The Pre-Match Preamble – Gameweek 9

Rarely have fortunes shifted so dramatically between Gameweeks.

Looking at my array of injury flags in midweek, sitting alongside my previous 103-point tally, the phrase “from the sublime to the ridiculous” seemed to fit rather well.

Sergio Aguero’s snapped hamstring was like the first domino: the butterfly flapping its wings that led to complete chaos. Things just won’t be the same without the City striker.

Just when I thought I could shut down the part of my brain dedicated to deciding the destination of the FPL captaincy, he’s forced me to wake it up again and torment it with a choice from an array of hot and cold midfielders.

To compound matters, with my five-man defence reduced to the pair of loose cannons that are Kurt Zouma and Micah Richards, I’ve actually had to turn to my chips for help.

I had hoped that I could park these decisions: safe in the knowledge that double Gameweeks were incoming, I’d reserved the thinking time for those little baubles until 2016.

Instead, I’ve had to put one in play and switch my team to “All out Attack” – not as a result of a crafty strategy, but out of pure desperation. I’m not sure that’s what the FPL boffins had in mind.

This morning I’m beckoning my boys out of the dressing room with the clear remit to score more goals than Zouma and Richards concede at the other end. There’s no guarantees.

With Eden Hazard my current captain and my entire defence on the pitch alongside him, today’s encounter is going to be an interesting and confusing affair for me.

In truth, that’s in keeping with what has been a surreal international break.

We watched while players fell one by one, as fifty shades of red developed in our squads and now we collectively go forward, praying that the points hits we’ve fired out into the ether come back with profit.

All of this followed a Gameweek 8 which seemed to have restored parity.

The majority of folk on our pages had cashed in on Sanchez and Aguero and, suddenly, the Fantasy Football Scout’s community were on top of the world. A week on, we’re all tipped into turmoil by the reverberating twang of Aguero’s hamstring.

From champagne and caviar, to hits and chips.