Every week this season, two West Ham fans will compete at Fantasy Football to win money for their chosen charities.
Will’s Team
GK: Areola
Def: Tarkowski, Mitchell, Saliba
Mid: Gordon, Saka (c), Salah, Bowen, Ward-Prowse
FW: Haaland, Watkins
OK yeah so I am just having a minging season then. Time to accept it. Not my fault but Fantasy gods against me.
First week since I brought him in that I have decided to bench James Ward-Prowse, of course he bags 11 points. And of course the man I replaced him with, Eddie Nketiah, got one.
Spent ages deliberating over Trossard and Anthony Gordon, went Gordon, he plays up front against Bournemouth and scores a naff two points, Trossard makes it into team of the week with 13. Fantasy. Gods. Against. Me.
Still got 73 points overall which is well above the gameweek average but Fun Vacuum Jones left JWP in (after copying my wildcard a few weeks ago and bringing him into his team) and that was effectively the difference in our totals that saw him beat me and increase his lead on me to 49 overall with me on 706 and him 755.
Must battle on though and it is two transfers this week. Crystal Palace’s Tyrick Mitchell in for Sven Botman who never looks like returning from his knee injury and William Saliba in for Levi Colwill with Chelsea not looking like improving any time soon.
Palace go to Luton who are only out the drop zone thanks to Everton’s points deduction and I can’t see them conceding with only rock-bottom Burnley having scored less times than the Hatters’ 10 this season.
With Saliba, I just need some semi-guaranteed defensive points rather than chopping and changing each week and I get those with the Gunners man.
Both go straight into the starting XI alongside James Tarkowski whose Everton side I fancy to get something against hit and miss United with their fans on the war path which I reckon will make for a fiery Goodison atmosphere. Tarkowski has kept two clean sheets in five since I brought him in. A decent return in an improving Toffees side.
United, although sixth, have a woeful goal haul of just 13 and nothing tells me they are going to bag a hatful on Merseyside after struggling to find the net at Fulham before the international break.
Jarrod Bowen stays in the XI despite his injury scare with England as West Ham go to Burnley with him likely to play up front if fit and carry on his record run of scoring in every one of West Ham’s away games this season.
With Salah and Haaland facing off, Bukayo Saka gets the armband with Ward-Prowse vice-captain with the Clarets susceptible from set-pieces.
Haaland may not even play which means Nketiah will come in which could smell trouble.
Cracks are starting to show but it’s never over until it is over.
James’ Team
GK: Johnstone
DEF: Porro, Cash, Guehi
MID: Bowen, Salah, Son (C), Ward-Prowse, Palmer
FW: Watkins, Haaland
What a relief that the final international break of 2023 is over. Now I can get back to beating Will at FPL, not that it’s overly challenging.
GW12 was a great success. I pulled in 89 points, 16 more than Will. It puts me 49 points ahead of him now, and I still have the advantage of having all three chips left to play.
So what to do for GW13? One of the (many) issues with international breaks is the increased risk of injuries to players. I’ve booted up my FPL team for the first time in 10 days today and I have four players with yellow flags and one with red.
The red flag is David Raya, who is ineligible to play against his parent club Brentford. I do have Matt Turner on the bench but there’s no guarantee he plays this weekend after he was dropped for Forest’s defeat at West Ham two weeks ago. That’s where the first of my two free transfers is likely to take place.
Bowen, Haaland and Cash’s injuries are all believed not to be serious enough for them to miss out this weekend, but I still need to have an element of caution. It’s the same with Chelsea’s Gusto, who has picked up a knee injury and, according to FPL, has a 75% chance of playing against Newcastle.
So my first transfer is to downgrade Gusto for Sheffield United’s Baldock. Baldock hasn’t played a great deal this season, notching only 10 FPL points so far, but I needed to free up some cash for my next transfer.
That’s to upgrade Turner to Palace’s Johnstone, who is the second highest scoring goalkeeper on the game with 50, behind only Alisson. Palace play Luton this weekend, so he’ll be a solid stand-in for the ineligible Raya. But there’s a slight snag. I’m still £0.1 short.
Therefore, I’m reluctantly transferring out Hee Chan, who has been brilliant for me since bringing him with my wildcard a few weeks ago. He’s being replaced by Chelsea’s Cole Palmer, who has almost single handedly spearheading Chelsea’s revival under Pochettino and is the Blues’ designated penalty taker. He’s £0.2m cheaper than Hee Chan, so it’s something of a no brainer.
Three transfers means I’m taking a -4 hit but in the process I believe I’m strengthening my midfield and goalkeeper options in the process. I’ll take it. Yellow flagged Bowen, Haaland and Cash remain.
So for my GW13 starting XI practically picks itself after those changes. My captain this week is Heung-min Son. Spurs host Villa and Son has scored six goals in seven career appearances against them, registering a single assist in the process. That’s a good enough record to convince me he’s my man, especially as Salah and Haaland face each other this weekend, which makes it harder to pick between those two.
So here’s my complete starting XI for GW13…
