A limited Premier League fixture list, with it being the quarter finals of the FA Cup, ended up being quite fruitful, as I finally used my 'Free Hit'. With six Premier League teams still left in the cup, it meant that there were only five league games, this meant from my team last week, in my squad of 15, there were only seven active players for GW31.
To give myself a full team for this week, I used the 'Free hit' option, which obviously for 1 week means you can make unlimited changes. All in all I made seven changes, in came Jonas Lossl, Charlie Daniels, Zanka (Mathias Jorgensen), James Tarkowski, in goal and at the back. In midfield; Felipe Anderson and Ryan Fraser came in, and up front, I drafted in; Solomon Rondon and Callum Wilson. Not of all these players were going to start this week, but just in case there were any surprise selections, or late injury news, I knew that there were adequate players to come in just in case anyone ended up being inactive.
As West Ham were playing Huddersfield, Lukasz Fabianski was always going to be my pick in goal, as he is a very good shot stopper, and I thought he may get a clean sheet, he ended up conceding 3, which meant he only got 1 point, and this was despite West Ham winning the game 4-3 late on. Imagine if I had put his opposite number Lossl in goal, it would have been even worse. I started charlie Daniels in defence and he got no points, as Bournemouth drew 2-2 with Newcastle and he got booked, thanks Charlie! I actually started Zanka too, wishfully thinking he may need a goal or an assist from a set piece maybe, but as he was on the bench, I got a solitary point from Declan Rice instead. Andy Robertson on the Sunday, got 2 points, as Liverpool won 2-1 away at Fulham, it could have been better as he almost scored and if his delivery had been better, he would have surely got an assist, as he as usual go into good positions.
In the middle, Saturday saw Leicester win 2-1 away at Burnley, and Youri Tielemens, did a job for me again as he crossed it in for the winner by substitute Wes Morgan. Felipe Anderson, showed I was right to include him, as he crossed the ball for Javier Hernandez to complete West Ham's comeback from 3-1 down in that game with Huddersfield. On the Sunday; Mo Salah drew another blank, but guess what, for once I listened to my head/gut and not my heart and gave the captaincy to Sadio Mane. This move was to pay off, as Mane opened the scoring against Fulham, and the he won the penalty that won the game, after being fouled by Fulham's keeper Sergio Rico. In terms of Opta statistics, Mane winning the penalty would mean nothing, but in fantasy football, that of course counts as an assist.
Up front; Jamie Vardy was not able to continue his hot streak disappointingly. In what was a head-to-head battle for my other strikers, Wilson did not find the net, despite going close, but Rondon scored a lovely freekick and got a couple of bonus points. I will fully take the 54 points I accumulated,a s I honestly did not expect to get past 40. I wish I had put Josh King in for Wilson, but hindsight is a beautiful thing.
@DubulDee
Comments