Booooo! I was starting to really enjoy those green arrows rolling in but I had to go and ruin it by doing one of those transfers you just know is wrong the minute you do it. I even said dropping Sergio Aguero never get’s any easier the more you do it and clearly my gut was right. Diego Costa coming in and blanking whilst Aguero scored and picked up a bonus point, really hurt and was literally the finest of margins between green and red. 33pts on a 40pt weekly average is only going to deliver one outcome but thankfully only saw us drop about 100k places to 1.1m.
I couldn’t have been more wrong last week when discussing our goalkeepers. Ben Foster strolled into Old Trafford picked up a clean sheet and then sat laughing at me from our bench, cuddling his 7pts gleefully! We had to settle for Eldin Jakupovic’s 3pts.
At the back we also had Harry Maguire in a Hull City double up. What made this more painful is that it was at the expense of Chris Brunt who, like Ben Foster, picked up a cleanie. Faith in Hull at home over WBA away was misguided. We need to remember the rule this season that Man Utd just don’t score goals at home. Erik Pieters and Leighton Baines picked up a point each.
In midfield the week started off well as Sadio Mane scored a brilliant individual goal in the Merseyside Derby before being subbed through injury. His absence will be felt by both Liverpool and FPL gaffers world wide. 6Pts made him our top scoring midfielder, even given the fact he was the only one of the four not to play at least 60 mins. Kevin De Bruyne made it back to back games with an assist and also about the 117th game in a row he hit the post. I swear the guy has a ‘woodwork bonus’ in his contract. Josh King blanked for only the second time in the last seven game weeks whilst Etienne Capoue returned his usual 2pts.
Up top we managed to give the armband to the lowest scoring player of our front seven. Diego Costa home to Crystal Palace looked about as blatant a captain choice as you’ll see but we all know how that went. Andy Carroll scored the West Ham goal that killed our double Hull cleanies and Romelu Lukaku did less at Anfield than I did watching the game at home. And I was sat in bed eating a Curly Wurly.
With just 2 days separating game weeks we certainly don’t have time to dwell on this and have to turn our attentions to Tuesday’s GW31 deadline. With Mane injured it was time for a re-jig.
Mane (OUT) – Alli (IN)
Capoue (OUT) – Son (IN)
A 4pt hit taken but one I feel necessary. Spurs’ fixtures until the end of the season are great and with Harry Kane and Erik Lamela out I think Dele Alli and Hyeung Min Son look two of the most appealing midfield options in the game. Especially as both occupy positions within the front three. With them both in let’s see how we set up ready for toight’s deadline.
In goal we go with Eldin Jakupovic again. Home to Middlesbrough is pretty much the best fixture to have right now. Boro have scored just 20 goals in 29 games and only one goal in their last eight away games.
At the back we include Harry Maguire. See above. He is sandwiched by Leighton Baines and Chris Brunt. Baines is a slight issue now given the injuries to Coleman and Funes Mori. That defence looked in pieces against Liverpool so clean sheets may be at a premium for the rest of the season.
Our midfield looks very Spursy now as Dele Alli and Hyeung Min Son make their FPL Updates XI debut away at Swansea. They may be our main hope for oints as both Josh King and Kevin De Bruyne have far less appealing match ups.
Our front three obviously remain the same and we are going to keep the faith with Diego Costa as captain. He will be gagging to get back on the scoresheet and although Man City are an attacking powerhouse they are anything but that at the back. They may have kept three clean sheets in their last four away but all against poor opposition. Arsenal could have scored more than the two on Sunday and I can’t help but think Chelsea will come bouncing back after their surprise defeat at home to Crystal Palace. Romelu Lukaku needs to pull his socks up after Saturday’s lacklustre display and faces a defensively resolute Man Utd team whilst Andy Carroll faces Arsenal. If there is one team that hates facing Carroll it’s Arsenal. He scored a hat-trick against them last year and after watching WBA pummel them from set pieces, knowing that Laurent Koscielny is out means that Andy Carroll will be looking forward to this as much as I’m looking forward to Nando’s later.
So that’s our GW31 line up. Quietly confident so let’s have our fingers crossed. Don’t forget the deadline and good luck to all.
Written by FPL Guru (@FPL_Guru_)
