My old friend Gary was the man trying to stop my winning run in the 'Justice League' now that the international break had concluded. I have had drop-offs in the middle of a season when I have previously had a solid start, so my aim was to accumulate as many points as possible so that I would not suffer as much if history was to repeat itself.
I had no intention of using my 'Wildcard' until gameweek 11 at the earliest, but things can happen that will completely change your plans. Andy Robertson, sadly dislocated his shoulder whilst colliding with a goalkeeper representing Scotland and this was the catalyst that made me decide to draw up some drafts with an aim to use my wildcard. Robertson was rumoured to be missing at least 8-10 weeks and before there was even confirmation of this, after my fourth draft I activated the wildcard. I was one of over 328k people to use their wildcard this week. Kostas Tsimikas was Liverpool's backup left back and he was £2.2m cheaper than Robertson, this allowed me to do a full-blown replenishment, but I tried to show some control when using the wildcard for once. The issue I have had in the past was that I would make a sheer minimum of eight changes and then in the first few weeks after that I would struggle with who I wanted to put on the bench as I would own so many players that I wanted. The players I would bench would then return and I would be left feeling like an idiot. So, I decided I wanted to leave a sheer minimum of £2m in the bank once I was content with my team, so I could easily make changes in the coming weeks as I usually leave nothing in my budget.
I kept Mo Salah as my captain despite thoughts of giving it to Erling Haaland. My decision came from the fact I flooded the international break watching varying FPL material and what compounded my decision was I noticed Haaland would win almost 90% of the captaincy polls for gameweek 9, so I chose to oppose this as Salah usually does well against Everton especially at home. When the deadline passed, I saw that Gary had made two transfers meaning he took a four-point hit as he sold Evan Ferguson and Taiwo Awoniyi for Cameron Archer and Ollie Watkins. I had also brought Watkins in as I really liked the fixtures that Aston Villa had coming up as I let go of Carlton Morris.
Liverpool, kicked things off as they hosted Everton in the Merseyside Derby in the lunchtime kick-off. Everton had a good chance early on but Dominic Calvert-Lewin headed straight at Alisson. The Reds had a couple of openings without properly testing Jordan Pickford, the best one fell to Salah who could not control the ball, otherwise he would have been able to shoot at goal. Then, Ashley Young was sent off for a second booking and Jurgen Klopp's men found it harder to break down the Toffees. Sean Dyche's men can feel aggrieved as both teams should have been down to ten men when Ibrahima Konate was not punished for an obstruction when he had already been booked. Konate, was almost immediately substituted and finally in the 75th minute the home side took the lead. Michael Keane handled a ball in by Luis Diaz and Salah tucked the penalty away. Salah, was to find the net again right at the death, as Everton were hit on the counter attack and Darwin Nunez showed some new found composure to assist Salah. The Egyptian had an underwhelming game but if he gets the FPL points it does not matter does it? One of the main reasons I have started well this campaign is that most weeks my captain has delivered and long may it continue. I usually do not like to captain someone in the early kick-off but I am glad I did not change my mind here. Tsimikas came off just after the hour mark, so his clean sheet points were tied up from early and it was a good start to the day. My opponent had Salah too but as expected he captained Haaland.
In the 3pm's, Bournemouth were at home to Wolves, and after originally having Pedro Neto in an early draft I switched to Hee-chan Hwang at the 11th hour. They were both differentials, but Hwang was owned by just over 1% and was in great goalscoring form. The Cherries took the lead through Dominic Solanke, but Neto made me rue not having him as he assisted the equaliser for Matheus Cunha. Hwang, clashed with Lewis Cook, which saw Hwang booked and Cook sent off, and I thought I had made a mistake but the Korean redeemed himself. He laid on the winner for Sasa Kalajdzic with two minutes to go as Gary O'Neil completed a revenge mission on the club who axed him. Neto ended up being booked to so him and Hwang delivered the same amount of points, so for this week at least there was no issue with my selection.
