My Fantasy Premier League Journey #2
The first week went well — sixty-nine points. But even though it went well, my brain decided that it could have been even better. I started overthinking the whole situation — and this is what happened:
If this team tried to play in a normal match, it would fail horribly. All of my defenders are right or left-backs. I only have two midfielders. Not only that, even wildcard was used this turn — that means that I am currently out of it for more than half a season. My idiocy, and I have no other words to describe the situation I am in, went even further; before using the wildcard, I had traded Cash for Zinchenko (5.0 for 5.1) and Diaz (8.0) for Kulusevski (8.1). That means that I have lost 0.2m, 4 points for nothing, used my wildcard and I am currently hoping for Arsenal to win and Chelsea to draw 0:0 with Tottenham. Is being a fan more important than my FPL career?
And of course I have jumped on the hype-train and bought Mitrović (6.6 m). His record of 43 goals in 44 Championship matches is indeed incredible. Not only that, his header and penalty against Liverpool were a sign of a very good aim. Of course, while having him on my team, he had missed his penalty against Wolverhampton and got a yellow card in the 95th minute. But a -1 is not the end of the world.
Haaland was a number one choice for the captain role. City played Bournemouth and the Norwegian viking was, after scoring twice against West Ham, ready to continue in such fashion. He assisted on one of the goals and City had a clean sheet, which means +7 points from Cancelo.
Jesus Christ did not save me this round, but Gabriel Jesus surely did. His two goals and two assists against Leicester brought two tears to my eye (one of happiness — 19 points — and one of sadness because of this). Gabriel Martinelli has also helped his team to victory due to an assist.
To summarise the Chelsea x Tottenham match would be for another article. For me it was a +12. Perišić (5.5) had an assist, Reece James (6.0) a goal and Mendy (5.0) got a point. With the next week coming in, as Spurs play Wolves at home and Chelsea Leeds away, I do not have feel any fright about keeping these players in my starting XI.
A friend, and also my opponent in our high school cup, felt really confident about having Darwin Nunes (9.0) in his team. I guess not anymore. The Zidane-like headbutt does not only mean a red card, but also a potential three match stop. Salah got me 2 standard points and Luis Diaz secured himself the total of 9 points. Of course I have only kept the former player in my squad.
The thought of triple captain have of course crossed my mind. Mo Salah (13.0) has an excellent record against the Red Devils, scoring three out of the five goals last time Liverpool played at Old Trafford. That, after the 0–4 loss to Brantford, seems like a reasonable pick. Another lucrative choice is the Norwegian striker. Erling Haaland (11.5) is playing against Newcastle at St James’ Park. Even though he has assisted to one of the goals and has only touched the ball 8 times during the whole 90 minutes against Bournemouth, we cannot disregard his scoring potential. There is also Jesus and Mitrović with very positive fixtures ahead (Arsenal is playing Bournemouth away and Fulham Brentford at home).
