THE 2019 BFFA CUP FINAL

It’s the biggest game of the season. Forty teams have been reduced down to two. Glory awaits one, agonising disappointment for the other.

It’s Smash & Grab of the Premier League versus Wijnaldum Leviosa of League One. It’s the first time these two teams have met and the first Final for both teams.
This report will update daily as we keep you up-to-date with The Final as it develops.
Lineups
Matchday 1
Matchday 2
Matchday 3
Matchday 4
Matchday 5
The Final Scores

The finalists enter the match well-prepared for the extra games on Tuesday and Wednesday. Both sides have started ten players on double gameweeks, so both have the potential for over 1,890 minutes of football. Also, for the sake of equality, or fair play, or just bad luck, they’ve both signed Koscielny and Higuain!

Lower-league Wijnaldum Leviosa, currently 32nd in the Best-ish table, have opted for a defensively-minded 5-4-1. Aside from their lone striker, their starting XI is composed of players from the Big Six and nine of those are on double gameweeks. This is not a team to be underestimated.
Their 5-man defence is made up of players from Man City, Spurs and Arsenal and behind them is the phenomenal David de Gea. In midfield they boast four players that have scored 20 Premier League goals and 19 assists between them this season. Up front they have the in-favour Danny Ings, who will be hoping to score against Smash & Grab’s three Watford players on Tuesday.

Their opposition from the top tier are sixth in the Best-ish rankings and have stuck with an orthodox 4-4-2. Smash’s biggest threat is undoubtedly Sergio Aguero who’s collected 19 goals and 11 assists so far. They are also fielding an intimidating midfield that has a combined 508 points this season, which includes 12 assists from Eriksen and a huge 33 Kante Points from Moutinho. In terms of Bonus Points, the players fielded by Smash & Grab have delivered a lot more across the season – 115pts against the 88pts from Leviosa’s starting XI. More strikingly, S&G’s players have earned 68 Kante Points against Leviosa’s 16.

However, if it’s value for money (or rather, value for time) that you’re after then there’s next to no difference between the teams. Going into this gameweek, Wijnaldum’s players have been scoring one point every 18 minutes 42 seconds on average; Smash & Grab’s team – one point for every 18′ 45″ played. If that doesn’t say “it’s anyone’s game” then I should’ve saved myself the effort and simply written “it’s anyone’s game!”

– – – Team Line-ups – – –

Matchday 1 of 5: Saturday 20th April

Wijnaldum Leviosa 8 – 33 Smash & Grab

No goals yet but two assists and two clean sheets for Smash & Grab have given them a healthy early lead. Wijnaldum have only had two players on so far and Laporte’s clean sheet points mean they’re still keeping pace.
Five more players step up tomorrow, including Koscielny doing his best for both teams. Hooray for sharing.

Tomorrow –
Wijnaldum Leviosa:
De Gea (MUN), Koscielny (ARS), Musafi (ARS), Sanchez (ARS), Martial (MUN).
Smash & Grab:
Koscielny (ARS).

Matchday 2 of 5: Sunday 21st April

Wijnaldum Leviosa 12 – 34 Smash & Grab

Shock results are nothing new to the seasoned fantasy football manager, neither is the feeling of frustration when benched players outscore the starting eleven and the anxiety that follows with substitutions uncertain.
Such is the situation that the Cup Final currently finds itself in and here’s why.

The early game today was Everton vs. Man. United, starring three Leviosas plus Gylfi Sigurdsson currently keeping their bench warm. Long story short – De Gea and co. conceded four, Martial failed to deliver anything but an appearance and Sanchez didn’t play. Our Icelandic hero on the other hand collected a goal, an assist, a (midfielder) assist and a maximum three bonus points.

Later in the afternoon, Mustafi and Koscielny both played a full match against Palace and conceded three. Mustafi also picked up a yellow card.
It was a disappointing day for both finalists.

The good thing about having players miss games is that there’s an increased chance of those subs coming on and fourteen points is the sort of sauce you’d be praying for from a double gameweek player.
There’s a gamechanger in the shadows…

Tomorrow –
Wijnaldum Leviosa:
Willian (CHE), Higuain (CHE, Bench), Wood (BUR, Bench).
Smash & Grab:
Higuain (CHE).

