The gameweek I had been fearing was upon us. Ever since using my 'Free hit' bonus chip in gameweek 25, I was really not optimistic about when this week came around. With there being six Premier League sides left in the FA Cup, there were only four league games. This meant a record number of free hits were used.
My opponent was Muji, and he was yet to use his free hit, so I knew he was definitely going to use it here. I was conflicted as I knew that this was an excellent opportunity to try and sought out players that others were not likely to pick, as if they returned then there was no chance that you would lose with the options being so limited. On the other hand however, with Tottenham and Aston Villa both in action, then if both teams did well and you had their players you would be in trouble. I took a -8 last week and lost so despite not wanting to take consecutive point deductions, I only had eight players, and if I took a hit then I could get to ten players. After some long thought and letting the idea of Muji using his free hit play on my mind I decided to take another 8-point hit and get to 11 men.
Into my team came Heung-min Son, I temporarily sold Mo Salah for him as Liverpool did not have a game and he was a of course a premium midfielder. Up front Dominic Solanke came out for Ivan Toney, as I targeted Burnley's leaky defence. With the options being so limited I wanted a differential for my last choice. Fulham were at home to Tottenham, and as Ange Postecoglou's men allow numerous shots at goal I went with getting Harry Wilson (£5.3m) in. He was only owned by 0.2% and he had started the Cottagers' last three games, so I hoped he would start again. I gave Toney the captaincy, whereas Muji's free hit team had Son as captain,the Korean was obviously the most transferred player in.
The action began on Saturday (16th March) with two matches at 3pm. Brentford's trip to Burnley, saw Sergio Reguilon sent off after just 8 minutes. The Spaniard was deemed to have stopped a goalscoring opportunity and was dismissed after a VAR review. This was a miserable start for Muji. The penalty was tucked away by Jacob Bruun Larsen, and this was more good news for me as Mark Flekken was my opposition's keeper, suddenly me starting off eight points behind was not looking so bad. The irony was if I still had my free hit, Reguilon would have been someone that I seriously looked at. I had been screaming for Vincent Kompany to give James Trafford a rest in the Burnley goal, not knowing he would do so when I had player against Burnley for FPL purposes. Arijanet Muric started, and he cleared the ball off the line as Dara O'Shea almost scored an own goal, the ball eventually found its way to Toney, but Muric denied him. David Fofana, who I spoke about in gameweek 28 got the Clarets a second goal with a lovely finish, as I realised going for a different choice in the forward position would have been beneficial. The Bees pulled a goal back, but Toney had missed another chance before that and my captain pick had failed. Muji had him too so it was not the worst thing in the world but as I would only get half of Son's points if he did well, I would have real issues. Charlie Taylor blanked for me, and he also had the temerity to get booked too. If his blank came at the expense of a Toney goal, then I would not have minded.
Luton hosted Nottingham Forest, and another defender that Muji and I both owned Alfie Doughty blanked. Chris Wood's tidy finish from a ball by Morgan Gibbs-White gave Forest the lead and then Doughty was taken off at half-time with a hamstring issue. The Hatters got a share of the spoils as Luke Berry levelled in the second period but there was to be no return from Carlton Morris. My opponent got Morris in on his free hit also, but I am not sure whether this was to neutralise me, or he felt he was the best pick considering the likes of Wood and Fofana were also options.
In the late kick-off it was the London Derby between Fulham and Tottenham. To my dismay, Wilson was only on the bench. Muji had James Maddison along with his captain Son in midfield as he anticipated an away win. Both of those men were to miss chances in the first half, Son blasted over from a similar position he scored in the last gameweek, and Maddison put an effort just wide with the goal gaping. Rodrigo Muniz gave Marco Silva's men the lead with a good finish after he controlled the ball well. I have been talking up Muniz for a decent amount of time now and felt aggrieved I still did not have him. Sasa Lukic put the home team two ahead, before Muniz got his second from a few yards out as Spurs were left shellshocked. Darren B. (D-Man), deserves his flowers as he was the only one in the Justice League who had any faith in Fulham, he had Bernd Leno and Anfernee Robinson in his free hit team as he went on to have the highest score this week. Pedro Porro who was another popular player this week was owned by us both as he failed to return. Wilson came on in the second half and raced through but his shot was saved. Saturday of this disastrous gameweek ended with Muji on 10 and I was only on 2 because of the hit I took.
So, the last stop of the gameweek was at the London Stadium on Sunday (17th). West Ham and Aston Villa locked horns in a game that many were heavily dependent on to save this diabolical gameweek. Muji had Mohammed Kudus as well as a man I have owned for months in Jarrod Bowen. Ollie Watkins was in both our sides as our front three's mirrored each other. There was a great start for me as Vladimir Coufal's super cross was headed in by Michail Antonio (£5.7m). It was Antonio's first league goal since August, so you can be forgiven for overlooking him. Alphonse Areola made a couple of decent saves and with the Hammers ahead 1-0 late on, Areola and Coufal were both in the bonus points system, so somehow if Kudus did not find the net, I unbelievably had a chance of winning. Then in the 79th minute disaster struck, substitute Moussa Diaby pulled the ball back for Nicolo Zaniolo who got a precious equaliser. My chances of the Areola-Coufal double clean sheet were gone. The final whistle went, and it ended 1-1 as West Ham had two goals disallowed, and I duly remembered to look over things as Kudus did not score. I was pondering over not getting the clean sheet but when I checked the bonus points system, the Coufal assist was a huge as he was on for two bonus points. The bonus points system can sometimes change but it stayed the same here and Coufal's 7 points meant I won 16-15! I could not believe it! Scenes! Me and my -8 triumphed over a free hit. Winning with just 16 points felt like a crime. I found this hilarious as Muji was a huge trash talker so if he had won, he would have bantered me until the cows came home regardless of the circumstances.
As I skewed over the other results in the head-to-head league, I saw that the title race was still on. I had just assumed Eman would win again as he was playing Jermaine (JR), and Jermaine had forgotten to change his team and only had three active players. Eman took a -12, so he somehow lost as he had Reguilon in his team. This was massive as the gap is six points again between us. What Eman does still have up his sleeve, however, is the fact he saved his free hit, which will give him an upper hand in the closing weeks. Back to myself and sacrificing 16 points in the last two weeks meant my overall rank has taken a real bashing, but Coufal did get me up almost 100k from where I was on Saturday.
@DubulDee
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