West Ham United Fans Challenge
Every week this season, two West Ham fans will compete at Fantasy Football to win money for their chosen charities
Will’s Team
GK: Raya
DEF: Branthwaite, Saliba, Mitchell
MID: Gordon, Palmer, Son, Foden (v), Saka
FW: Isak, Haaland (c)
On the face of it, James’ 81 points to my 68 last week sounds like quite a bad beat.
But his minus 8 for transfers means he actually only made up 5 points on me and when you also factor in that he played his bench boost, it was basically a win for me!
It really was one of the most atrocious bench boosts in FPL history with his subs clocking up just three points for him. It really shows a deep lack of knowledge and also how desperate he’s got. And understandably too.
Three game weeks left, I have bench boost remaining, he has triple captain, but most importantly, I have a 23 point lead with me on 2029 and James on 2006.
Just one transfer this week as Alexander Isak replaces Ollie Watkins.
Watkins has been a revelation this season but with Isak’s Newcastle going to struggling Burnley this week, having a double game week in GW37 and the fact James has him, means it was one of the easiest transfers of the season.
Erling Haaland gets the armband as I just need to make safe, sensible defensive moves between now and the end of the season to bring it home.
If desperate James risks giving the armband to someone else and Haaland cleans up, it’s season over. If not and Man City’s goal machine gets outscored then I’ve still got the cushion on James for it not to be a disaster.
I can smell a Will Pugh victory in the air. And the thing that’s really hard to watch, is that I think self-proclaimed FPL wizard James Jones can too.
James’ Team
GK: Raya
DEF: Gabriel, Walker, Burn
MID: Palmer, Foden, Garnacho, Saka (v), Son
FW: Haaland (c), Isak
Will must be worried now. The 8 point hit I took last week meant I was going into GW35 needing 36 points to catch him. It was a risk but I truly felt like I needed to roll the dice if I were to make catching him a possibility.
The gap is now 23 after I pulled in 81 points with my bench boost, despite my bench players only topping me up by a measly three points. It wasn’t an ideal return, but I closed the gap on Will by 13 points. Do that three more times and I win…
GW36 is another big one for me and I’ve been toying with the idea of making a transfer all week. Do I carry the transfer and have two next week to help boost my squad for the double gameweek, or do I find a way of upgrading my GW36 squad.
I had settled on rolling my transfer but then the news of Virgil van Dijk’s fitness issues broke and it forced me into action. Given Liverpool only have one game in GW37, it makes sense to replace him with a player who has two.
So VVD is out this week and is being replaced by Kyle Walker, who has picked up 22 points in the two games he’s played since returning from injury and faces Wolves, Fulham and West Ham in three of Man City’s last four games. They’re three fixtures I expect him to return decent points from.
This transfer also leaves me with £1.2m in the bank, which will allow me to make another decent upgrade next week. Lovely stuff.
Beyond that, the team is unchanged for GW36. I’m benching Senesi and Solanke, with Bournemouth playing Arsenal away, while Maguire is also benched as I don’t see Man United keeping a clean sheet away to an inform Crystal Palace.
The big dilemma is who to captain. Haaland is fit again and expected to start against Wolves at home, so he’s obviously attractive, but I’m also looking at Saka facing Bournemouth at home and wondering whether he’s the man to deliver me a much-needed haul.
The armband is on Haaland at the moment but, like last week, I’m going to leave it until the deadline before making a concrete decision. Need to keep Will on his toes…