Every week this season, two West Ham fans will compete at Fantasy Football to win money for their chosen charities
Wills Team
GK: Martinez
DEF: Doughty
MID: Kudus, Son (C), Bowen
FW: Watkins, Morris
Another week, another victory over James Jones.
Only by four points this time. And I took an eight point hit too which didn’t really pay off so actually James clawed back four points on me so the gulf is only 39. I’m on 1,605, he’s on 1,566.
I’ve made a bit of a pig’s ear of this week as I only have seven players playing in the four games that are taking place. And with Ollie Watkins a doubt after picking up an injury in Villa’s Europa League thrashing of Ajax on Thursday, that could be just six.
Combine that with the fact James will almost certainly play his free hit (maybe) and my lead could be shrunk quite significantly. But tbh, if I can keep it at 30 points and James uses a chip, I’ll take that.
Son Heung-min comes in for Declan Rice in my only transfer of the week and gets the captain’s armband with Spurs going to Fulham.
And I have to hope West Ham carry on their own goalscoring exploits after they walloped Ajax 5-0 on Thursday and Mo Kudus and Jarrod Bowen put high-flying Villa to the sword at London Stadium.
I’m nervous about this week. Depending what James does, it could be a stinger. Onwards and upwards though and he hasn’t got many weeks to reduce the gap.
James’ Team
GK: Flekken
DEF: Reguilon, Pedro Porro, Doughty
MID: Gibbs-White, Bowen (V), Maddison, Kudus, Son (C)
FW: Morris, Toney
As is becoming something of a theme at the moment, GW28 was a huge disappointment.
I gained only four points on Will, who took a -8 and still finished four points ahead of my 57 total. What’s worse, I had 17 points on the bench.
But this is the gameweek I’ve been waiting for. There are only four Premier League fixtures in GW29, so it’s time to play my Free Hit chip. Will used his back in GW11 and spent 8 points last week to plug some gaps.
I expect he’ll spend more of his precious points this week to help fill some more. That’s fine. He might be able to stick a plaster over the wound this week but the long-term scarring of his careless management will be clear for all to see in the coming weeks. He’ll be spending weeks putting his previous team back together again. That’ll cost him more FPL points.
Anyway, I’ve rung the changes for my Free Hit and despite Ollie Watkins now being doubtful due to a gashed leg, picked up against Ajax on Thursday, I’m keeping him in my team for now. I’ll leave him in there until the very last minute, in case he does look likely to miss Villa’s trip to West Ham.
In the meantime, it’s a pretty easy selection process this week. The one fixture that stands out is Luton v Nottingham Forest. Of Luton’s nine Premier League games so far in 2024, 40 goals have been scored. That’s an average of 4.44 goals-per-game involving the Hatters. There has also been an average of 3.13 goals-per-game in Forest’s league fixtures since the turn of the year. It’s the perfect recipe for goals, so heavily leaning towards attacking minded players from both clubs.
Alfie Doughty, Carlton Morris and Morgan Gibbs-White are in. If Watkins doesn’t play, I’ll likely replace him with another attacker from either Luton or Forest. But to the doubts over his availability, Watkins will sit on the bench for now.
Elsewhere, my midfield is made up of Jarrod Bowen, James Maddison, Mohammed Kudus and Heung-min Son. They have 64 goals and assists between them in the Premier League this season, so all four are absolute no-brainers. Son will take the armband.
I’ve also brought in Ivan Toney to my strike force because Brentford face a Burnley side that concedes 2.42 goals-a-game on average this season.
