The Bench Boost remains active..

A quick update on the wildcard. Overall it went quite well. However, there was a touch of bad luck with Rodri getting sent off. That messed up my longer term plans a little. Though, saying that, I did get a bit of good luck too, as I took the red-carded Gusto out of my side. Not to mention Chilwell and Wan-Bissaka, who are now both injured. So, all in all, more good luck than bad in truth.

(75 points - the average was 68,

Rodri the main downside)

So, the planned Bench Boost.

Common sense says that it should have been cancelled. It was somewhat unwise to begin with, given the players that have doubles. With Newcastle looking imperious (it's not hard to imagine they'll do similar to Burnley), and flags all over the place, it should now most certainly be cancelled.

That's not what I'm doing though. The fun of playing it has overruled any fears and caution 😬

I've actually taken a minus 4.

(Hopefully Trafford and Al-Dakhil don't

end up in negative territory against Newcastle)

I've removed Rodri and Saka, to bring in Ward-Prowse and Gordon.

I switched Rodri to Ward-Prowse at the end of GW6 - I had just enough to make the move. The Rodri to Saka switch was literally made about half an hour ago. My original plan was to bring in Son for Saka in GW8, but the Rodri red card really messed up those plans, eating up both my free transfer and the 0.5m I hoped to reserve to make the move.

However, the option of bringing in Gordon for Saka, to then move Mbeumo to Son next week, really appealed to me (bringing in Mbeumo is the one wildcard choice I do regret a bit - I should've done a bit more homework). Either way the two moves would've meant a minus 4, either this week or next. So going early gets me ahead of the curve and also allows me to re-activate the bench boost.

It's a very risky bench boost, especially with players in the first eleven at risk of missing out, but I want to take the gamble. I'll enjoy my weekend more with the added chips on the table. Especially if Burnley don't do too badly against Newcastle. (I would've hated going into that midweek game with the players on the bench, knowing I could've went for it.)

And if it all backfires at least I'll go into GW8 with the players I want (assuming Son remains fit and so forth).

My current rank is 1,962,710, so I got a tiny uptick. It's not a great position to be in, but I'm feeling optimistic. Foolishly.