Unnecessary facts
Elsewhere, when Christian Benteke scored against Arsenal today, he became the first player to score five goals on BFFA Cup Final weekends.
Going into this weekend, he and Sadio Mane both had four. Mane had scored all four of his for Southampton and none for his current club, Liverpool. The Reds, in fact, had drawn 0-0 in both games since signing Mane from the Saints.
Mane was also the only player to offer a Cup Final hat-trick until Ayoze Perez matched that feat yesterday. As it happens, it against Southampton.

Only four players have scored for Liverpool on a Cup Final weekend. By contrast, Everton had four different players score for them just today! That’s now ten different Toffees filling the onion sack across the five seasons.
Benteke was one of the four who found the net for Liverpool. He had also scored a brace for Aston Villa in 2015, got one last season for Palace and in the 17th minute today for the Eagles again.

The other players to score more than a couple of Cup Final gameweek goals so far are Mane (4), Ayoze Perez (3), Noble (3), Sanchez (3) and Sterling (3). Sanchez and Sterling still have another game to play this Wednesday.

Also, for those that hadn’t noticed, Georginio Wijnaldum scored today! It didn’t change anything.

Matchday 3: Monday 22nd April

Wijnaldum Leviosa 12 – 41 Smash & Grab

It might have felt like a quiet day for the Final with only two players in action, but WE HAVE A GOAL!
Higuain scored for Smash & Grab in the 14th minute and increases their lead over Wijnaldum. But we must bear in mind that this goal may later be added to the League One team too, which takes the shine off of it somewhat.
Willian was another no-show for the lower league side but, as Mr. Kirby pointed out, that brings Gylfi one step closer to coming off the bench. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, with five defenders in their starting line-up then Higuain should come on for Willian and add 7 much needed points to the final score.
Also featured last night was Chris Wood who, although last on the Leviosa bench, has 5 points in reserve should an opening present itself. It was his assist for the opening goal against Chelsea that kick-started 12 minutes of high-impact action and saw four goals in the 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge.

Tonight –
Wijnaldum Leviosa:
Trippier (TOT), Ings (SOU), Davies (TOT, Bench).
Smash & Grab:
Foster (WAT), Masina (WAT), Doucoure (WAT), Eriksen (TOT), Ward-Prowse (SOU).

With ten players left on both sides it is still anyone’s game, despite the official scoreline. Wijnaldum Leviosa have 28 points on the bench should Trippier/Mendy/Sanchez/Mahrez be left out over the next couple of days and they also have high-scoring potential in players like De Gea, Laporte and Martial.
Smash & Grab will start the extra games stronger tonight with five players hopefully taking to the field (while only Trippier and Ings are available for Wijnaldum), then Leviosa will look for a strong finish with eight players (or subs) scoring points on Wednesday.
As mentioned earlier in this piece, there is direct opposition tonight between Danny Ings and the three Watford players in the Vicarage Road portion of The Final. Last time Southampton played Watford, Danny Ings got an assist in the 1-1 draw and despite only playing for 39 minutes he also collected two bonus points!
In the reverse fixtures of these final four games, Wijnaldum’s players scored much better. Martial scored a penalty against City in their 3-1 defeat and Trippier, Mahrez, and Ings all got assists, whereas Smash’s players only have an Aguero goal to boast about. With both City and United out of the Champions League, Pep and Ole may give their goalscorers another chance to add to their goal tallies.

And finally, who could forget Charlie Austin’s post-match interview from that Watford match?!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdxZjRHq2SM

Matchday 4: Tuesday 23rd April

Wijnaldum Leviosa 21 – 59 Smash & Grab

Between Shane Long’s goal on 00:07.69 and Christian Eriksen’s late winner on 88:57, it was a long goalless evening. But we did, of course, finally get another goal. However, scoring the only goal of the match wasn’t enough to earn Eriksen any bonus points, but seven today added to the two from Saturday totals nine for Smash & Grab. That’s not a bad outing.

