Happy Halloween FFUKers,
Welcome once again to the gameweek review, thanks to Pete for manning the ship whilst I was witnessing real life Halloween in the USA. We will take a look at what went down in the Premier League before delving into the darkest depths of the league table.
How was it for you? Did you have a Thriller or was it a bit of a Nightmare? Did some nasty men play a trick on you? After several weeks of disappointment I had a good week scoring 91 points, thanks for asking 😉
Halloween is a weird one, I only went trick or treating for the first time ever last year with my godson (didn’t think i would get away with it on my own). I don’t think we, in Britain, actually celebrated Halloween until about 1995, a bit like football before the Premier League. Now it’s everywhere. No escape. Wall to wall ghouls and ghosts. The clowns have gone but been replaced with loads of other scary stuff. It’s hard to remember a time before Halloween or the Premier League for that matter. Frightening. Did you have a party? Perhaps the safest option was to sit tight and watch the points roll in on a THRILLER of a weekend.
It all started with the Arsenal on Saturday lunchtime who did what they do, duly dispatching a scared Sunderland. Moyes looks in trouble already. Sanchez (13) was the star of the show as is often the case. Giroud (12) then reminded us of his prowess and scored 2 goals with his first 2 touches. Magnifique.
There was just enough time for a cup of tea before the 3 O’Clock games kicked off. Burnley’s Tom Heaton (11) kept out Man United pretty much single handedly. Again and again. 11 times to be precise. Thats a lot of save points. Plus bonus. Interestingly Jose’s side had 26 shots off target, perhaps not so interesting if you are a United fan. How is the old special one doing? He looked pretty upset on the touchline as you can see below.
Those with Watford defenders got another clean sheet whilst Deeney has done nothing for weeks. At home to Hull. Nothing. Not even a flukey assist. I’m not angry I’m more disappointed in you Troy. Actually I am angry and disappointed, but it will pass. Prodl (8) & Britos (9) were the ones to be on this time round.
Spurs and Leicester played out our least favourite scoreline. 1-1. Nothing to see here. Boro beat Bournemouth 2-0. Anyone got any Boro players? Thought not.
Then it got interesting. City spanked West Brom, usually nothing out of the ordinary there, but the last few weeks have been weird. I’m not sure whether it was in anticipation of Halloween or whether he had a bug, but our Sergio hasn’t been his usual self recently. Pep needs to learn a few things too. His reluctance to give any team news in the pre match pressers is a problem going forward. You may think you have reinvented football Pep but there are a few things you still need to learn about Fantasy Football. Come over for a macchiato and I’ll talk you through it. But Aguero (16) is back. With a bang. 2 goals, an assist and the max bonus. Thank you fantasy football gods, all is well with the world again. Kun was outshone for once by Gundogan (18), the highest points scorer this gameweek, who at 5.5 looks a great option if he can cement a place in the first XI.
The best match of the weekend was saved for BT Sport viewers on Saturday evening, and in fact was the only game I watched live. Liverpool and Palace sparkled in another 6 goal thriller but this time the scousers came out on top 4-2. The weekly Liverpool midfielder roulette wheel threw up wins for Coutinho (8), Firmino (6) with his shiny new teeth, Can (6) and Henderson (7). No luck for Lallana (2). How do we decide which one(s) to go for? Well Coutinho and Firmino look perhaps the best picks but I know that our very own Peter Cronin (23rd) has gone for the liverpool midfield triple up. Brave or Stupid? Time will tell. How did the Liverpool players celebrate? With a Halloween party of course. Who do you recognise out of the Halloween pics in this review?
Super Sunday first saw Everton dominate West Ham, winning 2-0. Lukaku (12) was the star of the show once again. He looks a season keeper in this form but I still cant bring myself to captain him.
Then Chelsea again looked very impressive (from the highlights) beating Southampton 2-0 at their place. Hazard (14) looks back again and he is giving me the eye. Oh Don’t. I want him back. But he hurt me so bad before. Romeu (2) did nothing special on the pitch but he did get made up for the matchday programme.
There is another player in the league I have an unnatural affection for and that is the Shaq. Everyone needs a magic dwarf in their life. The Shaq is back. Well he was last week. I had him GW1 but then he got injured. As the highest scorer last week I transferred him in again. The swiss wizard went off injured again after 26 minutes. Oh Shaq! Stoke beat Swansea 3-1. Bony (13), and the Welsh Pirlo Allen (10) plundered the points, whilst Siggy (5) got an assist to keep his owners happy. All look good options for the next few weeks. Shaqiri (1) not so much.
Ok are you now ready to take a proper look at the current top 50?
Nick Johns (1st) remains at the summit after a solid 79 points courtesy of captain Lukaku (24) plus Sanchez (13), Aguero (16), Firmino (6) and even a clean sheet from Holebas (6). Nick is the man to beat right now.
Sean Colohan (5th) was the best scorer in the top 10 with a commendable 96 points. Well played Coolers! Captain Aguero (32) did the business along with Lukaku (12), Costa (7), Hazard (14) and Coutinho (8). Clean sheets from Holebas (6) and Williams (7) topped up the score nicely.
Could anyone top that effort? Well yes in a word. Congratulations to Matt Reid (18th) who is currently living the dream after reaching triple figures. Make sure you claim that highest GW score Matt! His ton was achieved via captain Sanchez (26), Aguero (16), Lukaku (12), Allen (10), Firmino (6), Holebas (6) and Williams (7). Oh and just to top it all off Matt had Heaton (11) in goal. Bravo Mr Reid!
Sean Griffin (26th) came close to treble figures but fell just short with 96 points. Still mighty impressive. Captain Sanchez (26) was a good pick but if he had gone with his (vc) Aguero he would have been top scorer. I doubt he is that bothered but going forward can he sustain this level of performance in order to ascend the league table and reach the hallowed turf of the top 10? Sean will be a lot more confident on the back of this week.
Its only fair that we look at a couple of horror stories before we finish…
It is safe to come out of your hiding place now Darrell Cooper (21st) who only managed 41 points this week. Normally this sort of score isn’t too disastrous but on a week where so many of the big guns fired it hurts even more. Captain Zlatan (4) was a disaster. Only Costa (7), Bolasie (6) and Stones (7) provided any sort of points.
Sam Blake (48th) didn’t do much better with 47 points. Clinging on to the top 50. Ouch. Captain pick Deeney (4) was never going to be easy to deal with if he failed. Even Lester Deeble (7th) didn’t go down that route. Plus for some reason Blakey is still holding on to Zlatan. At times like these I like to consider some philosophy from one of history’s great thinkers. Therefore Sam I offer you this, as D:Ream so eloquently put it “things can only get better.” Whilst that isn’t strictly true it is all I have got.
That is all we have time for folks. What a gameweek. Hopefully the next one will be as eventful. But before that it is a very busy few days at FFUK HQ – We will confirm the 64 entrants for the FFUK Cup this week along with details of the live video draw.
We will also be confirming the draw for the first round of the Challenge Cup which will begin immediately in gameweek 11. Look out for both of these posts on the site later in the week to see which cup you have qualified for.
FFUK 