This past weekend was one where the big names flopped. Meaning points were low. Diego Costa started things off in the early kick-off by drawing a blank in front of goal and picked up a yellow card to boot, scoring only one point. Aguero got injured after just 6 minutes, Hazard got two points but Sanchez and Fabregas got assists, which may have helped some teams.
Bony and Hutton were the only players to get points in my side, both by finding the net.
31 points, with an average of 33 meant red arrows for the third consecutive week. It boils down to my captain selection: in the past three weeks, my captains have scored one, five and one point/s respectively. I need be careful about who gets the armband going forward. I’m now just outside the top 1500 in the country and 100 000th globally. Nowhere near good enough for my side. I need a positive festive season if I want a top 20 000 finish.
GAMEWEEK 15 TEAM
GAMEWEEK 16 TRANSFER
This week’s transfer is not a tough one in terms of who to take out, since Sergio Aguero has been ruled out for a minimum of 4 weeks and possibly more. With him being the most expensive player in fantasy football, I have the rare opportunity to select any striker in his place. But it’s not as easy as it seems.
Many names crossed my mind. I considered a straight swap for one of the men who will take his place in the City front line, Dzeko or Jovetic. I thought of the Manchester United strikers, Van Persie and Rooney. Then I thought about the likes of Pelle, who I dropped a few weeks ago. Finally I considered Benteke, he seems to be returning to some sort of form.
TRANSFER DECISION
I finally settled on a player who will be facing QPR, Southampton, Stoke, Newcastle and Hull in his next five fixtures. I have decided to bring in Romelu Lukaku, in the hopes that he can find the form we’ve all witnessed in the passed two years.
My other change is a slight risk, but I’m going to take Juan Mata out. With Di Maria returning to fitness, I think Mata’s game time will be limited. I’m also bringing in Yaya Toure. The Ivorian has returned to form and in the absence of Aguero, will be on all free kick and penalty duty. The risk is that Silva has returned from injury so will be pulling the strings at City, as well as the fact that Toure is one booking away from suspension. If he does pick up a yellow, I’ll swap him next week for Nasri or Silva.
GAMEWEEK 16
CAPTAIN’S ARMBAND
I’ve got my captains wrong so many times this season, it’s basically a lottery for me now. Eden Hazard is a player who enjoys playing at home, and often scores at the bridge, so I gave him a thought. I also wondered about Yaya, for the reasons explained above. But I really enjoy the thought of a Monday night captain. While all the other FPL sides are totalling up their scores on a Monday, I’ll still have my captain to play, and in this case, it will be my new recruit, Lukaku. Vice Captaincy will go to Hazard.
THOUGHTS
What changes are you making this week? Share your thoughts with us @Leftbacks on Twitter or in the comments below.