All six bonus points went to the Spurs defence, depsite (or perhaps because of) Brighton having only one shot on target and 22% possession. The triple BP was awarded to Kieran Trippier, who missed the away trip to the Etihad, giving him nine points as well. Ben Davies came on to the pitch with eight minutes to go to earn a single point. Should Menjamin Bendy not feature in tomorrow’s game against United, then Davies will come on for Wijnaldum with three points.

All eyes will be on the teamsheets at Old Trafford to see if Sanchez or Mahrez will be absent again. Mahrez has not played in the last two Premier League matches, Sanchez has not featured in the last six. Should either not play tomorrow then Gylfi will come on with (a possibly game-saving) fourteen points. Should both remain unused then Kiwi Chris Wood will come on too with another five. Of course, that’s not to say that Sanchez or Mahrez couldn’t make fourteen points themselves, but it seems unlikely. Mahrez hasn’t scored more than 13 this season, but he did register double-figures four times before Christmas. Sanchez hasn’t scored more than 7, which he gained when he scored against Newcastle back in October.

So two big games will conclude the 2019 BFFA Cup Final tonight – Wolves -v- Arsenal at 19:45pm and the Manchester Derby at 8pm.
Wijnaldum have eight players to play; Smash & Grab have five. We may see Aguero vs. De Gea and Martial against Walker. We may be watching Mustafi defending against Doherty and Koscielny facing Moutinho, although Koscielny will again be scoring points for both sides. Such a nice guy.

Can Wijnaldum pull off the comeback of the year, or will Smash & Grab’s remaining players do enough to see them off?
The final score will be confirmed on Thursday.
If we see the Final end in a draw (as it did in the 2015 Champions League), then the match will be replayed next weekend (GW36).

Tonight –
Wijnaldum Leviosa:
De Gea (MUN), Koscielny (ARS), Mustafi (ARS), Mendy (MCI), Laporte (MCI), Sanchez (MUN), Martial (MUN), Mahrez (MCI).
Smash & Grab:
Doherty (WOL), Koscielny (ARS), Walker (MCI), Moutinho (WOL), Aguero (MCI).

Speculation
Let’s say that Sanchez and Mahrez do have the day off but all the others do play, and that both games end 0-0. For playing 60mins and getting the clean sheet points, that should bring the score to 80-82 in S&G’s favour. Hardly the cushion he’s been enjoying so far. Yellow cards and bonus points could swing the win either way.
If United score it would impact on Laporte and Walker alike, but Mendy may lose points too. With no United players, S&G would have the advantage if City score and deny De Gea a clean sheet.
Similarly, if Wolves score then poor old Koscielny won’t be much use to either side, but Mustafi would be affected if he plays. However, if Arsenal score then S&G won’t be enjoying more clean sheet points from Doherty and Moutinho.

Matchday 5 of 5: Wednesday 24th April

Wijnaldum Leviosa 59 – 79 Smash & Grab

Ladies and gentlemen, your new BFFA Cup Champion is Smash & Grab!

Wijnaldum Leviosa were again hindered by underused players but the long-awaited appearance of Gylfi Sigurdsson materialised just before full-time when City’s final substitution was made and Mahrez kept his seat on the bench. This meant that Gylfi’s goal and assist against Man United boosted Leviosa. We already knew that Higuain would come on for Willian with seven points and last night Davies also came on for Mendy with just three more.

Another boost for Leviosa came from City’s highest-scoring defender, Laporte, with second clean sheet and three bonus points from the derby. But that’s where their luck ran out. Walker, who also played both games this gameweek, also picked up the same clean sheet for S&G and a (single) bonus point too. The other Leviosa stars let their side down again – De Gea made three saves to compensate for the two goals he conceded, Koscielny only collected one point and Sanchez & Martial were substituted on late for singles too.

On the other side of the pitch, Aguero had a quiet night for S&G, as did Moutinho, who also made four tackles. Koscielny, as we know, only scored one but the star of the evening was Matt Doherty. The Wolves wing-back was unlucky not to get a second clean sheet last night but he did score in the 37th minute and guarantee victory for Smash & Grab.

THE FINAL SCORES

So, after three defeats in various Semi-Finals, Smash & Grab finally made the Final and got the win.
Congratulations to both teams on a great game, the highest-scoring Final yet!
See you all next season.