The Final Four
It could’ve been called the Benjamin White Semi-Final weekend as the Arsenal defender featured in all four line-ups, effectively making each match a 10v10. White played 66 minutes as Arsenal held Villa at the Emirates, Villa didn’t even have a shot on target…until the 84th when Bailey and then Watkins punished a White-less Arsenal that seemed to fall asleep.
In the end, both semi-finals were won by a huge 35 points. One top-ten team remains, one was knocked out. One Finalist is top of their league, one in the relegation zone. One of whom has won the Cup before, the other has not. Here’s how the penultimate round played out.
Gameweek 33
| Hung Like a Bony #2 | 69 – 34 | Sporting Wicker Park #15 |
This decisive weekend started with Newcastle hosting fifth-placed Spurs, a team that had beaten them 4-1 in the reverse fixture. Of course, Newcastle-Spurs games are rarely short of goals and this weekend was no different. By half-time, Toon had already put two past Hung’s Pedro Porro and SWP’s Bruno G. had been a part of it. SWP up after one.
But that was about the limit of Wicker Park’s enjoyment. Into the arena walked Jérémy Doku. City won 5-1 and Doku walked out with a goal, two assists and three bonus points. That gave Hung a comfortable lead which they held throughout the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday.
Finally it all came down to the Monday night match between Chelsea and Everton. SWP were trailing by six but had Petrovic to come, plus Mateta on the bench with 2pts. Hung had Palmer and Madueke in midfield and Chilwell on Chelsea’s bench. It looked like the semi-final could’ve gone all the way to the final whistle, but Cole Palmer managed to find the net three times in the first thirty minutes and there was no coming back from that. The final score might not reflect how close the match was, but exceptional performances from Doku and Palmer give a Hung Like a Bony a well-deserved place in the Final
| StillluvQPR #21 | 71 – 36 | Goleta Hotspur #3 |
It was a heated affair in the first game of the weekend. This semi-final featured all three bonus points winners – Gordon, Isak and Schär. All three came back with double-figures and the weekend was alight. Gordon assisted Isak for the first goal of the gameweek and set the ball rolling for Stillluv’s bid for a second Cup title, and less than two minutes later scored himself. In the second half Stillluv increased their lead with a second goal for Isak, making it 3-0 to Toon. Goleta Hotspur scored in the final few minutes through defender Fabian Schär, but the goal was assisted once again by Anthony Gordon, earning him and Stillluv the maximum three BP.
The rest of the weekend was unfortunately (for Goleta at least) rather pedestrian. Gibbs-White scored for them in first-half injury-time and Ben White kept a clean sheet while he was on the pitch against Villa. Meanwhile, Tyrick Mitchell passed 10-points for the second time this season and Villa’s victory over the Gunners benefitted StillluvQPR even further – Emi Martinez made 9 and Bailey 6 with the first goal, late into the second half. The former champions return, the League Two league leaders focus on clinching the league title.
From Forty to Two:
After 5 rounds, 39 games, 5 two-point wins, 3 one-pointers, a first-round replay, 3x 70+ scores and 3,392 total fantasy points, we are left with two teams – Hung Like a Bony, now ranked #1, and StillluvQPR, up to #18.
The Final will be played in Gameweek 35 and the preview will follow shortly.
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