Alex: We're back and it's Fantasy Friday. My god, it feels like we have been off. It's been like a little mini holiday, I think, from the pod. That's what it feels like for me. I don't think I've thought about football once. I haven't even watched any England games. I didn't watch any international games. I think I watched one Wimbledon game and that was the other night and it was a shit game. It was a nil-nil against Barnet. but my god, it's been phenomenal. What what a what a lovely two weeks I've had. So Ben: Mm-hmm. Alex: I'm gonna come to you first, Ben. How has your two week little mini holiday been? Ben: It's been really good. I mean, I yeah, like you say, I've had a lovely break from fantasy. Haven't thought about Newcastle or my fantasy team at all. I guess it hasn't really been a holiday because it's still full on with the kids all the time. Everyone's been sick. It's like a change of season. So like flu season is back. So like my wife, my daughter and my son have all gone down at various times, so it's me next, I'm sure I'll be getting it. Have you guys ever heard of Strep, Strep Throat? Alex: Yeah. Yeah. CJ: Yeah, nasty. And that that's nasty Ben: But n CJ: stuff. Ben: never heard of that before I came to the States. but apparently it's just a fancy way of saying like bacterial tonsillitis or something. But yeah, all good. Glad to have a break. Glad to be back and hoping I'm not the next one to get an ailment. Alex: Siege, has your little break been? Do they what do they do in Ireland? Like do they even watch international football? CJ: Lovely. Lovely. To be fair, there was a lot of there was a lot obviously going on with the whole Ireland v Israel game and things like that, which which was Ben: Mm. Saw that. Alex: of course. Yeah. CJ: yeah, there was various opinions over here. It was actually really interesting watch that watching that unfold over the over the two weeks. But you know, it it's it's international break's a funny one, especially out here. Like I've I think when the games are at the Aviva, there there's a hell of an atmosphere. And I I actually enjoy watching Ireland on telly, but I think I enjoyed watching England more. Like I know Butler you didn't say you watched any games, but Jesus Christ, we look fucking good at the moment. We look we look seriously good. Alex: Yeah, but it means nothing. It means nothing. CJ: I know, I know it's not, but if you if I know if we be Alex: Didn't we lose to Spain? CJ: we did lose to Spain, but again, Harry Kane scores that pen, we probably win three one. 3 2. Do you know what I mean? But if you haven't watched any of that 7-0 game, it was frightening some of the goals in that. Bellingham is just a dis Ben: Yeah, I saw the highlights for those. CJ: Bellingham is an absolute, he's a I don't even know what he's an absolute Rolls Royce and Kane's doing bits, Ben: Mm-hmm. CJ: but but no, I I actually loved the international break this time. It was actually quite nice having I know it's a long time off off Premier League, but having three or four games quite close together, I quite, I quite like having it on, but Haven't really missed Ben: Mm. CJ: fantasy, I must say. I looked at my team today and was an absolute disgrace in terms of flags. We'll get onto that in a sec, but but You did. Alex: Mine. Ben: Did I bo did did I not warn you boys about doing a wild card before an international break? And then I was like, yeah, I'll do it as well. And then I Alex: Yeah, three week international break. CJ: I don't know what we've done. What have we done, gents? What have we done? Ben: I've got like f three or four yellow flags. I've got injuries all over the place. Alex: Well mate, I'm not i I I I was s I was I'm thinking, right, I'm not even gonna bloody. I'm just gonna leave my team now for the next three weeks so I've got five free transfers. Just gonna CJ: Yeah. Alex: leave it. I can't be asked with it. my luck's gotta turn somewhere. I mean I'm I'm shocked that I'm actually on this episode 'cause I said I wasn't gonna come back on until I won. But here we are. I'm s I'm back on here. but that kind of leads on nicely to I suppose 'cause I think t 'cause it's a fantasy episode today, see you've got a nice little bit, I think. Around injuries. But just before we get that, obviously there was huge news over the international break about Man City, and there are 115 charges. They have been found guilty. Now we're not gonna actually talk about it in more detail today because I have a really heavy opinion on it. So it's probably best we don't waste everyone's fantasy time today. CJ: Yeah. Alex: we'll we'll touch on it in more detail next week, but and we will try and focus more. on fantasy this week. so Siege, we're gonna hand over to you. You're gonna talk us through now the state of my team with six CJ: Yeah. Alex: players with yellow flags on them. What do CJ: It's a nasty Alex: what do I do? CJ: It is nasty and actually the flags the flags started off pretty