After my unlikely gameweek 15 victory, I now faced (Coach) Kojo in the 'Justice League'. The gameweeks were coming thick and fast, which was a gift and a curse. There was less time to think about which players to get in, and fewer press conferences from managers to give updates which was a negative. At the same time, you could not dwell on your gameweek which was a good thing. This made things interesting, and if ever there was a need for a strong bench, then it was in December. Injuries were more prominent than ever, and rotation was always looming. Luck was just as much, if not more needed than knowledge in this vital period of the season.
My dilemma for gameweek 16, was that in goal I had no idea whether Alphonse Areola would be okay or not after injuring his wrist. My other keeper Matt Turner had lost his place to Odysseas Vlachodimos. I believed making a change in the outfield was imperative, so I was willing to risk not having a keeper this week. Bryan Mbeumo as mentioned in the review of the last gameweek was injured, so I prioritised replacing him. Brighton were the most likely team that I was looking to, but I also had an eye on Fulham's Harry Wilson. I went with the Seagulls and got in Pascal Gross (£6.4m), rather than getting Kaoru Mitoma back in. Gross being on set pieces was vital and he had the technical ability to score and provide from open play. Kojo, made two transfers, meaning a four-point hit. He sold Matty Cash for Luke Shaw and let go of Caoimhin Kelleher for Wolves' keeper Daniel Bentley. Kojo and I both had Erling Haaland as captain.
Liverpool, the team I support, travelled all the way down to play my local team Crystal Palace for the early kick-off. The Eagles lost to Bournemouth at home in midweek, but anyone who thought this would be easy pickings for Liverpool were to be mistaken. Roy Hodgson's men almost took the lead early on, but Alisson made a world-class save to foil Jefferson Lerma. They were also denied a penalty as VAR spotted an earlier foul by Will Hughes. Palace, did get a spot-kick in the second half and it was tucked away by Jean-Philippe Mateta. Liverpool did not look threatening, but then Jordan Ayew was sent off for a foul that gave him a second yellow. Usually, I would have left the captaincy with Mo Salah, but I have this thing about giving the captaincy to a player in a lunchtime kick-off. It was to be Salah however, who got Jurgen Klopp's side back into the game with a deflected shot. The goal came a minute after the sending off and it was his 200th for the club. Salah showed regardless of the time of the game to trust him, as he assisted Harvey Elliott's cracking winning strike in injury-time. No clean sheet points from Kostas Tsimikas for me, but this was still a very good game for me in the head-to-head as Kojo did not have anyone featuring here.
In the 3pm's, Brighton hosted Burnley at the Amex Stadium. Gross, almost immediately made me look like a genius, but his first half shot was saved at the near post. Vincent Kompany saw his side take the lead and with James Trafford in inspired form it looked like they may get all three points. The Seagulls were to get a share of the spoils however, as my guy Gross put a lovely ball in for Simon Adringa to head in. Adringa is proving to be very good value at £5m. Gross went on to pick up two bonus points so I was more than content with my decision. Anytime Manchester United lose is something for me to celebrate, but with the fact my opponent got Shaw in, it made it even better as they fell 3-0 to Bournemouth. Dominic Solanke, started things off with his 8th goal of the season, and at just £6.6m he is really becoming hard to ignore. This is especially with Manchester City's blank coming up (in gameweek 18) and me owning two players from them up front, so I have decisions to make.
Nottingham Forest, travelled to Wolves, and to my surprise Matt Turner started in goal. I did think he would get a game soon because of the packed schedule, which is why I started him last week. But as it was looking likely Areola would not play, I took what I could get. I was conflicted however, as I obviously wanted Hee-Chan Hwang to score. In the end, it was to finish all square. Harry Toffolo (£4.4m), who I had mildly considered, as he had been assisting recently, headed Forest ahead. Matheus Cunha, who I recommended recently equalised, and he could have had a second if it was not for a good save by Turner. Ironically, Kojo had Cunha, so although it was good to see someone I picked out doing a job, more importantly this week it killed me as he totalled 9 points, 'I may have to ease up on the advice then'. This was only the second time this season that Hwang had blanked in a home game.
