The IML Final

League One’s Ole’s at the Wheel took on Drafty of the Premier League for the title and a spot in the 2022 Champions League.

The weekend began with a shock at The Olympic Stadium as West Ham twice equalised and then put a third past a Chelsea side that had only conceded six goals in the previous fourteen games. This was bad news for both teams, but more so for Drafty who had Reece James lose both of his appearance points through conceding and a 92nd-minute yellow card. Both teams had also selected the lesser-spotted Timo Werner, who spent yet another game keeping yet another bench warm, freeing up a space for a substitution.

The 3pm kick-offs offered action from only two players, both for Ole’s at the Wheel. Maxwel Cornet had three shots in the first half of Burnley’s game away at St. James’ Park, including one shot saved from nine yards, but was taken off with an injury after just 30 minutes. The other appearance came from the FPL’s current top pointscorer Mo Salah, who took 94 minutes at Molyneux to create an assist that was finally converted by Divock Origi. At the final whistle, Ole’s at the Wheel led 7-0.

There was only one more player to turn out on Saturday and that was Man City’s Cancelo. City hadn’t kept a clean sheet in their last three games, but in the previous two matches City had done so and Cancelo had picked up three assists plus six bonus points. However, with substitute Cucho’s second-half consolation goal for Watford and Cancelo’s late attempt on goal saved, the City defender could only return two fantasy points for Drafty and the day ended 7-2 in Ole’s favour.

Sunday

There were four games on Day Two, with the first three kicking off at the same time. At Elland Road, Drafty’s Number One Illan Meslier was facing teammate and compatriot Bryan Mbeumo. At half-time Meslier and Leeds had a 1-0 lead, but less than ten minutes into the second half Shandon Baptiste, a product of Oxford United’s youth academy, scored his first goal for Brentford and took away Meslier’s clean sheet. However, shortly after that, Mbeumo played the ball through to Canos who scored from the corner of the six-yard box and clawed back three points for Drafty.

Meanwhile, at Old Trafford Manchester United were struggling against a resilient Crystal Palace. Despite having 66% possession and 13 shots on goal, it was still goalless after an hour when Mason Greenwood came on. Greenwood also came off the bench for both the IML Finalists too (replacing Werner on both sides) and a few minutes later he rolled the ball back to Fred on the corner of the D, who then arched it over Guaita and into the back of the net. The game there finished 1-0 and both Finalists picked up clean sheet points – De Gea (6) for OatWheel and Telles (6) for Drafty.

In the Spurs-Norwich game we saw another doppelganger in Sergio Reguilon appearing for both sides. He was only on the pitch for 22 minutes before going off injured, and managed to pick up a yellow card during that time, so scored goose-egg. Also featuring in the IML Final here were the Lilywhites pair of Ben Davies and Heung-Min Son, and they were the real difference-makers.

After ten minutes Son played a simple one-two with Lucas Moura, who then smashed it home for Tottenham’s first, then in the second half Ben Davies flicked on a corner from Son, which was momentarily controlled by Gibson, but before he could swing a leg to clear it, Davinson Sanchez saw an opportunity and fired in from six yards. Davies was awarded an assist, and enjoyed it so much that he decided to set up another ten minutes later. Heading back into the box, Ben played a one-two with Eric Dier then played the ball across to Son for Tottenham’s third.. Son collected the Two Bonus Points, collecting thirteen in total, and Davies got the Man of the Match, making fifteen for him.

With the score now 44-17 to Drafty (including Greenwood coming on for Ole’s at the Wheel), the League One side needed a high-scoring game at Villa Park. Unfortunately for them, his two Villa Defenders were facing Maddison and Iheanacho meaning that a double clean sheet would have negated the Leicester forwards’ high ceiling. As it was, none of them returned with the goods this week as Harvey Barnes put the ball away for The Foxes and Maddison picked up his first yellow of the season. However, going back up the other end, Buendia assisted Konsa three minutes later and registered and assist for OatWheel, but little more came of that game. For their opposition, Drafty missed Danny Ings who would have been first off their bench, but John McGinn had a good game – assisting Konsa’s second and earning two bonus points. With Mason Greenwood now entitled to come on for Drafty, they finished there and set a target of 55 FPts.

Monday

Very little happened on Monday with only one player featuring in the Final – Benjamin White of Arsenal and OatWheel’s only hope. Arsenal took the lead in the first half and endured a disallowed Richarlison goal before the whistle to go into the dressing room without conceding. The second half saw Everton attacking much better and, after another overturned Richarlison goal, put the ball (successfully) in the back of the net twice more to win the game 2-1. White (who would have needed at least a ridiculous hat-trick to challenge Drafty) limped back with just a single and the Final was over.