Another of my D&D Football Factory team (Big) Sam was my opposition in gameweek 15. Sam had just got a win over Darren B. (D-Man), and was looking to do the double over his co-hosts in back-to-back games.
There was not as much time to dwell on my last defeat with this being a midweek gameweek. After Matty Cash and Moussa Diaby were benched for Aston Villa's trip to Bournemouth, it was time to let one of them go. With Manchester City and Arsenal coming up next for them, I decided to sell Cash. I expected some massive hauls from him but he only returned three times in all the gameweeks I had him. Back into my team came Pedro Porro, who unlike Cash was on corners as James Maddison is out injured. Porro has returned even when Tottenham have lost, so I felt comfortable making the change. Clean sheets have been hard to predict this season more than ever it seems, so it seemed best to just try and target defenders who can get attacking returns. A clean sheet on top will then be a bonus, and in the past an attacking return was meant to be the bonus, it just shows how complex this campaign has been so far.
Sam made one transfer and that was to sell Kristoffer Ajer and bring in Adam Smith. However, he left Smith on his bench, so I was intrigued as to what his plan was with that transfer. Sam and I both captained Mo Salah. Despite Sam being lower than he would have liked in the 'Justice League' table, overall he had still accumulated a solid amount of points, and this was all without owning Erling Haaland at any point, so credit where it is due.
Amazon Prime had the covergae of all the midweek games, and their staggered kick-offs helped if you wanted to watch a portion of as many games as you could live. Tuesday had two fixtures and they both affected the head-to-head matchup. Wolves hosted Burnley in the earlier evening kick-off and Pablo Sarabia looked really threatening in a rare start. My boy Hee-Chan Hwang, hepled me out once again as he got the only goal. Burnley were punished for overplaying at the back, and when the ball was eventually fed to Hwang he did a faint and then calmly passed the ball into the net. A double-figure haul was a great way for things to begin. Matheus Cunha (£5.6m) got the assist and he has really stepped up recently, so is one to keep an eye on.
Arsenal, travelled to Luton, and just like Liverpool found out, it is not an easy place to go to. The Gunners took the lead through Gabriel Martinelli and it was setup by Sam's man Bukayo Saka. Luton replied, Arsenal took the lead again, and then once again the Hatters levelled. Ross Barkley gave the Hatters the lead in this humdinger, but Kai Havertz equalised for 3-3. Rob Edwards' men were so close to a precious point, but then their grain of hope was taken away by Declan Rice. Martin Odegaard's cross put it on a plate for Rice who headed home in the 97th minute. Tueday ended 10-5 to me.
Wedneday, saw Brighton beat Brentford 2-1 at the Amex Stadium. Sam and I both owned Bryan Mbeuno and he gave the Bees the lead from the penalty spot, unfortunately later on he injured his ankle. Thomas Frank confirmed he will be out for a few weeks, so I think to have a hard think about who I get in. Sam was to rue leaving Smith on the bench as Bournemouth won 2-0 away at Crystal Palace. This meant a blank for him from Joachim Andersen too. Another defender on his bench was Timothy Castagne and Sam was again banging his head against the wall as Fulham smashed Nottingham Forest 5-0 at Craven Cottage. Andreas Pereira (£5.3m), picked up 15 points, could he be back to last seasons' form. Alex Iwobi (£5.3m), bagged a brace also. Sam's bench points were stacked like Supermalt in his fridge.
Liverpool, got the three points they needed at Sheffield United. The Blades have conceded the most chances from set pieces in the league, so Virgil van Dijk crashing in a volley from a Trent Alexander-Arnold corner was not really a surprise. It was Chris Wilder's first game back in charge of the Yorkshire club, and they really gave it a fight. Sadly for them, Dominik Szoboszlai finished them off after great work by Darwin Nunez. Salah had a powerful effort well saved and then was taken off earlier than his owners would have liked, as Liverpool have yet another early kick-off on Saturday. Kostas Tsimikas was not to feature, so therefore I got Charlie Taylor's solitary point against Wolves. This would have been the perfect time to get big points off the bench but it was not to be. In the latter game, I had put money on Haaland steering me towards victory only for Emiliano Martinez to be on an a personal mission to make sure he did not score, as he made two good saves from the Norwegian in the first half. Unai Emery, left Cash and Diaby on the bench again and it worked a charm as the Villans beat the champions 1-0. Leon Bailey's deflected strike won the game and suddenly it looked like I was heading for defeat. Sam and I both had Julian Alvarez but another blank for the Argentine means I am looking at possibe replacements. I will not be shifting him just yet as City have Luton next however. Wednesday concluded with me ahead 26-20, but he had more players than me left.
So Thursday, and the last two matches. Firstly, Everton left it late as they beat Newcastle 3-0. The first of the goals did not come until the 79th minute, as Dwight McNeil drove into the top corner for the second game running to open up the scoring. That meant absolutely nothing from Fabian Schar for my team and Sam had Kieran Trippier whose error led to one of the goals. The most importsnt thing for me here was that Anthony Gordon did not return against his old club for Sam. Despite my fortune in the game at Goodison Park, yet another issue occured for me in the last match. Alphonse Areola, was not in the West Ham squad as he injured his wrist in training. This meant now I had no goalkeeper. I had tried something as I put Matt Turner in goal, but I knew he is not number one anymore at Nottingham Forest so was not likely to start. But I tried to create another differential just in case as Sam owned Areola too, However, Sam had put Guglielmo Vicario in goal so he had no problem as he would have got points from him regardless. I conceded defeat, so messaged Sam and he came with some mild banter.
Tottenham took the lead through a Cristian Romero header from a Porro corner. So the plan to get Porro back worked. I watched the game with a snarl, but that soon changed when an error by Spurs allowed in Jarrod Bowen to fire in on his weaker foot...scenes! Two birds killed with one stone, as Vicario's clean sheet was wiped. James Ward-Prowse won the game for the Hammers after more diabolical play at the back from Ange Postecoglou's men. Just like that things were starting to look a bit Spursy. With Heung-min Son being substituted with what may be an injury, I had somehow won, 'yay'.
After thinking I had lost, I came through with a 42-34 victory. I gave Sam some mild banter back, but really I was just relieved. So, I remain top of the Justice League level on 30 points with Emmanuel (E-Man). After falling to 500k overall on Wednesday, thanks to Bowen & Porro I am back up to 360k. No rest for the wicked however, as Saturday has an early deadline. Bring it on, after two straight defeats I was really worried, so this felt greater than usual.
@DubulDee
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