Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome.
It’s mid-round in the FFUK Cup and the Challenge Cup but this weekend, due to the FA Cup, we all get a break from Fantasy Football. I say a break, but it’s merely a brief pause, while we get a chance to assess our players prior to GW26, when four teams (Arsenal, Man United, Man City and Southampton) will not be playing due to the League Cup. Enough Cup for you? I’m sure if you’re an Arsenal fan you’ve had more than enough Cup football but I implore you to try and stay focused. Seemingly, the players can’t, and now, once again questions are being asked of Mr Wenger; Arsenal needs its fans to stay focused right now. This happens every season, don’t worry about it, you know what to do. Moan lots now as Arsenal will have a good run, some great results, play stylish football, then finish 4th. To be fair, you’ll probably win the world cup next year.
I’m actually quite looking forward to the FA Cup this weekend. For your information, these games are relatively crucial from a fantasy perspective, as any Premier League teams winning their fixtures will then have a blank gameweek in GW28 while they play the Quarter Finals. As it stands all the PL teams were drawn against lower league teams in the 5th round, so we’re looking for upsets this weekend, as that’ll give us a couple more games in GW28. Although the odds are all firmly in favour of the PL teams, my punts are Spurs to lose at Fulham or Boro to keel over for Oxford United. I’d be happy with either of those anyway.
I’ve also heard a rumour that if Leicester take Millwall to a replay at the King Power stadium then they will have to miss the GW26 match v Liverpool, so keep a close eye on that one too.
As far as our own cups go, this means that the final gameweek of our cup matches is going to be played out across GW26 with the aforementioned clubs missing games. Asides of Jesus who is out for months this means we will be without key players Sanchez, Ibrahimovic, the cast of Man City and Southampton players too if anyone has one. Looking up and down the FFUK Top 30 most should be able to get 11 players out, but there are a few teams with non-players and injuries which will combine with the blank players. The most affected team I’ve seen is likely to be missing Zlatan, Jesus, Ake, Love, Grabban, Valencia, and Sanchez before transfers. Yes, that’s 7 players missing, but fortunately that man is 65 points up in his Challenge cup fixture so should be able to afford a few hits.
Up to date scores are as follows:
FFUK Cup Round 3
Nick Johns 119 v David Pegg 125
PC 115 v Euan Philips 113
Paul Monger 117 v Mark Leathem 164
Scott Volker 116 v Paul Austin 112
Andy Jackson 98 v Neil Freeland 134
Alberto Mario Schena 114 v Olly Wimshurst 117
Rich Harrison 100 v James Prebble 111
Dean Collins 112 v Jamie Stewart 152
As you can see, and as is often the case, there are a number of incredibly tight fixtures and a few runaway leaders. I’m sure I won’t be the only one holding my pants next Saturday.
Challenge Cup Round 4
Dhiren Shah 122 v Andrew Roberts 117
Gavin Buckland 103 v Jamie Cooper 117
Reece Richardson 87 v Craig Sharman 152
Stan Packham 126 v Jamie Radford 113
Neil Gordon 133 v Tom Aitchison 114
Alex Schroffenegger 122 v Louise Wilcockson 172
Sam Blake 99 v Billy Dainton 128
Toby Jones 127 v Donald Macauley 118
Likewise, in the Challenge Cup a lot is going to come down to blanky Gameweek 26. Craig Sharman is looking safe with a 65 point lead despite a few selection problems, while Louise Wilcockson has an impressive 50 point lead. The other 6 fixtures are pretty much in the balance and considering we will have less players, and fewer Captain options, GW26 is sure to be very interesting.
Anyway, I’m off to buy a Fulham shirt, have a great weekend, and good luck for GW26.
FFUK 