GW 42 – Review

Some thrilling final day action in the football league gave us a bonanza of goals. In the Championship, Derby County secured their status by the skin of their teeth in an absorbing, goal-laden relegation decider with Sheffield Wednesday, whilst Leagues One and Two offered up some dazzling performances from the likes of Oxford Utd and Cheltenham Town. Elsewhere, several sides boosted their goal differences significantly in what were effectively end of season kickabouts. Here’s what happened in GW 42…

Starting at the summit of the table, Club 100 was back in business with 11 players living it large in the illustrious diner. Top of the pile was Hayley French, who managed an impressive 118 points. Three 4 goal sides were sprinkled throughout her lineup, with Notts County (24 selections) earning the bulk of the points on x8 and Oxford Utd (25) and Cheltenham Town (24) adding a combined 40 points on x6 and x4 respectively. 5 goal Dagenham and Redbridge were another valuable asset in Hayley’s push for first place, albeit a little underestimated on x5.

Dagenham were actually the only named Perfect 7 side to be backed in decent numbers, with the National League side winning the favour of 53 players, as 5 goal Blackburn Rovers and 6 goal Coventry City amassed just five picks between them – those pair were involved in extraordinary 5-2 and 6-1 scorelines as they ended their seasons in fine style. Selecting these sides in the correct order, with any 4 goal side in the lower slots, would have seen you walk away with 169 points and that £7,777 jackpot prize. However, it wasn’t to be. Alongside those previously mentioned choices of Oxford Utd, Cheltenham Town and Notts County, you could have opted for Maidenhead Utd (only 2 selections), Chesterfield (18), Bolton Wanderers (5), Peterborough Utd (6) or Swindon Town (0 picks!)

Despite a limited number of selections for the P7 sides, there was still a very respectable average score of 44 to beat, which 46% of you managed. 16 minus scores may not sound too damaging, but with few opportunities left to save your season or solidify your standings in your mini-leagues, they could be very costly!

As for the most selected sides at the weekend, Liverpool made a long awaited return and were the most backed team with 67 selections, also being the favourite choice to kick off your multipliers on x2. Cambridge Utd was another score-starter as the most popular x3 pick, while Sutton Utd (52 total picks) were the highest picked side through x4, x5 and x6. Dagenham and Red were the most popular score-building side at x7 and x8.

That’s the review for GW 42. Although the season has ended for many of our leagues there are still a couple of rounds to play. All the English and Scottish play-off matches will be included where eligible, to give players as much variety as possible for their selections – although these knock-out matches may be games to avoid if you fancy a safe bet! Next week’s early kick-offs include Leeds Utd’s trip to Burnley, whilst all of the Scottish Premiership’s Championship Group fixtures are 12:30pm starts. And it’s FA Cup Final weekend of course………who’s willing to take a punt on Chelsea or Leicester at Wembley? Good luck!

– Sam Brooke-Wilkinson