After beating the man in second place last week, there was no let-up as I now had to face the defending champion Khurram (K). Khurram was Mr FPL, if you want stats or analysis he was the man. However, this season thus far was different as I was above him for once and I was surprisingly relaxed considering what was at stake. His best mate Muji had messaged me saying I better make sure that I beat him, and Khurram had sent me a screenshot of his notepad as early as last Wednesday as he was plotting my downfall. The issue here was that we had quite a few of the same players so this was going to come down to a few very important differentials. So, sit back, grab some popcorn, because in the words of Kevin Hart, "it's about to go down!".
I had two free transfers, as I rolled one over from last week as I could not decide who else I wanted to let go. One of these transfers were used very early on as whilst watching Chelsea win 4-1 away at Tottenham, as Dejan Kulusevski gave Spurs the lead when I benched him for the first time, out of anger I sold him to get Kaoru Mitoma back in my team. I was happy with my midfield and forwards so if I was not going to let my other transfer go to waste then it had to be in my defence, but I was not exactly worried too much about my defence either. I initially wanted to get Lewis Dunk in despite not knowing who the best player to sell was. Brighton have a decent run of fixtures coming up and first up was Sheffield United, who concede a lot of chances from set pieces. Dunk, came close to scoring numerous times in his last game against Everton including having a goal disallowed. Unfortunately, in the Seagulls' Europa League game with Ajax, Dunk got injured. I considered his teammate Joel Veltman, but then decided to leave Brighton alone. Tyrick Mitchell was another option, but I did not feel that Crystal Palace would keep a clean sheet against Everton so for the time-being I left that move alone. Newcastle had a plethora of injuries, but it was them that I turned to. Fabian Schar was the man I got in and I very reluctantly sold Pedro Porro. Porro always gets into great positions, but I viewed that Tottenham who had many injuries too would now start to leak goals. They had Wolves and the high line that they play I believed would fall into Wolves' hands as Gary O'Neil has spoken many times about how he likes his team to create overloads and draw teams out of position.
When the deadline passed, Khurram informed that he had sold the injured James Maddison for Gabriel Martinelli. He had both Martinelli and Bukayo Saka in his midfield now, would him putting his faith in Arsenal be his downfall like it was for his mate Muji? We shall see. He told me that he captained Mo Salah as he knew I would, and he did not want to be destroyed if he picked a different captain. I had thought about giving my captaincy to Ollie Watkins but stuck with Salah, in home games the Egyptian is a cheat code.
Saturday's action kicked off at Molineux in the aforementioned clash between Wolves and Tottenham. I was on the train on the way home from the radio show, and saw Ange Postecoglou's men took the lead after just three minutes. I was made to pay for selling Porro as he assisted Brennan Johnson, to be honest I was kind of expecting an attacking return from him so I was not as angry as I usually get, that is just FPL life. O'Neil's men poured forward but could not find the net as Mario Lemina and my guy Hee-chan Hwang went close, the latter especially should have scored. The Hwang miss was playing on my mind as the game went into injury time and Porro was set for 12 points to make things worse. But then substitute Pablo Sarabia scored an exquisite goal as he plucked a ball from Lemina out of the air and smashed it in on the volley. That was not to be the last of the action as Sarabia changed sides and was on the right, he played a ball into the corridor of uncertainty and Lemina made the run and stretched to win the game for Wolves in the 97th minute, absolute scenes! Limbs o'clock!! Despite Hwang not scoring I found solace in not missing out on a double-figure haul from Porro. But Porro will return soon to my team despite Spurs' injuries because that was nerve-racking.
The only 3pm kick off that effected the head-to-head was Burnley's trip to Arsenal. This match was highly important for Khurram. The Gunners took longer than expected to take the lead mainly thanks to James Trafford who made a good save from a Saka effort with his right foot. Later, Saka's teasing ball towards the back post was headed in by Leandro Trossard. Trossard got taken out by the post as he bravely headed in but was able to continue. Saka's assist was a negative for me but somehow Mikel Arteta's men went on to triumph 3-1 and that was as bad as it got. I had dodged an Arsenal bullet yet again would you believe it. Josh Brownhill levelled for the Clarets before Trossard's corner was headed in by William Saliba and then Oleksandr Zinchenko volleyed in the third. I was ecstatic and simply messaged Khurram, "surviving Martinelli", as he had not returned. In similar fixtures last season. Saka and Martinelli were producing double figure hauls, so this felt like I had got away with murder, Viola Davis where you at?
The late game was Bournemouth hosting injury-plagued Newcastle. I had Schar but Khurram had Kieran Trippier and Jamaal Lascelles, so this was what was a major factor in me getting Schar in to partially negate his double up. Nick Pope, made a plethora of saves to keep the Cherries at bay and Trippier almost scored from a set piece. But Dominic Solanke was to get a second half brace and I once again had the FPL gods looking over me. I did not mind my Schar blank as it was more important that Lascelles and especially Trippier did not return as I feared a big haul from the latter. Khurram messaged me basically accepting defeat as he led 8-3 but I had more players than him to come so I said it was not over yet.
