I needed to bounce back after my defeat in gameweek 30, but my opponent was the defending champion Khurram (K). Khurram did not start the defence of his title well however, in the second half of the season he was on a resurgence, and he found himself now nine points behind me in the 'Justice League' before this week kicked off.
There was not much of a turnaround between gameweeks and after feeling so low after my defeat, I decided to use my 'Wildcard' bonus chip. I had seen Khurram used his wildcard last week, but this was not really to try and neutralise him. My rank was plummeting as well as the fact I was falling further away from 1st place in the head-to-head league, so I wanted to mix things up. My original team did not have Erling Haaland in it, in the end I had enough budget to get from Alexander Isak to him so it was the last change that I made. Haaland had not looked himself especially recently, but his ownership was so high I pulled the trigger on getting him back into my team. Another late change was to get in Rayan Ait-Nouri, I originally had Sergio Reguilon, but after a brief talk with Rian (Milito) I thought maybe Brighton would score against Brentford so changed my mind. I selected Mo Salah as my captain and when the deadline passed, I saw that my opponent had him as his captain too. As Liverpool played Sheffield United it was an obvious choice for many.
The midweek action began on Tuesday at St James' Park as Newcastle welcomed Everton and it was a bad start for me as the man I let go of for Haaland, Isak gave the Magpies the lead. He controlled a ball from Harvey Barnes and then expertly finished into the corner, Khurram had him to compound my agony. Isak was denied a second goal when Vitaliy Mykolenko cleared his close-range effort off the line. I originally had Pedro Porro in my XI but took him out for Fabian Schar, so you can understand my rage when Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored a late penalty for the Toffees for it to end all square. My negative start to the gameweek continued as in the other 7.30pm kick off, Fulham were gunned down by Nottingham Forest at the City Ground. Nuno Espirito Santo's men scored 3 first half goals to shock the Cottagers. After waxing lyrical about him for so long, I finally got Rodrigo Muniz in, and he blanked for only the third time in his last nine games. Morgan Gibbs-White (£5.7m) scored and assisted as he returned for the third game in-a-row since I overlooked him for the blank gameweek 29.
In the 7.45 kick-off, Burnley were at home to Wolves. Jacob Bruun Larsen (£4.8m) scored a brilliant goal to give Vincent Kompany's men the lead. With Everton, Brighton and Sheffield United coming up, he may be a good enabler for your team. The change to get Ait-Nouri in worked as he levelled for Gary O'Neil's men with a header. Khurram also had him, but who he did not have was the man who assisted the goal with a free-kick in Pablo Sarabia, as I was able to clap for the first time in the gameweek. Ait-Nouri had a glorious chance saved to get his brace as it ended 1-1. Jose Sa had to make some good saves in the second to secure the point for Wolves. In the late kick-off, West Ham and Tottenham on paper looked like a goal fest but it ended 1-1. I let go of Jarrod Bowen for his teammate Mohammed Kudus, and Bowen's corner was headed in by Kurt Zouma for the equaliser, this was a bitter blow. Son's blank too was a huge one as I now thought Foden will definitely do something as I do not have him anymore. Despite Khurram having Son too, I was downhearted. The West Ham goal at least denied him of clean sheet points for Destiny Udogie, who had a great chance to win the game in injury time. An underwhelming Tuesday ended 22-20, which was the highest in the Justice League at that point ironically but I had six men that had played already which was more than many others.
Wednesday, saw Arsenal beat Luton 2-0, but Bukayo Saka did not play so Khurram was to get points off the bench. I desperately needed Ivan Toney to produce as my opponent had so many players yet to play however, the best chance he had, he scuffed in the first half. He was possibly fouled but as he did not go down, he was never going to get a penalty, it looked like I should have sold him for Haaland rather than Isak. I would now get just the 2 points Pedro Porro got as he was my first substitute. Any chance of a win now looked dead in the water with the game ending goalless between Brentford and Brighton. Reguilon got the clean sheet points so he was another one that I could have kept from my original wildcard draft.
Annoyingly Haaland was rested, nonetheless Manchester City were still able to dispatch of Aston Villa 4-1. I had already conceded defeat due to the earlier draw at the Gtech Community Stadium unfortunately my worst nightmare took place. Foden scored a hat-trick, I felt sick, 'just my luck!'. One goal I could take, the second I had my head in my hands, but the outstanding strike for his third made me scream. Regardless of the fact my opposition did not have him, it was the fact that 20 points had gone astray while Son had done nothing. The FPL life was killing me slowly once again. But this is the life we chose.
Thursday began with Liverpool's home game against Sheffield United, Khurram was already on course for victory with all the men he had to still play, but things really improved for him when Liverpool took the lead through Darwin Nunez. The Uruguayan blocked keeper Ivo Grbic's kick and the ball bounced into the net. Anyone hoping of a battering were to be disappointed as the Blades fought doggedly and Jurgen Klopp was to bemuse Liverpool fans and FPL owners when he took off Salah just before the hour mark, so he did not even register for 2 points or an additional clean sheet point. I had Caoimhin Kelleher in goal as well as having Conor Bradley (who Khurram also had), so needed a clean sheet from the Reds but Bradley was to put through his own goal for 1-1. 'I mean come on Conor, I barely had any points anyway and now you want to have me lose further points'. The home side recovered to win 3-1 as Alexis MacAllister who has really been amongst the points recently got the second goal and Cody Gakpo came off the bench to get the third.
Chelsea took a two-goal lead against Manchester United at Stamford Bridge, and the second came from a Cole Palmer penalty as more damage was inflicted on me. The pain did not stop there however, as the Red Devils came from behind to go 3-2 ahead. Because of Haaland's absence, my opponent got Alejandro Garnacho's points so trust him to bag a brace. What in theory felt like multiple stab wounds went on to be a mass of gunshots as Palmer saved the Blues with not one but two more goals in injury time to seal the three points. He scored another penalty and then a deflected shot to seal the deal his hat-trick.
So my bad run continues, ironically the leader Eman lost to Rian (Milito), so the gap between me and him remains at nine points. The problem is, I am only three points clear of 3rd place now sadly as Ash (Boods) won, and Stel beat Muji who were both locked on 54 points. In gambling to close the gap on the leader, I now may not even hold on to 2nd place. In addition I dropped shockingly over 500k thanks to Palmer and Garnacho's heroics. My villain-arch is not going as planned, no time to dwell though as gameweek 32 will be here rapidly. Not having players from teams I dislike was proving to be more detrimental than ever. To have 22 points on Tuesday and end up with 31 was a new low.
@DubulDee