Fellow Liverpool fan Dwayne was my gameweek 11 opposition. He had been in the 'Justice League' since it began, and we had more or less split our games since its introduction. I was looking for my sixth head-to-head victory in-a-row which would keep me top of table, the problem was I was playing the man in second place.
I intentionally rolled over a transfer so I could have two free ones this week, but I was confused with what to do. Weeks ago, I decided I was going to get Kaoru Mitoma back in around now, but then I thought Brighton's trip to Everton may not be as straightforward as some were making out, so I went in a different direction. I looked through the next set of fixtures for teams and thought as I had James Ward-Prowse for what looked like matches West Ham could return in, I went for the player who was most likely to score for them in Jarrod Bowen. The plan all along was to let go of Dejan Kulusevski, who had not returned for me since I got him in, but as I already had Alphonse Areola and Vladimir Coufal, it was Ward-Prowse that had to be sold. With no idea of who else I would want to sell this week, I decided to roll a transfer over to gameweek 12 when hopefully I will have a better idea of whom to bring in. When the deadline passed, I saw that Dwayne transferred out the injured Pedro Neto for Leon Bailey. We both captained Mo Salah despite Manchester City being at home to Bournemouth and Erling Haaland potentially having a big haul.
None of us had anyone in the early kick-off, so we head straight to the 3pm kick offs. Brentford hosted West Ham and Neal Maupay decided to end his 14-month goal drought at the expense of my keeper Areola. The Hammers replied quickly through a speculative effort from Mohammed Kudus, before the man I got in, Bowen, made it 2-1. Bowen calmly put the rebound in after Kudus hit the post and I momentarily thought I was a genius. The winger became the first man to score in six consecutive away games to start a Premier League season. The Bees fought back to win 3-2, so Areola only ended with one point but at least Bowen did his job. I had frequently changed who I was starting as my third defender out of Charlie Taylor and Pedro Porro, I was leaning towards Taylor as Crystal Palace do not score many goals and Taylor had scored in the last gameweek. I then saw that Eberechi Eze was fit again, and the Eagles had sorely missed him, so I put Porro back in my XI, however, at the last minute I put Taylor back in. So, trust Roy Hodgson's men to score twice at Turf Moor on Saturday as they got their third away win of the campaign. Jordan Ayew put his namesake Bayer in a tailspin as he assisted Jeff Schlupp for the first, and that man Eze laid on the second for a man who has been a mainstay in my side in previous seasons, Tyrick Mitchell. So much for Palace not scoring many, really though to be honest I saw this coming but tried to have a major differential in the head-to-head. Crystal Palace's players may have to be seriously looked at given some of the games that they have coming up.
Brighton travelled to Goodison Park, and it was the home side who took the lead through Vitalii Mykolenko. I was praying there was no contribution from Mitoma as Dwayne had him and then in the 84th minute I got a notification that Mitoma had levelled, but then it changed to an own goal by Ashley Young, so I breathed a sigh of relief. Two points mean a whole lot when you are in a close head-to-head encounter as the game ended 1-1. Sheffield United were the only team left in the Premier League without a win and I had Hee-chan Hwang, so normally I would have been expecting Wolves to go there and win. However, something told me they would break their duck. Cameron Archer who sits as an enabler on many peoples' bench smashed in the opener in off the bar in the 72nd minute before Hwang assisted Jean-Ricner Bellegarde who got a fine equaliser. But there was to be a debatable penalty for the Blades in the 100th minute and Oliver Norwood smashed it in off the bar like the woodwork owed him money. My gut feeling came to the fore but at least Hwang got a return. On the other hand, Archer who is not bashful to pull the trigger when he gets any form of a sight of goal at £4.5m is someone that you may have to consider starting more if you have him already. They have Brighton next who are a very attacking side and then play Bournemouth and Burnley, so I would not be surprised if his 9.4% ownership increases.
Manchester City did what was expected of them as they thrashed Bournemouth 6-1 at the Etihad, but their two most popular players did not feature in any of the goals. Haaland who is always the most captained, was taken off at half-time as a precaution and Julian Alvarez came off after their fourth goal as Jeremy Doku (£6.6m) ran riot with a 22-point haul. Could this be the beginning of the end of the Haaland-Alvarez double up that many people including myself have? We shall see. Dwayne also had both the City man up top so no-one gained anything here, but the other forward (Callum Wilson) he had was in action in the evening game that I had no-one participating in. Arsenal made the long trip to St James' Park and came away empty-handed in a contest filled with controversy. Dwayne also had William Saliba in his team, so I was constantly checking the score whilst I continued my birthday celebrations. I hoped when I heard the Magpies had taken the lead that it was not Wilson who had scored it. I was happy to see that Anthony Gordon got the goal, but should it have stood? Did the ball go out of play? Did Joelinton foul Gabriel Magalhaes? For me it did not matter, Wilson and Saliba had not returned, and I was dancing like it was my birthday...oh yeh it was! Mad for to mate! A horribly low scoring Saturday had me ahead 17-13.
