Its Christmas time, and the festival time in English football. There are matches almost every day. In a blink of eyes, the game week 18 is over. Dont forget, game week 19 is starting from Wednesday, 26 December. Dont forget to make the captain change and the transfer. Also, if you have your first wildcard still unused, please make sure to use it.
Reviewing the game week 18, it was pretty high scoring game week with an average score of massive 55 points. There was some goal fest in some of the games hinting how unpredictable these festival season is going to be. Added to that, there were some shocking results that have somehow changed the title race. Most important is the defeat Manchester City and Chelsea suffered in their respective home fixtures.
Going with the captaincy pick, Aubameyang was the most popular pick among the live teams as he was captained by 22.7%. It turned out to be the right choice as he scored a brace against Burnley. Two goals from Aubameyang and a goal each from Iwobi and Barnes means Arsenal won 3-1 against Burnley.
Then comes the most shocking game of the week. It was a clash between Manchester City and Crystal Palace. Palace was having a bad run and struggling way low at the table. But at Ethiad, it was completely different games as the second most popular captain pick Sterling was on the field. He was captained by 17.3% managers and City was expected to dominate over Palace. But anything is possible in this festival season. Palace won the game by 3-2 with Sterling blanking. De Bruyne and Gündogan scored for City while Schlupp, Townsend, and Milivojevic scored for Palace. The wonder goal by Townsend in this match might earn him the goal of the season.
Then moving to third popular pick Salah who was captained by 16% managers, it was a fruitful outing for him after a goal and assist against Wolves. van Dijk got the other goal to take Liverpool to top of the table for Christmas after defeating Wolves by 2-0. As ManCity lost, Liverpool is 4 points clear of the rival. But Liverpool is prone to Christmas crush. In the last 10 seasons, all team except Liverpool won the league after finishing the Christmas at the top of the table. Liverpool failed it 2 times.
Then come another popular pick Hazard and his company. Chelsea lost at home against Leicester means a blank for Hazard and no clean sheet for Chelsea defenders who are amongst most popular in FPL. David Brooks scored twice in Bournemouth victory over Brighton. Watford won 2-0 against West Ham. West Ham has been poor at home and is struggling to keep a clean sheet at home.
There was a goal fest in 2 other games. Manchester United won it 5-1 against Cardiff in the first game in charge of Ole Solskjaer. It was a very first time after Ferguson, ManUtd scored 5 goals in a game in PL and that was after around 5 and a half year. For United, Lingard scored twice and Herrera, Martial, and Rashford got a goal each. Pogba collected 3 assist in the match. For Cardiff, Camarasa scored a penalty after Rashford was judged of handling the ball.
Then, in the final game of the week, it was another goal fest. For Spurs, Son scored 2 goals and provided 2 assist which means he got 21 points to become the highest scoring player of the week. Kane got 2 goals and an assist. Eriksen and Alli added a goal each for Spurs. For Everton, Walcott and Sigurdsson got a goal each. The popular pick of Everton, Richarlison only got an assist in the fest.