Fantasy Football Files - 2025/26 - Gameweek 32 - 'Ministry of Defence'

Gameweek 32 in the ‘Justice League’ pitted me against my friend ‘Coach’ Kojo. The irony with this encounter was that Kojo was once at the bottom of the table earlier in the campaign and he felt like giving up. We spoke a few months ago and I told him it was a long season and that there was always something to play for. He then went on a run and leapfrogged me in the table, which made me wish I did not before to come with any words of encouragement. However, after a couple recent wins if I could get a victory here then I would be able to go above him.

After using my free hit in gameweek 31, I still had two free transfers, therefore I sold Morgan Rogers and Hugo Ekitike. In came Anthony Gordon and Jarrod Bowen. Kojo did not have Erling Haaland or Bowen as it stood so I thought West Ham’s captain would be a good choice. He has been amongst the points recently and since Taty Castellanos was purchased in January, he has also become a defensive contributions magnet returning to his natural position on the wing. Kojo’s free transfer was to sell Taty (£5.5m) for Erling Haaland, with how industrious Taty has looked I thought when seeing this after the deadline that it was a possible mistake. I captained Haaland at the 11th hour after originally giving it to Bowen. I chickened out as West Ham were up first on Friday night football against Wolves which made me nervous. Kojo, who was a Manchester United supporter put the captaincy on Bruno Fernandes who has been my nemesis this season.

The action began last Friday as said with Wolves’ trip to the London Stadium. Things began well as Bowen’s lovely cross was headed in by Konstantinos Mavropanos for the opener. Bowen then almost got himself on the scoresheet as he smashed the post on the break. Selling Taty came back to haunt Kojo as he grabbed the second goal after some great linkup play with Pablo. Another break by the Hammers saw them make it 3-0 as Bowen found Taty who calmly scored in off the post with a low shot and I was bittersweet; I was thankful for the Bowen points but was ruing not captaining him even more. After a corner was not cleared properly Mavropanos got his second and Bowen got another assist, this was strictly a ‘fantasy’ assist, but it got me more points, so I was thrilled. It could have been four assists for Bowen as on yet another break he found substitute Adama Traore who put a great chance wide. With Bowen also getting defensive contributions points it was a great start to already have 14 points though it really should have been 28.

On Saturday, I left Marcos Senesi on my bench and Kojo left out Djordje Petrovic as Bournemouth won 2-1 at the Emirates Stadium to make the title race more interesting. Senesi got defensive contributions points, but it remained to be seen whether his 4 points would affect me or not. Alex Scott (£5m) got the Cherries’ winner and with his attacking threat and the chance of getting defensive contributions he could be one to look at for the upcoming double gameweek.

In the 3pm kick-offs, Kojo started to make inroads into my lead as Igor Thiago scored

an early penalty against Everton. My keeper Caoimhin Kelleher then made a superb double save to deny Idrissa Gueye and Beto. The Toffees levelled things up somewhat controversially through Beto which took away my Kelleher clean sheet and Nathan Collins’ points who Kojo had. Thiago bagged a brace when he turned in Michael Kayode’s shot as I started to worry about not giving Bowen the captaincy. Luckily the fixture was not to leave me empty handed as Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall drove the ball in low in injury time after Jake O’Brien’s shot was blocked. Dewsbury-Hall was to be amongst the bonus points too, so this was an important goal. I was up against Bart Verbruggen, so I really needed Burnley to score in their home game with Brighton. The Clarets tried as they had two goals disallowed. Scott Parker’s men also forced Verbruggen into good saves from Jadon Anthony and Zian Flemming. But the away side were to prevail 2-0 through a brace from the unlikely Mats Wieffer (£4.9m). Jan Paul Van Hecke was the most transferred in player this week so many were content despite him getting booked.

In the late game, Arne Slot rotated his starting XI for the home game with Fulham. This meant Ekitike did not start and in the end, he did not come off the bench either so Kojo would get points from Leeds’ Brendan Aaronson in his place. Youngster Rio Ngumoha gave the Reds’ the lead with a super goal and Mo Salah scored with a fine finish in the first half. The Cottagers were the better team in the second period but could not find the net. Dominik Szoboszlai got defensive contributions and Virgil van Dijk did too as they got 5 and 9 points respectively. Saturday ended with me ahead 39-27.

Sunday had three 2pm kick-offs. Newcastle took the lead at Crystal Palace through William Osula. Daniel Munoz was in Kojo’s team, and he almost scored twice before the goal. A late brace from Jean-Philippe Mateta stole three points for the Eagles. So, no return from Gordon, which was really annoying as at the City Ground, Morgan Rogers’ ball in went in off Murillo for Aston Villa to take the lead before the in-form Neco Williams (£4.7m) made it 1-1 and that is how it ended. At the Stadium of Light, Nordi Mukiele headed a decent chance wide, he then in the second half to my pleasure opened the scoring. I started him as I know he is comfortable in the oppositions’ half as well as being solid defensively and his shot took a huge deflection then looped in to give the Black Cats their winning goal as he amassed 14 points, I was overjoyed. Enzo Le Fee blanked which I welcomed as Spurs were condemned to the bottom three.

In the big contest of the week, Manchester City travelled to Chelsea. Chelsea competed well in the first half, but title-chasing City stepped it up in the second period. Rayan Cherki was the driving force with two assists and thankfully the first was for a header from Nico O’Reilly. Marc Guehi made it 2-0 after a glorious run by Cherki, before an error was punished by Jeremy Doku for the third goal. O’Reilly came off with an injury just after the hour mark and still went on to get 14 points. Despite Antoine Semenyo and my captain blanking I was still ecstatic as I led 78-38 at the end of Sunday.

I had no players left on Monday, but Kojo had four. I had an extremely healthy lead although I still did not feel comfortable. Manchester United hosted Leeds and Kojo had three United players then of course Aaronson off his bench. One of his men from the Red Devils, Bryan Mbeumo was only on the bench. Leeds were to race into a 2-0 lead through a Noah Okafor (£5.5m) double which eradicated Leny Yoro’s clean sheet points at least. Casemiro pulled a goal back with a header from a Bruno Fernandes free-kick but Daniel Farke’s men held on for the three points, and I got my empathic victory.

It finished 78-55 to me and I reached my restructured mid-season goal of 39 points as I needed a target to help me focus after my dreadful first half of the campaign. I am now 7 points clear of the bottom 3 so it is not inconceivable I could still drop into it, but I would rather look up at Sam and Boods who are only two points ahead of me. Getting Bowen back in was a masterstroke I must say, I was more impressive with my defence all getting clean sheets and bonus points on top of that for the first time this season.

@DubulDee