Fantasy Football Update - Christmas Edition

It's the most wonderful time of the year, unless you're Jose Mourinho that is. After watching his side get comprehensively beaten by their bitter local rivals, salt was rubbed into the wounds for the United boss as he became involved in an altercation with the City goalkeeper, Ederson. What ensued was hardly indicative of the festive spirit, with players from both sides joining in the fracas before Mourinho had milk and plastic water bottles thrown at him. At least the City dressing room were taking the message of "feed the world" seriously. It was also reported that Mikel Arteta received a cut to the head, after being struck from a bottle thrown by Romelu Lukaku. It was the first time the Belgian had hit the target since early November and obviously restored his confidence in front of goal, as he scored the winner against Bournemouth on Wednesday night.

On the other hand, Pep must feel like it's Christmas every day at the moment. City have been breaking records left, right and centre and six points from Sunday's derby and Wednesday's trip to Swansea mean they have now won 15 in a row - the most by a team in a single English top-flight season. It's beginning to look a lot like City's title... Okay, so it's only mid-December and there is still plenty of football to be played, but can anyone confidently predict that Pep's boys will squander an eleven point lead? Even Mourinho has conceded that City's advantage in the title race is now at a "significant distance". What distance exactly though? Well, 2000 miles might be a bit of an exaggeration, but for a club who have for so long been the pretenders in Manchester, they will be content to step into Christmas top of the tree.

CURRENT LEADER

XhakaLaca

Manager - John Lee

Gameweek Points - 52

Overall Points - 1,001

Although XhakaLaca have built up a healthy lead at the top of the table, the FSM Superliga is in no way a foregone conclusion like the Premier League and continues to keep the punters guessing. John Lee's team will be the bookies' favourite for the title as we head into Christmas, but special mentions go out to the sophisticatedly-named FC FC and the early front-runner HRH17 CF, who are keeping the current leader on his toes. A gameweek total of 52 was a solid effort in a generally low scoring round, with Nick Pope the stand out performer as he picked up a seventh clean sheet of a season which is fast becoming the stuff of fantasy for Burnley. In fact, the whole defence lead the way for XhakaLaca this week - Nicolás Otamendi, Harry Maguire and Nacho Monreal all out scored the midfield and attack.

Well played John and as our Christmas leader we would like to offer you a free FC Augsburg shirt. Please get in touch with us via our email address: footballshirtmemory@gmail.com and we will provide you with instructions on how to claim your prize.

PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK

World Team

Manager - Ahmed Yasser

Gameweek Points - 75

Overall Points - 852

A name like World Team conjures up images of Galacticos from a bygone era, so perhaps it is hardly surprising that Ahmed Yasser's team were top scorers in Gameweek 17. Whatever the case, a total of 75 points has brought 'Joy to the World', which is never a bad thing at this time of year. Ahmed's cause was primarily helped by playing the triple captain on Sergio Aguero who scored him a handsome 18 points, but this should not detract from strong performances all over the pitch. Nacho Monreal features again for his part in Arsenal's clean sheet at West Ham, while Wayne Rooney grabbed the winner at Newcastle and Raheem Sterling assisted in two of City's four goals at Swansea. Nice work Mr Yasser.

All of us at FSM would like to take this opportunity to thank you for participating in our Fantasy League. We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!