GW 7 – Review

Well that was an explosive weekend of football! So many wild twists and turns left some of our Ultimate Goals players slightly bamboozled by all the drama. Let’s find out why.

We’ll get the Weekly Global League proceedings out of the way first shall we? It’s been a highly profitable start to the season for Aaron Fisher, who makes his second appearance at the top of the table already! Clever picks of 3 goal Chelsea (74 selections), Cove Rangers (28) and Tottenham Hotspur (50) on x2, x4 and x8 gave Aaron the base for a great score, with 2 goal sides padding out the other multipliers, except on x7 where Edinburgh City’s 5 goals yielded a third of his overall score all on their own! All in all, 105 is a very impressive score which saw Aaron into Club 100, alongside just three other players.

Now for the drama on the pitch, and it was an Old Firm derby to forget for Celtic and the 13 of you who chose to back the goalless Hoops, while a statement 2-0 win for Rangers (8 selections) over their oldest rivals was a solid return for those who put their faith in the blue half of Glasgow. Meanwhile, in the Premier League’s early kick-off, another local derby saw Everton and Liverpool battle out tenacious 2-2 draw on Merseyside, a game which attracted a combined 28 selections……with VAR somewhat dubiously denying Liverpool a third in injury time, which would obviously have nudged a few scores higher. Not the first time technology has cost players points and it certainly won’t be the last!

The gameweek’s Perfect 7 reached a challenging 161 points, with St. Johnstone (only 2 picks!) and Cambridge Utd (9) joining Edinburgh City in bagging 5 goals. The Saints are making something of a habit of appearing in the P7 aren’t they! These three sides, plus 4 goal teams from x2 to x5 would have seen you walk away with the jackpot prize money! With two derby games involving some common Ultimate Goals big-hitters, it’s no surprise so few of you backed them in the unpredictable nature of these fixtures, which might also go a way to explaining why our average of 23 was so low.

Under that added uncertainty, most players had to look elsewhere, spreading out the vote for most popular team of the week. Chelsea took that honour, also occupying x2 and x3, while Notts County were highly popular on x5, x6 and x8, with Brentford and Tottenham chosen most on x4 and x7 respectively. With trust placed in so many different directions, this may well explain why we had the biggest number of minus scores of the season – 37 ‘red’ scores were recorded, including eight -40s and a -60! Ouch!

Don’t forget to get those selections in early for a chance to profit from this weekend’s early kick-offs. West Ham host Manchester City in what should be an entertaining affair and two of last season’s relegated sides meet in The Championship, as Bournemouth travel to Watford. We also have the full array of FA Cup qualifying fixtures, which could be the secret to success if you’re willing to do your homework! Good luck!

-Sam Wilkinson