The Champions League

The CL Quarter Finals – First Leg Results:
Sporting Wicker Park 51 – 26 Fergi Time
With a talented back line, Wicker Park take a commanding lead into the second leg. And with Pope, Trippier, White and Dalot all facing bottom-four sides that are struggling to find the net, Fergi may struggle to tackle the deficit. Their best bet may be in a couple of upsets from Morris against Dalot and Solanke against Trips & Pope. Alternatively, the leg could be decided by Arteta’s gameplan; four players were in the reckoning for SWP last weekend, two others started for Fergi Time. Hopefully (for the neutral at least), they will still be in it with Rodri and Aké warming up at 4pm on Sunday.

Smash & Grab 30 – 32 Hung Like a Bony
A much closer QF played out between Smash and Hung. As they did in the Championship, Hung won this game by just the two bonus points given to Cole Palmer at the final wrap-up last week. Phil Foden scored for both, but the surprise performance probably came from Cameron Archer who was unable to come off S&G’s bench with his goal & 3BP, while more-favoured Højlund and Watkins blanked. Both teams will have to decide what to do with Dan Burn (out) and their Liverpool midfielders (Mac Allister suspended & Gravenberch 50%). And with many players in common, the breakthrough could come out of the match between 13th-placed Villa (with Cash & Konsa for Hung) against 14th-placed Fulham (with Leno for Smash).

Gloopy Yarbles 18 – 31 CG XI
Gloopy’s ten men were reduced to nine when Udogie saw red on Monday, but their blushes were saved by nine from Jamall Lascelles making up half of their take-home. On the other side, CG XI matched the average score of the week with clean sheets for Onana and Ward. They were also hindered by the Spurs defence with Van de Ven going off in the first half, and the general low-scoring of the gameweek. But it could’ve been more if McTominay’s goal hadn’t been disallowed or if Darwin Núñez had been…better. Next weekend, Sunday will definitely be crucial for Gloopy with lots of players turning out for Brighton, West Ham, Liverpool and City (although Alvarez is shared), so CG XI will be looking to capitalise from the first five fixtures.

De Bruyne Trousers 40 – 25 Housewives Favourite
DBT were able to capitalise on Man City’s thrilling win against Bournemouth; goals from Aké and Foden, plus a clean sheet from John Stones who ducked out after seventy minutes where key to their fifteen-point lead. Wives Fave struggled for points in defence this week but that was balanced out by Ayew with another assist and a third goal from Dejan Kulusevski. Far from being out of the tie, Wives’ Fave can comeback if they get off to a good start with Maddison and Kulusevski away at Molyneux. But if they don’t, then they will have to hope that Brighton and City stumble on Sunday afternoon.

The CL Quarter Finals – Second Leg:
Fergi Time v Sporting Wicker Park
Hung Like a Bony v Smash & Grab
CG XI v Gloopy Yarbles
Housewives Favourite v De Bruyne Trousers
Line-ups available after the Gameweek 12 deadline