Londonist United: Week Twelve

Dean Nicholas
By Dean Nicholas Last edited 184 months ago
Londonist United: Week Twelve
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The travails of our fantasy football team of capital-born players. Read previous entries here.

After a four-week spell of pulling improbable rabbits out of a variety of hats, Harry Houdini could only disgorge a dead bunny from his bowler on Saturday, which, though it may be bad news for Spurs, is surely good news for sport scribes everywhere who'd long exhausted their magician metaphor medley, as this tired opening demonstrates. Tottenham fell to their first defeat under Mr Redknapp,,a troublesome London derby at Fulham blighting their recent run of good form and hustling them back into the drop zone - not that it means too much in this eye-wateringly tight table, but psychologically the ex-Portsmouth boss will need to lift his side. Spurs fans will be less than thrilled to note the scorers for Fulham were former White Hart Lane line runner Simon Davies, and Andy Johnson, who, playing for Crystal Palace, made quite a nuisance of himself amongst the Tottenham defence when the Eagles were last in the Premiership.

Fulham's second win in a row edges them into the top half of the table, but at the top it seems increasingly likely that only the blue quarter of London will be challenging for Manchester United's trophy this season. Arsenal's fractious Hyde prevailed over their more clinical Jeckyll, and just a week after beating the champions in one of the finest games in years, the Londoners fell to their second League defeat at home to Aston Villa, who are looking in with a shot of sneaking into the hallowed gardens of the "big four" and desecrating their begonias. For Arsenal, despite protestations by their manager, a first Premier League win since 2004 will have to wait another year, and the danger for the side now is that the likes of Cesc Fabregas will not bide his time before jumping to a club more likely to be in amongst the silverware.

As for our Londonist team, it was a week to forget. The one high note was West Ham breaking their own quite unwelcome record for games without conceding a goal. Finally, at the umpteenth time of asking, Robert Green managed to keep his powder dry and emerged with a healthy ten points. He was in a league of his own though, as nobody else in the squad quite covered themselves in glory. We schlepped a few places down the league as a result, and as a relegation battle looms, it seems that only the ministrations of a magic wand-waving Londoner could help. How's about a little of that Merlin mastery, Harry?

Last Updated 17 November 2008