GODFREY MAY BE one proud pooch, but he can admit when he makes a bad call.
Last week, I made the foolish decision to leave Southampton’s Adam Lallana (currently third behind Eden Hazard and Yaya Toure on the table of highest scoring midfielders) on the bench — instead opting for Man City speedster Jesus Navas.
The Spaniard started brightly and curled a shot just wide but was whipped off the field just after the hour mark in the 1-1 draw with Arsenal at the Emirates. That display earned him a pitiful two points.
Over at St Mary’s meanwhile, a man-of-the-match display from Lallana saw him run the show for the Saints as they thumped Newcastle 4-0. A super goal, and assist and a bonus point meant he was the joint second highest scoring midfielder in Gameweek 32 with 12.
Godrey watched Saturday’s games cursing what could only be described as a gross error of judgement while preparing to return to you, the reader, with his tail between his legs…
Having gone with a three-man attack of Luis Suarez, Jay Rodriguez and Emmanuel Adebayor, however, we were gifted a huge slice of luck.
Spurs’ Togo international was deemed unfit to return from a heel injury and sat out their 4-0 drubbing by Liverpool, which resulted in Lallana gaining a late, late call-up to our starting XI after all.
A respectable 73 points were enough to move my team up from 577th to 464th in TheScore.ie’s Joy Division with Suarez (18), Rodriguez (13), Jordan Henderson (8), Adam Johnson (7) and Simon Mignolet (7) also chipping in.
Coincidently, Lallana and Navas come up against each other as City welcome Southampton to the Etihad tomorrow afternoon. And this week, we’re making a single change by bringing in the former for the latter.
Elsewhere, expect Johnson to start against Spurs having coming off the bench to score in the 2-1 loss to West Ham. Adebayor should also return for Monday’s game at White Hart Lane.
We’re also backing Roberto Martinez’s men to overcome Arsenal and Liverpool to see off West Ham on Sunday.
