How Did You do in Week Three?

Much like online dating, there’s always so much riding on the gap between expectation and actuality when it comes to fantasy soccer/football. (But at least the photos and alleged ages of Premier League stars are legit, right?!)

For Manchester United, a comfortable win was expected over Leicester City, and it happened. But those who were counting on Romelu Lukaku or Paul Pogba to join in the fun were left wanting.

Liverpool v. Arsenal was predicted to be a high-scoring affair by both sides. For the rampaging Reds, you got plenty of joy out of Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane. However, if you banked on Alexis Sanchez, Alexandre Lacazette, Mesut Ozil, Granit Xhaka, Sead Kolasinac, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain or anyone else for the Gunners, ouch!

Tottenham Hotspur should have cruised against Burnley with good scores from both ends. But Spurs failed to convert a glut of chances, letting the Clarets hang around too long, ultimately paying the price as Chris Wood’s late equalizer ruined not only a vital victory for the home side but the clean sheet bonus for anybody who was counting on Hugo Lloris, Ben Davies, Jan Vertonghen, Toby Alderweireld and Kieran Trippier. If you captained Christian Eriksen (like me!) or Harry Kane (as plenty of others surely did), you were left with an extra Spursy sour taste in your mouth. Kind of lemon/lime meets rotten eggs, I’d best describe it.

And if you thought West Ham United would get its mojo back at Newcastle, raise your hand. (Mine, as you surely know, is way up there!) There was no reason not to think that Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez, Michail Antonio and Andre Ayew were ready to pounce. Naturally, though, the Magpies crushed the Hammers, decisively winning the battle of absolute desperation.

Such is fantasy. Such is love. Such is everything.

While misery loves company, and there was plenty of that going around, some teams did manage to avoid the pain and find joy.

Official FPL Team of the Week

LEDANG LFC won the week in the NMA Beat the Bloggers league with 80 points. Well done! The score was particularly impressive given that LEDANG’s captain, Harry Kane, scored the fewest points of anyone in the entire starting 11.

Going with an unusual but effective 5-2-3 formation, Forster led the way from the back with 11 points from the goalkeeping position as the five defenders also secured clean sheets. From there, Salah, Firmino and Jesus provided the punch with big games on the offensive end.

Sajat FC is the league leader through three weeks with 215 points, followed closely by InthEndDsntEvnMorata, Come what May, The-Dream-Team, and KOJO ASENSIO.

Fantrax Team of the Week

Whithy Dragons took the frame with 121 points, an impressive 11 points ahead of the second place finisher. The team was led by Salah’s 31 point haul, as one of five players who scored in double digits. While big scores are always important, a key to Whithy Dragons’ big week was the lack of low scores, with nobody having less than five points.

Team Bondlam (305 points) rules the roost through three weeks, with FCB Simon, TeamNinjai_AFC, Krul Summer, and FC Team Captaingerrard nipping at the heels.

Great stuff, well done!

For me, it was a mixed week. My Official team continued to disappoint, slumping to a putrid 44 points. (Yet again, my captain — this time Eriksen as mentioned — painfully did nothing.) I did manage to get a positive score from my keeper for the first time this season in Fantrax, totaling 94 points which was good for a tie at 16th place, so that had me feeling better about things. You win some, you lose some, eh?

How did your squads do? Which players disappointed and which were unexpected pleasures? Let us know in the comments!