Sunday, saw Nottingham Forest face Aston Villa, and after a torrid Saturday I thought my Villa-triple would bring some joy however, it was not to be as Forest beat them 2-0, as they always say it is the hope that kills you. Not to say they were not all close to returning, Matty Cash put one over and Moussa Diaby played in Nicolo Zaniolo who had an effort saved. As well as this, Cash had a header that hit a Forest players arm, but no penalty was given and then Watkins put a header wide that you would expect him to hit the target with. As if things were not going my way in this game already, Cash was then subbed with a shoulder issue just short of the hour mark, so he did not even receive a point. Diaby continued to be wasteful as he had an effort saved and then towards the end passed when he should have shot. The only positives I could take were that Dwayne had Bailey, who only came off the bench and Ezri Konsa only got him a single point. Me winning was looking highly unlikely now as I only had Kostas Tsimikas and Salah left. Whereas Dwayne also had Salah, as well as Alisson Becker, Cristian Romero and James Maddison, it was looking like I needed a miracle.
Things started off in the worst possible fashion in the latter match, as Tsimikas who was the most transferred-in player for gameweek 11 was left on the bench, and Joe Gomez started at left back against Luton. The most transferred-in FPL curse reared its ugly head once again. Liverpool wasted some decent chances, but Luton looked dangerous on the break too. Darwin Nunez, has blood on his hands as he blasted over after Salah mistimed a header, and then shortly after the Hatters made Jurgen Klopp's men pay as they took the lead through Tahith Chong. Despite Alisson conceding aided me in the head-to-head I was far from pleased. The Reds salvaged a point when Harvey Elliott's inviting ball in was headed home by Luis Diaz. Diaz did a tribute to his Dad in his celebration, as he is still being held hostage in Colombia. Tsimikas did come off the bench to get a point, but with the saves Alisson made despite not getting the clean sheet, he ended up claiming maximum bonus points. Sunday concluded with me ahead by just one point 26-25, so as soon as Tottenham played on Monday if Romero and Maddison both started Dwayne would take the lead without them even needing to return. I needed all the extended-birthday luck possible to even get near surviving this!
Monday evening finally came, and I had no idea that one of the craziest and bizarre football matches I have ever seen was going to take place. A match full of VAR reviews, red cards, injuries and disallowed goals took place in a London Derby for the ages. Tottenham took the lead through Dejan Kulusevski, who finally decided to score when I put him on the bench...sod's law! Thankfully it was assisted by Pape Sarr and not Maddison or Romero. Chelsea thought they had equalised, but Raheem Sterling was penalised for handball. At the start of the move for the disallowed goal, Romero kicked out at Levi Colwill but survived being disciplined. Chelsea then had another goal from Moises Caicedo disallowed but before he shot at goal, Romero again committed a foul. He was not to get away with it this time as though he played the ball first his follow through caught his compatriot Enzo Fernandez and Romero was given his marching orders. After thinking he had escaped, I could not believe my luck and this meant Dwayne was immediately deducted three points, so once again I was in the lead. My fortune was to be added to as Maddison picked up a knock and in stoppage time in the first half he was subbed for Emerson Royal, and just like that I had won as Maddison only got a solitary point, this was a madness of the highest order, I could not believe it! I was still mad as a hatter from Liverpool dropping points at Luton but somehow in the lowest scoring FPL gameweek of the season thus far I was going to win my head-to-head contest. Nicolas Jackson copped a second half hat-trick after Destiny Odogie was sent off as Ange Postecoglou's men went down to nine men as the Blues prevailed 4-1. I completely forgot that when a player gets sent off, they still get deducted points when their team concedes 2+ goals. So, although I had won as soon as Maddison was subbed, I ended up winning 26-22 as Romero ended on -4!
So, Mauricio Pochettino had the last laugh on his return to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and somehow, I had the last laugh to gain my sixth consecutive Justice League victory. I now have some small breathing space at the top as I pulled three points clear of Dwayne and only my cousin Clement of the men immediately near me won. And this is all in-spite of moving down overall in the world as my score was six points under the average. On to gameweek 12 then where I play the reigning champion Khurram (K), who has already told me he is plotting how to defeat me, believe me you do not want to miss the next instalment!
@DubulDee
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