In his FPL Gameweek 18 review, Fantasy Premier League author <a href="https://twitter.com/Davvawavva">David Wardale</a> watches a thrilling clash between Spurs and Liverpool end in a rare blank for one rather special 73.7%-owned talent.
Also on Sunday, one of the league&#8217;s premium defenders went big for Man City at Newcastle, while Wolves and Chelsea played out a goalless draw.
The one and only Saturday match that didn&#8217;t succumb to Covid-19 involved an injury-ravaged Leeds getting turned over by Arsenal, with a brace from one of the Gunners&#8217; many cheap and currently cheerful attackers.
You can catch all of our <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/fantasy-premier-league-ultimate-guide-fpl-tips/">FPL Gameweek 18 tips right here</a>.
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<h2>FPL Gameweek 18 Review</h2>
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<h3 class="western">Spurs 2 Liverpool 2</h3>
Gameweek 18&#8217;s Covid-ravaged schedule finished with a belter of a match which had a little bit of everything except a winning goal and – shock horror – a Mo Salah (£13.1m) haul.
Spurs took the lead from some striker called Harry Kane (£12.1m), who scored his second goal of the season.
Having notched 20 goals or more in five of the last seven campaigns, the Tottenham talisman will have to get a wiggle on to get anywhere near such a total this time round.
He could have made a major step towards that target against Liverpool, however, missing a number of big chances to add to his tally.
Heung-Min Son (£10.3m) and the returning (and impressive) Dele Alli (£6.2m), were also wasteful, with the latter denied when clean through by a superb save from Allison (£6.0m).
But the Reds keeper was totally at fault for Tottenham&#8217;s other strike, completely missing a through ball to allow Son to steer the ball into the empty net.
In between those goals came a Liverpool comeback.
First to score was Diogo Jota (£8.1m), from an Andy Robertson (£7.1m) cross. That marked the Portugal international&#8217;s first-ever ten-goal season.
The Scottish left-back then got a rare goal of his own when he headed in from Trent Alexander Arnold&#8217;s (£8.3m) assist.
Roberton&#8217;s 3.6% ownership were in for maximum bonus and a 12-point haul at that point, only for their man to have a yellow card upgraded to red by VAR following what can only be described as an industrial challenge on Emerson Royal (£4.9m).
All very well, but VAR had not been used to hand a similar fate to Kane in the first half when he caught Robertson with a studs-up diving tackle.
That inconsistency should have meant Kane&#8217;s 5.6% FPL fan club came away with three points. Instead, he ended the match in with a chance of bonus to bump him up to a six-pointer.
Tottenham&#8217;s assists came from Harry Winks (£4.4m) and Tanguy Ndombele (£5.7m) as the team impressed after a frustrating Covid-mad week or so.
Liverpool will no doubt feel aggrieved at key decisions – they were also denied what looked like a stonewall penalty – but the key fantasy takeaway was Salah&#8217;s first blank since Gameweek 2.
Another could be that, pending any appeal, Robertson&#8217;s red card will mean a likely three-match run in the starting XI for the ever-cheap Konstantinos Tsimikas (£3.7m).
The last of those matches will be Chelsea away in Gameweek 21. Other than that, the Reds&#8217; schedule remains kindly.
Tottenham&#8217;s is also good until a massive north London derby in Gameweek 22.
Should they keep up the excellent work on display against Liverpool, their main men will definitely be worth a look which, for the first time in a while, includes Alli.
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<h3 class="western">Newcastle United 0 Manchester City 4</h3>
Man City made their bid for the Christmas number one slot with a (generally) regulation win over Newcastle.
Ruben Dias (£6.1m) got things rolling early when he nodded in from close range after an awful mix-up between Ciaran Clark (£4.4m) and Martin Dubravka (£4.4m).
The opener was set up by Joao Cancelo (£6.8m), whose superb shot from the edge of the box then made it 2-0.
That&#8217;s one goal and six assists for the 35.4%-owned defender now. He&#8217;s missed only one league match all season – last time out – and only because he was suspended.
Should he get the maximum bonus, as projected, he&#8217;ll become City&#8217;s most productive FPL asset this season, with 94 points – a total only two players (both from Liverpool) can better.
It took Newcastle 81 minutes to have an attempt on target, Ederson (£6.0m) pushing Callum Wilson&#8217;s (£7.4m) header over the bar.
But to most eyes, the Magpies should have had a first half penalty when the City keeper slid into and bundled over Ryan Fraser (£5.3m). Referee Martin Atkinson thought otherwise and VAR, inexplicably to many, backed him up.
That was as good as it got for the home side, and fantasy interest mostly revolved around Newcastle boss Eddie Howe&#8217;s decision to only bring the 13.1%-owned Allan Saint-Maximin (£6.7m) on for the second half.
Riyad Mahrez (£8.6m) set up City&#8217;s second and scored their third when he stayed onside to finish off Oleksandr Zinchenko&#8217;s (£5.3m) ball.
