Fantasy Football Files - 2025/26 - Gameweek 4 - 'Burn It Down!'

My gameweek 4 opposition was my longtime friend Jermaine (JR the Front Room Gooner). I was in desperate need of victory as I was sitting rock bottom of the ‘Justice League’ and I was at my breaking point.

After two failed free transfers last week, I decided to make a change at the back this week. Out went Nikola Milenkovic as Nottingham Forest were not looking as good at the back as last season and in came Daniel Munoz. For any new readers, I had Munoz in my team but then took him out not too long before the first deadline and have been badly punished for it. Jermaine made two transfers, therefore taking a four-point penalty. He sold two injured defenders in Ola Aina and William Saliba for Marc Cucurella and Jurrien Timber. We both captained Mo Salah.

The Arsenal-Forest fixture kickstarted the week. Martin Zubimendi’s thumping volley gave the Gunners the lead and they did not look back. Not even a minute into the second period they doubled their lead as Eberechi Eze found Viktor Gyokeres. This was bad news as I was facing Eze. My opponent had doubled up at the back on the team he supports, and he breathed a sigh of relief when the ball hit Chris Wood and then was superbly tipped onto the bar by David Raya. Ironically Jermaine had Wood in his team too, but this kept the clean sheet intact for Mikel Arteta’s men. Zubimendi then added a second as it ended 3-0. This match alone gave Jermaine 21 points, again I was already up against it before the 3pm’s had even begun.

In the 3pm’s, Bournemouth took the lead and then were pegged back by Brighton. As usual things then worsened for me, the Cherries were awarded a penalty, and it was calmly dispatched by Antoine Semenyo. I was hoping Evanilson who was fouled would take it, but it was the Ghanaian as my deficit increased. He also assisted the first goal for Alex Scott to get another double figure haul. Semenyo is already owned by over 40% of fantasy managers and you can expect that to increase before the gameweek 5 deadline as we now know he will be on spot-kicks too. Despite getting cautioned Munoz delivered some points for me as Crystal Palace and Sunderland had a stalemate at Selhurst Park. The Black Cats have their keeper Robin Roefs (£4.5m) to thank as he made two big saves from the Jermaine-owned Jean-Philippe Mateta.

I took Ezri Konsa out of my starting XI for Joe Rodon and it failed. Aston Villa’s trip to Everton finished goalless, whilst Leeds were heading for a point at Craven Cottage only for a Gabriel Gudmundsson own goal in injury time gave Fulham all three points. Now, usually this would have been a big error, but Rodon’s defensive contributions still got him 4 points. So, with Konsa not getting any bonus points it was not as harmful as it would have been in previous FPL seasons. Astoundingly, Aston Villa are the only team in England yet to find the net this season. This of course was another blank for Ollie Watkins who is really testing my patience. Jack Grealish was the most transferred in player this week, owners were left disappointed as he had an effort well saved by Emi Martinez with his legs. There were even more points for Jermaine at St James’ Park as Newcastle beat Wolverhampton 1-0 as he had Tino Livramento. The away side almost took the lead in the very first minute as Nick Pope had to deny Rodrigo Gomes. Nick Woltemade (£7m) scored on his debut and at that price his popularity could really increase, with Arsenal being the hardest fixture on paper until a November game against Manchester City.

In the 5.30pm contest, I finally made some inroads into the gap I faced. Tottenham won 3-0 at West Ham and I was vindicated in starting Micky van de Ven as he scored the third goal en route to 14 points. The blemish was that Brennan Johnson was only on the bench, so only got 1 point. I may have to let him go sooner rather than later as new signing Xavi Simons’ minutes will far outweigh his now. In the 8pm game, a late Fabio Carvalho goal salvaged a point for Brentford in their home game with Chelsea. I was content with Joao Pedro not doing much but then he setup the equaliser for Cole Palmer, after Kevin Schade had opened the scoring from a great pass by Jordan Henderson. Moises Caicedo thought he had won the game with a powerful strike before Carvalho’s heroics. Cucurella was only on the bench and came on to get just a solitary point. No return from Caoimhin Kelleher for me as at Saturday’s conclusion I trailed 46-31 because of the Pedro assist.  

The fixture that effected the head-to-head on Sunday was the champions’ trip to Burnley and Liverpool were to leave it late once again. The Clarets defended gallantly, however a handball by Hannibal Mejbri gifted the Reds a 95^th minute penalty that was scored emphatically by Salah. The Egyptian was the most captained player in FPL for gameweek 4, and for the third time in four games he bailed managers out again right at the death. All that hard work for Hannibal to burn it down, and with that name we thought he was going to eat everything up. Florian Wirtz went close once again nevertheless he remains without a goal contribution in the league for his new club. I still have faith in him regardless. Cody Gakpo was the liveliest of the frontline, unfortunately he blanked too, as Jermaine was victorious despite his Liverpool differential Milos Kerkez, being substituted in the first half.  

Even with his deduction, Jermaine prevailed 64-55. Unbelievably this is the first time I have surpassed 50 points in this horrendous start to the campaign. Burn it down like Seth Rollins, null and void the season, I cannot do this anymore! Read next week to see if I can even get a god damn draw, this is diabolical.

@DubulDee