GAMEWEWK 4 - Review and Analysis

By Opubo Nengia

The International break is over. Players are beginning to return to their various clubs, either injured or in one piece. With the high rate of injuries so far this season, one might wonder whether football associations need to reduce the number of competitions. Well... That's a topic for another day. Let's talk about Fantasy Premier League (FPL).

My team for this game week was: Petrovic (GK), Cucurella, Van de ven and Cash in defence; Salah (C), Gakpo, Palmer, Semenyo and Reijnders in midfield; Evanilson and Watkins in attack. I scored points from Van de ven, Cash, Evanilson, Palmer, Semenyo and Salah with a total points of 73. This helped me maintain my spot at the YOOKOS PREMIER LEAGUE, but the competiton is fierce. While others sold Palmer, I kept him but I hope he can stay fit. With my injury issue from last game week, I sold Cunha for Coady Gakpo, although he blanked. My plan for the next game week (Game week 5) is to roll the transfer, unless something else comes up.

I, like every other engaged FPL manager prepared for Game week 4 with hope and high expectations. A game week that was expected to see a lot of managers pop the wildcard chip due the close of the transfer window and conclusion of the first international break. Mangers, having watched 3 game weeks already have an idea of how the players on their watch list have performed well so far. Some have sworn to never own certain players again, some have decided to be patient with some players like Watkins and Rogers (Aston Villa players), whom performed well last season but can't seem to find their form yet this season. I can already imagine what Watkins' first goal for Aston Villa this season will look like. Perhaps, it will be against the promoted side, Sunderland FC.

The Game week began with an early kick-off between The Arsenal vs. Nottingham Forest. A game that all the bookies expected Arsenal to come out victorious, despite having their star men Bukayo Saka and Saliba out due to injury. As expected, Noni Madueke, the English international and former Chelsea player stepped in at the right wing, while the other new signing, Eberechi Eze had his first start on the left wing.  Nottingham Forest, on the other hand had just sacked their manager, Nuno Espirito Santo, and signed Ange Postecoglou. Arsenal beat Nottingham Forest 3-0.

AFC Bournemouth defeated Brighton Hove Albion 2-1, with goals from Alex Scott and Semenyo. Mitoma scored the lone goal for Brighton, from a Minteh's assist. Crystal Palace on the other hand ended up sharing points with newly promoted side, Sunderland (0-0). Aston Villa continued their woeful performance of not having scored a goal yet this 2025/2026 season, as Villa played a goalless draw with Everton. Fulham FC fortunately won 1-0 against Leeds United with an own goal from Leed's defender, Gudmundsson. 

As for Newcastle, the loss of Alexander Isak did not seem to affect them in their game against Wolves at the St. James' Park. Newcastle won 1-0, with a single goal from their new striker from the German league, Woltemade. He scored a header from a Murphy's cross. Solid 3 points, with a clean sheet. Tottenham Hospur had a brilliant game, as they eased past Westham United (0-3), with goals from Pape Matar Sarr, Bergvall and Van de ven.

Brentford and Chelsea was an interesting game, with both teams fighting back from losing positions. Brentford, coming from a victory against Aston Villa, started well against Chelsea with a lead from Schade. In the second half, Enzo Maresca had to correct his error of starting an inferior team by bringing in Reece James, Cucurella and Cole Palmer. Cole Palmer then equalized from a Joao Pedro assist, making it 1-1. Caicedo put Chelsea in from with a fantastic shot. Chelsea thought they had won it, only for Brentford's Carvalho to come from the bench and score a late goal. Both teams had to settle for a point each.

Sunday saw Liverpool take on Burnley at the turf moore, while the Manchester derby took place at the Etihad. Burnley made it very difficult for Liverpool by making it very tight at the back. Liverpool threw attack after attack at Burnley but it proved abortive. Not until extra time in the second half where Liverpool's Salah scored from the spot kick to give Liverpool the victory and important 3 points. Manchester city on the other hand had a dominant display against their noisy neighbours who are having a hard time adjusting to Amorim's style of play. Erling Haaland scored a brace, while Foden looked sharp as he scored a goal, making it 3-0.

