Gameweek 7 pitted me against Michael B., a very good FPL player who was also the twin brother of a former Justice League champion Darren B. (D-Man). Last season as Michael is not in the FPL WhatsApp group, I made an error by registering too many players for a league that I only allow 20 people in including myself. Michael had started his return to the head-to-head league well and he lay in third place before gameweek 7 started, along with this he was on top of my classic league 'League of Gentleman'.
I thought about making transfers but after taking a four-point hit last week, to try to balance it out I decided to not make any changes so I would then have two free transfers for gameweek 8. It was not the hardest decision to make as Michael had six of the same players as me. So, the issue I had was who do I decide to leave on the bench. As Luton had a double gameweek, Amari'i Bell was always going to start for me, Andy Robertson was always going to start at the back too, so my third starting defender was going to be Matty Cash or Pervis Estupinan. The dilemma here was that Michael had both players and Aston Villa were hosting Brighton, and I knew whoever I benched would probably sufficiently return and leave me almost in tears. With Estupinan being owned by over 60% at the time I had him starting, but then made the late decision to bench him and start Cash. This was based on the fact I thought Villa being at home would win the game, so I went with Cash and hoped it paid off. A similar issue troubled my midfield as Kaoru Mitoma was in my opponent's team also and anyone who has asked me previously, I have told them to never bench him but here I was to go against my own advice as I left him out as I did not want to bench Mo Salah, Moussa Diaby or Phil Foden. Add on top of that West Ham were playing Sheffield United and the Blades had conceded the highest number of chances from set pieces in the league, so I was never leaving out James Ward-Prowse.
Up front was the easier decision to make as I had my Manchester City double of Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez, Luton's double gameweek meant Carlton Morris was always going to be in my XI too. I was determined not to let the fact of playing against Michael intimidate me, so I started my gameweek preparation with Morris as captain. However, I then switched it to Haaland to play safe, but then remembered my plan before the season was to be ruthless in my decisions and try to beat people by getting the most out of players they do not have, so I gave the captaincy back to Morris at the 11th hour. I had flashbacks from not following my instincts and giving the captaincy to Wilfred Gnoto when Leeds had a double gameweek last season, and he scored in his second game that would have won me my head-to-head battle. When the deadline passed, I saw that Michael had sold Bryan Mbeumo and got in Jarrod Bowen. This annoyed me as Bowen was in-form so I just hoped he would not deliver, he obviously gave his captaincy to Haaland, so if Morris scored and Haaland did not find the net things would be very interesting.
The aforementioned Aston Villa and Brighton match kicked the gameweek off. As I drove home from doing the '#FootyOnTop' show, I eagerly listened on the radio and things began well as Villa took the lead. Cash was to assist Ollie Watkins, there was a hint of offside, but the goal stood. Unai Emery's men were to go 2-0 up when they broke on Roberto De Zerbi's men again and this time Diaby passed to Watkins who cut inside and shot low past Jason Steele (who was thankfully on my bench). There was controversy over this goal too as Nicolo Zaniolo was literally standing in front of Steele in an offside position, but in the words of Stephen A. Smith "we don't care!". I was thinking my luck was in already but things were to improve even further, the home side came swarming forward again and Diaby's shot was saved by Steele and then it went in off Estupinan for 3-0. What a bullet I had dodged here, the left back had now lost a point for conceding 2+ goals and a further 2 points for an own goal. The Seagulls pulled a goal back at the start of the second period through Ansu Fati, but their chances of salvaging anything were anaemic. Diaby came off injured to my dismay but that did not stop the Villains from going on to win 6-1! Watkins completed his hat-trick as well as assisting Jacob Ramsey and getting a 'fantasy' assist for the sixth goal by Douglas Luiz. With Villa's coming fixtures, Watkins (£8m) really looks like a must-have as he has assisted even if he does not score, the problem is who do you sell if you do not have him already? With Mitoma's blank I honestly felt like a genius here, an 8-point swing from Estupinan (-2) to Cash (6) had me brimming from ear to ear as I had an early lead.
