🏆 Biddenham Fantasy League 🏆

The Premier League chaos of Gameweek 7 spilled straight into the Biddenham Fantasy League. With an average of 63.4 points, fortunes diverged sharply — some managers surged, others stumbled, and the middle pack became more congested than ever.

Premier League recap

Liverpool’s third consecutive defeat (2–1 at Chelsea) punished those still clinging to their attackers, while Man City clung on 1–0 at Brentford through an early Haaland goal, steadying most captaincies. Arsenal’s 2–0 win over West Ham and Newcastle’s routine victory over Forest restored order, but the weekend’s drama came from Everton’s 90th-minute turnaround against Palace — a twist that handed unexpected clean sheets and bonus hauls to a lucky few.

League overview

Chris Beeden continues to dictate the pace. His Toon Park Rangers side notched a commanding 88 points, the week’s best, and now leads the league on 463 overall. His Wildcard the previous week set the tone — well-timed, balanced, and minimal risk. Behind him, George Foy and Will Finney keep things tight at 441 and 438 respectively, with Will’s n0n_l0c4l.exe now climbing for the third consecutive week, showing real stability after that earlier rebuild.

Abi Speight (429) and Callum Bowness (428) remain the core of a chasing cluster, while Emmy Rupasinghe (417) and Louis Grimoldby (403) continue solid form — both notching top-ten GW7 scores. Louis’s 77-point haul shows a revival after a quiet few weeks, his FC Grim now edging into the 400-club.

Mid-table movers

David Bailey (399) hit the average but will rue a massive 20 bench points left untouched — the league’s highest bench waste for the second week running. Mike Flynn (386) quietly returned to form with 74 points after a Wildcard, proving again that steady, low-risk management pays off. David Tonks mirrored that logic with 75 points, also off a new Wildcard — both now moving up and setting foundations for the break.

Alan Eckett-Brown’s Que Salah Salah enjoyed a strong 76 points, leaping five places in two weeks and finally living up to the team name after weeks of mediocrity. Hayley Phelan (71 points) was again the league’s consistency queen — no chip, no hit, just clean execution. Mark Horton and Cathy E-B also recorded stable returns, each settling in around the top-half comfort zone.

Big risers and fallers

The standout climber was Ed Evans, whose IroningBoredDreamers rocketed up six league places and over 2 million globally with 86 points — one of the strongest single-week performances this season. He’s proving that patience with structure and a single calculated transfer beats chaotic tinkering. Dan Birkinshaw’s Free Hit also landed, with 70 points lifting him five places, while Amy Bliss jumped five on the back of incremental green arrows week after week. Conversely, Olly Barnes, James Geary and Amy Warden all dropped three places, each paying for a mix of under-performing picks and captaincy indecision.

Lower table narrative

Phil Johnson endured a horror show — just 34 points for Groß Misconduct, plus another 17 left on the bench. His overall of 298 sees him drifting adrift of the pack. Jamie Mitchell (325) may have avoided the bottom, but the twenty-eight points of hits already this season tell their own story. Ali Smith (315) gained four places despite modest points, simply by avoiding penalties and chaos below. Georg Coakley (280) and Ekene Amadi (272) complete the basement, both struggling for captain consistency.

Chips and strategy

Wildcards were popular — Chris Beeden, Mike Flynn, Will Finney, David Tonks and Cathy E-B all played theirs this week, mostly to great effect. Dan Birkinshaw’s Free Hit was smart but slightly unlucky, his 70 points still translating to solid green arrows. Transfer activity calmed — most managers rolled or made single tweaks, though Paul Alexis took a −8 for 73 points and still came out net-positive. The league’s total hit count now stands at 140 — over 20 points per manager lost to deduction this season.

Emerging patterns

Template overlap now averages 55 percent — tightening fast — but managers like Ed Evans (27 %) and Abi Speight (36 %) are proving that breaking the mould works when timed correctly. Low-risk players like Mike Flynn (64 % template) keep accumulating, but they’ll need the occasional punt to keep pace with the explosive returns above.

Outlook

Heading into GW8, the league looks finely balanced: the top five separated by just 35 points, and the mid-table by little more than a captaincy swing. Liverpool assets are on borrowed time, while City and Arsenal remain the bedrock. Expect another shake-up as managers weigh patience against pre-break hits. For those near the bottom, a well-judged Wildcard could yet transform their season — as Chris Beeden’s example shows.