GW 19 – Review

What a disaster! GW 19 ended the year in true 2020 style, with a calamitous TUG gameweek that has to go down as one of the worst ever! It’s easy to see where the points DIDN’T come from, in another week hit by yet more postponed fixtures, as well as some surprising scorelines. Now many of this week’s statistics make for pretty grim reading, but we’ll soldier through for the last weekly review of the year!

We’ll start with arguably the shock result of the round, which came in the very last fixture of the gameweek as Newcastle Utd held off a Liverpool onslaught to draw 0-0. 81 players chose The Reds in GW 19, with 25 of them using them as a banker side – so that’s 25 minus scores right there! Hibernian were backed strongly (67 picks), but failed to score at home to Ross County, who started the game bottom of the Scottish Premiership. Manchester Utd (42 selections) left it very late to score a solitary goal at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers, with Norwich (also backed strongly with 53 picks) only bagging once at home to struggling QPR. The 57 players who backed Tottenham to score past Fulham would have been disappointed to see the fixture postponed because of new coronavirus cases in the Fulham camp, while only 12 of you backed 5 goal Leeds Utd in their mauling of West Bromwich Albion (0).

Leeds’ fantastic five saw them top the final Perfect 7 matrix of 2020, while Wigan Athletic, Derby County and MK Dons were the only sides to net four times. 3 goal sides on x2, x3 and x4 would have seen you finish the year with 139 points (the lowest P7 since the first GW of the season) and that sweet £7,777 jackpot prize! But it was Scottish sides that made the biggest impression in the most picked matrix, with Hibernian, Rangers and Hearts occupying x4, x6 and x8 respectively and Celtic at x5 and x7. Premier League sides Liverpool and Tottenham meanwhile were most popular at x2 and x3. Less said about that the better!!

Tony Rawson’s effort of 73 may have topped the table, but it was only 53% of the P7. Tony actually came out on top without selecting so much as one of the named P7 sides, that has to be a first! Dundee FC and Hearts (88 selections) each scored three to secure most of his score on x7 and x8. This also means we had no members of Club 100 as the year ends with the average score a sickening 0…… yes ZERO!! Focussing on the minus scores, things are just as ugly; 46 negative totals is the worst of the season by far.

Let’s knock this year on the head then shall we? A gameweek like that will be one to forget for many of you I’m sure! Don’t forget to get your selections in early for the first fixtures of the new year, Leeds Utd travel to Tottenham in an intriguing looking Premier League match, while the Scottish Premiership brings one the most awaited showdowns of the season as Rangers host Celtic in the Old Firm. Rangers are absolutely banging in the goals, but select them if you dare! Have a great New Year, stay safe and happy scoring!

-Sam Brooke-Wilkinson