Frustration is the only word for it.
In a compelling season that has tested even the most hardened and experienced Fantasy manager, it seems we are destined to be deprived of a truly satisfying double Gameweek.
So often the pillars that hold up our season finale, we speculate and strategise, whipping ourselves into a frenzy as we conjure visions of big individual hauls and three-figure totals.
Inevitably they rarely live up to our expectations but this season’s double Gameweeks feel flatter than ever, with the past 48 hours proving particularly exasperating.
Friday provided an ominous opening, with Chelsea’s victory wrapping up the title race to introduce rotation concerns, while also providing blanks for both Eden Hazard and Diego Costa.
Mason Holgate’s withdrawal for Everton provided an additional blow for those with the Bench Boost in play – an early marker for Saturday’s misery.
Today’s events included a variety of cruel twists.
Manchester City’s failure to keep a clean sheet, together with Kevin De Bruyne’s blank, provided immediate irritation.
That was followed by Victor Anichebe’s injury and Jordan Pickford’s one-point return, before today’s arch villains – Southampton – provided the coup de grace.
Having shaken off his tinkerman moniker, Saints boss Claude Puel regressed to punish our Bench Boost ambitions with seven changes.
Manolo Gabbiadini and Dusan Tadic were nowhere to be seen, Jack Stephens sat unused on the bench. Then Middleborough played their part, notching an improbable consolation goal to snatch the points from the Southampton assets that remained.
Stoke City’s Peter Crouch then provided a sucker punch, quite literally, to deprive us of an Arsenal clean sheet and apply more salt to today’s wound.
Even this evening’s 12-point contribution from Alexis Sanchez, backed by over 450,000 with the captaincy, was a silver lining that had its cloud, the Chilean limping from the bet365 turf to cast doubt over his start against Sunderland in midweek.
He played on and scored while carrying the knock – an apparent thigh injury, perhaps a dead leg. We now have to hope that Sanchez has the opportunity to run at the Black Cats defence on Tuesday. With him, Gameweek 37 could yet deliver for so many.
Elsewhere today, it was perhaps typical that it was left to a pair of single fixture assets to provide some comfort, Swansea City’s Fernando Llorente and the prolific Josh King of Bournemouth repaying those who kept faith amid the clamour for twin-fixture targets.
The last two days provide a sobering reminder of how we can overplay the potential of a double Gameweek. But we’ll doubtless do it all over again, and also have to remain optimistic on what remains of Gameweek 37.
There are still many fixtures to be played out and, in all likelihood, further unexpected plot twists to come – some of which will hopefully turn more favourably for us Fantasy managers.
