Welcome back for another article.
A small red arrow last gameweek after a couple of daft transfers, 52 points and a small red arrow to 30K. I was thinking back over the transfers, it was Ekitike, Salah, Tavernier coming in to target those fantastic fixtures and I think some impatience crept in there. On the one hand, the upside was absolutely massive with the Liverpool guys starting and I was personally expecting Slot not to risk it and start them, get the goals, then take them off. But they paid the price with both benched; however, they were always going to be a minutes risk if not last gameweek then next one, so admittedly a poor transfer, but perhaps that's hindsight speaking a bit. Tavernier was a great pick and did put up decent numbers, hit the post again and finished 1 short of defcon and no goal involvements.
What certainly was a positive in my case was Rice and Haaland both blanking who were both sold. If there's any positive from the Liverpool duo's benching, it's that they should have a strong chance of a start in GW31 as well where every player will be needed without a chip. Risked the O'Reilly start and he was back in midfield, but unfortunately just a 2 pointer there with Andersen keeping a clean sheet on the bench. The gameweek finished on a high for sure with Dango linking up with Thiago for one of Brentford's goals; Dango had a great game and earned himself 3 bonus points too.
Thanks for the submissions, on to the team for GW31 and plans this week.
🧤 Goalkeeper
It's a rare start for Dubravka, the last time I played him was GW2 when he kept a clean sheet home to Sunderland. He's been a fantastic backup GK to have; it's always lucky when we get a 4m starting keeper. There wasn't meant to be any then Trafford went to City and Dubravka from Newcastle to Burnley. Make no mistake though the expectations are pretty low for this one; likely concedes, lots of save points could be the best bet.
🛡️ Defenders
In defence it's Andersen, Mukiele and Van Dijk.
- Andersen: Big relief for Andersen to have returned to Fulham's 11 last match and further to that keeping a clean sheet. Some were speculating that we might lose his spot and perhaps if Forest had battered them or he'd made a big mistake it could have happened, but he's in and glad to have. Obviously the perfect outcome would be a 0 - 0 but I'd be surprised. 🛡️
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Mukiele: Mukiele's missed 3 league games now; he's been absolutely fantastic all season and I'm waiting to see what Le Bris says about a potential return this week. The latest quote was last week's press conference where he said “Nordi [Mukiele] is getting better, we’ll see for next week. It’s always the same: you can take the risk, he might play against Newcastle, but if we lose him for eight weeks after, it doesn’t make sense. We are always on the edge so we’ll try to manage the situation properly." He also said he expects him to return to training this week so let's see. Might be too early to be risked.
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Van Dijk: The clean sheet odds have Fulham top this week 42%, then Newcastle 40%, Villa and Chelsea 29%. Then Spurs, Leeds, Liverpool. Only a 24% chance given for Van Dijk playing away to Brighton, surprisingly low. It's going to be a lower scoring game that's for sure, just gotta hope the players we put out deliver.
