Luck-o-Meter (27)

Well the new gameweek got off to a great start, with no contentious refereeing decisions in Wednesday's games.

The Brighton v Bournemouth game was an open and entertaining one, and very, very close. Kluivert's screamer from just outside the box was the 'goal of the week', and Bart Verbruggen kept his team on terms with a string of excellent saves. It really felt a little unjust that substitute Danny Welbeck's slightly scuffed 75th-minute effort just sneaked in off the foot of the post.

Chelsea got a predictably comfortable win against dismal Southampton, though, for FPL purposes, the most significant element of the game was Cole Palmer again failing to register a contribution. He was - yet again - desperately unlucky: being denied by a good block from Ramsdale early on, and then in the second half curling one just beyond the far post (when he was a bit unbalanced by a cheeky tug on the back of his shirt from Joe Aribo), and moments later seeing Neto selfishly go for a difficult near-post drive rather than passing to him when he was waiting unmarked in the middle of the six-yard-box; he also brought another good save out of the keeper from a free-kick, and had two or three other decent efforts on goal. In another universe, he got a brace or a hattrick in this game! Colwill and Cucurella getting on the scoresheet was also a turn-up for the books...

Villa were unfortunate that Morgan Rogers's apparent equaliser just before half-time was chalked off for a very tight offside against Watkins (by a kneecap!), and if that one had counted, perhaps the game might have developed differently. But to be frank, home side Palace were by far the better team here, and well worth their ultimately comfortable win. The return of Adam Wharton after a long spell of injury is very promising for them.

Fulham were fortunate to get two superb individual goals from Sessegnon and Muniz early in each half, but home side Wolves looked much the better side for most of the game. The only refereeing booboo of the night was failing to award a foul against Diop for wrestling Cunha to the ground at the start of a move which led to Traore having a good effort saved by Sa.

Everton's comeback against Brentford was well-deserved (another goal from a defender??), as they looked much the better side for most of the game, and are left rueing Beto's inability to get the better of Flekken in three one-one-one breaks (for the first of which, he should probably just have stayed on the floor when tripped by Pinnock 25 yards out - which would have earned his side a dangerous free-kick and got the Brentford man send off for a 'denial of a goalscoring opportunity').

Manchester United at least showed some resilience to eventually prevail over a resolute Ipswich, especially after gifiting their visitors an early lead through an appalling mix-up between Onana and Dorgu, and then having Dorgu - rightly - sent off just before half-time for an horrendous follow-through on Hutchinson; but they did again look very, very poor.

Arsenal are still looking worryingly toothless - dominating the game at Forest, but scarcely managing to produce a decent attempt at goal. Their best effort came early on, when Calafiori's lightning turn bought him space to shoot from the left side of the box, but he cracked his effort against the inside of the post. In the second-half, fill-in 'No. 9' Merino managed one firm header, but it was comfortably parried over the bar by Sels. Chris Wood had his inevitable one chance on goal, but on this occasion was unable to get it past Raya. Overall, a very sterile encounter. Forest fans may resent the fact they didn't get an early penalty when Hudson-Odoi appeared to have been brought down by Calafiori; but it looked to me as if the Italian had begun the foul but immediately backed out of it; he did put his hand on his opponent's shoulder for a fraction of a seciond, and he may have brushed against his trailing leg - but (for once!) I think I agree with the VAR official that this was "minimal contact". But this might be the one really contentious call of the week: we've certainly seen them given.

