Every week this season, two West Ham fans will compete at Fantasy Football to win money for their chosen charities.
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Every week this season, two West Ham fans will compete against each other to win money for a charity close to their hearts.
James Jones and Will Pugh from the ‘We Are West Ham’ podcast will go head-to-head by picking their Fantasy Football teams every week, making sure to select at least one player from West Ham.
Their points will be totted up every week, and the highest-scoring team at the end of the 38 Gameweeks will be declared the winner, with Betway donating £1,000 to their chosen charity.
Who will come out on top? Here’s who the Hammers fans have selected for Gameweek 9.
Will’s team
GK: Turner
DEF: Udogie, Lascelles, Colwill
MID: Maddison, Ward-Prowse, Saka, Bowen, Salah (c)
FW: Haaland, Watkins
The dawn of a new era came with a decent 65-point haul in Gameweek 8 as my post-wildcard team got off to a tidy start.
I fretted and panicked for ages but finally hit the button with the hope of getting the jump on James and reducing the miniscule gap between us.
Unfortunately, thanks to another hatful of luck on Jones’ part, he somehow managed 67 points and extended his lead over me to 15 points.
But had Ollie Watkins scored rather than hitting the post late in Aston Villa’s 1-1 draw at Wolves, I’d have won the week and closed the gap.
No transfers this week, although I did consider switching Bukayo Saka out for Martin Odegaard with Saka still an injury doubt, but that would have forced me to use another transfer next week to bring him back in. So, I am risking it and leaving Saka in on the strength of Mikel Arteta’s comments about how hard the England winger has been working to recover from his hamstring problem.
After his clean sheet last week, James Tarkowski drops out the starting XI with Everton going to Liverpool and Jamaal Lascelles comes in for Newcastle’s home clash with Crystal Palace. Sven Botman’s knee injury makes him a 50/50 for the Toon but he is number one sub so will come in automatically if he plays and Lascelles doesn’t. Matt Turner also comes in for Alphonse Areola in goal with Nottingham Forest hosting Luton and West Ham going to high-flying Aston Villa.
Armband stays with Mo Salah for the Merseyside derby with the Egyptian having scored five in his last nine Premier League appearances against the Toffees. He has also chipped in with 27 goal contributions in his last 23 league games including either a goal or assist in each of his last 12 top flight matches at Anfield.
Salah hat-trick and a Saka start please Fantasy Gods. Let’s go.
James’ team
GK: Turner
DEF: Porro, Cash, Burn
MID: Bowen, Hwang, Salah (c), Son, Ward-Prowse
FW: Watkins, Haaland
Gameweek 8 seems like it was ages ago. The international break made me forget just how well I did, registering a nice 67 FPL points. It was only two more than Will but that’s enough. My lead over him now stretches to 15.
I thought captaining Salah, who scored twice against Brighton, would be a masterstroke but Will did the same. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s reading this column in our sent emails before he writes his, so I’ve sent this one privately and will do so moving forward. You can never be too cautious when the stakes are so high.
Will also played his wildcard last week, which surprised me somewhat. Especially when I saw his team! This week, it’s my turn to pull the trigger.
I never like playing my wildcard just before an international break. There’s too much risk with injuries, so I purposely waiting until now. Here’s what I’ve done.
The only thing I wanted to achieve with this wildcard was to keep Haaland and Salah, and find a way of getting Son and Watkins in the team. Beyond that, there were no initial plans or targets.
I’m glad to say I’ve managed it. Spurs’ next fixtures Fulham, Palace, Wolves and an out-of-sorts Chelsea, so bringing in an in-form Son was a no brainer, but it did mean I had to sacrifice the in-form James Maddison. Meanwhile, Watkins came in for Alvarez for obvious reasons. The England international scored for the Three Lions over the break and has four goals and seven assists in the Premier League already this term.
Villa’s next four fixtures are attractive, too, with West Ham, Luton, Forest and Fulham to come.
Also in midfield, I had to swap Diaby for Wolves’ Hwang Hee Chan, who has been in good form so far this season and is a decent goal threat. Then it just had to be the West Ham duo of Jarrod Bowen and James Ward-Prowse. Eleven of West Ham’s 15 Premier League goals this season have involved either Bowen, Ward-Prowse or both. I’m happy to finally have them both in my team, although there is a slight worry that I’ve jinxed them now!
Of course, the above means Saka and Mitoma have to make way, but Saka is a slight injury doubt ahead of this weekend. I can always find a way of bringing him back in if I need to in future.
In defence, the injury-threatened Saliba makes way for Arsenal teammate Gabriel, while Burn and Gusto come in for Gvardiol and Baldock. Pedro Porro and Matty Cash are the only survivors in my defence and will both start in GW9.
In goal, just one change. Flekken makes way for Raya, who I think is a snip at £4.8m. He’s kept three clean sheets in four Premier League outings for Arsenal and with Sheffield United and Burnley coming up for the Gunners, he should build on that record.
