FPL - Fantasy Football Files - 2023/24 - Gameweek 37 - Love Thy Neighbour?

My gameweek 37 opponent was Ravi. He had been in the ‘Justice League’ since it began and wherever he was in the table when we faced off, he mainly seemed to have the upper hand. This was not going to be easy and of course I was constantly overthinking as the penultimate gameweek of the season as it is usually a double gameweek.

I had numerous drafts, and it took an eternity to decide on something. As I was going to use my ‘Bench boost’ bonus chip I wanted a second keeper that had two games. I always had a plan to get in a Manchester City midfielder for their double, so as I already had Erling Haaland, I needed to settle on whether I wanted Ederson in goal or a defender as my third player from Pep Guardiola’s side. I had even considered having Phil Foden and Kevin De Bruyne both in my midfield and not having a City player at the back, for me to adequately do the other things that I wanted to however, that would mean a 16-point hit and I didn’t want to take more than a 12-point deduction. Therefore, I ended up doing as follows. Mo Salah was sold for De Bruyne. Also in midfield I sold Pablo Sarabia for Anthony Gordon as I wanted at least two Newcastle players. In defence with Wolves playing an in-form Crystal Palace I sold Rayan Ait-Nouri for Josko Gvardiol, this meant I could not get Ederson in goal, so I opted for Dorde Petrovic. Ravi must have missed the deadline as he had his bench boost and his ‘Triple captain’ bonus chips left but there were no changes to his team. This meant Alexander Isak was his captain, whilst I made the straightforward choice of giving it to Haaland. This week was sporadic one in terms of Haaland as Ravi has not had him all season, so I knew there was the chance of a gargantuan differential.

The action kicked off at Craven Cottage in the lunchtime game. Things could not have started better regarding my transfers as De Bruyne assisted Gvardiol to round off a fine team move to put them ahead against Fulham. Foden scored the second to my anguish as Ravi had him. Haaland missed a great chance at 2-0 from a De Bruyne pass, before to my great delight Gvardiol scored again! Picking him instead of Ederson was working like a charm. City should just put the Croatian up top whenever Haaland cannot play at this rate. Haaland's actual understudy Julian Alvarez came on to score a penalty as it ended 4-0. Luckily Alvarez was only on Ravi's bench. As my opponent had Ederson he gained from City's clean sheet too, but with De Bruyne's assist and Gvardiol's amazing 21-point haul I had comfortably wiped out my points deduction.

In the 3pm games, Everton edged out Sheffield United 1-0. I was so sold on getting in a keeper who had two games that I overlooked the Toffees double-up in defence of having Jordan Pickford in goal. Pickford got his 13th clean sheet of the season as I welcomed my points from Jarrad Branthwaite nonetheless. I expected big things from Newcastle as they were up against two teams that concede a lot of shots this week, but things had an average start as they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Brighton. Gordon, who Ravi also owned had a goal ruled out for offside at 1-1 and had a penalty appeal too but it was probably correctly not given. Isak went close but the Magpies just could not secure the three points.

Tottenham fought back from a goal down to beat Burnley 2-1 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Pedro Porro levelled the game up with a powerful shot. Micky van de Ven won the game with a classy finish in the second half as he balanced himself before finding the bottom corner from the edge of the box. Last time Porro scored, van de Ven scored too, he just cannot let his fellow defender take the glory, van de Ven got the maximum bonus points as his goal was the winner, as Porro got just me one extra point.

Wolves were beaten 3-1 at home against Crystal Palace, meaning I did the right thing in selling Ait-Nouri, although the Algerian almost assisted in the first half as Matt Doherty's header struck the bar. I was never going to sell the in-form Michael Olise despite the Eagles only having the one fixture and I was vindicated as he scored a fine goal in the first half. He could have scored just before it as he put an easier chance than his goal wide with the net gaping. He almost had an assist when he found Nathaniel Clyne, who hit the post and the man of the moment Jean-Philippe Mateta put the rebound in for 2-0. Matheus Cunha justified my bench boost as he pulled it back to 2-1. Olise did get his assist however, as his through ball was calmly dispatched by Eberechi Eze. 12 points from Olise then, I could not have been happier for my local team and of course my decision to keep him. I got nothing from Daniel Munoz, who was also booked. In the teatime match Chelsea took the lead through a lovely goal by Mykhailo Mudryk from a superb Cole Palmer assist. The Blues went on to win 3-2 at the City Ground with two late goals helping them topple Nottingham Forest. Ravi obviously had Palmer too, so there was no advantage. This meant another blank for Forest's Murillo, a transfer that clearly has not worked for me. A good Saturday for me ended with me ahead 69-27 thanks largely to Gvardiol's brilliance.

