Fantasy Football Files - 2025/26 - Gameweek 10 - 'Park Bench'

My gameweek 10 opponent was my D&D Football Factory co-host Darren B. (D-Man). I had beaten his twin brother last week and I was looking for my third consecutive win in what had been a disappointing start to the season. Darren was trying to capture his second ‘Justice League’ title as he was in the mix early on once again so badly needed a win after losing last week.

After not pulling the trigger on the Eli Kroupi Jr. transfer last week, as I knew Evanilson was close to a comeback, I decided to make sure I got Kroupi in this week before he loses his place in the starting XI. As Kroupi’s price had gone up I could not directly transfer out Marc Guiu for him, therefore I decided to take my first points deduction of the campaign and make two transfers. I sold Brighton’s Yasin Ayari for Fulham’s Josh King to create the room for Kroupi. As I knew how solid an FPL manager Darren was, I reluctantly tried to cover my deduction by using my ‘Bench boost’ chip. If this had been a previous season I would not have drawn for it this early but as you have two of every chip now, I decided to do it. Meanwhile, my opponent’s free transfer was to sell Simon Adringa, who had lost his starting berth at Sunderland for Iliman Ndiaye. This would make Monday’s match massive as I had two Sunderland players. Darren and I both captained Erling Haaland as again he was the most captained in the gameweek.

There was no early game on Saturday, so the gameweek began at 3pm. After Joe Rodon helped me to victory last week, there was to be no repeat this time around as Leeds fell 3-0 at Brighton. Two players from the Seagulls I am keeping tabs on Danny Welbeck (£6.5m) and Yankuba Minteh (£6m) both featured in the goals. The disappointment continued for me at Turf Moor as Arsenal strolled to another clean sheet and three points. Darren had the double up at the back of Jurrien Timber and Gabriel Magalhaes, and the latter flicked on the opening goal for Viktor Gyokeres. Gyokeres has been starving but there was no way he was missing from a couple of yards out. This game alone accumulated 18 points for my opponent. Martin Dubravka was the keeper on my bench, as they played the current leaders so I was not expecting anything from him and that was to be the case.

The torture continued like a Wu-Tang Clan interlude. At Selhurst Park, Crystal Palace beat Brentford 2-0. I, of course have Daniel Munoz, however Darren had Marc Guehi, and he showed why he is over twice as owned than his teammate as he outscored him 10-6, with Guehi’s defensive contributions and bonus points paying dividends. Ismaila Sarr, did not return but Jean-Philippe Mateta, scored a fantastic header for the opening goal as another game gave my opponent the advantage. No points for me from either of my keepers then with Caoimhin Kelleher conceding, displaying why I was reluctant to use the bench boost. I had not checked on everything in the 3pm’s, though I messaged Darren to tell him ‘Well done’ it may be done already, he messaged me back to inform that Bruno Fernandes had assisted Casemiro’s opener against Nottingham Forest, so things were worse than I thought amazingly. I almost threw my phone; it was all literally going his way. Bryan Mbeumo was the most transferred in player, so his blank meant the FPL curse struck once again. The game at the City Ground was to end 2-2. Fulham triumphed 3-0 at home to Wolves, there was nothing from King though and things were starting to look ominous.

The 5.30pm game was the London Derby between Tottenham and Chelsea. I needed Spurs to score as I was up against Robert Sanchez, whilst I was hoping Thomas Frank’s men had a shutout as I had Micky van de Ven. Unfortunately, the home side were to gift the Blues the lead and indeed van de Ven was the main culprit. The ball was given away and Joao Pedro was able to end his goal drought, rewarding those that stuck with him. It was to finish 1-0 as another fixture damaged my hopes of completing the double over the twins. The 8pm kick-off saw Liverpool host Aston Villa. Darren had no-one featuring here so it was a real chance to close the gap, as I was already trailing by quite a bit. I thought I was off to a great start as Hugo Ekitike headed in only for the goal to be ruled out for offside. I did get some first half joy as Mo Salah punished Emiliano Martinez’s poor pass to give Liverpool the lead on the stroke of half-time. The second period saw Ryan Gravenberch add another goal as the Reds finally ended their shambolic league form with a win. In terms of the head-to-head, I needed a lot more but was obviously happy my team in real life had won. Could this be Salah returning to some form before he heads off to AFCON next month? Saturday concluded with me 23 points behind, 46-23.

Sunday, first up had Newcastle’s visit to West Ham. Despite Darren being a Newcastle fan, he only had Nick Woltemade in his team and luckily for me he was taken off at half-time when they were trailing 2-1. It was to end 3-1 to the Hammers as Nuno Espirito Santo got his first win in his new job. The lead now stood at 24 points, and I was hoping for a Phil Foden masterclass as Manchester City welcomed Bournemouth to the Etihad Stadium. The usual Haaland points came as he bagged a first half brace either side of a Tyler Adams goal for the Cherries. Foden almost got on the end of a ball across the face of goal as I tried to use my telekinetic powers to make him score only for it to fail. In the second period, Kroupi had two good chances, the first he snatched at and put wide, the second was saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma. I thought I was not going to get any differential points only for Foden who had earlier been booked to assist City’s third for Nico O’Reilly. I really needed extra from Foden, 4 points is better than 1, nonetheless. Kroupi really should have scored, as he did not the bench boost failed as only 10 points were produced by the 4 players as Marcos Senesi blanked too because of Man City’s goals.

I needed a miracle in the last match on Monday. Nordi Mukiele and Granit Xhaka needed to somehow get me at least 18 points and Ndiaye had to not contribute. The worst possible thing happened in the first half as Ndiaye scored a fine individual goal after Sunderland thought they should have had a free-kick. I knew it was over now as that also took away clean sheet points for Mukiele. The second at least began with something positive as Xhaka scored immediately with a deflected shot. It could have been more; Dan Ballard didn’t make proper contact with a Xhaka cross. In addition to that, right near the end of the game, the perfect combination almost came to fruition as Mukiele could have scored from a Xhaka cross, instead it finished 1-1. Xhaka got maximum bonus points nevertheless, it was not anywhere near enough as Darren prevailed 85-71.

Although the bench boost was clearly unsuccessful, my points tally would have beaten almost half of the managers in the Justice League this week. A decent score is not good enough however, when you have had a very underwhelming start like I have. I desperately need a win in my next game.

@DubulDee