Fantasy Football Files - 2025/26 - Gameweek 33 - 'Double Trouble'

FPL-mad Khurram was my opponent in gameweek 33. He currently was in second place in the ‘Justice League’ table, and I actually did him a favour a few weeks back as I beat Darren B. (D-Man) who was is at the top of the table, but Khurram ironically lost that week. It was a double gameweek before the blank gameweek in 34 because of the semi-finals in the FA Cup and I was conflicted in terms of what to do.

I seriously considered using my ‘Wildcard’ bonus chip to align my team with multiple double gameweek players. However, I then had PTSD as I have done this in previous years and have been unsuccessful, so I ended up going against that and saved a free transfer. Sometimes, single gameweek players easily outscore double gameweek players, so as I had six double gameweekers I hoped that was enough. This then prompted me to use my ‘Triple captain’ bonus chip as with it being so deep into the campaign there was no way I could not use a bonus chip in a double gameweek. After the deadline I saw that Khurram had used his ‘Free hit’ bonus chip, this is perfect when there is a double gameweek, but I had already used mine of course, hence using the triple captain. Khurram and I both captained Erling Haaland, I wanted him to go nuts so I could get the win as I was up against an XI of all double gameweek players.

Things started off early on Saturday in the London Derby as Fulham made the short trip to Brentford. I had anticipated a goal-fest only for it to end goalless. Harry Wilson was lucky to not get booked for a reckless challenge and he completely miskicked a great chance that unfortunately fell on his weaker right foot. Trust Caoimhin Kelleher to keep a clean sheet when I reluctantly picked Martin Dubravka ahead of him just for the case he had two matches.

In the 3pm’s, I was to suffer at Elland Road. Khurram had Karl Darlow in goal and Jayden Bogle in defence, so I desperately needed a goal from Wolves, sadly it did not come. Darlow made a great save from Ladislav Krejci. Rodrigo Gomes also missed a good chance when it was 2-0 to Leeds. Dominic Calvert-Lewin had a great opportunity early on, then after I thought I had gotten away with him not contributing he netted an injury time penalty as all my opponent’s players returned here. Earlier in the season Joe Rodon was the man I had in Leeds’ defence but now Bogle (£4.4m) and Jaka Bijol (£3.9m) seem to be the picks. Bournemouth got a late winner from Adrien Truffert (who I have spoken of recently) as they got all three points at Newcastle. To my dismay, Marcus Tavernier gave the Cherries the lead and he was in Khurram’s team. William Osula (£5.4m) has been amongst the goals recently and he levelled before the late winner. Khurram and I both had Marcos Senesi who only got 2 points.

In the 8pm kick off, Joao Pedro was out for Chelsea for their match with Manchester United and he was another player Khurram and I both owned. I had no one else here as Reece James was still out injured but he had Cole Palmer and Enzo Fernandez. The Red Devils got the victory as it ended 1-0 with Matheus Cunha getting the only goal. Cunha has quietly got 8 league goals.

On Sunday, I was possibly going to pay the price for procrastination. Originally, Nordi Mukiele was my second substitute, but then I changed him to my first sub, and a late Tammy Abraham goal got Aston Villa a 4-3 victory over Sunderland in a thriller at Villa Park. With Mukiele also getting booked he had a dismal -1 at the end of the game. Unless Joao Pedro played in Chelsea’s second match then I would lose a point. Even more annoying in this game was that Morgan Rogers scored, so he returned for the second game running since I sold him for Anthony Gordon. Gordon missed Saturday’s game with Bournemouth so the transfer has been a complete waste of time, Gordon the Gopher could have got me the same number of points for goodness’ sake!

Liverpool travelled to Everton for the first ever Merseyside Derby at the Hill Dickinson Stadium. The Toffees had a goal disallowed, and Giorgi Mamardashvili had to make a great save from Beto’s header before Mo Salah put the Reds in front. The Egyptian marked his last ever Derby with a lovely finish from a sublime pass from Cody Gakpo as he netted in successive league matches. David Moyes’ men levelled just after the break and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who I moved to my second substitute assisted Beto for the goal. It looked like it was going to end in a stalemate when in the 10th minute of 11 minutes added on, Virgil van Dijk headed in Dominik Szoboszlai’s corner. Seeing my team win a game with virtually the last kick was amazing but with the two players I had from my team linking up for the winner it was sheer ecstasy. Burnley took the lead at Nottingham Forest, and I had hope that Dubravka could get me points as I did not feel he would get much from their midweek clash with Manchester City. Unfortunately, Forest blitzed the Clarets in the second half thanks to a hat-trick by Morgan Gibbs-White, as they momentarily eased their relegation fears, winning 4-1.

The biggest match of the season took place at 4.30pm. Manchester City welcomed Arsenal in a game that would go a long way to deciding where the title would end up. The Gunners attacked more than they have recently which made the game exciting. Pep Guardiola’s men took the lead through a fine individual goal by Rayan Cherki. I had toyed with bringing Cherki in for Semenyo and was made to pay for not doing it. Almost immediately Mikel Arteta’s side equalised as Kai Havertz caught out Gianluigi Donnarumma. The end-to-end play continued and Arsenal will feel they were worth a point; it was the Cityzens who prevailed however as Haaland found the net despite being in a wrestling match with Gabriel Magalhaes. The Norwegian was not amongst the bonus though which was painful.

Tuesday, saw Joao Pedro not a part of the Chelsea squad again so with the Anthony Gordon absence I would get the Dewsbury-Hall points after all. Palmer thankfully did not add any points and neither did Fernandez, so there was still some hope for me as the Seagulls emphatically beat the Blues 3-0. Khurram would have easily won this if he never left his two Brighton players on the bench as over the two games, Jack Hinshelwood got 10 points and Jan Paul van Hecke got 13.

Wednesday had two matches that both kicked off at 7.45pm. Bournemouth and Leeds had a goalless first half and then an exciting second period as they shared four goals. If I did use my wildcard then I would have got Eli Kroupi Jr. and he put the Cherries ahead, Senesi assisted the goal. James Hill put through his own net to level the game and that was good for me as now Khurram got his points because of Joao Pedro not playing. Rayan made it 2-1, only for Sean Longstaff to salvage a point at the death.

Manchester City needed to win to go on top of the league and they just about did it. For those that expected a thrashing from Pep Guardiola’s men were left disappointed as it was only won 1-0, and to be honest especially in the first half Burnley almost gave as good as they got. Amid a plethora of first half saves by Dubravka, Zian Flemming and Jaidon Anthony (twice) both went close for Scott Parker’s men after Haaland had scored what turned out to be the winner after just 5 minutes. Haaland seized on Jeremy Doku’s ball and produced a deft finish. Things were tight in the head-to-head and I kept checking the bonus points. Khurram messaged me believing he had lost by a point. I calculated it as a draw, or I had lost by a point. The confusion came from the fact that the amount of bonus points Haaland was getting kept changing between 3 and 2, then we were adding the points we got off our benches, and it was pandemonium. I was certain it had ended level then about 11.15pm I checked the scores and I realised Haaland only got 1 bonus point, this meant Dubravka who made 8 saves against City did not get a bonus point after being in line for one point and this meant I lost 93-90. I was beyond disgusted!

This summed up my season, so close yet so far. I have never experienced such dramatic changes in the bonus points system; there was not a thing I could do though. I now play Khurram’s best mate Muji, so we will see what happens there. Luckily everyone under me in the table lost.

@DubulDee