I must say I was quite surprised at the 65 points this team scored last week, but could have been so much more if I didn’t select a “soccer player” from America who pulled up lame and will cost me another wasted transfer this week to get rid of him. That’s the game we play, those are the risks we take, but can’t get any worse luck than a pregame knock. This week, I’ve got confidence going into the fixtures with this 5-man defensive team, more so than my other team, even though both are on the same total points, 379. Something about seeing green arrows are giving me that false sense of security that I am actually doing well, when in reality that isn’t the case when compared to my other team.
Heading into the weekend, Sergio Reguilon is still flagged with an illness, but will get a late fitness test. I am going to assume he starts this weekend at West Brom, a toothless attack that should see Spurs pick up their second clean sheet on the season. WBA, like Fulham, already relegated. While it was my intention to come off double Liverpool this week, as they travel to the Eithad to face Man City, I am still on Andrew Robertson and Joe Gomez. Maybe the mistake was going back in on the double Reds defense against Sheffield United two weeks ago, when I knew it would cause problems ahead of the international break. I banked on a CS in one of the two games and that gamble failed to pay off. Barring injuries over the break, Gomez doesn’t make the starting XI in GW9. So the defense is unchanged, as Nelson Semedo and Kyle Walker round out the defense, as Emiliano Martinez starts against Arsenal.
What really hurt last week was replacing James Rodriguez, only to walk into another player, Christian Pulisic, who pulled up lame and is now out until late November. I know better than to consider American players! This week replacing the injured midfielder, I’ve decided not to buy back in on James Rodriguez but turn to Jack Grealish, even thought they travel to Arsenal. Their run out of the break is what I am looking at. He along with Kevin De Bruyne and Mo Salah round out the midfield three. As has been the case all season, Salah will retain the captain’s armband at City. Risky move? Yup, but I don’t have many better options. Raul Jimenez at Leicester? DCL, home to United? Possibly Grealish at Arsenal? None of them are all that enticing and we know how good Salah can be, but it’s been just one goal in the last four against the Sky Blues in all competitions.
The forwards remain unchanged with Jimenez and Calvert-Lewin starting. Both have been exciting at times this season, but Arsenal is second in shots conceded on target but have given up 9 big chances. Man United has been unimpressive…okay they have been shit this defensively, conceding 15 big chances, second worst in the league. Rest assured DCL will beat DDG a few times in this game. I do like Everton’s run out of the break might look a different direction by GW12.
EXPECTATIONS
The perfect situation would be a 1-0 win for Liverpool, but I think that is asking way too much, especially with Adrian in goal and defense that isn’t playing well, but an offense that is. Liverpool haven’t been overly impressive against City, especially since City has started locking things down defensively recently. Clean sheets from Reguilon and Semedo are almost a must this week to have any chance at a score worthy of a green arrow. KDB still short of 20% ownership could be a slight differential this week, it just depends on what type of game we see. Going to call it 60-65 points this week, which comes in over the weekly average, but not enough to really help that goal of scoring 60 points/per week over the season.