Fantasy Football Files - 2024/25 - Gameweek 35 - Late Registration

The winner of the inaugural ‘Justice League’, Andrew, was my gameweek 35 opponent. We were level on points in the table as we were both having underwhelming campaigns languishing outside the race for the top four.

Originally, I was not going to make nay transfers this week, then after looking at my opponent’s team I realised there were too many similarities, and I needed something to give me the edge. Just before the Friday deadline I sold Jan Bednarek and brought a man I mentioned last week, Ryan Sessegnon. With the Fulham man’s goal threat there was also the chance of a clean sheet, with him being listed as a defender despite him playing much further forward recently. I had my captaincy on Bryan Mbeumo long before the deadline, I then tried to change it to Jarrod Bowen, only for it to be too late as it was not accepted as time had run out. Andrew did not make any transfers, and it seems he forgot the deadline as he still had Marcus Rashford in his starting XI and he was injured. He captained Mo Salah.

The action began last Friday, as Manchester City hosted Wolves. I had two Wolves players and really thought that they could do something given the form they had been in. Rayan Ait-Nouri hit the post early on which would have also meant a Matheus Cunha assist for me and then his rebound was saved by Ederson. City went on to win 1-0 through a goal from Kevin De Bruyne. Will De Bruyne (£9.5m) be very popular for the remaining games in what will be his 'last dance' for Manchester City? We will see, early signs are yes as he has gone up to 12% ownership, his highest this campaign. I was disappointed as I felt this was a chance to get some differential points for my rank as I knew others would bench their Wolves players for this game. Trust Andrew to have Josko Gvardiol, who I sold a few weeks ago as I did not believe he would be the best FPL asset as he is now operating at centre half and Pep Guardiola’s men had struggled to keep sheets. The only salvation I got was the fact that Omar Marmoush blanked.

Saturday, saw Aston Villa beat Fulham 1-0 in the early game. Youri Tielemens (£5.5m) scored the only goal for Unai Emery’s men. This obviously meant no clean sheet for Sessegnon, to make it worse Sessegnon had a goal disallowed for handball. This was not to be worst of it as he came off before the hour mark after being booked, so he did not get me a single point. This made the transfer pointless; I could have had two free transfers for gameweek 36, I was vexed beyond belief. Morgan Rogers blanked for us both, and my opponent had Lucas Digne, who was only on the bench. Neither of us had anyone in the two 3pm games, however, Andrew had Milos Kerkez who did not return as Bournemouth came from behind to beat Arsenal 2-1. If anyone had Andoni Iraola as their ‘Assistant manager’, then well done. I trailed 16-7 at Saturday’s close.

On Sunday, I had high hopes as my captain was up against Manchester United but despite them scoring four goals, Mbeumo was only to get an assist. The Bees won 4-3, as Yoane Wissa scored again since I sold him. Mbeumo got a ‘fantasy’ assist for Kevin Schade’s second goal. This would have been a differential but as Andrew had not changed his team as said, Mbeumo replaced the injured Rashford meaning he got half my points. My keeper Mark Flekken was to end with just one point. I expected an exciting match between Brighton and Newcastle at the Amex Stadium, the match was not really to produce though. The Seagulls took the lead through former Magpie Yankuba Minteh. It looked like that was going to be the only goal when after two previous failed appeals Eddie Howe’s men got a penalty in the 89th minute. Isak put the penalty away to steal maximum bonus points like the repo man. I welcomed the blank from Harvey Barnes only for my differential Jacob Murphy to blank too.  

I was left to rue deciding so late to try and change Bowen to be my captain, as he levelled things up for West Ham against Tottenham. Bowen also had a flicked effort well saved by Guglielmo Vicario or things really would have been looking up. Bowen critically got two bonus points as Mbeumo did not get any, my head was hot at my error. In the last Sunday contest, Liverpool made changes for their trip to Chelsea and paid the price. The Blues immediately took a 1-0 lead before going on to win 3-1. Now, being a Liverpool fan this is not necessarily the way I wanted the head-to-head to stay close as Andrew had Alisson in goal, Luis Diaz and of course Salah as captain. Salah should have got an assist as Darwin Nunez astonishingly headed wide. Cody Gakpo not returning confirmed no-one got anything productive from this fixture. In an outrageously tight affair Andrew had a one-point lead as it stood 40-39 when Sunday concluded.

So, I needed something from my namesake Daniel Munoz to steal the victory. Crystal Palace almost took the lead against Nottingham Forest as Munoz’s left-foot effort was kept out by Matz Sels, I almost screamed as I jumped around in my sitting room thinking he had scored. The Eagles took the lead through an Eberechi Eze penalty before disaster struck. Munoz got cautioned just after the hour mark which lost the Colombian a vital point. If Oliver Glasner’s men could get a clean sheet then I would still be fine, it was not to be however. Murillo deflected in a Neco Williams shot and it remained 1-1. The costly booking meant we drew 40-all.

I was livid as if I had made the change in time then the Bowen captaincy would have got me the victory. Also, the Sessegnon transfer meant I started him over Djed Spence who though only getting two points would have got me the win. Tough lessons were learnt and at least there was not more on the line than pride. A shoutout for Michael B. who got the highest Justice League score this week with 55, which took him back to the top of the table as Josh lost.

@DubulDee