West Ham United Fans Challenge
Every week this season, two West Ham fans will compete at Fantasy Football to win money for their chosen charities
Will’s Team
GK: Kelleher
DEF: Van Dijk, Saliba, Van Hecke
MID: Son, Kudus, Palmer, Salah (c), Saka
FW: Watkins, Solanke
Hmmm. Two defeats to James on the spin isn’t my favourite thing. Only a narrow one (nine points) again to move him to 1,788 – just 27 points behind my 1,815.
It’s vital I don’t panic as for the second week running it’s been a one in a million fluke in the final match of the gameweek that saw James beat me.
Pedro Porro returning 11 points despite Tottenham not keeping a clean sheet with his goal and three bonus points was the difference. And he simply can’t rely on rarities like that every week.
Oh well, clear head needed.
Two free transfers this week, Emi Martinez makes way for David Raya given Arsenal’s double gameweek next time out and Mo Kudus replaces the injured Jarrod Bowen as West Ham will be relying on the Ghanaian to add to his 11 goal contributions this season in the England man’s absence.
I was going to play wild card this week but I didn’t have time to think it through properly as I was travelling back from West Ham’s heartbreaking defeat at Bayer Leverkusen.
I’ve kept Caoimhín Kelleher in the starting XI just in case Alisson doesn’t return against Crystal Palace as I reckon Liverpool have a much better chance of keeping a clean sheet against Palace at home than Arsenal do against Aston Villa at the Emirates. But it’s a win-win because even if Kelleher doesn’t play, Raya will sub in for him.
JP Van Hecke replaces Jarrad Branthwaite with Brighton going to Burnley and Everton visiting Chelsea.
I am nervous about not having Erling Haaland for another week with City hosting Luton but I’m going to cross everything, give Mo Salah the armband and hope he adds to his 13 goal contributions in as many games against the Eagles.
It feels like this could be a make or break week. Win comfortably and James will surely accept defeat, lose heavily and it’s squeaky bum time until the end of the season.
James’ Team
GK: Raya
DEF: Burn, Van Dijk, Gabriel
MID: Palmer (v), Kudus, Saka, Son
FW: Haaland (c), Darwin, Solanke
The comeback is still on! A lot of thanks has to go to Tottenham’s Pedro Porro last week, as his goal against Nottingham Forest was a huge reason why I ended the week nine points ahead of Will with 71 GW32 points.
That means the gap is now just 27 points. A couple of weeks ago it was nearly 50, so I’m closing the gap quickly. There’s still a long way to go, though, and my decision making has to be flawless.
With a couple of double gameweeks on the horizon, my planning continues. I have two free transfers to use this week but I’m only using one of them. I’ll roll the other for next week.
Tottenham are the only team with a blank gameweek coming up, so I’ve decided to scrap my GW32 hero, Pedro Porro, and replace him with Virgil Van Dijk. Liverpool have two games in GW34 and Tottenham don’t play at all, so that move was a no brainer.
It also gives me £1.1m in the bank to play with ahead of next week, allowing me to make a couple of upgrading transfers to optimise my team further for the DGW.
I’m expecting Will to play his wildcard soon, which may throw a bit of a spanner in the works, but I’ll cross that bridge when it comes to it.
Meanwhile, my starting XI for GW33 does, once again, pick itself. I was looking for a way to give Garnacho a rare start but can’t see a way in for him, so he remains on the bench with Dan Burn and Alfie Doughty.
In defence, it’s Pervis Estupinan, Gabriel and Van Dijk. My midfield of Cole Palmer, Bukayo Saka, Mohamed Kudus and Heung-min Son is strong and all have favourable fixtures, while I’m sticking with Darwin Nunez, Dominic Solanke and Erling Haaland up front.
Haaland takes the armband this week, with Man City hosting Luton Town. The Hatters have conceded more goals away from home than any other team this season (38), while only Aston Villa have scored more goals at home than Pep Guardiola’s City.
Haaland’s goal against Crystal Palace last weekend ended a run of three games without a goal and, with his grasp on a second consecutive Premier League Golden Boot loosening during that run, I’m banking on Haaland reaching beast mode in the final weeks of the season to ensure he retains his goal scoring crown. What better way to enter beast mode than by playing the Premier League’s worst away defence.