WELCOME TO THE
GW32 REVIEW –
GONNA FLY NOW
Well gentleman what another crazy FPL GW 32 has provided us! From ecstasy with no fewer than 32 managers, having used their Triple Captain Chip on Kane, watching the points role in; to the agony of Spurs star man rolling his ankle under an innocuous challenge in the last minute of the Everton match subsequently ruling him out of the GW Double Header! AS was pointed out in the WatsApp group the failure to play both games of a highly backed Triple Cap DGW seems to something of a curse!! There was however cause for celebration when Spurs faced up to Southampton as Son grabbed a late winner from the spot providing the only manager in the FFUK top 50 not to Cap Kane with some needed additional points, (24) for that one moment, well done @JoeMulhern.
So the (ESL) caused much consternation amongst fans, broadcasters, pundits, FIFA, UEFA and the FFUK WatsApp group. Personally, I believe the death knell was sounded when @footballawaydays obtained an inside scoop from Klopp stating the following “This is about one thing Greed! I don’t care… Let me reiterate I am AGAINST this super league, I have demanded a meeting with John, FACE to FACE”. He must have got his point across and scuppered the entire concept well done Klopp, #Awaydays and @JamesSimpson for unearthing this journalistic beauty. James
This week’s additional fixtures proved to be a mixed bag with some notable blanks along the way:
Newcastle 3:2 West Ham
The Hammers found it tough going against the Magpies, primarily due to being reduced to 10 men after the ever-dependable Dawson received a red after a second yellow in the first half. The Magpies thought they were in easy street after a Diop OG and Joelinton goal put them 2 up in the first half. However, after Diop score his second of the game, for the Hammers this time, and Lingard did what he has been doing since turning up in London, Scoring goals! It could have gone either way, unfortunately for the Hammers after all their hard work Willock pounced on a Richie cross to make it 3-2 and seal a massive 3 point for Bruce and the Geordies.
Wolves 1:0 Sheffield Utd
In a turgid affair the black and golds ran out 1 – 0 winners against a Sheffield team that appears to have lost all belief as they career back towards the Championship after a two season dalliance with the big boys. The much-maligned Willian Jose netting the only goal of the match.
Arsenal 1:1 Fulham
In a match which Arsenal absolutely dominated with 69% possession and 18 goal attempts compared to Fulham’s 31% and 3 respectively, Fulham somehow found themselves holding on bravely to a 1 goal advantage through a Maja penalty. Holding on with all they could muster until the 97th min!!! Eddie Nketiah drove a blade through the heart of many a Cottager’s fan and most likely their hopes of securing Prem survival when he pounced on a rebound in the final moments of the match.
Man Utd 3:1 Burnley
On to Old Trafford and hopes were high amongst the FFUK community that Bruno could finish his barren spell and that Shaw could continue his great form and add a cleanie, against a poor Burnley, to his rich vain of attacking form. Alas it was another Utd star in the making that hasn’t quite hit the heights expected of him this season that made the difference, stand up Mason Greenwood. Scoring a cheeky double with Cavani rounding out the scoring for an on form Utd side. The hopes of that cleanie did however disappear as a somewhat unusual Tarkowski goal for Burnley from a Westwood assist resulted in a 3-1 for the Red Devils.
Leeds 1:1 Liverpool
After some excellent recent performances Leeds welcomed Liverpool to Elland Road, one of the matches that it would be great to see and hear the fans back at as soon as possible. Klopp threw in something of a surprise with the pre match ling up leaving Salah on the bench, however after his recent performance and hauls when coming off the bench hopes were still high amongst owners!! The excellent Raphinha was another notable absentee with a number of manager cursing their luck at losing out on starts for two of their most creative midfielders. Trent looks back to his best bagging another assist with Mane converting to put Liverpool 1 up in the first half. Leeds however were not content to lie down and pulled off another creditable result with a late Llortente goal from a Harrison assist bagging a point against the Champions.
Chelsea 0:0 Brighton
Enough said!!
Spurs 2:1 Southampton
As touched upon with Kane out due to injury the pressure was on Spurs as the played their first match since Jose’s shock departure. With Bale returned to the starting line up (could be one to watch) and Son hoping to net in Kane’s absence; going 1 down to a superb Ings header was not part of the plan. Step up Gareth Bale netting to provide Jose with a parting gift, Son then tucked away a pen in the 90th min to secure the victory. Massive goal for the 2 TC FFUKers who had selected him, by my maths 24 point differential for a single goal in the 90th, got to love it!
Villa 1:2 Man City
In a scrappy affair Villa took the lead in 20 seconds (joint fastest this season), McGinn catching the Citizens cold off the start converting a lovely pass from Watkins. Stones then had a complete aberration and manged to get himself sent off at the end of the first half, sheer stupidity, his time in my team is up! -4 incoming! The red cards weren’t finished there though as Cash managed to even up the teams by picking up a second yellow. By that time the excellent Foden and Rodri and already put City 2-1 up which is how it remained.
Leicester 3:0 West Brom
We have all known it for some time; the baggies underlined just how pitiful they have become under big Sam in the final match of the GW. Leicester dominating the match with 72% possession and 17 goal attempts to West Brom’s 3. The scoring was opened by Vardy, who now looks like a solid choice to replace Kane in blank GW33 with 3 nice low scoring FDR fixtures to come for Leicester. Evans scored the 2nd adding to his cleanie and big Iain (nacho) was at it again scoring the 3rd to round out an easy win, he really should have had a hatty though with a number of missed chances for owners to rue.
FFUK TOP 20
Now onto the serious stuff, the FFUK league table, the big hitters are out in force and there is an almighty battle in full swing at the top of the table between @SteveCronin, @DaronRussell and @ChrisGalloway who have now been joined by @StuartAllen coming up on the outside (all be it on his Pony) J! With Chris and Stu having both fired on the Triple Cap Chip the top of the table could hardly be tighter after 32 hard fought Gameweeks.
A fantastic performance this week from @KevinRyan with a top score of 91 points having fired his Triple Captain on Kane and putting in a stellar defensive performance with Sanchez, Rudiger and TAA all doing the business.
KINGS OF THE GW
Greenwood making an appearance in the kings of the GW for the fist time in a long time! Could be primed for another high scoring end of season run?
I thought I would have a look through the FPL analytics site this week as their can be some interesting stats around ownership and ICT / Value ratios. I have pulled a couple of tables found below from the site which highlight the current top ownership stats for the top 50k players in the game as well as the top 1K. 972! Of the top 1K captained Kane this week!
Top 50K Ownership
Top 1K Ownership
Looking at the ICT / point vs ownership table below highlights one particular player somewhat inexplicable low in term of ownership. Rashford! With only 9.2% the only one in single digits of the top 10 points haulers, #DIFFERENTIAL.
CONTS EVICTION
Finally in the CONTS, some seriously impressive scores yet again as we get to the business end of the competition, @StuAllen strolling through to the next round with his 90 point hall. It is with great sadness that the CONTS must say goodbye to FFUK Vet @DarronRussel with his respectable 64 points unfortunately missing the cut by 2 points, with a single hit ultimately proving to be his demise.
KLOPPAGE TIME
And so we close out GW32, what a contest we have going on at the top with our stellar quartet, good luck lads and all the best for the remainder of the season FFUKers ,
Roni Friel (Soutbourne Celtic 29th)
FFUK 