Fantasy Football Files - 2025/26 - Gameweek 12 - 'Eze Does It'

My longtime friend Jacques (J) was my gameweek 12 opponent. We were both languishing at the wrong end of the table, so this was crucial. Though he was one of the few managers under me, he is normally a solid FPL player, so I was still wary.

I had two free transfers and after long thought I decided to sell Phil Foden for his teammate Jeremy Doku, and this gave me enough in the budget to sell Eli Kroupi Jr. for Igor Thiago up front. I was reluctant to sell Kroupi as Jacques had him too, but I did not know how many minutes he would be guaranteed now Evanilson is fit. I captained Erling Haaland as before the deadline Jacques never had him. When the deadline had passed, I realised my opponent also had two free transfers and to my annoyance he got Haaland in for Viktor Gyokeres and captained him too as once again Haaland was the player most captained. In addition, he sold Tijani Reijnders for Antoine Samenyo to neutralise me although the Ghanaian international was flagged because of an ankle issue.

The action began at Turf Moor as Burnley welcomed Chelsea. It ended 2-0 to the away side and this hurt us both with Jacques having Maxime Esteve and me changing to have Martin Dubravka in goal late on. Pedro Neto (£7.1m) and Enzo Fernandez (£6.7m) were the scorers and somehow, I need to force one of them into my team. Neto is someone who I always had when he was at Wolves. In terms of Enzo, I thought his early season form would die down, but when used as a ‘10’ by Enzo Maresca he has flourished. The only issue with Enzo is that Cole Palmer’s return is imminent and that may affect his output as well as him not being on some set pieces anymore.

In the 3pm’s; in terrible weather, Bournemouth and West Ham still strung together an exciting contest. The Hammers went 2-0 ahead through a brace from Callum Wilson (£5.8m), against his former club. Wilson has worked his way into Nuno Espirito Santo’s plans and with them coming up against a Liverpool team who currently cannot seem to defend in gameweek 13 he could be a differential. This dashed my hopes of clean sheet points from Marcos Senesi, but he was later to get an assist as the Cherries fought back to salvage a point. Kroupi almost scored to kill me only for a good save by Alphonse Areola to deny him at 2-1. Semenyo did not play which meant that we would both get points off our benches. Things seemed well at the Amex Stadium as Brentford took the lead from the penalty spot through my new player Thiago. The Seagulls battled back to lead 2-1 and both goals involved Yankuba Minteh (£6.2m) who could have been an alternative to me getting Doku in. I thought the FPL Gods were shining on me when Thiago had the chance from the spot again in injury time, only for Bart Verbruggen to save the penalty as Brighton triumphed. I was livid and knew that would be costly as it left Thiago on 4 points when he would have had double figures. Mikkel Damsgaard’s blank was welcomed as Jacques had him.

There was more pain for me at Craven Cottage, as beyond the 80^th minute it remained goalless and Nordi Mukiele was amongst the bonus points as well as having defensive contributions. It all changed in the 84^th minute when Raul Jimenez found the net. To think whilst that was going on my team Liverpool were being pummelled 3-0 at home by Nottingham Forest, and it could have been more. This meant another non-return from Mo Salah who I thought could have been a differential captain but man…I was wrong. Jacques and I both owned Hugo Ekitike who was benched for Alexander Isak. The opposition also had Milos Kerkez who just got a single point. But he was more than thankful for Forest’s unexpected clean sheet as Matz Sels was his keeper and got him 7 points. My only real joy in the 3pm’s was Crystal Palace’s trip to Wolves. The Eagles won 2-0 and their first was scored by Daniel Munoz before Yeremy Pino finished the home side off with a fine goal. Pino (£5.8m) has settled well to Premier League life, and I see many more points coming for him. Ismaila Sarr was not to return for Jacques at least.

In the 5.30pm kick-off, Newcastle had numerous first half efforts but could not find the net against Manchester City. A crazy 7-minute period just past the hour then saw three goals scored. Harvey Barnes’ nice finish gave the Magpies the lead. Ruben Dias levelled 5 minutes later and then 2 minutes after that, Barnes restored Eddie Howe’s teams lead. Haaland had two great chances but failed to score as many were left frustrated by their captain. Doku’s blank was only easier to manage as my opponent had him also. Despite the fact it could have been so much better I still led at Saturday’s conclusion, 38-25.

Sunday, saw Leeds host Aston Villa at Elland Road. Daniel Farke’s men took the lead through Lukas Nmecha and then Joe Rodon almost put the game to bed when his header was blocked which then saw Brenden Aaronson have his shot saved from the rebound. The second half brought bad news however, Morgan Rogers popped up with a superb second half double to get three precious points for Unai Emery’s men. First, he finished well from substitute Donyel Malen’s deflected ball at the near post, then he scored a sumptuous free-kick. Rodon got defensive contributions or having him as my first sub would have been a failure as I got his points due to Semenyo not playing. My first sub had originally been Josh King who also got 3 points. This extended my lead to 16 points, but I was still nervous it was not over although Jacques had just one player remaining in Eberechi Eze, he was not going to do a madness…was he?

The north London Derby began, and Tottenham did absolutely nothing to ease my extreme nerves as they made little intention to get into Arsenal’s half. The Gunners took the lead through a close range deflected shot by Leandro Trossard. Then the drama started, Eze made it 2-0 with another effort that saw a slight deflection. I tried to compose myself as I was still in front, but I had to hide behind the sofa. Straight after the interval, Eze scored again! I was fuming and thought that it was already over. Then I calculated and even with Eze’s inevitable three bonus points unless there was a drastic change, I could still get a draw. In the 55^th minute Richarlison did me a massive favour as he scored a brilliant goal catching David Raya off his line. This meant Eze lost a point so I was now leading by a point, 41-40, but Eze had to be quiet for the rest of the game, and I was almost certain that would not be the case. I was indeed right to have my concerns as Eze hammered in another goal to complete his hat-trick against the team who tried to buy him before Arsenal did. I was disgusted, melancholic and in sheer disbelief all at the same time, it was just my luck and summed up my season that one player could get 20 points when I led by 16.

So, this terrible season somehow took a new twist and got worse, I have no words for this, it just shows it’s not over ‘til it’s over. Another week of ‘what if’s’. If only Sunderland held out for a clean sheet, if only Thiago did not miss the second penalty, I am broken.

@DubulDee