Gameweek 21 pitted me against Ash. It was Ash's second season in the 'Justice League' and he finished third in his debut season. Despite being above him currently, I knew it was going to be a tough one this week. This gameweek was quite difficult to prepare for, as due to the Premier League's winter break it was spread over two weeks. This meant limited press conferences, and the possibility of flagged players being available if their team were playing In the latter half of fixtures in the gameweek.
I had no less than seven flagged players just before the deadline. Last week, I had of course added to the problems I knew that I would have by getting in Heung-Min Son for one week, knowing he would be going away for the Asia Cup. I strongly considered using my 'wildcard' but after a talk with Rian (Milito), I ended up leaving that idea alone. Instead, despite my resistance this campaign to take point deductions, I decided to take a -8 hit. I had no intention of letting go of Mo Salah despite him being at AFCON, but I needed to clean up the rest of my midfield. Hwang Hee-Chan was away at the Asia Cup too, and I sold him for Diogo Jota, as there was no way I wanted to not have at least one Liverpool player in my side. Son, was let go of for Phil Foden to return to my team. I originally was very close to bringing in Kevin De Bruyne, but as he was only just coming back from injury, with the points-hit, I wanted to have players that I believed were definitely going to start their game. The last change I made was to sell the injured Kostas Tsimikas for Pervis Estupinan, as Brighton had fixtures coming up that I believed he could return well in. After boggling my brain, I took the captaincy off of Jota and gave it to Julian Alvarez. Alvarez got the nod as he he takes free-kicks and penalties. Ash had two free transfers and he made three, so he only lost four points. Out went the injured Pau Torres along with Son and Salah for Estupinan, Cole Palmer and De Bruyne. Ash gave his captaincy to Bukayo Saka, understandable as he supports Arsenal, and they had Crystal Palace at home.
The gameweek started back on the 12th of January. Burnley and Luton drew 1-1 at Turf Moor, thanks to a controversial injury time equaliser from Carlton Morris. Neither of us ended up having anyone in this fixture as Charlie Taylor did not play due to a shoulder issue, therefore, me getting in Estupinan made even more sense due to the lack of numbers I had already. The Clarets' goal was scored by Zeki Amdouni, who I recently tipped could be a good third forward for your squad. On to Saturday (January 13th), we go. Chelsea edged past local rivals Fulham in the early kick-off. To my displeasure, the goal came from a Palmer spot-kick as Ash moved further away from me. What a bargain Palmer (£5.8m) is, I think the only reason people have resisted giving him the captaincy is his price. Managers seem to only want to captain players who are more expensive. Disappointingly this was not the case for the leader of the Justice League Eman, he captained Palmer in his match, and I guess decisions like that are why he is top.
In the latter game, Manchester City travelled to Newcastle. With there being no Taylor, I was to get Fabian Schar's points off my bench, so City taking the lead did not help in the slightest. A deft flick by Bernardo Silva started off the proceedings, but the Magpies fired back with great finishes from Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon. Isak cannot stop scoring since I sold him, 'FPL life eh'. Pep Guardiola's men hit back to get all three points and it was thanks to De Bruyne. The Belgian came off the bench to score and then assist the winner for Oscar Bobb, 'Kevinnn!'. Me doubting the fact he could haul as I knew he would only be coming off the bench cost me dearly, but fully benefitted my opponent. The gap had widened and I was left in disarray. Ash and I both had Alvarez, but he did not feature in any of the goals. Foden came close to scoring but that was all. Can we just stop the gameweek now?
Sunday (January 14th), saw Everton and Aston Villa have a goalless draw. More negatives news for me here as Ash had James Tarkowski. Ollie Watkins let us both down, so could it be time to consider selling him? Manchester United and Tottenham then also drew, but this was more entertaining as it ended 2-2. Pedro Porro got me some points as he assisted Richarlison's header to make it 1-1. Marcus Rashford made it 2-1 and may start going into people's teams again. An option up front could be Timo Werner, he assisted the equaliser for Rodrigo Bentancur.
The second half of the gameweek began on Saturday (January 20th), Arsenal thumped Crystal Palace 5-0. I thought Bukayo Saka had assisted a second goal for Gabriel Magalhaes, but it was then given as an own goal by Dean Henderson. The goal was later actually given as a Gabriel goal, but the gameweek had closed by then so it had no effect on FPL.
I left the contest at 3-0 late on, only to find out the Gunners added two more goals. Gabriel Martinelli bagged an injury-time brace, so Saka's non-assist did not matter for Ash as he cleaned up here regardless. The tea-time game saw a 3-2 victory for Brentford over Nottingham Forest, my opponent had Matt Turner in goal, who only scored a point, but it did not matter as he was well ahead. Ivan Toney (£8m) scored on return form a lenghty ban and he is on my radar.
Sunday (January 21st), first up had Sheffield United against West Ham at Bramall Lane. To my slight shock Jarrod Bowen started, and he was only on my bench as I had no idea how serious his injury was. Thankfully I was not left to rue him being on the bench, as he did not return despite the game ending 2-2. Bowen, however, could have had a pen in stoppage time as it seemed he was pulled down. My keeper Alphonse Areola escaped conceding twice, as he came off injured when the Blades were handed a dubious penalty in the 103rd minute! With the saves Areola had made he was to get three points. Usually that would not count for much, but seen as Vladimir Coufal was sent off, this helped my low score for the week. Ash had Coufal too, but he was way ahead as stated. Sunday's latter encounter saw Liverpool have a tricky start at Bournemouth. Jurgen Klopp's team were much improved in the second period and only took four minutes of it to take the lead through Darwin Nunez. It was setup by Diogo Jota, and Jota then went on to get a double himself before Nunez scored again in injury time as it ended 4-0 to the away side. Nunez owners were jubilant after his 11 points, but it was Jota that stole the show. The Portuguese's 19-point haul gave my score a bit more respectability, but it was not enough as I did not captain him. A fatal error changing to Alvarez as Jota outscored him by 17 points. I would have been just four points shy of Ash if I had stuck with my original decision, instead I trailed by 21 points, 47-26 as Dominic Solanke's blank did my opponent no harm at all.
Monday (January 22nd), saw me needing a miracle as Brighton hosted Wolves at the Amex Stadium. Ash and I both had Estupinan, but that was his last man, whereas I also had Pascal Gross and Evan Ferguson. However, just like the Seagulls' match in gameweek 20 with West Ham, this ended goalless. That is two fixtures in-a-row where many believed the goals would fly in, but Roberto De Zerbi's men have kept back-to-back clean sheets, their first two shutouts this campaign. It was not to be for me, though I had resigned myself to defeat a long time ago anyway.
After finishing below the weeks' average by one point, I have flown down the rankings overall in the world. More importantly, despite stilll being second in the head-to-head league, I now trail Eman by six points and to my annoyance I play him next! A defeat would leave me nine points behind and may end any chance of me winning the Justice League already. I guarantee next gameweek blood will be spilt.
@DubulDee
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