Fantasy Football Files - 2025/26 - Gameweek 37 - 'Fool's Gold'

My gameweek 37 opponent was Eman. He was a former champion and was battling for the title again, but he needed to win against me, or Darren B. would beat Eman to be the first to win the ’Justice League’ for the second time. I was laid back as in terms of league position there was not really anything I could do in the last two matches but for Eman this was huge.

I wanted to have two free transfers for the last week of the season therefore I did not make any changes. I wanted a differential captain, so I changed from Erling Haaland and went with Dominik Szoboszlai. Aston Villa foul quite a bit and Szoboszlai was on set pieces, so I thought why not. Eman made three free transfers. He heavily invested in Arsenal, and brought in Myles Lewis-Skelly for Nico O’Reilly, Bukayo Saka for Marcus Tavernier and Viktor Gyokeres for Haaland. Gyokeres was the most transferred in player as many expected the Gunners to win in style and get closer to the Premier League title. Saka was his captain. 

Things started off last week Friday, with my captain in action as Liverpool travelled to Aston Villa. Whoever won would tie up Champions League qualification through the league. Villa also of course could win the Europa League to qualify. The home side took the lead through Morgan Rogers who is getting points again after I sold him. Virgil van Dijk levelled with a header that was assisted by Szoboszlai. This was only for Villa to respond with three…yes 3 goals as they secured Champions League qualification in style. The Reds pulled another goal back and it helped my fantasy team again, although the result did not help the team I support. Szoboszlai assisted van Dijk once more as it ended 4-2. I had 30 points, but I was fuming that now Liverpool could not make qualification certain until the last day of the campaign.

Sunday saw Manchester United beat Nottingham Forest 3-2 in the early fixture. Bruno Fernandes aided Eman as he equalled the Premier League assist record when he made the third goal for Bryan Mbeumo. At least Diogo Dalot blanked to deny Eman further joy. In the 3pm games; Brentford and Crystal Palace shared the spoils at the Gtech Community Stadium. This meant no clean sheet for Caoimhin Kelleher. Dango Ouattara (£5.6m) got a brace for the Bees and as Keith Andrews’ side are chasing a win that could give them European football it may make sense to have him in your team. I had hope Nordi Mukiele would return away at Everton, though he was not able to Sunderland still got three points at the Hill Dickinson Stadium as it ended 3-1.

Leeds and Brighton affected us both, I had Pascal Gross and Eman had Jan Paul van Hecke as well as Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Gross had a couple of first half efforts that drew decent saves from Karl Darlow. The game was heading for a stalemate when Calvert-Lewin seized on an error by van Hecke and won the game after rounding Bart Verbruggen as late as the 96th minute. The head-to-head seemed to be slipping away from me. Harry Wilson to my displeasure was only on the bench as Marco Silva rotated a bit as the season winds down. It was to finish 1-1 between Wolves and Fulham as on a rare occasion when I used all of my five midfielders it backfired.

Jarrod Bowen has had some big moments for me this season, last Sunday in the 5.30pm kick off was not to be, however. The gameweek 36 disallowed goal against Arsenal seemed to be lingering on Hammers’ players’ minds as Newcastle took a 2-0 first lead with ease at home. William Osula added his second goal to make it 3-0 in the second half, before a superb Taty Castellanos strike made it 3-1. Osula (£5.5m) is in great form and Taty (£5.5m) has everything to play for on the last day, both are decent forward options for gameweek 38.

Monday, was judgement day for Eman as he had invested so heavily in Arsenal. It started off badly for him as Gyokeres was only on the bench. The Gunners got the win they needed as Kai Havertz, the man in Gyokeres’ place, headed in Saka’s corner. Thankfully, that was all from Saka or it could have looked very bleak for me although I was in a tight contest here regardless as Saka delivered 20 points because of the captaincy.

Tuesday, decided it all. Bournemouth were first up needing a win to have the chance of finishing above Liverpool in their own hands. While Manchester City needed to beat the Cherries or Arsenal would be champions. The first goal was not good for me or Pep Guardiola as Eli Kroupi Jr. (£4.7m) produced another fantastic finish. As it stood, I was going to lose. After 8.15pm I was keeping tabs on Chelsea and Tottenham as Eman had Cole Palmer. They went 2-0 up and fortunately Palmer was not involved. Back to the Vitality Stadium, I got some good fortune as Antoine Semenyo was substituted on 55 minutes to deny Eman further points. It looked like it would end 1-0, when in the 95th minute Haaland put the rebound in after Rodri hit the post. I was now in the lead but the threat from Palmer was still there. City could not get a winner; therefore, Arsenal were champions. Palmer did not contribute as Chelsea won 2-1, so I escaped with a narrow 56-54 victory. Mikel Arteta’s men were not the only champions as my win meant Darren B. was the Justice League champion again. This luck is what I needed earlier in the campaign, man.

It is funny as now I am relaxed I am getting more results. There is not anything for me to really play for outside of trying to get the highest score, which is unlikely at this stage of the season. I remain in 13th place.

I only have two free transfers for the last day. If you happen to have more than that or have a chip remaining then target teams who have something to play for, whether it is European qualification or take a punt on West Ham or Tottenham, as there is no guarantee with who will start for other teams.

@DubulDee