It is still early days but the premier league is looking tougher with each fixture. For now, the teams that finished at champions league spot will have to play their opponents in the Champions league. Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Mancity and Newcastle will be hoping to secure victories against their opponents in order to maintain the right momentum, before returning to the premier league for the next fixtures.

The upcoming Champions League fixtures are set to deliver some truly exciting football, with a few matchups that could shake up the whole competition. One of the games everyone’s talking about is Barcelona against Newcastle United. Barcelona are dealing with some injury headaches, especially missing Frenkie de Jong, which leaves their midfield looking a bit vulnerable. Newcastle, meanwhile, will be buzzing with confidence thanks to their energetic pressing style and the electric crowd at St James’ Park. Although Barcelona’s attack is always a threat, Newcastle could have the edge if they win the physical battles and catch their opponents out on the break.

Another matchup that’s sure to grab attention is Bayern Munich versus Chelsea. Bayern have been on fire lately they just crushed Hamburg 5-0 in the Bundesliga, showing off their attacking power and defensive strength. Chelsea have been pretty up and down this season, but when their forwards click, they can be a real handful. Expect a chess match here: Bayern will want to control the game with their possession, while Chelsea will look to strike quickly whenever they get the chance.

Finally, Paris Saint-Germain, the defending champions, will face the pressure of living up to last season’s triumph. Their opening fixtures are expected to showcase attacking football, but every opponent will be motivated to upset them. Collectively, these games highlight the unpredictability of Europe’s premier competition, where established giants may prevail, yet underdogs remain capable of springing surprises.

GAMEWEEK 3 POINTS REVIEW AND ANALYSIS

 

Game week 3 came with a few surprises, as some teams that are expected to easily beat their opponents struggled, while a few others cruised to victory. There were also VAR controversies and late referee decisions that changed the outcome of some games.

Saturday began with the early kick-off match between Chelsea vs. Fulham at the Stamford bridge. Two teams that have shared the same home before faced each other in an interesting match. With Chelsea trying to prove a point that they are back to the top of the food chain, Fulham tried to show Chelsea that they could still rival Chelsea, no matter how good the transfer market has been to Chelsea.

It didn't take long before the game started becoming interesting, as Fulham's youngster, King scored what he thought was his first goal for the senior team, only to see it chopped off by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR). The reason is that King's teammate, Muniz,  stomped the foot of Chelsea's Chalobah in the build-up to King's goal. A lot of persons criticized VAR's decision here, as they believe that despite the foul on Chalobah,  the goal should have stood because it took away the youngster's opportunity to celebrate his first goal for Fulham.

Fulham's issues didn't end there, as Chelsea took the lead from a setpiece - Enzo Fernandez crossed a corner kick to the head of J. Pedro, who was able to direct the ball into the back of the net.

Chelsea later extended their lead as a cross into Fulham's penalty and struck the arm of a Fulham player. Enzo took the PK for Chelsea in Palmer's absence and scored by placing it at the middle of the post while Leno dove to his right, getting a slight touch of the ball with his feet.

The game ended, Chelsea 2-0 Fulham, with Chelsea sitting pretty at the top of the English Premier League table for now.

Other games were Tottenham 0-1 Bournemouth,  Man Utd 3-2 Burnley, Sunderland 2-1 Brentford, Wolves 2-3 Everton, and Leeds 0-0 Newcastle. 

It would have been a good start to FPL for me, but my gameweek was plagued with further injuries to my captain, Cunha, who scored just 2pts for me in total as my captain, and then Gudmundsson (my Cole Palmer's sub replacement) going off injured, after a scintillating performance and 9 pts. Evanilson scored the only goal against Tottenhan and gave me 8pts, while Petrovic kept a clean sheet but scored 5pts due to a yellow card. Cucurella scored 6pts, Van der ven scored 1 pt, and then Semenyo scored 2 pts.

