Fantasy Football Files - 2025/26 - Gameweek 21 - 'Farewell Gifts'

My gameweek 21 opponent was Boods (Ash). Boods was a very good FPL player and this season he was amid the group from 2nd to 9th who were all somehow separated by only 6 points. I was only looking for consecutive wins as I was trying to stay away from the bottom of the table in this outrageously disappointing campaign.

I decided not to make any changes this week. Although Hugo Ekitike was flagged, as many looked to sell him, I was thinking if he somehow was able to play, he would be somewhat of a differential for my rank. Boods made two free transfers, and this included transferring out Maxime Esteve for Leeds’ Gabriel Gudmundsson and selling that man Ekitike for Ollie Watkins. Boods and I both captained Erling Haaland, boring I know but if you did not do it in a home match with Brighton and your other pick flopped you would be kicking yourself.

The midweek action began on Tuesday, and I desperately needed Jarrod Bowen to get the gameweek off to a good start. The Hammers took the lead through an own goal and Bowen could have added to their lead if Crysensio Summerville learned to lift his head up more and look for his teammates. Nottingham Forest levelled in the second half and then went on to win the game 2-1 thanks to a Morgan Gibb-White penalty. Gibbs-White now has 5 goals this season but with his value at £7.3m it looks to have put people off. He is only owned by 3% and there are cheaper options who can regularly deliver defensive contributions too which is probably why. Bowen had a couple of openings, but he took too many touches I stead of being decisive. West Ham signed two strikers, whist letting go of Callum Wilson and we will see how much that effects Bowen’s contributions.

Wednesday, saw Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo give Cherries fans the perfect farewell gift before moving to Manchester City as he scored a fine injury-time winner to edge past Tottenham. Spurs took the lead and then the home side replied through Evanilson and Eli Kroupi. Having formerly owned Kroupi I was contemplating; to make it worse Marcos Senesi assisted the goal and I swapped him to being my second substitute and put Micky van de Ven as my first sub. I was to be vexed beyond belief as van de Ven was later booked for a dive so ended the match with no points compared to Senesi’s six points. Boods also had the Dutchman. So, if Ekitike did not play I would get zero points off the bench. We both had Semenyo, so no one got an advantage from the fairytale winner.

Bowen’s blank left me with sleepless nights once again as Igor Thiago was at it again for Brentford. The Brazilian bagged a brace as the Wu-Tang killer Bees beat Sunderland 3-0 and moved up to 5th in the Premier League. Thiago has now accumulated an astonishing 29 points in two gameweeks since I sold him. I was not just angry anymore, I was melancholic. You would never feel a player who had not scored in the previous six games would then score 5 in 2, and none of them would be from the penalty spot which heavily helped his total beforehand. I do not think in the history of playing FPL transferring out a player had hurt me so badly. Adding to the woes was the fact I started Nordi Mukiele, thinking the Black Cats could get a clean sheet, how wrong was I, Mukiele at least delivered defensive contributions. Even worse than that Caoimhin Kelleher saved another penalty in the Brentford win and I foolishly changed to Martin Dubravka as my keeper at the last minute.

Crystal Palace and Aston Villa had a goalless draw at Selhurst Park and if you watched it, you would wonder how that was the case. Watkins went close a couple of times in the first half. Matty Cash had a goal-bound shot blocked by Tyrick Mitchell. Cash still almost got me extra more points as his cross at the end of the game saw Victor Lindelof’s header hit the post. Emiliano Martinez also had to make a good save from Yeremy Pino. Cash’s clean sheet points were neutralised by Ezri Konsa, but Jean-Philippe Mateta and Watkins’ blanks were good for me. Boods and I both also had Morgan Rogers who did not contribute obviously. Fulham beat Chelsea 2-1 in the Derby. I thought it was one of those days when Harry Wilson had a goal disallowed at 0-0, however he got the winning goal, so it was all good in the end. Wilson is in crazy form, when I brought him in, he was not owned by even 6% and now he is up to almost 20% ownership, I was surprised Boods did not have him.

Manchester City dropped more crucial points in the title race thanks to the return of Kaoru Mitoma. It seemed like it was normal service at hand as Haaland gave City the lead from the penalty spot. Both teams had chances and at the end Haaland and Rayan Cherki missed great chances. Cherki missing was good for me, whilst the non-return from Phil Foden clearly was not. Now with Semenyo joining Pep Guardiola’s side questions must be asked whether it makes sense to have three players from Manchester City or not. Some people may indeed already have three players from them and with Semenyo arriving it means they will have four City players. This would mean you cannot make any other transfers until you offload one of them, so decisions, decisions. Burnley drew 2-2 with Manchester United as I made a big mistake putting Dubravka in goal as I thought would be the case after doing it. As neither of us had any players in the game of the season between Newcastle and Leeds, Wednesday ended with me ahead 49-35.

So, it was up to the last game on Thursday between the champions-elect Arsenal and the current champions Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium. Boods who is an Arsenal fan had Gabriel Magalhaes who was the most transferred in player, as well as David Raya and Bukayo Saka. Whereas I just had Jeremie Frimpong, so with some of the defeats I have experienced this season I was wary beyond belief. The match did not really get started. Saka got past Milos Kerkez a couple of times and then was kept quiet, while a mistake by the home team saw Conor Bradley strike the crossbar. Liverpool were then the better team in the second period but only went close with a freekick from Dominik Szoboszlai as an unforgettable contest finished goalless. Despite Boods’ double clean sheet for Raya and Gabriel I squeezed victory as I got clean sheet points for Frimpong and of course Saka blanked. Bradley unfortunately got injured at the end and will sadly miss the rest of the season. From an FPL perspective Frimpong should get more minutes whether he is at right back or right wing therefore his ownership is more than likely to increase. Hopefully Bradley recovers well and will be raring to go next season.  

Back-to-back wins for me then despite missing out on five goals from Thiago as it ended 52-48 to me. Haaland lost his bonus point on Thursday and Cash lost his bonus point too but I held on as the Haaland deduction effected Boods too. And this was all with me having 19 points on my bench from Kelleher and Senesi. Not as much luck as last week but fortune nonetheless as the leftovers would have given me an outstanding total. Igor Thiago I am still looking for you nonetheless!

@DubulDee