Gameweek 19
'Christmas-Itis'
First of all, I would like to say I hope you all had a great Christmas, and that the New Year will have you in good health, and bring everything you hope and desire. You are all appreciated, without you reading, then there would be no point of me writing. Please, if you like an article or blog, do not forget to like the post by tapping that little heart, and please share with people you know who like to read, so danzigzags.co.uk can grow in 2020 and beyond. Do not forget to subscribe either, as there will be a forum kicking off at some point next year. Now that is out of the way, let us talk FPL, because that is obviously what you are here for.
I decided to use my first wildcard, as the expire date for it was almost up as 2019 was drawing to a close. As I do not start players who are going up against Liverpool, their first game of this tiresome post-Christmas schedule was away to Leicester. So as I had three players from the Foxes in Youri Tielemens, James Maddison and Jamie Vardy, I decided to let Tielemens and Maddison go for now, I was not going to sell Vardy however, he is scoring too many goals, and his price was ever rising, so I was just going to leave him on the bench for one game. Bournemouth's Diego Rico was suspended for one game, so I let him go too. Out also went Aston Villa's John McGinn, as he fractured his ankle and it looks like he will be out for almost three months. Out too went Lys Mousset of Sheffield United, as I did not think he would be featuring in all the games, as the Blades had five men that they could rotate up front. Chris Wilder had not made many changes to his team this season, so I presumed now was the perfect time to do so. My original point of using the wildcard was to get Sergio Aguero back in now he had returned from injury, but as Mousset only costs £4.9m, this meant a major reshuffle had to take place, leaving me then only with the option of low priced midfielders, who may not have started both games. So after tucking into my late Christmas turkey and following it up with some apple pie and custard, with my eyes drooping I somehow decided to go in a different direction...
Grant Hanley (Norwich), who was in my team earlier in the season, but then had a spell out injured came in, as now he was fit again,nhe is their club captain so would be starting games, and he was very cheap at £4m. The midfield was a key area for me, I wanted a mixture of players who either took set pieces or who I thought could get goals. I decided to draft in Bournemouth's Ryan Fraser, a key figure of my team last season, as I know he takes some set plays, and the Cherries' upcoming games looked like ones he could get points in. Crystal Palace's Wilfried Zaha was in decent form recently, so I got him in, as glancing at Palace's fixtures he looked like he could do some damage. The last midfield change came as I wanted an Aston Villa player in to replace their teammate John McGinn. In regards to the fact he would take a lot of set pieces with McGinn sidelined, I thought of bringing in Conor Hourihane, but I went with the captain Jack Grealish. Grealish, has accumulated points well thus far, and was clearly more likely to get minutes, with how much he means to the team, £6.3m was a decent price for a man who is knocking on the England door. This left me with £6.7m in the bank, and there was one more change to make. So despite I was not going to do it, as his first stint for me was poor to say the least, I decided to bring Norwich's Teemu Pukki back in, 'I know, I know, but hear me out!...'. My opponent this week was the head-to-head league leader Jermaine, a man I have known for almost 30 years, a good friend who knows his football. and I was trying to outwit him. Pukki's price had dropped to £6.6m and a lot of owners had let him go, so I was trying to think outside the box. The Finnish international does score in bursts, and had looked quite lively recently, so I was temporarily trying to cash in on it, as I believed my midfielders would do a job, I thought why not for a couple of games, if it was to backfire, then in a worst case scenario I could use the new wildcard in a few games to rectify it. When I pressed confirm, I was then able to catch a power nap, so then I was in a slightly better state to watch and pay my full attention to some Christmas Day basketball, then I could sleep until I pleased when it finished, not having to wake myself up for the fantasy football deadline, things were not that deep to be lsoing sleep over were they....
The festive action started early on Boxing Day with Spurs entertaining Brighton, as once again Amazon Prime had all the Premier League games for this gameweek. I watched the game with my friend Rian (Milito), as Spurs won 2-1, with Dele Alli scoring the winner. Jose Mourinho has him firing, and before his price skyrockets up, I may have to break my ''rivals' rule and draft him in. Lewis Dunk, did not start for Brighton due to illness, but I had left him on the bench anyway, he probably had too much turkey like myself and could not constantly breaking wind. The 3pm matches saw Bournemouth draw 1-1 with Arsenal, Fraser almost scored, but Arsenal did play well considering I thought that they would be vulnerable defensively. Aston Villa beat Norwich 1-0 at Villa Park, Grealish assisted Hourihane's winner, when a man you transferred in, assists the man you were going to bring in, you cannot really complain I suppose. So there was nothing from Teemu Pukki to my dismay, oh actually my mistake he got booked again, 'thanks for that mate!'. I blame the 'itis' for putting him back in, I really do. Southampton surprised everyone as they won 2-0 at Chelsea, and all this was with Danny Ings on the bench. Alex McCarthy, got a clean sheet when I had benched him for Ben Foster. And that is a segway into the fact Foster conceded as Watford drew 1-1 away at
Sheffield United. A mistake with my keeper choice again here, and there was no significant return from United's John Lundstram. Mousset was on the bench, so I called it right that he would not start. Crystal Palace won 2-1 at home to West Ham, they came from behind with an assist and a goal from Jordan Ayew. I had said earlier on in the campaign I would draft him in at a point, why did I not do it as my alternative to Aguero, instead of being lured in again by Pukki, 'wwwhhhyyy?!?!?!'.
