Fantasy Football Files - 2024/25 - Gameweek 36 - Default Settings

My gameweek 36 opponent was my cousin Clement. Since he has been in the ‘Justice League’ no matter where he finished in the table, he always seemed to give me a tough game. He was hovering just outside the proverbial relegation zone this time around and yet I was still weary.

Usually this part of the ‘Fantasy Football Files’, I give you a thorough explanation of how me and the FPL manager I am up against set our teams up, sorry to disappoint you but that will not be the case this week. Clement made no changes to his team and for the first time ever I missed the deadline! You would think that as it was a later Saturday deadline that it would have helped me, sadly this was not the case. I will not bore you with all the fine details, but I missed my first train going home from the studio. I saw a fellow Liverpool fan that worked at the train station, and they saw my shirt so felt inclined to stop me though I was running. Then I encountered a nutcase who said they had just come out of jail, and he was literally threatening to beat everyone up near him on the platform whilst I just merely wanted to sort my damn team…random I know! This all meant by the time I got on a train half an hour later after tall he palava and gathered my thoughts it was after half past 1, goodness me! Mo Salah was my captain; I would have gone for Bryan Mbeumo had I confirmed the alterations to my team. The plan was to bring in Kevin De Bruyne and Yoane Wissa for Jacob Murphy and Raul Jimenez. Clement also had Salah as his captain.

Saturday at 3pm is where things got started. Fulham took the lead against Everton and of course it was Jimenez who I would have sold, so he was sitting on my bench. The Ryan Sessegnon experiment took another disaster turn as the Toffees came back to win 3-1. Sessegnon got a whole point more than last week as he ended with…a point. Not having Wissa was playing on my thoughts and to make it worse, Clement had him up front. In a scoreline that not many expected however, the Bees only won 1-0 at Ipswich. The goal was scored by Kevin Schade, and it was assisted by Mbeumo as Clement and I both benefitted. I had expected a massive Mbeumo haul so along with the Wissa blank it was not as bad as I thought it would be. In addition to that I welcomed the clean sheet from Mark Flekken who consolidated it with a great save from Cameron Burgess near the end.

The fantasy gods continued to look over me as Manchester City somehow were held to a goalless draw by relegated Southampton. The De Bruyne blank had me thinking that it may just be my week somehow. Thousands of FPL managers would have been disgusted as De Bruyne was the most transferred-in player. The caveat was Josko Gvardiol (£6.5m) was in my cousin’s team as the Cityzens kept their third clean sheet since I sold him. You cannot have it all I suppose. Many had drafted in Omar Marmoush, only for Erling Haaland to return to the starting XI. Marmoush was to hit the woodwork when he came on. With how open Brighton can be, I was optimistic that Wolves would do a job at home considering the form they had been in, except it was not to be. The Seagulls won 2-0 as Rayan Ait-Nouri did not return and Matheus Cunha only played 59 minutes, meaning as he was booked, he did not even register a point. He could have had a first half assist and almost scored. In the late fixture, Aston Villa won 1-0 away at Bournemouth. Morgan Rogers who would have been on my bench, made the goal for Ollie Watkins. Imagine Saturday turned out better without the changes, but would it lead to a victory?   

Sunday began with Newcastle hosting Chelsea. Missing the deadline seemed more like fate once again as Jacob Murphy assisted the opening goal for Sandro Tonali and Murphy as said is who I would have sold for De Bruyne. It ended 2-0 as I rued not having a Newcastle defender for another week. It was to be another blank for Alexander Isak as if you looked at the Magpies’ fixtures a few weeks ago you would have thought that he had a plethora of goals coming, it has not quite been that way though. Although he is my team, I seem to an extent to have underestimated Jarrod Bowen. I have only once thought of giving him the captaincy and even I messed that up in that week, and this week he was at it again. The Hammers won 2-0 at Manchester United and Bowen scored the second goal. It was Bowen’s fifth return in the last six games. With Nottingham Forest and Ipswich coming up he will not be coming out of my team.

Speaking of Nottingham Forest, their Champions League ambitions took another knock as they were held to a draw by Leicester as the revenge of the already relegated teams continued. Anthony Elanga (£5.5m) was in Clement’s side and his free-kick was headed in by Morgan Gibbs-White (£6.4m) for the opening goal as things stayed close in the head-to-head. Gibbs-White also got an assist. Things were mixed for me at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Crystal Palace beat Spurs 2-0 thanks to Clement’s Eberechi Eze who got a brace. The first goal was assisted by Daniel Munoz, so I got a double-figure haul, however, Eze’s second was laid on by Ismaila Sarr so more points for Clement. Djed Spence was on my bench although my opponent started him so only a single point for him there. He also started Micky van de Ven, he did not play a minute though and that meant he would Trent Alexander-Arnold’s points off his bench. Things were extremely tight going into the last match at Anfield as I led by just four, 49-45.

Clement had three Liverpool men, but I obviously had one of them in Salah. Alexander-Arnold was only on the bench as Conor Bradley started. The home side raced into a two-goal lead thanks to Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz. It is always awkward playing someone who has more players than you from the team that you support in ‘real life’. Now if Arne Slot’s men kept a clean sheet I would lose as Alisson was the keeper I was up against. Arsenal pulled a goal back as soon as the second period started. Alexander-Arnold came on to a chorus of boos and then the Gunners levelled. Not exactly the way I wanted to gain a possible advantage, nonetheless the game ended 2-2. I thought Clement had won, then I thought it was a draw, then I realised Bowen’s bonus points would have me win by a point.

That was indeed to be the case when things were finalised as I narrowly won 53-52. Crazy to say the least. The FPL gods set out my Saturday afternoon for the default settings prevail. Drafting in De Bruyne and Wissa would have been catastrophic for my gameweek 36 team. I was only just above the weekly average so my overall rank only slightly improved as I stayed in 8th place in the Justice League. The highest score this week belonged to Khurram who got 63 despite taking a four-point hit as he has now somehow powered his way up to 5th. Michael B. is four points clear at the top as Josh lost, meaning Darren B. is back in 2nd. Regarding myself maybe I should not change my team more often…I play wind-up merchant Muji next, but will I make transfers? Tune into the next episode!

@DubulDee