Having decided not to make any transfers, I was obviously fairly satisfied with my team going into GW21. My only doubt was whether I’d made the right call on Pope over Schmeichel and which of my bench would score points. Strong pedigree for bench points across the board there.
First up, the early kickoffs are Brighton v Chelsea, which, in terms of my fpl team is of no interest to me whatsoever, and Burnley v Villa which has two of my lads in action. I’m busy fulfilling the various lunch orders from my daughters so I’m not watching.
It’s always a bit weird when you have a GK and an outfield player against each other, but it’s a way of hedging your bets. After 12 mins, up pops the notification on my phone. 0-1 Grealish. Boom. Then about 3 mins later, up pops another notification: “VAR decision, goal disallowed. 0-0”. I immediately leave the Baked Beans to their own devices and check out whether it is justified. It isn’t. If anyone is interested in my opinions on VAR and Offside, please see separate article.
But 10 mins later, Villa score for real. Must be Grealish? No, it isn’t. Come on. Score app says no assist either. FPL overrules. Grealish with the assist! Then on the stroke of half time, Grealish scores! Already pretty much guaranteeing himself 3 bonus points on top of the 10-11 he’ll be getting anyway. Decent start to the day. Wood scores a late consolation which takes a point off Grealish but I don’t mind because it takes away clean sheets from anyone who has Villa defenders. Thinking of the bigger picture as always.
Next up, three games where I have an interest.
First, Southampton v Spurs. Ideal scenario: goalfest with Aurier getting an assist. A few mins in and Danny Ings strikes again – one of the best transfers I’ve ever made. Goalfest forecast: highly likely.
Reality: nothing else happens other than Kane crocking himself whilst also having a goal ruled out (correctly). That’ll be another 3 bonuses (boni?) for Ings, danke. Alli does nothing, and looks more likely to get himself sent off if he’s going to do anything. Aurier gets booked. Disappointing return from the Spurs boys but Ingsy has done himself proud again.
Newcastle v Leicester. Hold up, where’s Vardy? Did I miss something? Yes I did, he’s injured, but apparently the entire world missed this too. Balls. Perez scores and celebrates against his old club, which I enjoy. Maddison scores a belter – I’m a little disappointed as I considered bringing him in, but it would have been at the expense of Grealish so it’s swings and roundabouts. Newcastle get 4 (four) injuries and play the entire second half with 10 men. Leicester stroll to a clean sheet, which is good for Soyuncu (+2 boni), but bad for Schmeichel on my bench.
Watford v Wolves. Not confident I’ll get much from this but if Wolves score, Jimenez will be involved somehow I reckon. They do, but he isn’t. 2 points from him.
5:30
City v Everton. KDB doesn’t do much. 2 points
West Ham v Bournemouth. Wow. Mark Noble. But nobody has him so that’s fine.
Norwich v Palace. CANTWELL! JBBPs for me. (10 of them. Delicious)
8pm
Arsenal v Utd, Arsenal brush them aside. When Plan A doesn’t work for Ole, it’s over because there is no Plan B. I like Arteta, wish him well. I like it when Arsenal win and the big strikers don’t do anything. If I can’t get points, I can at least enjoy that my competitors don’t get ahead. Also, I lived through enough of Utd’s dominance to quite enjoy seeing them languish.
2nd Jan, Liverpool v Sheffield Utd: I’m playing football so don’t watch the match. My feet feel like they’ve been replaced with clogs and I can feel the effects of Christmas and the fact I haven’t played for about 6 weeks. My team loses 14-1. I feel sorry for myself. Then I check the score and it’s 1-0 Liverpool and Salah scored, not Mane. Robertson assist, not TAA. I fear that could be it. Can’t see Liverpool scoring loads against Sheff Utd. I hobble off to the pub to watch the last 25 mins or so, just in time to see Mane score. It cheers me up.
71 points. Up to 1,137 overall. 2nd in Greece. If I’d gone with Schmeichel I’d be #1 Greek. Maybe it’s good. Will keep me humble. Although I am already working on a Zeus photoshop for next week so I can’t make any promises…
Westermania FPL: A Journey Through Mediocrity 