Sunday, only had one match and it was a critical one in the title race. Manchester United hosted Arsenal and the Red Devils were stuck between a rock and a hard place. Would United beat their bitter rivals Arsenal and help their noisy neighbours Manchester City get closer to a fourth straight title? Or would they roll over and allow the Gunners to get the three points? In the end they did neither nonetheless they still did not end up with anything from the game. Casemiro literally fell asleep, and Kai Havertz cut the ball back to Leandro Trossard for the winning goal. Bruno Fernandes was in Ravi's side, but he was not in the squad due to injury and with United failing to score my opponent got clean sheet points from William Saliba. Martin Odegaard at least was not get him any further points.

Monday's only contest was between Aston Villa and Liverpool. The team I support had nothing to play for, whereas Villa needed a win to confirm Champions League football for next season. I had no Liverpool players for the first time this campaign, so in terms of the head-to-head I needed Ollie Watkins to blank. The Reds took the lead through an own goal, only for Watkins to assist an equaliser for Youri Tielemens. Goals from Cody Gakpo and Jarrell Quansah then put Jurgen Klopp's men 3-1 up. Watkins thankfully had a goal disallowed, despite this Villa were still able to salvage a point thanks to a late brace from Jhon Duran. If his first goal was an excellent finish the second was fortunate...Duran, Duran, the streets said he went home to watch girls on film.

Tuesday, saw Tottenham against Manchester City. Tottenham were now in the neighbour's role that United were in on Sunday. Were Spurs going to beat Pep Guardiola's men and help their bitter rivals Arsenal push closer to the title or were they going to lose and be fine about it like a good amount of the fanbase would be? The Manchester City midfielders concerning the head-to-head both went close. Foden had a shot saved in the first half and De Bruyne had a shot beaten away by Guglielmo Vicario early in the second period. The Cityzens finally took the lead through Haaland as he found space to easily tap-in a ball from De Bruyne as I finally got a return from my captain. De Bruyne assisting it made things even better. Ederson was then injured by Cristian Romero and Stefan Ortega had to come on in his place. Ortega was to be the hero as he made some key saves, including one from Heung-min Son. Son was through one-on-one, only to shoot straight at Ortega prompting Arsenal fans to say he missed it on purpose. City put the game to bed when Haaland got his second from the penalty spot after Jeremy Doku was upended by Porro. So, City are a win away from the title and I was looking at a big win with Foden not returning and my captain came through. The 2-0 win took Gvardiol to a ridiculous 27 points from the two games, what a transfer!

Wednesday, was where the action wrapped up. Chelsea won 2-1 at Brighton. Palmer opened the scoring with a great header as Ravi and I both got points. Manchester United beat Newcastle 3-2 in the other game. So with Chelsea and Newcastle conceding in both matches after all that neither of my keepers had a shutout. Gordon was on the scoresheet, he should also have won a penalty that astonishingly was not given. Fernandes started for Erik ten Hag's men, and he assisted the third goal for Rasmus Hojlund. It was not enough for Ravi though even with him getting 10 points off his bench from Porro as Matty Cash was absent against Liverpool.

An emphatic 130-87 victory for me means that I have now cemented 4th place in the Justice League at the sheer minimum as the new champion Eman beat Khurram in a tight battle. Muji ousted Andrew in another close contest, and if I can beat Stel on the last day and Muji wins his match then he could sneak 4th, while if Boods loses I could finish as high as 2nd.

@DubulDee