early and kept coming, which throughout the break I've got I've got I'll do I've Alex: Well it happened to me before we even started, Jal Pedro. I like, great. CJ: Yeah. We get like obviously obviously you've giao Pedro and Palmer are both still flagged. There hasn't actually been an update on both of them just yet. I'll be really intrigued to hear Alonso's press conference on well, t today if you're listening on Friday, that will really help us out. But I've got a long list here of players that have suffered injuries during the international break. So I'll go through I'll highlight a th a few and then we can have a chat about certain ones. But The list is quite long, I'm not gonna lie. So we had Kai Havertz had a muscle strain, and that was in the first game against against the Netherlands. Then we had Zollis as well. He's got a hamstring injury, pulled up in Greece's game against Germany, potentially. We have Xion Suzuki, the villa keeper. He had a rib injury. Michael Damsgaard from Brentford had an ankle injury. If you've heard Bournemouth Alex Scott, he actually withdrew. From the England squad after that game against Croatia, where he was excellent, but he suffered a quad injury. So he's and he's actually out for two months. apparently there was I actually heard a bit of story on that. He had a bit of a niggle before he went to the camp, and obviously Rice wasn't there. Mainu pulled out. Ben: Yeah. CJ: So I think I heard that he was like, right, I'm gonna go and just go and try and get through it. Obviously, played really well, but that came at a price. He's out for two months. Then Cody Gakpo. came off with an ankle injury. Alexander Isaac with a thigh injury. Nika O'Reilly left the England Ben: shame. CJ: camp. Yeah. Erling Haaland came off with a suspected ankle injury after crying about playing too many games to the Norwegian Football Association. We had Dorgu Ben: my god. my god. CJ: with a thigh injury. Bruno Fernandez came off with an apparent hip injury. Apparently he'd been playing through pain, the coach said throughout the international break. And then we had Mazraowie with a back injury for United. Dan Ballard and Brian Brobby, two massive, massive players for Sunderland, both pulled up with hamstring injuries, Brobby in that first game against Germany, and then Jean-Paul Van Hecker also pulled up with a foot injury. So Alex: God, is are you s are you finished or is there still whoa, 'cause that's Ben: Damn Yeah. CJ: Yeah. J just just about that they're the ones Ben: Part two after the break. CJ: they're the ones that we know of, so there may be a few others but Ben: Mm. Alex: Just you going through that list, I'm now thinking of my entire team. I need to do like a take a minus thirty or something this week to get to have some type of team. Ben: Yeah, right. I didn't even I didn't even hear about Haaland. CJ: But what what do you boys think? Butler, Butler first. Butler first. What what do you honestly think about and what which one of those I'm not gonna lie, when I was reading the list there, I didn't actually realise how many players are quite significantly owned in fantasy as well. But like what are your thoughts on all those players, Butler? Alex: mate, I'm a bit worried about my team. I've if I'm totally honest. Ben: Ha ha ha. CJ: Yeah. Alex: I've got 'cause I've got Fernandez and I've got Haaland and I've got I did have Zolis and then and I've I don't know. I think I'll be okay, but I've got Palmer as well and I've got Jal Pedro and I've got Konsers. T didn't Conzer get a knock as well or something in the England camp. so Ben: Yeah, you did mention Konza, Konza's yellow flagged. CJ: Yeah, Cons Conserporter. Yeah. He came out of the England camp as well, yeah. Alex: it I mean it's a significant list it's quite a ma amazing really if you think it's They've been away for three weeks. It's not no change. Like the season's only just started and now they've all these injuries. I suppose it's maybe backlash after the World Cup, surely, where those Ben: Mm. Alex: players just didn't get enough rest. But I I don't know. I I'm I'm a bit amazed about how many people are injured. But I suppose I I don't know I don't know what it's like, but we need a professional footballer really to come on the pod and tell us what it's like to travel. Because I Ben: Mm. Yeah. Alex: don't really know like for Them travelling maybe if you're I don't know, going into the middle of Europe, I can't imagine it's not like it's a what, a two hour flight, three hour flight to Greece, isn't it? Something like CJ: Yeah. Alex: that. So it's and how much are they actually travelling? Like it's Nations League, it's all in Europe, isn't it? Like have England England haven't done CJ: Yeah, is it it is Alex: that much, have they? CJ: it is in Europe, I think what they're talking about. Have you actually heard Craig Bellamy speaking that it's the it's I think they Wales played, I think it was four games in ten days, so quite a