In the 3pm games, my luck furthered somehow in the match at the Vitality Stadium between Bournemouth and Arsenal. My opponent had Bukayo Saka, and he gave the Gunners the lead. After that however, they were to be awarded two penalties and Saka fortunately did not take either of them. The first penalty was taken by Martin Odegaard, and the second one saw Odegaard give the ball to Saka, but Saka duly passed it Kai Havertz. This was clearly to give the German a confidence boost and I am thankful as I escaped a double figure haul had Saka found the net from 12 yards. To say I got off lightly was an understatement, but these are things that can happen. Luton travelled to Everton as I anticipated whether my captain was going to do a job or not. The Hatters were to take the lead and when I went to check the scorer hoping it was Morris, only to see it was their captain, Tom Lockyer. Soon after they went 2-0 up and it was Morris who got the goal as he produced a great finish from Alfie Doughty's free-kick. Everton pulled a goal back, but I had got the goal I wished for. The captain decision looked even better as Wolves inflicted the first defeat of the season on Manchester City. Pedro Neto (£5.6m) continues to audition for my team as his run and ball in caused an own goal by Ruben Dias. Alvarez replied with a second half free-kick that Michael and I both benefitted from. The winner was scored by Hee-chan Hwang (£5.4m) who is another Wolves player on my radar and with Haaland not finding the net I was holding my own ('pause!') in this head-to-head battle. However, West Ham's home win over Sheffield United was a significant one for Michael. Bowen, who he drafted in opened the scoring and he had a double up at the back of Alphonse Areola in goal and Kurt Zouma in defence, with Ward-Prowse only getting 4 points I was outscored 22-4 here. Things had really gone back and forth in the 3pm matches.
So, to the late kick off we go. With us both owning Salah it was literally Andy Robertson versus James Maddison. What took place at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was some of the most controversy that the Premier League has seen. In an end-to-end game littered with cards, it took a 96th minute own goal for Tottenham to prevail 2-1 against Liverpool's nine men. A complete cockup by VAR meant that a goal that was onside by Luis Diaz was not given and at the time Liverpool had just gone down to ten men. Shortly after this, Heung-min Son gave Spurs the lead, but the Reds levelled through Cody Gakpo just before the break. Gakpo was to go off injured at half-time from an earlier challenge by Destiny Udogie, that Udogie should have received a second yellow card for as the poor officiating continued. All Jurgen Klopp's men resilience with two less players as they had lost Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota was undone as Joel Matip put through his own net from a ball in by Pedro Porro. Porro, was the last man on my bench as unless I am left with no other choice, I do not play people against Liverpool, as he topped the bonus points system to end with 7 points. Robertson, who whilst the game was goalless had an effort saved at the near post was booked and so was Salah, therefore with Maddison not making a goal contribution, Michael had a one-point lead, 51-50. The issue for my opponent was that he had no players left and I still had my two men from Luton including my captain, so if nothing out of the ordinary took place there was no way that I could lose.
It was a long wait after not having any players in Sunday or Monday's games but Tuesday finally came, and as it clashed with Champions league football, I listened to the Luton-Burnley match on the radio as I could not find a working stream. This is what FPL does, I listening to a game that usually I would not care as much about. The double gameweek curse struck when Bell came off inured after only 21 minutes and I thought things were lining up for Morris to get a red card and somehow I would lose. Burnley took the lead through Lyle Foster who is now back from suspension and at £5m is only owned by 0.7% despite having three goals. Morris was brought down in the second half, strangely a penalty was not given and that was even after VAR looked at it, Morris was kicked before the ball was won so I have no idea how Burnley survived that. Two late goals saw the Hatters draw level but then there was instant reply from Jacob Bruun Larsen as his superb left footed effort won the game for the Clarets.
So, though there was not to be a double return from Morris or 60 minutes from Bell, I was still 'Morris dancing' around my living room as I had won back-to-back games for the first time in the Justice League this campaign as my captain did his job. The benching of Estupinan was another masterstroke ('pause again!') and I must thank Saka for his hospitality. Eight of us are locked on 12 points in the head-to-head league, but as I have the most classic points of them this currently has me up to fourth place. Next up for me, however, is the leader Delvin, so that will be really interesting. I also slightly moved up in my rank overall as I now have 421 classic points.
@DubulDee
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