I had no players in the teatime match with Manchester United and Newcastle, so now to the evening game. Liverpool produced a great performance to dispatch of Leicester at the King Power Stadium 4-0. And it was a Trent Alexander-Arnold masterclass, when I use my next wildcard, I may need to switch him and Andy Robertson around, only issue would be Trent's justified high price (£7.4m), but if I chop and change enough, then I can surely find a way to do it. The two of them have a competition to see who will get more assists, but Alexander-Arnold is taking more set plays, so he looks like the more likely person if we are to be honest here, and with Liverpool keeping clean sheets again, I may have to consider alternatively doubling up with Liverpool defenders as I did at the start of the season. This would obviously mean having to carefully pick a midfield of cost-efficient players to make it work. Sadio Mane got in on the points with an assist for Alexander-Arnold's goal, which went together with 3 assists for the full back (only two were registered by Opta however). I had a 10 point lead over Jermaine, in what was a low scoring game, but I had not players left and he had Kevin De Bruyne still to play, so he had a slim chance if the Belgian was on his game.
So to the last game of the round 19, and it saw Wolves come from 2-0 down against 10 man Manchester City. Aguero was taken off as Ederson was sent off early on, so for this gameweek I did not miss out on points after going against picking him. Fortunately there was no major impact from De Bruyne, so I was able to get the win, my fourth head-to-head win in a row. This also meant Jermaine was knocked off the top, and taken over by my #FootyOnTop co-presenter Darren (D-Man). The victory was unfortunately bittersweet as I lost my cup tie, basically down to my decision to put Pukki back in. Fair play to my cup opponent as they had Mason Greenwood who scored in Manchester United's 4-1 win. The moral of the story is, do not pick a team when you have eaten a lot of food, drank alot and are struggling to open your eyes!
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Gameweek 20
'The Default Curse'
The fixtures in the Justice League (Head-to-head league) were now being reversed so my opponent was my boy Dan again, who I beat on the opening week of the season. Dan had not made any changes to his side for awhile I could see, as he had a couple of injured players. I was wary of his team however as he had some heavy hitters at his disposal. He had the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Tammy Abraham, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and most importantly he had Marcus Rashford as his captain. In that sense it was imperative for me that Rashford did not score or assist, but United were playing Burnley this gameweek, so the hopes of this happening were slim given his form.
Things started quite well for me, as Brighton won 2-0 at home to Bournemouth in Saturday's first game. The shutout by the Seagulls meant Lewis Dunk got me 8 points as he received two bonus points. Ryan Fraser was benched and I had decided late on to start him instead of Wilf Zaha, so this was not good, he came on, but only got one point. Danny Ings, was back in the starting xi and on the scoresheet yet again as Southampton drew at home 1-1 with Crystal Palace. Zaha was denied an assist, as VAR ruled out a Palace goal in the first half, otherwise I would have been rueing leaving him out. This meant nothing of course from Martin Kelly, and there was no Alex McCarthy clean sheet, as I decided to put him in for Ben Foster. To my anguish Foster kept a clean sheet in his match, as 10 man Watford won 3-0 at Vicarage Road against Aston Villa. The Hornets were only up 1-0 when they went down to ten men, so I thought Villa would definitely score, but it did not happen. If they go down they should look at this match, this was poor from them! This of course meant no great return from Jack Grealish who was also booked.
The 5.30pm games saw Norwich and Spurs draw 2-2. The VAR was to deny me points once again, as Teemu Pukki had a goal ruled out with another extremely tight decision. My plan had almost worked, only for it to be taken away. Brendan Rodgers made nine changes in the other game, as Leicester won 2-1 away at West Ham, congratulations to Rebekah Vardy, Jamie's wife, as she had a baby, so he missed the game. This all meant my vice captain Danny Ings would get the captain points, so it was a good job that he scored. The late game at Turf Moor was going so well as Manchester United were beating Burnley 1-0, and there was nothing from Rashford. Then injury time came, and the Clarets got caught on the counter, though he almost made a hash of it, Rashford scored. This had me sulking like a child, as he also got maximum bonus points. With me not knowing how strong Jurgen Klopp would go for Liverpool's game with Wolves, meant I consigned myself to defeat, as I expected Dan's strikers to score in the Arsenal and Chelsea game, and then there was the small issue of De Bruyne too (sarcasm if you did not realise).
Despite already conceding that there was no way back against Dan, Sunday really did not help in any fashion. First off, Chelsea won 2-1 at Arsenal in a classic 'smash and grab' at the Emirates. As I thought, Aubameyang and Abraham both netted, Abraham's winner was another late goal that to kill me, so I now needed a more than a miracle to even salvage a draw. The second game, saw Liverpool win 1-0 in a VAR influenced game at home to Wolves. Sadio Mane got the goal, as Klopp named all of the front three, and I had thought that he may rotate. I really needed something from Mo Salah though, and did not get it, I was already set to lose by a couple of points, but just in case there was any faint chance of redemption, De Bruyne nipped it in the bud. In the late kick off, Man City won 2-0 against Sheffield United at the Etihad. De Bruyne assisted Aguero for the first goal, so I was left to rue not using my wildcard to get the Argentine in, and I knew it would happen once I saw he wa starting again. Part of Pep's rotation policy, made me think Gabriel Jesus' form may mean Aguero might not be starting yet and pushed me to not get him in just yet, but as he came off early at Wolves last gameweek, I was to be wrong. Then to stick the knife into me further, De Bruyne scored the second to seal a 13 point victory for Dan, when he did not even change his team, to say I was upset is an understatement. So, as I thought, it was that late Rashford goal that stung me. The goal got him 7 extra points, double that as he was Dan's captain, and that makes 14, and Dan won by 13 points, 'I feel sick!'. I mean I am a long way from the positions to get the money in the head-to-head league, but believe me, I do not like losing! Well done Dan nonetheless.
@DubulDee
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