Manchester City and Brighton clashed in what some thought would be a goal-fest but it was much tighter than expected. Julian Alvarez, gave Pep Guardiola's men the lead which was good news for my team before Haaland thumped in a second from outside the box. The Seagulls pulled a goal back through Ansu Fati, but it was to finish 2-1. With Solly March looking at a lengthy time out of action, the likes of Fati (£6.5m) and Simon Adringa (£5m) could become very useful options. Fati's goal was huge as Gary had Kyle Walker in his defence and with him also owning Phil Foden who I sold, and he blanked, this contest went better than I thought it would when you add that Salah outscored Haaland. Nottingham Forest and Luton met at the City Ground. Matt Turner was now one of my keepers as I sold Jordan Pickford and Jason Steele for him and Alphonse Areola. Things looked rosy after 76 minutes as Forest led 2-0, however, the Hatters found the net twice late on to salvage an important point. Turner ended with just one point as these are the times when you really pay not having a better keeper. For example I had enough in the bank to get Alisson but try to minimise doubling up in defence on teams.
Neither of us had any players in Saturday's late games as I led 60-32, so to Sunday we go. The only encounter was Aston Villa against West Ham. I expected goals here, so I left Areola and Vladimir Coufal on my bench and in the end I was right to do so. Unai Emery's men took the lead though Douglas Luiz (£5.5m), who cannot stop scoring in home games and it was assisted by Watkins. Moussa Diaby made an opening for Watkins before the goal, but Watkins put it wide in what would have been the perfect combination for me. Luiz doubled the lead with a penalty just after the break before Jarrod Bowen's deflected effort pulled a goal back for the Hammers. Gary and I both had Matty Cash, so no clean sheet there but I could have easily have had Bowen in my midfield, but again wanting someone less owned got the better of me as he scored for the fifth straight away trip. Watkins' run and empathic finish made it 3-1 after good work by John McGinn. Leon Bailey finished West Ham off with a good shot into the top corner and then had McGinn talking patois when he posted on Instagram about it later on. Watkins was the most transferred player in as he continued his great run, the only time he has not returned this season was when Villa lost at Liverpool. James Ward-Prowse (who was on my bench) blanked for Gary, this meant Sunday ended with me ahead 75-47. I jumped as high as 345k in the world overall too.
It was all up to Monday, as Gary's team Tottenham were up against Fulham, and he was actually in the attendance for it. When you have a 28-point lead with one game left everything should be elementary, the caveat was he had Bernd Leno, Destiny Odogie and the big hitters Heung-min Son and James Maddison left to play whilst I only had Pedro Porro and Dejan Kulusevski. Kulusevski was the nearly man yet again in the first half. First, his ball to Richarlison saw the Brazilian put it wide. Son, put Spurs ahead with a curled finish and then Kulusevski had a goalbound shot blocked a few minutes after. Just under ten minutes into the second period, the worst possible combination made it 2-0 to Ange Postecoglou's side. As Fulham dwindled at the back, Son found Maddison who calmly slotted the ball in. I was really starting to panic when I was thrown a lifeline as Udogie was substituted before the hour mark meaning he was not to receive 'clean sheet' points, maybe it was destiny that I was going to hold on. It really was squeaky bum time ('pause'), in the 75th minute Maddison dispossessed Calvin Bassey and then luckily his shot was blocked or it could have been curtains for me. Emerson Royal made a crucial block just before full-time from Harry Wilson and Guglielmo Vicario made a save from Tom Cairney to cement Spurs' clean sheet as I held on for victory, 84-73.
So, a fourth straight head-to-head win has moved me up to second in the Justice League with 18 points which I am more than happy with. Michael B. tops the table from me by just one point. Despite me still moving up overall in terms of classic points, Sunday and Monday's games moved me to 528k from Saturday's 345k, but I am still more than content. I have a good amount of money left to make moves in the coming weeks but who will I sell?...
@DubulDee
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