lot although it was a three week break, a lot of the games I think it was within ten game ten days, sorry, that four games were played. And I think it's the it's Alex: really? I didn't realise that. CJ: just the intensity level now. I heard I think I don't know who it was on Talksport talking about, in the old in the old days I played sixty five games, but yeah, at what level? As in in what at what pace? I think now the pace of these games is absolutely frightening. Like have you seen people like Bellingham charge round the pitch for ninety minutes? It's it's crazy. Alex: Yeah, I I I I agree though, but then but then the sports science is better and and the recovery's CJ: Yeah, agreed. Alex: better. So I I think that's that that's there's a bit of half of one and half a dozen of the other. Yeah, they're probably playing more games at a higher intensity, but then actually the science behind it all is so much better, like all the recovery stuff. I mean if what's the what's the Alex if the Alex Scott thing, if what's he what's he going on international break for if he's injured? Like why CJ: Yeah, it's a to that's it. Alex: Is he gone? Ben: 'Cause he's he's never really played for England, has he? So you you if it's if it's your one shot, you're just like, Yeah, go on. Not one shot, but like if it's your f Alex: One shot, one opportunity. Ben: if if it's your first shot, you're like, Yeah, I wanna make impression. I don't wanna like if you Alex: Mum spaghetti Ben: if you compare Palmer's attitude with Scott's, like Palmer Alex: Yeah, he can get fucked. Ben: was like, nah, it's too much of a workload for me, even though he's just had the summer off. And then Tushul has made some pretty like telling comments being like, Yeah, I can't I can't argue that he's like really committed to the to the national team. So if you're someone like Alex Scott and you've not played for England that much before and you're getting your first call up, then you're gonna push your body through, aren't you? But there's a coup couple No, surely not. Yeah. Alex: I is Harland actually injured as well? Like is he actually injured or did he just come did he just come off 'cause he couldn't be arsed? Like he's played loads of football and he's like, I want to break, fucking take me off. I'll feign an injury. Surely some of them do that, don't they? Do do do you not think they'll f like Ben: Yeah. That is the question, isn't it? That is the question. Yeah, yeah. CJ: I don't. Alex: feign an injury just to have a bit of more of a break? I don't know. CJ: Yeah, it's it's one of those, isn't it? It's it's I think if you look at someone like Declan Rice, I think he probably earmarked this international break at the start of the season, didn't he? And said, I'm taking this three weeks off after playing constantly for about well about a year really. So like I understand Ben: Mm, mm, mm. CJ: him like the likes of Palmer and Mainu and and these lads who are dropping out, I think Palmer was more of a fuck you rather than a I'm gonna I'm I'm injured, I'm nursing myself, which was a shame because it would have been really, really Ben: Mm. CJ: interesting seeing him in that England team. It would have been amazing, really. I know they've done they've done Ben: Mm. CJ: so, so well without him. It's gonna be so hard for him to actually get back in the team, I think. Palmer looking at looking at that England squad at the moment. But which just go back to go to you, Benny, which player out of that list or players do you think are gonna be the the biggest misses fantasy wise? Coming through for this game week Ben: Mm. CJ: six. What do you think? Ben: Well, you there's a couple of na couple names in there that was really surprised me. The Haaland one, I didn't realise that he'd asked to come off before before an hour. So that's gonna be a really interesting one. I suspect it's like Alex says that he probably will play, just needed a bit of a break. Bruno Fernandez CJ: Yeah, yeah. Ben: is another surprising one, and I think that's a big one because he's been so poor by his own standards that if rumors start to fly around that he's injured and not playing. Hundred percent. You know, and he blanked we've we talked about it before, didn't we? Before the international break. He's blanked every game, s apart from the Ipswich one, and he's so expensive that you could easily see, you know, a yellow flag, people just mass sell off. So that that's a big one. There's a couple names you didn't mention. from that list. My boy Mikolenko is yellow flagged as well. I don't know what happened CJ: Is he? Wow. Ben: to him, but I'd only just brought him in. And then it seems he seems fine at the moment, but did anyone see Odegaard get absolutely taken out by Bernardo Silva? Did you see that? CJ: Yeah, yeah, kick kicked in the back kicked in the back of the leg or across the calf, wasn't it? Yeah, it nasty. It was nasty. Alex: Ben I bet I told you I haven't watched any fucking football