Every week this season, two West Ham fans will compete at Fantasy Football to win money for their chosen charities
Will’s Team
GK: Raya
DEF: Saliba, Mitchell, Branthwaite, C. Richards
MID: Palmer, Foden, Saka
FW: Solanke, Haaland (c) Isak
Can someone ask that fat lady to keep the noise down please? All that singing is giving me a headache.
Despite James’ desperate, and mathematically inaccurate, claims before the last gameweek that he still had hope of catching me, the self-proclaimed FPL “expert” seems to have finally accepted that his race is run.
Thanks to captain Erling Haaland’s 42, Tyrick Mitchell’s 12, and every other player’s score of five or more, my 114 points last week was my highest tally of the season and also put me in the top 0.6% of scorers out of 11.4million global FPL players for GW36.
Both of those things are nice, and of course impressive.
But the greatest thing about it? The fact it proved once and for all that cheats never prosper as I thrashed James by 16 points to increase my overall lead on him to 39 points – with me now on 2,143 and him on a measly 2,104.
James’ tactic of declaring that he had “not made his mind up” about his captain in these very blogs the last two weeks risked putting him in direct violation of the rules set out at the beginning of the season. Namely, that we aren’t to make any changes to our teams once these blogs are submitted.
That is of course to prevent one of us looking at the other’s team once the blog goes live, well in advance of the official FPL deadline, and then tweaking our lineups or captains to gain an unfair advantage on the other.
Only after being reprimanded for his conduct last week AND the week before did James agree not to change from the player he’d said his armband was on “for now” in his GW 35 and 36 blog submissions.
As a result, no rules were actually broken, but his actions were certainly not in the spirit of this competition and shows the depths he has sunk to to try and win.
An ugly look on an otherwise lovely bloke. Shame really.
Anyway, onwards and upwards. Two transfers for me this week at a cost of four points as Brighton’s injured JP Van Hecke makes way for Dan Burn – whose Newcastle have a double gameweek. And fellow Toon midfielder Anthony Gordon was replaced by Manchester United’s Alejandro Garnacho with the Reds also playing twice.
These might seem like daft transfers but James owns both Burn and Garnacho so the move further neutralises the virtually non-existent chance he has of catching me. And I had to get rid of Gordon to bring Burn in as I had too many Newcastle players.
I have also played my bench boost this week, my final chip, as I am certain James will do with his triple captain. But to use one of the great man’s favourite phrases… “LET’S HAVE IT RIGHT…” there’s no way he’s making up the ground he needs at this stage.
I assume he’ll captain Haaland, unless of course he abandons what’s left of his dignity and looks at my team first and then picks someone else when he realises I’ve given my armband to the Norwegian goal machine too.
Game. Set. Match.
James’ Team
GK: Areola
DEF: Senesi, Walker, Burn
MID: Palmer (v), Foden (tc), Bruno G., Saka, Son
FW: Haaland , Isak, Jackson
For someone who claims to hate Fantasy Football, Will is enjoying this way too much.
Last week was a good week where FPL is concerned. I pulled in a very respectable 98 points to continue something of an end of season recovery, taking my weekly points average since my disaster of a free hit in GW29 to 75.
But for the purposes of this, I’m up against someone who just won’t go away. Just when I thought I’ve got him where I want him, Will pulls in a lucky score. That was the case again last week, as Tyrick Mitchell scored a rare goal to return 12 points against Man United. That’s two unlikely defender hauls he’s benefited from in the last few weeks, and one of them he didn’t even intend to play!
The gap is now 39 points with two weeks left to play. He has his bench boost and I have my triple captain. I’m on the ropes.
I know he’s planning on playing his bench boost this week, so I have to counter him by playing my triple captain. I really wish I’d played it last week after Erling Haaland smashed four goals past Wolves. Still, it means I’m not going up against Will’s Bench Boost with nothing behind me.
As for transfers, it’s a -4 to bring in Nicolas Jackson and Bruno Guimaraes for Dominic Solanke and Alejandro Garnacho, giving me an additional DGW player and a slightly upgraded midfield. That gives me 9 players with two games this week. The two that don’t are Marcos Senesi and Alphonse Areola, who both have favourable home fixtures, so I’m hoping for some defensive returns there.
The injured Harry Maguire is joined on the bench by my three Arsenal players, who only play once. It’s a long shot but, if Arsenal blank at Old Trafford, that could be massive for me.
My triple captain? I’m undecided again. I have to pick someone who I don’t think Will is going to pick as his captain in order to maximise my potential returns. I’m gambling by putting it on Phil Foden. City have a big week ahead but I can see them getting the job done, starting with a trip to Fulham, who have nothing to play for, and then Spurs, who are in all sorts of bother at the moment. If Foden hauls, I’m in the game. If he doesn’t, it’s game over.
Will has been very vocal in the WhatsApp group about my captain indecisions in recent weeks. He’s been accusing me of cheating and all sorts, despite me always sticking by my original captain choice. Perhaps the pressure has been getting to him? Regardless, I don’t take kindly to being called a cheat.
I’ll tell you something, he went down in my estimations when he said that. I have not resorted to that. But I’ll tell you, you can tell him now, he’ll be reading this.
I’m still fighting for this title!
And he’s got to go to DGW37 with a bench boost and get something.
And…and… I’ll tell you, honestly, I will love it if I beat him! Love it!