For the Sunday fixtures, it was an opportunity for Mancity to get back to winning ways, and for Haaland to extend his goal tally but Brighton had other ideas. Mancity were expecting to come out victorious when Haaland scored the first goal from a Marmoush assist, taking Haaland to the top of the goal scoreres table with 3 goals in 3 games. Brighton's James Milner then equalized from the spot kick, making it 1-1. Mancity were expecting to get back to winning ways but it was Brighton that got their first victory of the new EPL season when Gruda dribbled, turned John Stones inside out, and put the ball into the back of the net, from a Mitoma assist. The game ended 2-1 in favour of Brighton. Mancity have now lost twice from 3 matches.

Nuno Espirito Santo has been in the news recently, but for unfavourable reasons. The owners of Nottingham Forest believe that his comments in the press lately are pointing towards disloyalty with the club. Their game against West ham did not make it any better, as West Ham piped Nottingham Forest 0-3, making it a first win for the hammers. Graham Potter has just bought himself some time, as Westham had been woeful prior to this match against Nottingham Forest. 

Liverpool vs. Arsenal was a tight affair with both teams finishing 1st and 2nd last season. Both teams were technically and tactically sound. However, the home team eventually won the match with a spectacular Szobozlai free kick goal. Arsenal then tried to fetch a draw by bringing in Ebeerechi Eze, Odegaard, and Dowman but Liverpool were able to hold in to their lead.

Finally, the late kick-off: Aston Villa vs. Crystal Palace was another shocking affair because Villa hadn't won a game this season. The situation didn't get better for Villa, as it went from bad to worse. Crystal Palace beat Villa 0-3. For now, despite playing 3 Premier League games, Villa are yet to register a goal.

For my FPL team, things started getting sour immediately Cunha, my captain got injured in the first half and didn't register a goal or an assist. Watkins hasn't returned at all yet, and Villa couldn't keep a clean sheet. Probably it was due ti the absence of Emiliano Martinez. Maybe it's the beginning of the end for Villa.

I ended up scoring less than my predicted points. I scored 40 points and lost in my paid mini-league.

Fantasy Premier League GW3 Diary: Reflections & Gambles

 

Hello ladies and gentlemen. It's another week of the English premier league football and we are about to be entertained with unexpected outcomes. We all have probably predicted what we think will happen but football will always be football: entertaining and unpredictable. That's why we love it.

Now, let's get into Fantasy Premier League (FPL). We have seen a season with a lot of changes, ranging from double chips, one on each half of the season so the chips are flying out. A lot of elite managers are at the bottom of the overall ranking, but we expect them to rise eventually because a lot of mangers will eventually drop once they start having poor FPL points.

Thus far, I've had decent FPL points and that's because I decided to adapt to the new season and the changes that comes with it. Let's see how long I can keep this up. In gameweek one, I scored 84 points with a bench boost. I then decided to wildcard in Gameweek 2, which is never what the experts will recommend but I did it anyway, and then scored 53 points. My overall rank is 290,563 (two hundred and ninety thousand, five hundred and sixty three), while I'm 1st (first) in my paid mini-league (YOOKOS PREMIER LEAGUE).

For Gameweek 3, I already have trouble with my team, as both Cole Palmer and Bukayo Saka are injured. The decisions I've made are: I've sold Saka for Cunha (vs. Burnley) and then I'm playing Palmer (vs. Fulham), even though Maresca's press conference revealed that Palmer is out of this game but will most likely be back after the international break. Therefore, the first player on my bench, Gudmundsson (vs. Newcastle) will come in for Palmer if he eventually doesn't play.

The rationale behind my decisions are that Saka will be out for about 4 weeks so it was an obvious decision for me to sell him for Cunha, who is playing Burnley at the Old Trafford. I may also captain Cunha because he is a midfield who may play in attack for Man Utd and he's been taking a lot of shots but has just been unlucky to not have scored 2 goals already in the premier league. I don't know what  to expect from ManUtd but they are expected to win the match despite their poor start to the season. If they win, things may just start looking good for Man  Utd.

My expectation for this Gameweek is probably 55 points, but it may be better if Cunha delivers at least 2 returns, but that may be asking for too much because Man Utd have been woeful so far. Let's just see how it goes. I predict 2-1 in favour of Manchester United. I also expect to beat my mini-league opponent and maintain my lead at the top of the league before the international break.

Alright guys, goodluck!