for two weeks. Three weeks. Ben: He's always been a He's always been a dirty little rat, hasn't he, Bernardo Silva? Geez, that wonderful footballer, but god he's got that side to him. But yeah, hopefully Odekar's fine because he's in my team. But yeah, Bruno Fernandez, if there's any hint of an injury, is he Yeah Alex: Well he's not yellow right now. I'm just looking at my team. He's not yellow. I've only got two players on yellow and that's Pedro and Palmer and I'm assuming they'll be fine 'cause they've just had three weeks off. Ben: Pedro for sure, I think, 'cause we talked about that before the international break as well, that he ESPN Brazil tweeted that he's out for exactly three and a half weeks. And I've seen I've seen some pictures of him like totally dressed up as a ninja or something, walking into training. Him and Palmer have just got like just like covered head to toe. I don't know what's going on there. But I reckon they'll both be fine. They'll both be fine, Palmer and Jal Pedro. They'll both play. But Bruno Fernandes is CJ: I hope so. I hope so. Ben: an interesting one. CJ: Yeah. And Ezri Concer as well. Like what to do with Ezri Concer, really. Obviously it was Ben: Na CJ: one of those, wasn't it? Get get him in at four point four mil. Left the England camp. Ben: Mm-hmm. CJ: Haven't really heard a lot about Concer, but he his yellow flag. Alex: Is he actually injured though? This is another thing, like or is he just taking a breather? Like CJ: Yeah. I don't know. It says unspecified injury on fantasy, which means that normally means Ben: Yeah. Seventy five percent chance of playing, so he's be he'll be alright. But they've just shipped three to Brighton, haven't they? They've CJ: Yeah, I'm just I'll just put it in. Alex: Cool, 'cause I need to decide if I'm gonna start him or not. Who? Ben: just shipped three to Brighton, haven't they, Arsenal? So you don't you maybe don't want to double up on their defence anyway, just going back to 'cause Lees will be a tough game. Alex: Nah fuck it. Ben: I know they're at home, but but still. CJ: Hmm. Yeah, no, there's not a lot Alex: Interesting. CJ: about concert. Alex: No w well we're gonna find out on Saturday, aren't we? We'll find out on Saturday. Ben: Mikalenko as well s legendary. Yeah. Yeah. CJ: A dead leg, a dead leg, a dead leg apparently. Yeah, yeah. Ben: Who? Konza. Alex: Conza, what's a dead leg? How long what surely you're only out for like a day with a dead leg? Ben: Well, hopefully it's hopefully it's, yeah, alive again now. CJ: Addicted I've had some I've had some naughty dead legs in my time to be fair. It's not Ben: Ha ha. CJ: it's not gonna it's not gonna take me out it's not gonna keep me out of game. It's not gonna naughty ones, naughty ones, yeah. yeah. But it Alex: Naughty ones. Not good not not good ones, naughty ones. Ben: Naughty one. Naughty dead leg mate. Or proper naughty that one. CJ: is it is we can actually move on nicely here to let's Ben: Yeah. CJ: just talk about our teams quickly. Thoughts, Ben: Yeah. CJ: but I'll go to you first. How many transfers have you got? What are your thoughts? I know you don't want to give too much away, mate, but are you worried about these flags? Alex: I've got two transfers and I'm not do I'm not I to be honest, I've given up at fancy. I don't really care, so I'm just gonna leave my team. CJ: Ho ho Don't Ben: Mate, it's game week six. It's game week six. CJ: do that. Do not say that. Ben: You cannot say that. Alex: I'm just I'm not even touching my team for the next I want five free transfers, so I'm not touching my team for three weeks, basically. CJ: Yeah. Okay. Alex: I've got I've got two transfers. I think my team will be fine. My luck's got a t turn somewhere. I mean I scored the seventh highest score last game week and I lost. And there was someone that got fucking 18 points. And I'm like, why can't I CJ: Ha ha ha. Alex: play this fucking clown? Why am I unplaying playing people that are playing chips against me all week. So there you go. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you fucking got me there. You threw that rod out and Jesus Christ, you just caught me very quickly. CJ: there's that violin. There it is. There it is. We we needed him to come on. No, I do Ben: Yeah. Well it's CJ: to be fair though, I do I do I do like I said to Ben last week, just bef sorry, but the week before we we stopped for the international break, I just left my team after my horror show the week before on my wildcard. I just left my team last week and it actually did alright. So there's definitely something for letting it sit and And just go with the flow and see what happens. But Ben, what are you thinking? Are you thinking about leaving it? How many transfers have you got? Who's flagged currently for you? Ben: I've got yeah, so I've got one free transfer. and like Alex says, I'm just I need to stop tinkering because I brought Dedic in on a wild card. He promptly got injured, so I