Aston Villa, kept a clean sheet against the champions Manchester City in gameweek 15, so surely, they couldn't keep another one at home to the runners-up Arsenal? Well they did! Unai Emery's men stuck a finger up at the 'FPL fixture difficulty rating' as they won 1-0 at Villa Park against the Gunners. John McGinn (£5.5m), got the only goal and it was assisted by Leon Bailey (also £5.5m). For now Bailey seems to be the preferred choice to Moussa Diaby on the right. Diaby costs much more at £6.7m, so some of you may want to have a look at that. Arsenal, could have had a penalty for a foul on Gabriel Jesus. They also had a Kai Havertz goal ruled out for handball. Villa probably deserved the luck for their effort. Bukayo Saka, spent half the game on the ground and his blank was music to my ears. Matty Cash, was on the bench again for Villa and for the time being I am happy I sold him. At Saturday's conclusion I led 24-8.
Sunday's 2pm kick-offs, saw Everton beat Chelsea 2-0. Neither of us had anyone featuring in this game, but Everton got another clean sheet. The Toffees' players are really proving to be good FPL options currently. Another team who currently have great FPL assets are Fulham. It was at the expense of my team here however. The Cottagers smashed West Ham 5-0 at Craven Cottage. I was happy with Gross returning but Harry Wilson, scored and assisted, meaning for this particular gameweek he would have been the better option. The little I could take from this fixture was that Areola did not play so I got Matt Turner's points. Also, Kojo had James Ward-Prowse, so it was good he failed to contribute. Kojo and I both owned Jarrod Bowen, and he almost scored twice which would have continued his great away form, but it was not to be. Vladimir Coufal, always seems to assist when I bench him, I put him in my XI and the Hammers concede 5, 'sod's law!'.
The massive news before Luton and Manchester City's match at Kenilworth Road was that Haaland was injured. This meant that the vice-captain came into play. I had fiddled about with mine, as I was going to give it to Hwang at a stage as he had been so good at home. However, I stop trying to be smart and gave it to Salah, and thank God I did. My problem was Kojo's vice-captain was Heung-min Son, and he had the ability to haul against an injury-plagued Newcastle. Haaland's absence took me from 24 points up to 38, as I got 13 more points from Salah, and 1 point from Diaby who came in off my bench. Luton took the lead against City and after being so unlucky in the last game with Arsenal, they would have had dreams of taking the scalp of the champions. Unfortunately for them, Pep Guardiola's side battled back to edge them out 2-1. Kojo and I both had Julian Alvarez and he laid the winner on for Jack Grealish.
It was then time for the big game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. I was praying that Son did not do anything spectacular or I would be in great danger. With Jose Sa having played for Wolves, Daniel Bentley was replaced by Guglielmo Vicario in Kojo's XI. This meant I desperately needed Newcastle to score. Everything was setup for Alexander Isak to get his first goal since I added him to my team. This game was littered with players that Kojo had. As I left Fabian Schar on the bench, I needed Tottenham to score, because Kojo had Kieran Trippier. It was all a bit wild and to be honest despite my sizeable lead I was nervous as hell!
Isak almost had a great chance, but Ben Davies just got a toe-end on the ball to deny him. Things then took a turn for the worst as Son assisted Destiny Udogie (of all people!), to make it 1-0. If you had told anyone that out of Spurs' full backs that Udogie would score before Pedro Porro then they would not have believed you. Somehow, I knew what direction things were going in due to that. Richarlison, made it 2-0, and again Son made the goal. I was starting to get very restless, my 32-point lead was disappearing before my eyes! Ange Postecoglou's men went further ahead as Porro's great ball was eventually put in by Richarlison. It was great to get more points, but Kojo had him in his team too. Literally nothing was going right. I screamed as Son fired a ball across the face of goal. I messaged Kojo to say,"it looks like you going to make the most dramatic comeback ever!". Then disaster struck! Son was brought down by Martin Dubravka, and he tucked away the penalty. The Korean was not in the bonus points before that despite having two assists. But the penalty propelled him, and with him now being Kojo's captain, I had now lost the lead. 'I cannot even watch a flaming football match in peace when I'm over 30 points ahead, is this life? Man...FPL is going to put me in the hospital, but this is the life we chose right?!'. Kojo was probably saying 'Heung-min you son of a gun', while I was saying 'you son of a b****!'. The Magpies decided to do something in injury time as Joelinton got a consolation goal, however, even with Vicario conceding I had been beaten. This really hurt me I cannot lie, but congratulations to Coach Kojo for making Son his vice-captain and gaining this amazing win, 58-55.
I was well over the weekly average, so move up almost 50k in the world despite the defeat. More importantly however, I am now off the top of the Justice League. E-Man goes top after he won. Stel is now second, he is level on points with me, but he has more 2 classic points. I am distraught, melancholic even, but I must bounce back. My villain-arch is going to be legendary I swear!
@DubulDee
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