Raheem Sterling (£10.6m), back starting after a game&#8217;s rest, then rounded off the scoring when he tapped after great work from Gabriel Jesus (£8.7m).
Pep Guardiola&#8217;s side have now kept three clean sheets on the bounce, and with their defenders frequently producing attacking returns as well, it&#8217;s no surprise that the likes of Cancelo and Dias are so popular.
Both could well find more owners over Christmas, as it will be Leicester then Brentford next.
Many managers will steer clear, however.
Close to 400,000 of them were burned when they made Phil Foden (£8.1m) the second most purchased player of Gameweek 18, only to watch him watch the entire match from the bench.
Newcastle have Man United on Boxing Day before the fixtures turn kinder.
Based on current form, that&#8217;s about the only factor that might persuade investment in any of their players.
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<h3 class="western">Wolves 0 Chelsea 0</h3>
Wolves and Chelsea served up a meagre bowl of footballing gruel in a game that would have been called off anyway, had the visitors got their way.
Positive Covid tests prompted the Blues to request a postponement. That was rejected and the Londoners ended up naming just four outfield subs.
Jorginho (£5.8m), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (£5.4m) and Kai Havertz (£7.8m) all missed the match, and Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel refused to bring in any U23 players as replacements as that squad trains in their own bubble.
Still, such are Chelsea&#8217;s riches that the team put out was hardly sub-standard, but it failed to break down a Wolves back line with five clean sheets from their last seven matches.
It did, however, mean a first shut-out of their own since Gameweek 12, not overly surprising seeing as the home side are to goals what Boris Johnson is to party planning.
Wolves have now scored just once in six matches, although Daniel Podence (£5.5m) did get the ball into the net on Sunday, only for his effort to be ruled out for offside.
Chelsea, with Christian Pulisic (£7.9m) again employed in a central attacking role, didn&#8217;t even get that close.
In fact, the two keepers made just one save apiece all match, which perfectly summed up the Scrooge-like fare on offer.
Wolves have Watford, while Chelsea face Aston Villa, on Boxing Day. It would seem unlikely either clash will be as uninspiring as this one was.
How many Chelsea players are well enough to fulfil their fixture could also be more interesting than Sunday&#8217;s &#8216;action&#8217;.
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<h3 class="western">Leeds United 1 Arsenal 4</h3>
A Gabriel Martinelli (£5.2m) double propelled Arsenal to a convincing win at Leeds.
So low was the midfielder&#8217;s ownership that a 93,267 boost for the gameweek essentially quadrupled his fan club.
They were treated to a season&#8217;s best 15 points from their man and it&#8217;s Norwich next&#8230;
That is, of course, dependent on Covid-19 not shutting down the entire Premier League schedule over Christmas.
That would be welcome for many depleted squads even if Leeds, ironically, are struggling thanks to good old-fashioned footballing injuries rather than a global virus.
The Elland Road crisis is now at the &#8216;throw in all the kids&#8217; stage, with Cody Drameh (£3.9m) handed a first start at right-back.
Unfortunately for him, the selection made a crisis out of a Drameh as Arsenal attacked at will down both flanks from the off, handing Illan Meslier (£4.9m) a save point after just five minutes and Martinelli both of his goals by the 28th.
The Gunners were three up by the break, thanks to a Bukayo Saka (£6.2m) goal that made it a third straight attacking return for him.
By then, Meslier had made it eight saves.
Arsenal eased off after the interval so he didn&#8217;t add a ninth for a third save point, but that made it consecutive matches with eight stops to his name, which is a perfect representation of how badly Leeds are struggling at the back these days.
What they don&#8217;t lack is heart, and there was even time for thoughts of an unlikely comeback when Raphinha (£6.6m) scored another penalty following Ben White&#8217;s (£4.5m) ill-judged tackle on Joe Gelhardt (£4.6m).
Those thoughts were quashed swiftly enough when Emile Smith-Rowe (£6.0m) came off the bench and scored for the second match running.
That no doubt delighted his 27.1% ownership, including the 290,000+ who made him the gameweek&#8217;s fourth-most popular buy.
Just ahead of him in that table was Alexandre Lacazette (£8.4m), and his 360,000+ new owners were treated to an assist and a couple of excellent chances to score, which he spurned.
The visitors&#8217; other assists came from Granit Xhaka (£4.8m) and the in-form Martin Odegaard (£5.5m), who now has four returns from his last five starts.
But there wasn&#8217;t a third straight clean sheet for the Arsenal defence, although the 6.7% on Takehiro Tomiyasu (£4.7m) were in luck when he went off after 63 minutes – 12 before Raphinha&#8217;s goal.
There&#8217;s much to like about this Arsenal side at present, not least a whole host of cheap and firing options.
There&#8217;s even more to pity about Leeds and their awful injury predicament.
Just to add to their fun, it&#8217;s Liverpool away on Boxing Day next.
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FPL Gameweek 18 Review and Reaction – Kane Scores, Salah Blanks In Christmas Cracker

FPL Gameweek 18 Review and Reaction – Kane Scores, Salah Blanks In Christmas Cracker

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