swapped him out for Mikalenko. Mikalenko's now yellow flagged, so what am I doing? What am I doing? Just leave it alone, see what happens. I've got one free transfer. Alex: Ben, you've won every single fucking game, just chill the fuck out. Like you've won every game at an average CJ: Yeah. Alex: of what, sixty points? Ben: Probably something like that. Probably lower, I would say. Probably like fifty-five or something like that. he's gonna go and look it up now. okay, that's better than I thought. Alex: let me get it up for you. Sixty seven you've got an average. C's got a better average than you. And you've won every fucking game. Ben: I know, we talked about how lucky I was. We talked about that. I am definitely riding my luck at the moment. But yeah, one free transfer, I'm gonna leave it alone because I simply do not you know, I don't know what's gonna I don't know. These yellow flags are sometimes a bit of a red herring, aren't they? I'm just gonna leave it and what happens. And then I'll panic after. CJ: Yeah, yeah, greed. Agreed. 'Cause I've got I've got two, two free transfers. Ben: Mm. CJ: Don't really know what to do. I actually really I really like my team this week. obviously Ben: Mm. CJ: without the flags. And even if Concer, I think, even if Concer doesn't play, I've got who have I got on the bench? I've got Thomas and Egan. Do you know like Egan at home to Everton, Hull, like I don't I'm not sure. Then Palmer and Palmer and Pedro if they play Bournemouth at home, I think, without someone like Scott is is quite quite a Ben: Mm. CJ: nice picture. And then I've got Mitchell at home to Forrest. I've got Barnes with Coventry Coventry, sorry. Bruno if he plays at home to Spurs, gonna keep the Brugger and I really like my team. I I just don't want to waste a transfer and I probably won't do. Then I have three next Ben: Mm. CJ: week. And like Butler said, if you actually get to three, four or five, you'll be laughing. I know we've all played our wild cards, but it's Getting to four, four, five, free transfers, you can really sort of see how the fixtures come out of the international break. So I think it's important to see what happens with these injuries, who's actually playing. Don't pull any triggers just yet, and maybe in game week eight or nine, switch a few bits around because it's it's it's something we haven't had before this three week international break, and it's it's really, really hurts. Alex: Didn't we have another one in like a month? Ben: I was just gonna say, w I thought they'd combined international breaks, so they were just gonna have one, but the next international break, November ninth, so literally a month away. Madness. CJ: Yeah, so they combine I think they combined Alex: We've got like three weeks. CJ: they combine the first two to put four fixtures and then the last two fixtures in the group are in that November, which is just instead of having three, they've got two. But like at the detriment of what, Ben: Standard. Yeah. my god. CJ: it it really has it's it's ruined a few people, to be fair. Like it just I just see what Haland Ben: Mm, mm. CJ: Haaland actually said. Where is it here? He said, over time we've seen a worrying trend sorry, this is the NISO chief Christopher Vatsug, so I imagine that's the Nor it's the Norwegian Players Union. So expressed concern over the increased demand. Over time. Alex: You read that well. Ben: Right. Yeah, very good pronunciation, mate. CJ: Yeah, over time we have seen a d worrying trend where the burden on top players has become far too high, apparently. Ben: Ooh, I mean they've got a lot going on as well, don't they? Harlan's probably all over the place. He's he's gonna be prepping for playing Dagenham and Redbridge next season. So yeah. is that what you've heard? Alex: Real Madrid. He's gonna Real Madrid, I've heard. Anyways, CJ: Is it? Alex: we'll we'll talk about we'll talk about Man City CJ: We will. Alex: Tuesday. Right, should we get on to the this week's key battles? Alright, so we're gonna CJ: Yeah, come on, mate. Let's go. Ben: Yeah, let's do it. Wait, before we do that before we do that, Alex, I just need to play you a little play you a little voice note. One second. One second. You you get your screen up, mate. Alex: Is it I bet it's from fucking Charlie, and it It'll be from Charlie. Ben: Hope you enjoyed the international break. no fancy. We've done a really Alex: How do I mute Ben? Ben: good job. This is just a quick message from your beloved friend. Charlie, just to tell you that you lost to me. You are rock bottom. Your luck index is ridiculous. Alex: Mute. Right. Anyway, let's carry on. Right, so for the first I muted Ben. Right, the first key battle this week is ga is is Harry Bick you've put me off my flow here now. in div one, we're doing div one key battles first. So we've got Harry Bicknall, Reese's set pieces versus Dan Nichols, had one Tusha Many. has Nixie's only won one game, hasn't he? And Harry Bicknell's absolutely flying. CJ: Yeah, he is. He's he's struggling, really Ben: Yeah. Last last CJ: struggling. Ben: time. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Alex: So this is quite a this is quite significant looking at the insights into this one. Harry's got five free transfers and he's still got his wildcard CJ: Jesus. Alex: free hit and his bench boost. Ben: Well done, Harry. Alex: Nixie's got one free transfer and but does have a million pounds in the bank and still a fair few few chips. I mean that some of their key differentials, Harry has Guadiol, Raya and Rogers, whereas Nixie has Fernandez, Barnes, and Ayer. What could swing this match? Well, it's probably the Man United Tottenham game, with Harry having in Bueno and Van Hecker, and then Nixie having Bruno and Kintsky. So there's some key players in there for the for the key swingers. And then just looking at their past history, Nixie's just averaging 62.2 over the first five weeks, with Harry averaging 72. Quite significant. CJ: Yeah, he's flying. Alex: Captains have Ben: Mm. Alex: been very similar. A lot of them have Captain Haaland. So we're going into this one. Could be likely seeing the same captains. Overall rank, Harry is currently ranked 387,000th in the world. Nixie CJ: Wow. Alex: a very low, 3.5 for him. So he's off to a very slow start. Harry, I would say, is probably a heavy favourite going into this, but it all depends what Nixie's done with it, if he's played a wild card or not. CJ: Yeah. Alex: Coming out of the back of this. CJ: It's interesting, isn't it, to see Nick's down there. Harry's flying. To be fair. I was really I looked at his team. Ben: Yeah. Talk about set and forget, five free transfers and a wild card. Yeah. CJ: Mad. Mad. Fair play to the lad. Fair play. I like his I like his team actually. I really like Harry's team, to be fair. Alex: Yeah, so they're there are their teams now, Ben: Yeah. Beck and Harry. Alex: just looking looking at their teams. I mean we never know straight after international break what's gonna happen, but I think Harry's probably CJ: No, exactly. Alex: a firm favourite here. Right, I've got an option for you this week, boys, 'cause I couldn't decide. we've we've either got Jordan versus Finn as Ben: Mm-hmm. Alex: one key battle, or we've got Peaks versus Skips. Peaks against Rafaro. CJ: Mm. Alex: obviously Peaks and Rafaro are fifth and sixth. averaging very highly, whereas Jordan and Finn are the complete opposite, eleventh and tenth, averaging in the in the low sixties. Which one do we want to go with? Ben: I don't think we've talked much about peaks this season, have we? CJ: No, we haven't we haven't. He's gone under the radar a little bit, Peek says. Alex: Well, there we go. We're going with Peaks then. Peaks and Skips Ben: Yeah, let's go with pigs. Yeah. Alex: it is. This is a good one because it's Peaks versus Skips. Love it. Love Peaks versus Ben: Ha ha Alex: Skips. Peaks comes into this with two free transfers. So does Rafaro. He's also got two. they've also got a significant amount of chips left as well between them. Key deferentials for Peaks could be Isaac, but if he's injured, probably not. Samenyo and Saka, whereas for Skips it's Gross, Bruno Fernandez, and Rogers. Again, the Man United Tottenham game could swing this. with both of them sharing Kintsky, but then Rafaro's got Bruno. so it's unlikely that one could play a big game in there. in terms of their actual history, as their averages are high, peaks averaging 69.4, Rafaro's 73.2. over the first five game weeks. That's a brilliant CJ: Yeah, strong, very strong. Ben: Love. Alex: start to the season. Pete is generally stuck with Haaland as his captain, averaging six point four points over the last five games from his captain, whereas Rot Faro is averaging ten point four. That must have come because of that huge Bruno Fernandez 23 point point haul when he got forty whatever it was points when he scored that hat trick. again it Rafaro is two hundred and fifty-nine thousandth in the world and Peaks eight CJ: Well. Alex: hundred and six sixty-seven thousandth in the board. So both well within the million. and Rafaro's also left a lot of points on the bench there. Fifty-five points across the first five weeks on his bench. That's quite significant compared to Peaks's twenty-five. This is gonna be tight because it's very even, I would say. looking at their teams. Ben: What did you say Rafaro's average was? Alex: Seventy three point two, I think I said. Yeah, seventy three point two. CJ: That's it. That is Ben: That's even more impressive considering last game week, game week five, he got a grand total of thirty-nine points. So that average CJ: Wow. Yeah. Ben: will be brought down by that 39 score there. So Rafara's absolutely flying. I think I'm gonna put my money on him. Alex: Be interested to see what Peaks does if I Zack's injured 'cause that will free up some significant cash. and he doesn't CJ: Yeah, it'll be interesting to Ben: Mm. CJ: see what Peaks Doves does full stocks. I think this weekend, just a shout out to Peaks, he's actually running his first full distance Iron Man, I think, this weekend in p in Alex: That's right, yeah, he is in Portugal. CJ: in Portugal. So unless he's on on top of the fantasy, I I can't imagine that team's gonna be changed, to be fair. But I might drop him Alex: He'll be getting Laura to do it for him. CJ: I might drop him a little message now, but fair play, Peaks, all the best. I think Ben: Mm. CJ: Trav's actually going Alex: Yeah, good luck. CJ: out there to watch him. out there so yeah for a little holiday but fair play to peaks good luck Alex: Yeah, for a little holiday. Yeah. Trav's going for a holiday, yeah. He's not doing the Iron Man. Ben: wow. CJ: I hope you I hope you don't win fantasy but I hope you actually you do well in the Iron Man because I know it means Ben: Mm. CJ: a lot to you. But the thought of actually doing any part of that Iron Man makes me feel physically ill. So good luck mate. Good luck. Alex: Ver very much so. Right. Ben: Ha ha. Alex: Moving on to division two. we're going straight into it. We've got Farney versus Paul as the first one. First versus fourth in division two. both CJ: Ooh, massive. Alex: have two free transfers. Both have near enough a million left in the bank. Both have loads of chips left. Farney hasn't even used a chip yet, so he's sitting very comfortably sat there. Key differentials for Farney could be Lewis Hall, Rogers and Allison. Whereas for Paul it's gross, Tarkovsky and Guardiole. So it's gonna be quite close this one. They've Ben: Mm. Alex: both of them have captained Haaland for the first five weeks with no change there. Farney's averaging 65 points, whereas Paul is averaging 71. Paul was desperate for me to talk about him on the pod this week because he was with talking about to me at work yesterday saying, when are you doing the pod? When are you doing it? Because I'm first. I'm first in the CJ: Ha. Alex: league, I'm manager of the month, blah, blah, blah. Ben: Yeah, Paul's done really, really well. He's Alex: Yeah, so Ben: done so good. Alex: so there you go, Paul. There's your little ph talking about you for briefly two minutes. and look at look at his bench as well. He's only ever left four points on his bench across five weeks. By the way. How is that even possible? But but Ben: What? Wow. Yeah. CJ: Very strong, very strong. Alex: if you if it's because I think he's had players that don't even play on his bench, like Andrews Ben: Right. Alex: and Walla Aguil and Greaves. CJ: Ha ha ha. Ben: Well, I think I think Alex: So those have been some significant players on there. Ben: both these guys have have gone under the radar a little bit. We haven't spoken too much about them, but they've both done really, really well. Like especially Andy's off to a flyer pool I didn't really know about. Alex: They've both been really, really lucky. Let's pull that let's just t say that. Ben: Of course you would say that, mate. Of course you would. CJ: Yeah. Alex: but yeah that's gonna be a tight one and then the other one I could not not talk about it because I thought it was a a clash of heavyweights. It's Belgium versus England, CJ: Yeah. Alex: it's it's Greg versus Savs, it's Sky versus App Genius. both only Ben: Yeah. CJ: Okay. Alex: have one transfer left, both have no money left in their bank. Both have still got wild cards and free hits. Greg still has his triple captain. Again, it's gonna come down to some key differentials for Greg. If Isaac's missing, he's gonna need to find someone else. He's also got Bruno Fernandez and Balumi, by the way. What a shout he's been. He's been phenomenal for Hull so far. For Savs, his key differential is Haaland, Zollis, and Shaw. But obviously, if Zolis is out, it could be quite interesting. It could come down to Liverpool versus Manchester City. This one, there could be a key one there. They both share Cherokee, but as we said, Saves has Haaland, whereas Greg has Virgil. So that is a clash of some titans there. Haaland versus Van Dyke. could potentially swing this one. In terms of their average score, Greg is averaging 62, 66.2, Saves averaging 63.6. There has been a lot of chopping and changing around of captains for both of these guys. Greg obviously does not have Haaland, and he's made that perfectly loud and clear that he didn't need Haaland. and again, it's been but look at the bench points. These two love leaving points on the bench. If we thought Paul left nothing on the bench, four CJ: Ha ha ha. Alex: points. Savs has left 79 points on his bench across the first five game CJ: That's frightening. That is frightening. Alex: week. An average of 16 nearly. of points left on the bench. Greg is not far off forty seven he's left on the bench. if we just think about comparing that to to Paul, that is that is Paul is four. Savs Ben: Calls four. Four. Alex: is seventy nine. Savs talk at ta get in c get in contact with