With only 9 weeks left of this crazy season the end is getting closer. The competition is seriously hotting up and we are left scrambling around working out our best route to success/survival is. Do we need to abandon thoughts of overall rank and concentrate on a particular side bet or do we focus our attention on a particular mini-league, h2h, or cup where we still have some chance of winning something? No one remembers you if you don’t win a prize! Thanks to the Daz and the WhatsApp crew for suggesting the 90’s classic “Closer than Close”
In terms of the events of the gameweek it was medium sized. Nothing ridiculous, not even a hatrick. So we had to work hard for our points. At the back there were clean sheets to be found. 6 of them in fact. City, Watford, Spurs and Liverpool all won to nil and Stoke and Southampton served up a bore draw.
When it comes to the best scoring players across the gameweek lets start at the very top. Heung Min Son (16) single handedly took down Huddersfield with a brace in a 2-0 win, continuing a red hot streak of form for the South Korean in the process becoming the top scoring player for GW29 a feat he has achieved once already in GW16. Some of us nearly took him out last week and some of us are feeling fairly relieved they didn’t. I guess some of you may have made the move, that would have hurt.
Next best was Swansea midfielder Ki Sung Yeung (13) who, with a goal, assist and max bonus, took down the Hammers 4-1. Defender Mike Van der Hoorn (10) also got a goal and received bonus. Andre Ayew (9) got a couple of assists against his old team and his younger bro Jordan Ayew (7) was also on the score sheet. It was a good day to own Swansea assets, not such a good day to be a Hammer.
Elsewhere attacking points were spread around some less than fancied players. Bernardo (11) got the winner against Chelsea in a weird mid season testimonial. Glad I took him out two weeks ago before he started scoring! Mahrez (10) got a very late goal to salvage a draw vs the Cherries. Matic (9) got a late winner vs Palace. Up top it was the unusual combination of Deeney (9) and Tosun (9) who scored best.
There were two main options when it came to captaincy this weekend. 83 selected Salah (8) whilst 94 went with Kane (5). Surprisingly the Spurs man was most popular but in the end neither went crazy so it wasn’t as pivotal as it could have been. Will Kane be the most popular once again this weekend? Or is it Aguero’s turn? Salah has a tricky fixture at Old Trafford but who would back against him scoring again?
Shall we take a closer look at how it affected the FFUK league?
FFUK TOP 50 AFTER GW29
As some of you may notice I am back in the top 50. For now. But its so close down there. Closer than close you could say. One slip and its back to page 2 then a 3 or 4 week climb to get back onto that first page. Just like in the Premier League I need to put in back to back good performances to start to make some real movement upwards. The grind is real.
At the top our leader shows no signs of obvious weakness. Jamie Stewart (1st) now has a lead of 35 points but with all the fun and games to come in terms of blanks and doubles this is not insurmountable. I am pretty sure he wont be allowing himself to feel too confident just yet. Hot on his heels and back in 2nd place is Dan McBrearty (2nd) after he scored best from the top 10 with 64 points. John Harper (3rd) and Phil Smith (4th) complete the top 4 and are all within 50 points of our leader.
It’s even closer moving down the league.
It is now time to celebrate the top scoring manager of GW29, the one who leads the pack this month is Josh Prentice (21st) scoring an impressive 77 points. Upon closer inspection captain Salah (8 x 2) was decent but Josh could also rely on Karius (8), Smalling (8), Son (16), Davies (6), Kane (5), Bobby (5) and J Ayew (7). Well played!
Next best was Lester Deeble (12th) with 75 scored (-4). Lester is in an even better position slightly further up the table, with a side that is very similar to Josh’s but his main differential was Mahrez (10). Can he get among the prizes once again? He is well placed to do so. These two are clearly both ones to keep a close eye on.
Now let us find out who rose highest and who fell furthest in From Hero to Zero.
This trio are moving up the league quicker than anyone else this week. Lets hear it for Ben, Darren and Barry:
- Ben Hudson (92nd) rose 21 places after scoring 71 points
- Darren McKeown (129th) rose 19 places after scoring 68 points
- Barry Clarke (59th) rose 18 places after scoring 72 points with only 10 men!
However this trio fell furthest, these three need a pick me up. It isnt over yet FFUKers.
- Michael Colohan (118th) fell 20 places with 28 points
- Samuel Calton (114th) fell 17 places with 34 points
- Jim Whitley (151st) fell 14 places with 38 points
At least you aren’t Brian Barr (224th) who still has Herrera captain and low scored this week with 21 points! Im guessing Brian is on a beach somewhere and couldn’t care less.
It really was Rosie Gaines this week in the Conts league. However one FFUKer had to go, who was it this time? Well, once again MNF rolled around and we were left with a few FFUKers fearing for their mini league future. Chief amongst them was our very own Statto Steve Cronin (79th) who was relying on Lingard (2) to save him. Not a good place to be. JLINGZ couldnt help and neither could his subs and he ended up with just 10 players. It’s the end of the road for Steve in The Conts mini-league. Blakey survives another week. As you can see from the image below he has already gone. Like he was never there! Pete was very swift to wield the metaphorical axe…
JUST 9 REMAIN!
That is almost it for another week, thanks as always for reading. For those lucky enough still to be involved, The FFUK Cup and Challenge Cup continue with the Quarter Finals, One GW down three to go this month. As this season continues to unfold it is getting to that point where Pete and I are just starting to plan the FFUK end of season do. We have decided on a date of Saturday 26th May which happens to also be the date of the Champions League Final. There is even a facebook event set up for it so it has to happen.
More details very soon but for now Save The Date!
Cheers
Chris
FFUK 