Gameweek 21

Happy New Year everyone……we are back to it……..your deadline is Friday 12th January at 18:15………get ready for the longest gameweek ever……Burnley & Luton kick us off tomorrow night, and Brighton & Wolves bring us to a close ten days later on Monday 22nd January………. this is going to take some patience!! 

Before we get to the football, check out this recent fantastic post on our instagram feed https://www.instagram.com/p/C1v-mWZME1f/?igsh=eGRrM3d2NWlsMzlu, it’s heartwarming to know that a couple of hundred of us messing around with this fantasy football malarkey can do such good…..Rowen will go on to make a huge difference to many poorly children and their families, and you’ve all played a part in that by getting involved, so thank you again…….

…….A look back at GW20, the closing gameweek of 2023, and it finished on a somewhat familiar and ominous note as, almost inevitably, the Evie Dove Foundation Fantasy Football League equivalent of Manchester City (minus the alleged financial irregularities of course………)  ‘Sonny & Schar’ finally reeled in long time leader ‘DC United’………’DC’ had been holding the lead since GW8, but the strain had started to show…….and the kind of situation that ‘Sonny’ thrives on, played out exactly to script as they eased into top spot in the Evie Dove Foundation League……….

……And that’s not all………….last seasons champ also swept to victory in the December £50 stakes  with an impressive 439 points………..special mention for ‘Witty Name’, a sterling effort with a 97 point gameweek, but not quite enough to close the gap. 

£50 on its way to you ‘Sonny’…………time for the rest of you to step up to the plate in Jan!!

In other GW20 news ‘Better than Figo’ and ‘Tax Fraud FC’ both smashed out 104 points………not quite enough to knock ‘Hakuna Mateta’ off of top spot in the £75 prize for top Gameweek, but just a little warning to ‘Hakuna’……….teams are circling around that 110 point target!……………

Seven of you played wildcards…….. getting it in just before they expired…………one of whom ‘FC Toni Basel’ amazingly climbed to 13th place in the league despite leaving 31 points on the bench, notably Palmer (18 points) and Areola (11 points)………..not quite up there with ‘Wibble’ and ‘Warnes Wonders’, but a good try nonetheless!

Two of you rolled out the ‘Free Hit’ and once again it was a disappointing showing……….‘Real LeBab’ with 49 points, and ‘Ain’t Jota clue’ with 76 points nowhere near to landing a punch on  ‘Odergaardium Leviosa’ who retain their lead in the ‘Free Hit’ stakes going into the second half of the season…….however remember that last season our highest Free Hit was 130 points, so I’m not sure 89 points will cut it for much longer…….we shall see!

In GW21 we’ve got quite a few injuries to consider, both Haaland and Alexander Arnold at the head of the queue for the treatment table…………meanwhile we also bid farewell to Salah and Son……….77 teams in GW20 had one or the other as their captain, and despite the fact that at one point Salah captainers were staring down the barrel of minus points after the penalty miss, ultimately you were duly rewarded with 32 points and 18 points respectively………Salah and Son you will be missed……see you in February……….meanwhile Alvarez and Watkins are going to be very popular!

In bottom of the table news, I am pleased to confirm that Redmenii’s temporary blip is over……… normal service has been resumed………. and we enter the new calendar year with them absolutely stone last…..mind you it would have been a different story if that ridiculous effort from Trent Alexander Arnold had just sneaked in at the far post. And of course all is not lost………. this is a team that has been unwaveringly loyal to Ivan Toney, who is now actually available to play football………..he could make all the difference in the second half of the season!!

So there you have it, 2024 Premier League football is almost underway and we have all to play for…….good luck everyone and all the best from all of us at the Evie Dove Foundation