late fixture Everton were at home to Fulham. The Cottagers took a second half lead through Alex Iwobi, the assist came from Emile Smith Rowe as I added more points. Iwobi at £5.5m could be a slighter cheaper alternative to Smith Rowe, if you wish to have a Fulham player for their attractive set of fixtures coming up depending on your budget. With Dunk missing Brighton’s game, it meant that I got Antonee Robinson’s points off my bench. I thought Marco Silva’s team were going to get a clean sheet when in the 94th minute Beto headed in an equaliser for the Toffees. Jermaine also had Robinson, so I still had the edge here with the Smith Rowe assist. Saturday concluded with me nicely ahead 59-44.
On Sunday, Chelsea squeezed past Newcastle 2-1 at Stamford Bridge. He did not get any points for it but Cole Palmer, who Jermaine and I both owned played a great pass to Pedro Neto who found Nicolas Jackson for the opening goal. Alexander Isak then levelled for the Magpies in the first half. Right at the start of the second period however, Palmer’s low shot won the game for Enzo Maresca’s men. The goal was assisted by some industrious play by Romeo Lavia, who came into my opponent’s starting XI because of the injury to Jota. Crystal Palace beat Tottenham 1-0 at Selhurst Park, so no return for my opponent here as he had Cristian Romero. With Southampton playing Manchester City, I left Aaron Ramsdale on my bench and started Lukasz Fabianski although I did not expect him to start for West Ham. Unexpectedly, Areola was dropped and Fabianski was in the lineup for the visit of Manchester United. Crysensio Summerville gave the Hammers the lead with a quarter of an hour left and I thought I was on for a clean sheet. This was only for Casemiro to score in the 81st minute, to be honest the Red Devils should have scored numerous times beforehand. If their ridiculous misses were a ploy to get Erik ten Hag sacked...then well done you succeeded! So, after all that Fabianski got one less point than Ramsdale. Julen Lopetegui’s men were still to get the three points through a dubious penalty in the 92nd minute by Jarrod Bowen.
So, just one game remained and unless somewhat of a miracle happened I was in a safe place. Arsenal took an early lead as Bukayo Saka sent Andy Robertson for a ‘Deep-fried Mars bar’ and smashed the ball in at the near post. This took away Jermaine’s chance of a clean sheet from Ibrahima Konate, with him being an Arsenal fan he clearly did not care. Liverpool replied through a Virgil van Dijk header, only for Mikel Merino to put Mikel Arteta’s men back in front with a header from a glorious delivery from Declan Rice. As it got later and later it looked like the Gunners were heading for victory, but Trent Alexander-Arnold played the best pass of the match to Darwin Nunez, and the Uruguayan found Salah who salvaged a point for Arne Slot’s men.
Kai Havertz’s blank left Jermaine on 63 points, as Salah’s goal meant that 8 out of my 11 players returned as I got to 82. That tally meant that for the second successive week I had the highest score in the ‘Justice League’, and I am now in 10th place. Meanwhile Darren B. (D-Man) leads the Justice League, he is level on 21 points with Josh but has 5 more classic points than Josh. With my score being well over the average I am now in the top 800k overall.
@DubulDee
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