The curse of the General goes on after KDB injury

Saturday morning, you bring in Kevin De Bruyne (£9.7m) and give him the armband for Double Gameweek 35.

The guy has been phenomenal in Manchester City’s last few matches. He’s a differential captain who is going to rocket you up the rankings with a mega-haul. At least that’s what I had convinced myself of.

Saturday afternoon, you sit down with a cuppa to watch Manchester City v Spurs full of excitement for KDB’s points.

Thirty-seven minutes in, the Belgian goes down clutching his leg.

Hello darkness my old friend.

Saturday evening, you switch off the TV, leave your phone at home and head out for the day to get away from the pain of FPL.

You are enjoying the sunshine in the park when three kids start kicking a ball around beside you.

You notice that one of them is wearing a Man City shirt. When he turns around, it reads ‘De Bruyne 17’ on the back.

The pain returns.

The kid even fell to the ground at one point crying after getting a kick from his mate. You couldn’t make it up.

I’m officially cursed this season.

Looking ahead to Gameweek 36, Sadio Mane (£10.0m) could be the next victim of the General’s curse. The triple captain chip is currently on him. Don’t say you weren’t warned.

It’s hard to look past this Liverpool fixture at home to a relegated Huddersfield side for those who have the chip still in hand. Mane has been very productive in front of his own fans this season with 14 of his 18 goals coming at Anfield.

Mohamed Salah (£13.2m) is a great option too for those that own him. He’s returned attacking points in each of his last four appearances. Some would say ‘he’s due’ a big haul. It could happen on Friday night.

Managers who own both Mane and Salah have a very tough decision to make regarding the captaincy. There are other options too, the Liverpool defenders can outscore their attacking team-mates, we’ve seen it a few times already this season and Roberto Firmino (£9.3m) could trump them all.

Watch Huddersfield win 1-0 now.

Aside from Liverpool, Son Heung-min (£8.8m) has a nice home fixture against West Ham which he should start in given that he’s banned for the Champions League first-leg tie against Ajax next week.

Raheem Sterling (£11.6m) and Sergio Aguero (£11.8m) will be captained by many this week too for their trip to Burnley who are now safe having reached the 40-point mark.

Transfers-wise, De Bruyne must go this week. The obvious replacement is Sterling, but it would require a -4. Salah is another option. Most likely, it will be one of these two but Gylfi Sigurdsson (£7.3m), Diogo Jota (£6.2m) and Gerard Deulofeu (£5.6m) are also fighting for that spot in midfield.

Whether or not to invest in Manchester United assets for their fixtures against Huddersfield (away) and Cardiff (home) in the final two Gameweek’s is something managers are asking themselves. The 2-0 loss to City on Wednesday night was their seventh defeat in their last nine matches. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side hasn’t scored a goal from open play in over eight hours of football.

It’s worrying times for United fans and it’s hard to justify bringing in any of their players in FPL despite the fixtures looking good on paper. Avoiding them completely might be the best thing to do.

I want to end my column this week by wishing Joe a speedy recovery. I’ve been lucky enough to spend some of my Saturday mornings this season doing the Breakfast Club with him. He puts in so much work behind the scenes and delivers some of the best FPL content out there week after week. Most of all, he’s one of the nicest guys I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with since I started working in Fantasy Football. Get well soon.

Good luck for Gameweek 36 folks and enjoy your weekend.