GW 20 Review
Ally: Well it’s fair to say I’ve had worse weeks in the years that I’ve been playing this game! Of course the weekend wasn’t all plain saying as I and many others can testify, but in the end it turned into a pretty high scoring one with an average score of 69 (the highest so far this season) and no fewer than 75% of the field registering 50 points or more, with 26 players hitting the magical 3 figures.
In the end it transpired that virtually all the teams selected found the net at some point, with the addition of the FA Trophy fixtures proving the key to a decent score. This is where the highest scoring teams of the weekend were found, in the shape of AFC Fylde (43 picks) and Chesterfield (18 picks) who both took full advantage of home ties against lower league opposition to record 5-1 victories.
Other popular FA Trophy teams also provided rich pickings, with Leyton Orient (58 picks), Spennymoor Town (20) and Brackley Town (9) all hitting 4 goals apiece, while Aldershot Town and Harrogate Town bagged 3 and 2 goals respectively. There were also goals on offer north of the border too, as Raith Rovers (18 picks) and Edinburgh City (12) maintained their good recent form with a 4 goal haul each. It will also come as no surprise to many to learn that yet again the most selected team of the week was Manchester City, despite facing an Everton side who were seconds away from a clean sheet in their previous away game at Anfield. Any nagging doubts were soon dispelled, despite City resting Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling as the Toffees were comfortably beaten 3-1.
One team who had a far more uncomfortable afternoon were Tottenham Hotspur, who many expected to use home advantage to brush aside a struggling Burnley side. Of the 48 players who picked Spurs, 35 of them did so as their x2 banker (including yours truly) suggesting that in general players didn’t expect a goal fest at Wembley, but they also didn’t want or expect to be made to sweat for as long as they did, as Burnley’s stubborn resistance was finally broken in the 91st minute, and with it unlocked a huge number of points for a good number of players. A number of players went into Sunday waiting on Glasgow giants Rangers, but they took the opposite approach to Tottenham by scoring in just the 3rd minute of their home game with Hamilton. However they failed to push on much to the frustration of the 24 players who picked them, as they stuttered to a 1-0 win.
By far the most picked team who failed to score were Celtic (16 picks), who went down to a surprise 2-0 defeat at Edinburgh side Hibernian.