GW 9 – Review

This game is not usually one to boast consistency, but these past couple of gameweeks have been remarkably similar……I promise I won’t copy/paste last week’s review below!

Let’s start by getting the similarities out of the way first shall we? Gameweek 9’s average score of 43 was only 2 points different to last week’s average – so once again a respectable enough score, especially given that 63% of you beat it. Cracking work! Usually I would save the bad news until the end, but with just 12 minus scores to report this week it’s not all that bad, and down one from last week’s 13.

Unfortunately for the masses, just one lucky player made it to the exclusive Club 100. Phil Walsh’s 104 points saw him sneak past the bouncers to dine alone, with 5 goal Peterborough Utd (64 selections) and 4 goal Southampton (just four picks!) the teams propelling him up the table. What a savvy pick The Saints proved to be!

No one else came particularly close to three figures – Aaron Fisher the closest with 87 – and it’s clear to see why. The weekend’s Perfect 7 reached just 146 points, and I say “just” as that’s low by recent standards, as we only had a handful of high scoring sides. Peterborough Utd and Torquay Utd (picked once) managed to bag five goals apiece for the x7 and x8 spots, while just two sides, Southampton and Leyton Orient (again, just a single selection), managed to find the net four times, meaning the P7 relied on 3 goal sides from x2 to x4. We’re not used to seeing that are we!

A decent average score, but limited Club 100 action usually comes down to the fact that the more popular sides of the gameweek don’t net as many goals as hoped/expected. Liverpool were this week’s most selected side overall, also being most popular as a banker on x2 and on x3, while Peterborough were the most selected side on x4. The rest of the multipliers in the ‘most selected’ matrix were all occupied by Rangers, who disappointed those of you hoping for plenty of goals, with just a solitary strike to their name.

GW 10 is next up, with another bumper weekend in store as we have all the FA Cup First Round ties available for selection. Early kick-offs include struggling Manchester Utd’s trip to Everton in an important Premier League match, Championship high-flyers Reading host Stoke City and a pair of FA Cup ties involving non-league teams Tonbridge Angels and AFC Fylde vying to produce a shock and knock out league opposition. Get your selections in early if you want to profit from these games. Good luck!

– Sam Brooke-Wilkinson