I was pitted against Michael B. (Darren B.'s twin brother) this week. Compared to previous seasons Michael was struggling, but I knew that he was still a threat. I needed to keep the pressure on Eman at the top of the 'Justice League', as he was six points ahead of me. If I fell nine points behind going into March, then any hopes of the title would probably be gone.
With the Carabao Cup final taking place, I saw that numerous players in Michael's team did not have a fixture and I wondered exactly what he was going to do. He had already used all of his bonus chips apart from his 'Bench boost', so if he wished to field a full XI, then he would have to take a points-hit. When the deadline passed, I saw that he only decided to make one transfer as he sold Joe Gomez for Gabriel Magalhaes. This meant he only had nine players altogether. The only transfer I made was to sell the injured Diogo Jota for Pablo Sarabia. My thinking behind it was that Sarabia was on set piece duty with Pedro Neto, so I targeted Sheffield United again as they have conceded the most chances from set pieces in the league. Sarabia's ownership being under 1% and him costing just £4.7m played a factor too. When your rank has dropped as much as mine has in the last few weeks you need to trust on a big differential to get you back up. My captain was going to be Erling Haaland, but then after having a re-think, I thought giving him the captaincy so much was boring, so I went with Ollie Watkins instead. Haaland had missed quite a few chances recently, so I did not think it was a massive risk to my rank. The irony was Michael ended up captaining Watkins too.
There was not an early Saturday kick-off, so the action began with multiple games at 3pm. Aston Villa were at home to Nottingham Forest and things could not have started any better in regarding giving Watkins the captaincy as he scored after just 4 minutes. It was a simple tap-in after good work by Leon Bailey (£5.6m). I have mentioned Bailey's name in the last few months many times, but he is still not in my team. I did not want to take a hit to replace Jarrod Bowen with him this week, so Bowen stayed despite blanking six games in-a-row. It amazes me that Bailey is still only selected by just over 4% as he now has 16 goal contributions (8 goals & 8 assists). Unai Emery's men were soon to be 3-0 up, as Douglas Luiz got a brace. Luiz being on penalties and taking some set pieces made him an FPL asset, but he is offering much more with two more goals from open play. He is also at £5.6m, and now has an impressive 9 goals and 4 assists. Forest pulled it back to 3-2 before that man Bailey scored for it to end 4-2. Watkins got a nick on the ball as it came off Matz Sels in Forest's goal and it fell to Bailey, so Watkins got a fantasy assist.
Brighton and Everton drew 1-1 at the Amex Stadium. I am not sure exactly what Pervis Estupinan has done to Roberto De Zerbi, but he was only on the bench once again. There are unofficial rumours he told him Lasagne was overrated. Lewis Dunk costs just £0.1m more than Estupinan at £5.1m and currently is much better value as he returned for the third time in February. Dunk got a crucial equaliser in injury time to cancel out a fabulous strike from Jarrad Branthwaite. Branthwaite was in my 'free hit' team last week, so it would have been nice if the goal came a week late. What made it even worse was that my opponent owned Branthwaite. Charlie Taylor, was back from injury so I was hoping that Burnley could do something away at Crystal Palace. I was to be let down however, as Josh Brownhill was sent off for fouling Jefferson Lerma, after a 'hospital' pass from James Trafford put him between a rock and a hard place. The Eagles went on to triumph 3-0 in Oliver Glasner's first game.
In the teatime match, Manchester City had Phil Foden and Ederson to thank as they edged past Bournemouth 1-0 at the Vitality Stadium. Michael and I both owned the same three City players in Kevin De Bruyne who was only on the bench, Haaland and Foden, with the latter getting the winner. Haaland was to be rewarded with an FPL assist as his shot was saved by Neto, but Foden was the most alert to slot the ball in. Ederson may be a premium keeper, but he is currently well worth it as he kept his third clean sheet in four games. He made key saves from Milos Kerkez in the first half, and from Dominic Solanke in the second period. The save from Solanke was key as my opponent had him up front.
In the evening game, Arsenal continued to accumulate the goals as they made it 18 in 4 games with a 4-1 victory over Newcastle. Gabriel Magalhaes was in my opponents team, and I thought he had headed the Gunners in front. But luckily it took a couple of touches off of Newcastle players, as Loris Karius had saved Gabriel's header and it ended up as a own goal by Sven Botman. Bukayo Saka scored the third and it was bad news, as it was more and more looking like I was heading for a defeat against nine men. I still had Fabian Schar, so his blank meant that my three defenders returned a whopping two points between them. Saturday concluded with me behind by 21 points, 57-36. Michael at least only had Alphonse Areola left who I also had, whereas I had the Wolves duo of Sarabia and Pedro Neto to play as well as Jarrod Bowen.
So, to Sunday, where the only fixture was Sheffield United's trip to Wolves. The Blades started the better of the two sides, with Rhian Brewster and James McAtee especially causing problems, but it was Wolves who took the lead. To my joy, it was Sarabia getting on the end of a cross by Rayan Ait-Nouri. After thinking he would be the creator if any Wolves goals were scored this was huge. It was to remain 1-0, but Ait-Nouri got the maximum bonus points. Sarabia's two bonus points took him to 10 and I was more than happy with that although Neto did not return. The gap had been cut to only 8 points, Bowen was now the only man who could change things, was I was going to complete the big comeback?
To our last stop then, which was on Monday night. West Ham and Brentford locked horns at the London Stadium. I needed at the sheer minimum a goal from Bowen, and he only took four minutes to deliver it as he smashed the ball in off the post, 'yasss'. Things improved even further just two minutes later, as Bowen coolly passed the ball in after being found by Vladimir Coufal. I have tried to avoid pairing Areola with Coufal just in case the Hammers conceded a goal, but here it would have worked like a charm. Coufal's assist gave him more points than my other three defenders combined and he was sitting on my bench. Neal Maupay pulled a goal back to make sure that there was no clean sheet for Areola, but in the second half Bowen struck again. He produced a header from Mohammed Kudus' cross to get his hat-trick and although his second had already won it for me, there were to be no doubts at all now. Bow Selecta! Take a Bow! Bow Down! Jarrod had got me out of jail in spectacular fashion. The patience I had with him paid off, if only I had done the same with Pascal Gross.
Eman won again sadly, but a third straight win for me (71-59), keeps me six points behind him. All the guys below me lost, which means I now have a 5-point gap from 3rd place, incidentally Delvin who occupies 3rd is my next opponent. Bowen's ownership had plummeted during his goal drought, so his contribution along with Sarabia meant my rank improved by 240k.
@DubulDee
Comments