us, Savs. We Ben: Mm-hmm. CJ: That's ridiculous. Seventeen hours. Alex: want to know what you're doing on your bench. Cause that is some Ben: Ha ha ha. Alex: bananas amount of points. Seventy nine points on your bench CJ: Scary. I w I wanna know what he's saying on that Alex: Ooooo CJ: Sky Sports podcast. I wanna know what he's saying about his bench. Is he mentioning it on his podcast? Is he? Alex: It probably not. Let's let's call it on ours and then t Ben: Ha ha. Alex: let's who does he do the sky sports from? Let's tag them in loads. Let's make sure we get this on the Insta and tag tag everyone in it. is it yeah. CJ: Yeah, it's Mark Briggs. I think it's Mark Briggs, I think, who does it with him. Yeah, I need to I need to get on that. I need to I haven't actually listened to it. Alex: We with Savs CJ: I need to listen to it. Alex: Savs, we need to hear from you. Why what are you leaving on the bench? I want to know. What is that 79 points? Who is it? who's being left CJ: Ha ha. Alex: there? Because that is that is a scary amount. But yeah, there's some good games actually this week. Ben: Mm. CJ: Yeah. Alex: some some good games, some big games. People obviously scoring highly. Your brother's obviously off to a flyer siege with averaging nearly 73. but then we've also CJ: E Alex: got some absolute rogue. games this week. Jennings versus Mitch could be absolutely disgustingly low. Someone's gonna win CJ: Ha ha. Alex: with like eight points. and we'll go from there. And then I'll probably I'll Ben: Mm. CJ: I love that, I love that. Alex: probably lose with like sixty nine points. But hey those yeah go what can you do about that? Ben: Who have you got, Alex? You got CJ: My brother my brother My brother actually Alex: I've got ash. CJ: texts me. My brother texts me actually at the w just he was just texting me 'cause it was my wedding anniversary actually on Monday. So shout out to my to my missus there. Grind Ben: congratulations. Alex: congrats. CJ: it's been two years. Thank you, two years. But he's he was messing me about that and at the end of his message after his happy anniversary, of course, he said Finger no have you got another episode of the pod out this week? Obviously on the end of that message, so what he knows what's more important. I said, Yeah, Epp coming Friday put He but excellent stuff. I tell you what, the episodes have been top draw this season. Also, no idea how I've managed to wangle my way up to third in the overall total league. I was like, Yeah, 'cause he actually hasn't got a clue what he's doing, but fair play to the lad. Alex: Well, at least he's committed, 'cause normally you say would have quit by now, so Ben: Yeah. CJ: Yeah. Did make me laugh though. Alex: right. that is funny. Well, Blads, it's been an absolute treat, I think. we are back, but we'll be back for a nice long one. Yeah. Ben: That's Yeah. That's funny that it's two years since you got two years since you CJ: Yeah. Ben: got married, Siege. I remember you you came on the pod for the very first time, I think, right after you just got married, because I think Alex was away, you and me did it. How time flies in two years, now you're a mainstay CJ: mate, madness. Ben: mate. CJ: Absolute madness. No no. Alex: Boys, it's been it's been some you know, we've done a hundred and I just wanna call this out, right, 'cause we completely bypassed it, but we've done a hundred this is a hundred and fourth episode. We didn't even celebrate a hundred. Like we Ben: Whoa. We do need to market somehow. CJ: No, we d we Ben: We need to do a a special. CJ: need to. We actually need to start putting it in our bio, I think, don't we? Like episode number four Ben: Yeah. CJ: one hundred and Ben: Yeah. Alex: Yeah, maybe. Maybe we need to just put that CJ: Maybe. Alex: in brackets, Ben. But 'cause of us we just like I only did that 'cause I was counting it up and I was like So I think I think technically if we ignore Ben: Shouldn't four. Well, Alex: the World Cup ones, n I think Ben: Mm. Alex: that means that two 'cause we did five for the World Cup, didn't we, or four? CJ: Yeah Ben: Mm. CJ: no five I'd say. Alex: So it means actually Tuesday is our centurion episode if we're not counting the World Cup specials. CJ: Ooh, okay. Okay. Blockbuster, yeah. Ben: Okay. Stay tuned. Maybe we'll do something special. Yeah. Alex: So maybe we'll have a party. We need everyone to come on the pod to celebrate our birthday. Ben: Sounds good. Sounds good. Alex: Right, lads, absolute pleasure. I'm gonna enjoy this fancy weekend by losing, and I will Ben: Mm-hmm. Alex: probably be whinging to you in the group. No, because they're definitely not with me. CJ: Yeah, I think you've got to do the honours. You've got to do the honours, mate. I'm sorry. You need a bit of luck. Come on. Ben: Yeah, mate, you need it. You need it. CJ: You do, you do, do it. Ben: You gotta keep praying, mate. Alex: May the fantasy gods be with me. Cheers, Ben: So you go. CJ: See ya. Alex: boy.