Gameweek 18 pitted me against Ravi. Regardless of whether he ended the season above me, he seemed to have the upper hand whenever we faced. Ravi had done well thus far despite not having Erling Haaland at any point, showing there is a way to survive without him.
Knowing that Manchester City were blanking this week due to their participation in the World Club Cup, I sold Julian Alvarez for what would be described as a punt on Brighton's Evan Ferguson. The original plan was to get in Dominic Solanke. But rather than maintain what I had done so far, meaning it was cool to get someone that many others had got in, my old habit kicked in. My mind strayed to getting a differential although Ferguson had not scored for a while. When the deadline passed, I saw that Ravi had missed it. Being a father at Christmas had caught out yet another manager in FPL with the busy schedule. His team however, still had people that could hurt my team. Although he now had no active keeper with Ederson blanking, he still had the likes of Kieran Trippier, Heung-min Son and Gabriel Martinelli. For a change, I captained Ollie Watkins whilst Ravi's captaincy was still with Mo Salah. I assume he would have probably still picked the Egyptian talisman if he had remembered the deadline.
The action started what seems like an age ago on Thursday. Bitter rivals Crystal Palace and Brighton faced off at Selhurst Park. To my dismay, Ferguson was not named in the starting XI and in the end did not come on at all, meaning I had wasted a transfer, 'sigh'. Pascal Gross almost had me doing cartwheels as he went close from long range, before Jordan Ayew gave the Eagles the lead. Roberto de Zerbi's men missed chances and I felt I was going to get nothing. Then Gross put a great cross in and substitute Danny Welbeck produced a great header. With the fact Gross had made quite a few other chances, he was able to get in on the bonus points. Therefore, I led 7-0 when Thursday concluded.
So, on to Friday. I usually do not like to name my captain in an early match in a gameweek, but I somehow got drawn in. Since Chris Wilder returned to Sheffield United, they have been very compact and hard to breakdown. But due to Aston Villa being so good at home, I still captained Watkins, only for him to blank. Moussa Diaby started and almost scored early on, but his chances are now really running thin in my team as his price is falling. Cameron Archer (£4.6m) is an enabler stuck on many people's bench, but the 8.9% owned man gave the Blades the lead late on against his former club. They looked like they were heading for victory, when Nicolo Zaniolo grabbed a 97th minute equaliser. At 0-0, Watkins' owners thought they had got what they needed when Leon Bailey scored what would have been the opener, only for it to be ruled out for a foul on Wes Foderingham. Watkins was the most transferred-in player this week, so the FPL curse struck once again.
Saturday's early kick-off saw West Ham beat Manchester United 2-0. An Areola, clean sheet there then, but I did not know if I was getting one from Coufal too until Newcastle's team was named later. Jarrod Bowen, who Ravi and I both owned, continued to shine as he fired in the opening goal. Bowen had also earlier had a header saved by Andre Onana. Mohammed Kudus (£6.8m), is a golden pick right now and the Ghanaian made it 2 with another well taken finish. If he was not going to AFCON soon then he would be in my team.
When the 3pm's came, so did the news that Fabian Schar had somehow recovered from his glute issue. I immediately thought that I should have left him on my bench, and I was right as Newcastle lost 1-0 to Luton. I had a feeling the Hatters would win, and I should have bet on it to be honest. This obviously meant Trippier blanked for Ravi too so not all bad I suppose. Charlie Taylor, who I moved to the last man on my bench, returned as Burnley won 2-0 away at Fulham. Looking at the points on my bench was making me sick! A massive surprise as the Cottagers had been scoring for fun recently. A plus was that Rodrigo Muniz came in off Ravi's bench and he was subbed after 63 minutes, as he started with Raul Jimenez suspended.
If the day had not had enough low points for me, the man I turned my back on getting in, Solanke, went crazy away at Nottingham Forest. Willy Boly, was harshly sent off against Bournemouth and Solanke scored, not one, not two, but a flaming hat-trick! 'Can you believe it!' . I felt bad enough when he had just one goal, I just wanted to temporarily disappear. My transfer for Ferguson had been a complete waste of time. Tottenham, were on point from early against Everton, with two quickfire goals from Richarlison and Son. The latter of those helping Ravi. I was expectant of a Pedro Porro clean sheet, but the Toffees' pressure finally told and forgotten-man Andre Gomes pulled a goal back. My opponent had Cristian Romero, but the Argentine came off at half-time. If it was not for a series of saves from Guglielmo Vicario and a goal-line clearance, then Sean Dyche's men could have got a share of the spoils.
The evening contest was the biggest game of the week. Liverpool welcomed fellow title-challengers Arsenal to Anfield. The game was a good one for a neutral, but it was not to be the goal-fest that we usually see between the two as it finished 1-1. The Gunners took the lead early on as Gabriel Magalhaes headed in with the home side asleep on a set piece. Liverpool could have had a penalty when Martin Odegaard did his best LeBron James impression, but somehow handball was not given. He slipped, yes, but nowadays those are regularly given, especially once VAR takes a look. Ravi and I both had Kostas Tsimikas and he came off injured after being shoved by Bukayo Saka and colliding with his manager. It looks like he now has a broken collarbone, 'Saka you benchod! We will never forgive for this. Mikel Arteta would have been raging had the same thing happened to you!'. Jurgen Klopp's men responded well, and Salah smashed in an equaliser after being found by Trent Alexander-Arnold. Alexander-Arnold has now returned in 9 of his last 10 games. He is now level with his teammate Andrew Robertson for the most assists by a defender in Premier League history with 57. I hid behind my couch as Martinelli went close at 1-1, but the best chance was missed by Alexander-Arnold. He struck the bar when Arteta's men were caught out by a swift counter-attack. Saturday ended with me up by just two points, 43-41. Ravi had no players left, and I had Hee-Chan Hwang to play against Chelsea, so unless he got sent off or missed a penalty for example, I would edge over the line.
The last fixture came on Christmas Eve. Wolves and Chelsea, began like the players had already enjoyed their Christmas dinner, before the game improved greatly. Hwang could have scored in the first half but rushed his effort. There were to be three goals in the match, and they all came in the second half as Gary O'Neil's men won 2-1. Despite Hwang not contributing, I got the victory I needed. Mario Lemina (£4.9m) could silently be a decent option for your FPL bench as he scored his third goal of the season to give Wolves the lead. The only issue with him is that he is a likely person to get booked. Speaking of bookings, Cole Palmer and Raheem Sterling, both were cautioned and are now suspended.
So, back to winning ways at least as I narrowly won 45-41, despie being angry with my transfer. The fact I had so much trouble beating someone who forgot the deadline has slight worries, but the main thing is to win by any means. I stay third in the Justice League, overall however, I have dropped in the world as there are many Solanke owners.
Merry Christmas to you all and there is no time to settle as gameweek 19 starts on Boxing Day.
@DubulDee
コメント