My gameweek 35 opposition was Coach Kojo (Michael). After a solid debut campaign last season in the Justice League, he was struggling this time around. He found himself second from bottom in one of the proverbial relegation positions, so he was fighting tooth and nail to get out of there. Not that any match was easy, but this was just the type of person who could take even more points from me as I was just hanging on to a place in the top four which of course is one of the money places.
I only had one free transfer this week however, I made three transfers overall as it was a double gameweek for Chelsea and Tottenham, so I lost eight points. Heung-min Son came back into my team as I sold the injured Diogo Jota. Ivan Toney was sold for Matheus Cunha and last but far from least the Chelsea rule was broken as I finally bought in my arch-nemesis Cole Palmer for Bryan Mbeumo. It would have been straightforward to make changes and not taken as much of a hit if had I chose to sell Mo Salah, you can call it sentiment partially, but I decided to keep him for another week. This was as I knew many would sell him so I decided to try and get a form of differential. Coach sold Darwin Nunez and Erling Haaland for Ollie Watkins and Alexander Isak resulting in a four-point hit. He gave the captaincy to Isak whereas I gave mine to Palmer a minute before the deadline after it had been with Son before that. I hoped I was not going to regret my decision.
The action started at the London Stadium in the early Saturday kick-off. There was further annoyance for me as Mo Salah was once again on the bench. West Ham took the lead through Jarrod Bowen, before Andy Robertson levelled just after the break. An own goal put the Reds back ahead before Michail Antonio's header meant it finished all square. Salah did come on eventually after a having a bizarre touchline row with Jurgen Klopp, but an early opportunity for some points did not come to fruition. Salah and Klopp want the season to end just as much as I want the FPL campaign to wrap up it seems. Klopp will be heading to Cancun in the summer which incidentally is where my basketball team the Miami Heat already are after being knocked out of the playoffs this week. Whereas Salah will be apparently stay but a big bid from a Saudi club may change that. My opponent had Trent Alexander-Arnold in his defence so no return there.
In the 3pm contests, Fulham and Crystal Palace drew 1-1 at Craven Cottage. Eberechi Eze missed the game through injury, so Coach got 5 points off his bench from Luis Diaz who assisted Robertson's goal for Liverpool. Rodrigo Muniz found the net after four games without a goal, typical now that I sold him. Michael Olise missed a good chance in the first half as another fixture went by without being productive for me. Jeff Schlupp scored a fantastic equaliser for the Eagles as he took the maximum bonus despite not even playing 15 minutes. Manchester United and Burnley also had a 1-1 draw, I had no one in this fixture but Rasmus Hojlund blanked which was positive news for once.
Newcastle came from behind to smash Sheffield United 5-1. Isak was at the double, another man who did not score when I owned him and to make it worse, I was up against him this week as stated. The fact he was my opponent's captain literally killed me. My luck was further out in this one as Fabian Schar came off at half-time with an injury. Martin Dubravka got an extra point for the saves he made but when you anticipated double clean sheet points this clearly was not enough. Wolves beat Luton 2-1 at Molineux, where I at least got an assist from Cunha as he laid the opener on for Hwang Hee-Chan. Hwang was a key in my side before he got injured and now fit again at a mere £5.4m could be a differential. Wolves do not have great fixtures left but if they were to score in any of them, he is more than likely to be involved. Rayan Ait-Nouri picked up an injury amid not contributing and Pablo Sarabia was only a substitute yet still managed to get booked in only 14 minutes on the pitch.
Everton edged past Brentford 1-0 in the 5.30pm game. Although he had been accumulating many points Jarrad Branthwaite was only my last substitute as I did not think the Toffees would have a third shutout in a row, how wrong I was. The evening match ended in a stalemate as Aston Villa and Chelsea shared the spoils at Villa Park. I had a feeling that with him having a mammoth 20 league goals already that I may be late to the Palmer party and I indeed I was. He could have won the game but after a good run he failed to beat Robin Olsen. It was the type of chance he had been gobbling up this season however, I got what I deserved for not budging with my policy on teams I dislike earlier. Rare blanks from Watkins and secret weapon Leon Bailey were the only satisfactory things to emerge for me in this one. Coach had a big lead as it was 35-10 when Saturday concluded.
On Sunday, Tottenham started brightly in the North London Derby nevertheless Arsenal were ruthless and took a 3-0 first half lead. Spurs pulled it back to 3-2 but it was too little, too late. The first goal came because David Raya is clearly bored of keeping clean sheets and decided to have pity on Ange Postecoglou's men and give them the ball. The second at least for me was scored by Son from the penalty spot, as he showed why I should have left the captaincy with him. Son's goal reduced William Saliba who was in the opposition's defence to just one point. Nottingham Forest could have scored at least twice in the first half against Manchester City, their wastefulness cost them as they went on to lose at home 2-0. Keeping Erling Haaland worked as he calmly slotted in the second goal after coming off the bench. Kevin De Bruyne assisted both the goals for Pep Guardiola's men as he is another one who did not produce for me when I owned him but has done something in the few games since then. Coach had Ederson in goal, and he was withdrawn at half-time with a shoulder issue, so he was not to benefit from City's clean sheet. Phil Foden did not feature so Coach got Cristian Romero's points off his bench and as he scored against Arsenal, I knew I had been beaten as now I trailed by 22 points despite Son's goal.
To Thursday we go then, and I needed another special night from my captain Palmer and a goal from Son if I was to cut into this lead as Coach had Pedro Porro too so there was no advantage with him. You would have expected a meeting between Chelsea and Tottenham to be high scoring however, it was not to be the case as the Blues prevailed 2-0. Palmer put Mykhailo Mudryk through in the first half but he could only shoot wide. My captain did have a hand in the second goal as his free-kick crashed the bar and the rebound was put in by Nicolas Jackson.
Coach was the victor as it ended 53-38 to him as I fell to my third straight defeat, even without the 13 points he got off the bench he would have still edged it. I somehow stay in fourth place as Rian (Milito) who is in fifth lost, whereas Stel and Ash in second and third lost also. The funniest thing of all was that Eman the leader did not win either. With a nine-point lead and only three gameweeks left the title is virtually guaranteed for him nonetheless as his classic points are far superior to anyone chasing him.
@DubulDee
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