Fantasy Football Files - 2025/26 - Gameweek 8 - 'The Others...'

My gameweek 8 opponent was Dwayne. He always seemed to have something up his sleeve when we played regardless of what league position he was in. I desperately had to win after losing my sixth head-to-head game before the international break and if I did that would take me within three points of him.

I liked the look of my team, so I had no plans of making any transfers despite some late temptation. I used my wildcard a few weeks back for a reason, so as there were not mass injury worries, I left things as they were. The captaincy was where my confliction came from. The obvious choice was Erling Haaland at home to Everton but as Mo Salah usually turns up against Manchester United, I was seriously contemplated giving him the captaincy. Salah’s price has dropped to £14.4m as his ownership has declined considerably, so if he was to do well then that would do great thanks for my rank. I ended up sticking with Haaland, however. Dwayne as I thought he would when I looked at his team before the deadline used his ‘Wildcard’. This meant he now had Haaland, but the Norwegian was amazingly still a differential for me as he went with a punt on Jeremy Doku as captain.

The action began on Saturday at the City Ground as Nottingham Forest welcomed Chelsea. Ange Postecoglou’s men had a couple of first half chances but failed to take them. It was a very frustrating watch as I needed them to find the net as I was up against Marc Cucurella. Forest were chastised for their misses in the second half as Pedro Neto took centre stage. Firstly, his tantalising cross was headed in by Josh Acheampong (£3.9m). Acheampong could be a useful enabler but with Tosin, Wesley Fofana and Jorrel Hato about he is unlikely to start as much as needed, then you also add the fact he is only a teenager so will be protected. Matz Sels could then only palm a Neto free-kick into the net which made it 2-0. The home side went close three times including Igor Jesus hitting the crossbar but could not score and Reece James made the scoreline look even healthier for the Blues. This resulted in Postecoglou being axed only eight games into the job, strewth!

The 3pm’s for once were nice to me. Brighton won 2-1 at the Amex Stadium against Newcastle and Yankuba Minteh thankfully was not involved in either of Danny Welbeck’s goals. The irony was that I had said on Saturday morning’s ‘FootyOnTop’ show that whenever Welbeck plays Newcastle he seems to turn into Ronaldo Nazario. Nick Woltemade was the most transferred in player and he scored again with a sublime flick into the corner. I need to find a way to also have him in my team sooner than later as his price is rapidly shooting up, it currently stands at £7.4m. Martin Dubravka made some good saves as Burnley won 2-0 at home to Leeds. The caveat here was that Dubravka had been drafted in by Dwayne on his wildcard. A £4m keeper that starts almost feels like cheating.

A crazy contest at Selhurst Park saw a late Jean-Philippe Mateta penalty salvage a point for Crystal Palace in. a six-goal thriller. Youngster Eli Kroupi’s brace had given Bournemouth a 2-0 lead. The second was really well finished after good work by Antoine Semenyo, who was another player we both owned. Marcos Senesi just avoided getting sent off which helped me not lose points. Alternatively, though Daniel Munoz assisted two goals for Mateta as the Eagles drew level which drastically aided Dwayne, as any chance of clean sheet points from Senesi went. Ryan Christie restored the Cherries’ lead only for Mateta to complete his hat-trick from the spot. To make matters worse Marc Guehi won the penalty and I was also facing him. Manchester City and Everton had a goalless first period, and I was sitting there thinking that when Haaland finally could drive me to a victory he was going to disappoint. Thankfully, the Norwegian bagged a second half brace either side of the hour mark to vindicate the captaincy choice. He was yet again the most captained this gameweek and if he was not already, he is inevitable. With Doku blanking this was a fruitful game. Sunderland have been the surprise package in the league thus far and they did not dissatisfy as to my joy they beat Leeds 2-0 at the Stadium of Light. I got a notification on my phone that Nordi Mukiele had scored, and I thought it may be an error, but it was indeed the case. Mukiele rounded off a good team move to open the scoring. He went on to accumulate a brilliant 17 points as he got defensive contribution points as well as the maximum bonus. Defensive contributions paid dividends for Granit Xhaka also as he got 5 points.

My lead stood at 25 before Arsenal travelled to Fulham, so I was hoping the set piece kings would not be able to conjure up anything for Gabriel Magalhaes. Just as importantly I needed the Cottagers to score and were left wondering how they did not manage to. Harry Wilson could have beaten Arsenal by himself on another day; except he did not show the quality he usually does. The Gunners continued to get corners and the more they had you just knew something would come from one. Gabriel flicked on a Saka corner and Leandro Trossard scored; it was not the tidiest goal however it did not matter. With Gabriel getting maximum bonus points his 12 point-haul meant just like that my lead was now more or less halved.

With me now nervous about my lead, I needed Tottenham to keep a clean sheet against Aston Villa as I had Micky van de Ven. They failed though as they lost 2-1 despite taking an early lead. On top of that van de Ven was booked meaning he got me a grand total of 0. Liverpool then played Manchester United, and I was thinking with Salah and Alexander Isak starting that the points were going to flow. Nevertheless, Ruben Amorim’s men took the lead after just two minutes. The game should have been stopped as Alexis Mac Allister had a head injury, but you must play to the whistle, the Reds did not and paid the price. Arne Slot’s side hit the woodwork on a plethora of occasions and the man who was involved in all those efforts Cody Gakpo, evened things up from close range. United were to shock everyone as they won the game late on through Harry Maguire’s header. I was disgusted, melancholic even as I knew the banter that was forthcoming from the United fans I knew. To get absolutely nothing from Isak and Salah was unbelievable to me. Salah has not been good recently, so that was more likely with him, but Isak had two chances in the first half, and especially the second one should have been tucked away. Dwayne had Virgil van Dijk and Hugo Ekitike, with the latter only being on the bench so we both only got 4 points on Sunday as my lead remained at 13 points, 71-58.

For me to prevail on Monday, I needed Jarrod Bowen to blank against Brentford. The Bees dominated the early proceedings and were rewarded when Igor Thiago gave them the lead. Bowen almost found the net when Caoimhin Kelleher turned his effort wide and to my joy that was the closest he came as Keith Andrews’ side got their first away win 2-0. Ironically, both times Dubravka has kept a clean sheet this season, I have started him in those games and Kelleher on my bench has kept his only two clean sheets too, so it would not have really mattered.

Anyway a 71-60 victory for me, which is only my second win in eight games. No time to rest on my laurels as my next game is against the defending champion Michael B., with the sharp turnover I was already thinking of what to do before this gameweek ended. It is going to be an interesting one. I am very pleased with this win as basketball fans will know what Shaquille O’Neal described as the ’others’ came through as the big names, Salah, Isak and Foden did not deliver for me. A shoutout to Rian (Milito) who won the battle of the top 2 as he beat Khurram. Things at the top of the table are very tight with only two points separating the top 5.

A solid FPL week but one where I should have cleared 85 points.

@DubulDee