Liverpool appear to be beginning a serene cruise to the title over the last 10 weeks of the season; Newcastle really couldn't put up much resistance at all (apart from Callum Wilson wasting a great chance from a good break in behind). The FPL hordes are frustrated that Salah didn't produce much (only one assist?!), but he was a bit unlucky not to win a penalty or a dangerous free-kick on the edge of the box in the opening minutes (the trip on him looked well outside the box, but it was definitely a deliberate fall - and foul - by Hall, rather than a 'push' by Salah, as the referee mystifyingly called it; you suspect he was just trying to assert early on that he wasn't going to succumb to the typical home-side bias at Anfield!), and that Luis Diaz couldn't quite get the decisive connection on his sublime outside-of-the-boot pass to the far post in the second half. Isak's last-minute omission with a groin strain was also a heavy blow, since he's in nearly 60% of FPL teams, and was probably captain for the week in a good few of them. Also, Nick Pope's form really hasn't looked that sharp in recent games (even coming through defenders' legs, Szoboszlai's opener was too tamely hit to have posed any serious problems, but he was very slow getting down to it), and one wonders if Dubravka might be reinstated for the next gameweek.

Was this the best Manchester City performance in four or five months, or were Spurs just bad? Well, possibly both. City, energised by the return of Haaland (though I would still bet he has a cartilage problem in that knee, and they're just desperately hoping he can make it to the end of the season before needing keyhole surgery) should have put the game well beyond reach in the first half: Savinho missed an open goal, and Vicario made a few sharp saves to keep the home side in it. Ange must have deployed 'the hairdryer' at half-time, because it was a completely different Spurs in the second half, and they did start causing City some anxieties. But still, City's lead was rarely threatened, and it looked like Haaland's late second really shouldn't have been disallowed (VAR strangely claiming they couldn't make a clear determination on the issue, though they seemed to have some pretty clear pictures of it; there have been many occasions recently when they really should have admitted this and didn't, but here... well, the referee thought Haaland 'handled' the ball, but it appeared to strike him high on the left upper arm, in the 'permitted zone'; while the ball clearly did hit the arms of both of the defenders in close attendance - but VAR appeared to offer no adjudication on that; for me, the reaction of the players tells the tale on this one: Haaland was happily celebrating the goal with his teammates, clearly oblivious of any possibility of any offence being called against it).

In the final game on Thursday night, West Ham cruised to a comfortable but ininspiring win against Leicester, who are now looking much the worst of three very unimpressive promoted sides. It's really quite difficult to see any of them reaching 17th-placed Wolves's current total of 22 points by the end of the season, let alone reaching a more realistic safety threshold in the mid-30s. Apparently, there might have been some slight doubt as to whether the corner which led to the second goal was rightly awarded, but the refereeing in this one was otherwise uncontentious.

A pretty unremarkable gameweek, this: a few debatable but probably not wrong decisions - the denial of Haaland's second goal being the only real injustice, I think. The results all went fairly predictably (and predictably low-scoring, with several closely matched games); on recent form, I suppose it was mildly surprising that City managed to brush off Spurs so straightforwardly, and a win for United (and 3 goals??!!), especially after they'd gone behind early on and had a man sent off, was a bigger one. Kluivert's thumper from outside the box was the only really outstanding moment of gameplay; and Palmer's failure to register an attacking contribution despite having an outstanding game was the main instance of extreme bad luck. There were, however, some extremely unexpected goalscorers this week (a lot of defenders!!), while most of the big names drew a blank, or didn't come up with much: it's one of those weeks where almost no-one owns any of the 'Team of the Week'! That adds at least a couple more 'luck' points.....

With Haaland's unexpected return and Isak's unexpected absence really being the only major surprises, I rate this gameweek only a 5 out of 10 on the 'Luck-o-Meter'. 

DON'T FORGET The Boycott.  The dratted 'Assistant Manager' chip is in play now. I took the high road by quitting playing the game for the rest of the season. [I worry that, if people don't do this, the new chip may become a permanent feature of the game - and it will completely ruin it.]  If you don't feel like joining me in such an emphatic gesture, please at least think about refusing to use the Assistant Manager chip.

Please also criticise and complain about it online as much as possible. And raise objections to it with any football or media figures you know how to contact, and - if possible - try to find a way to protest about it directly to the FPL hierarchy (and let me know how, if you manage that!).

#QuitFPLinGW23         #DownWithTheNewChip