A lot was to be decided in Sunday's four 2pm kick-offs. Aston Villa continued their exceptional home form as they won their 13th straight game at Villa Park, 3-1 over Fulham. Khurram and I both had Moussa Diaby and his shot went in off of Antonee Robinson for the first. Diaby had a really good chance saved before the own goal also. Matty Cash and Watkins were owned by us both too. Cash did not return, and I am starting to get a little worried there, however, Watkins grabbed the third goal, it was assisted by Leon Bailey who impacted off the bench once again. Especially in these home games Villa players look a good investment, John McGinn scored the second and at only £5.5m, he has returned in 3 out of the last 4 matches and is owned by under 1%. He may not have the penalty threat that Douglas Luiz has but Luiz's ownership has shot up to 12% so he is not the massive differential he once was. I was hoping for something from Mitoma as he was a differential in the head-to-head, but he began Brighton's game with Sheffield United on the bench. This has more or less been a common theme after the Seagulls play in Europe and Roberto De Zerbi's roulette has been more prominent than the master Pep Guardiola's. The contest was to end 1-1 despite Mitoma coming on at half-time and Khurram would have been pleased. Mitoma did have a near post effort saved. Simon Adringa (£5m) got the Brighton goal and looks really good with only 1.1% ownership with Solly March out.
West Ham edged past Nottingham Forest in a thrilling encounter at the London Stadium. Lucas Paqueta, seized on a loose ball and finished well to give the Hammers the lead. Steve Cooper's men levelled through Taiwo Awoniyi (£6.4m) who is back fit and firing. With Forest's next three games against Brighton, Everton and Fulham he is on my radar. Anthony Elanga put the away side ahead as they hit David Moyes' men on the break again. Just two minutes later however I was rejoicing as Bowen headed in a James Ward-Prowse corner to leave Khurram cursing. Two West Ham players I previously owned combined for the third as Tomas Soucek won the game from another Ward-Prowse set piece...'West Ham and Headed Goals: A Love Story by Mills and Boon'. So, no clean sheet again for Alphonse Areola, another man who Khurram and I both had. Brentford, showed a real threat on the counter-attack but nonetheless still fell to a 3-0 defeat at Anfield. Darwin Nunez seemed to have about five goals disallowed in the first period before he found Salah to give the Reds the lead. Tsimikas crossed in for Salah to head in to get his second as the Greek full back just kept the ball in. Jurgen Klopp's men added a third and Tsimikas was assisting again as he found Diogo Jota who slammed in a shot from the edge of the box. I needed Liverpool to cement the clean sheet so Tsimikas would get maximum bonus points and thankfully they did, mainly thanks to Alisson Becker and Virgil van Dijk's vigilance. Khurram had left Tsimikas on his bench to double up on Newcastle at the back and for his error he got made into a Greek salad. Taramasalata was also on deck with a variety of the finest breads! 15 big points were redemption for Tsimikas after he had a poor game in Europe last Thursday. It was now looking ominous for K as I led 75-56, he needed a miracle from Julian Alvarez who I left on my bench.
Chelsea had already given us an instant classic away at Tottenham last Monday, but little did we know they had another in store for us. Manchester City took the lead through a soft Haaland penalty but the Blues replied with two goals before the interval. Thiago Silva headed in Conor Gallagher's corner and Raheem Sterling finished off a good ball by Reece James. Manuel Akanji rounded off a crazy first half by making it 2-2 in stoppage time. Just after the break Khurram's mission impossible started as Alvarez found Haaland for 3-2 to City. Nicolas Jackson got his fourth goal in less than a week to bring Mauricio Pochettino's side level. Rodri thought he had won the game for the away side with a deflected shot, but a 95th minute penalty from Cole Palmer against his former team salvaged Chelsea a point. In horrible conditions Ruben Diaz showed he can't stand the rain with an awful challenge on Armando Broja. I said a while ago that Palmer on penalties was great value, and he is showing it. He was £4.9m when I first mentioned it and he is now £5.1m. Absolute madness at Stamford Bridge. Haaland levelled Salah for points so if you own both you still got 48 points if you captained one of them, so I was content as I defeated Khurram 91-77.
It is now seven wins on the trot for me and I am jubilant but staying humble as I top the 'Justice League' table by three points. Overall, I have moved up to 197k in the world and top six classic leagues (including my own 'League of Gentlemen'), so I can have no complaints. I am on a high and actually did not need this international break, anyway I am off to a Greek restaurant see you all in gameweek 13.
@DubulDee
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