Fantasy Football Files - 2026/27 - Gameweek 5 - 'Gross Pointe Shank'
Gameweek 5 pitted me against Dwayne. As far as my memory served, we had split our matches against each other since the league began, so I was wary of his threat. My plans this week were thrown off as Joao Pedro picked up a knock so before the deadline started, I was overthinking as usual.
After long consideration I thought as my bench was in a decent state that I would leave Pedro in just in case he would randomly feature despite Chelsea confirming he would not travel with Brazil for the international break. I had temporarily thought about using my ‘Free hit’ bonus chip as Phil Foden was suspended but, in the end, I saved it. Therefore, my free transfer was getting in Josh King for Harry Wilson, I was looking to sell Wilson anyway, but he was now injured so it made even more sense. Fulham had the three promoted teams after they played against Manchester United this week, so I wanted to jump the gun and get King who had impressed me before his ownership more than likely went up. My opponent did not make any changes. Dwayne and I both captained Erling Haaland.
Back on September 18th the gameweek kicked off with Brentford beating Chelsea 3-0 under the lights at the Gtech Community Stadium. Pedro was not in the squad meaning I would get Nordi Mukiele’s points off my bench. Dwayne benched Caoimhin Kelleher so missed out on his clean sheet. Mamadou Sangare did not start the game and when he came on, he was booked so got my opponent no return. All the Bees’ goals came in the second half. Jannik Schuster (£4.5m) laid on the opener for Jaidon Anthony (£5.9m) and Schuster is an alternative into Brentford’s defence than Michael Kayode, who is now at £4.6m. Kevin Schade (6.2m) missed a sitter, although it did allow Igor Thiago to open his account for the season, Schade consistently looks a threat and his ownership has risen to 12.7% because of it.
Tottenham and Aston Villa had one goal between them before they met early on Saturday the 19th, that did not stop them putting up a 5-goal contest that had a very exciting second period. Spurs started the better only for Villa to take the lead through new signing Johan Manzambi (£5.9m). Nicolas Jackson (£6.5m) and Emiliano Buendia (£5.9m) put the Villains 3-up before Roberto De Zerbi’s men’s late comeback fell short. Antonin Kinsky and Micky van de Ven were in Dwayne’s team, so this was a good result for me. Andrew Roberrtson who I sold last week assisted Jan Paul van Hecke’s goal.
In the 3pm’s, the masses who depend largely on champions Arsenal were left bitterly disappointed as they were savagely pecked by the Seagulls, falling 3-0 to Brighton. Pascal Gross is not slowing down at 35, as he again produced the goods. His well-placed shot in off the post gave Fabian Huerzeler’s men the lead. Charalampos Kostoulas (£5.6m) scored again and could be a good option as a third forward. Gross was not done as his corner was headed in by Chema Andres for the thrid. If your team has two or three Arsenal players in your defence then my condolences. There was more frustration regarding Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall as he headed wide a good ball from Tyler Dibling. Everton did beat Ipswich 1-0 however, this gave my opponent Vitali Mykolenko’s points, he did also get booked at least. Emersonn was another man in this game I was up against, so nothing to worry about there.
Mohamed Belloumi (£5.1m) has had an excellent start to Premier League life and despite Hull’s 2-1 defeat at Newcastle he got an assist. Belloumi’s 4 points were thankfully only on Dwayne’s bench. Hull’s players will continue to feature in people’s teams looking at the fact three of their next four matches are at home, but managers need to be bold enough to start them. The same could be said for another promoted team in Coventry, as they did not just score their first goal of the campaign, but they also got their first victory. You will find the likes of Bobby Thomas (£4m) on someone’s bench in one of your mini leagues but if you started him, he would have got you 9 points here. In an all-action performance, Thomas almost scored and cleared an effort off the line as they won 1-0 at Nottingham Forest. Another of the Sky Blues’ defenders, Jay Dasilva got the winning goal from an assist by their keeper Carl Rushworth. Newcastle, Tottenham and Fulham are Frank Lampard’s teams’ next three games so it may be worth giving one of their men a start in one or two of those if you already own one.
On Sunday, Alexander Isak continued his good start to the season as he netted the only goal as Liverpool squeezed past Bournemouth. Andoni Iraola got the three points on his return to the Vitality Stadium thanks to the goal by the Swede in a hard-fought contest. Dwayne and I both had him as well as Virgil van Dijk and Dominik Szoboszlai. Szoboszlai was unlucky being the only one not to return of the three as he had a couple of close efforts from set pieces. Leeds and Crystal Palace had a stalemate at Elland Road. I thought I had got a goal from Tyrick Mitchell only for it to be disallowed for an offside. Nonetheless I still welcomed the clean sheet points. The opposition had Adam Wharton, so I was very content with this game. Manchester City and Sunderland had an 8-goal thriller at the Etihad. The Black Cats came from behind three times thanks to a Brian Brobbey hat-trick but still could not salvage a point. Antoine Semenyo continued to make me rue choosing Phil Foden ahead of him to save money as scored twice and assisted. Rayan Cherki scored again to also punish the Foden choice. Haaland eventually got his goal to make it 5-3 and to my joy it was laid on by Josko Gvardiol. The Gvardiol assist was so important given he was on for a blank as it gave me breathing space.
I now had a nicely sized advantage going into the last match between Fulham and Manchester United, given Bruno Fernandes already had a hat-trick this season I was not taking anything for granted though. King almost got the points I desired but for a good save by Senne Lammens with his legs. Fernandes was poor and the match ended 1-1 so I was the victor in the head-to-head, 62-44. Gross did it again and his 47 points through five games are the highest in FPL. Next up I face my friend Leon (Bear) a newcomer to the ‘Justice League’, a very good FPL manager who won my free classic league, ‘League of Gentleman’ last season, so this will be very interesting.
@DubulDee
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