Hat-trick hero Salah gives those who dropped him red faces

Those Fantasy Premier League players who had dared to lose faith in Mohamed Salah (left) paid a heavy price this weekend, as he continued to show he is about as far from a one-season wonder as you can get with his hat-trick against Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium.

Salah’s extraordinary performance also gave Phakaaathi Private Fantasy League players extra impetus in the bid to win December’s prize, a Hi-Sense 49K300UW 49 UHD Smart TV worth R8 500.

The Liverpool genius got 21 points for his efforts against the Cherries, doubled up to 42 points for those FPL players who made him captain and 63 points for anyone who was clever enough to drop their triple captain chip on him in Gameweek 16. Suffice to say, all of the Phakaaathi Private Fantasy League’s top four thus for December, with last night’s game between Everton and Watford still pending, had captained Salah for Gameweek 16. Top of the tree was Ntandazo Mngquba and High Impact FC who as well as Salah, also had Andy Robertson on board, who got 11 points for his assist and clean sheet against Bournemouth.

Preshlen Thevar and Ecko United, meanwhile, benefited from keeping faith with Chelsea defenders Marcos Alonso and Cesar Azpilicueta, as the Blues beat Manchester City 2-0 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. The Chelsea pair scored 14 points between them, though Salah was the clear top scorer for Ecko United of course, with Virgil van Dijk (six points) also doing well.

In third place for December was Hlonphani Hadebe and HadebeVeron15, who scored an impressive 87 points for Gameweek 16, with Salah involved again, as well as West Ham’s Felipe Anderson (12 points), who got a goal and assist against Crystal Palace, and Roberto Firmino (nine points), the other goalscorer against Bournemouth.

The top scorer for the week in Phakaaathi’s Private Fantasy League, up until yesterday’s game, was Edward Kholomonyane and Threshold, who clearly had Salah as captain too, and also had Son Heung-min, who netted against Leicester, while his entire back four of Chelsea’s Kepa Arrizabalaga and Marcos Alonso, Arsenal’s Hector Bellerin and Liverpool’s Robertson all kept clean sheets. You can still participate in

Phakaaathi’s Private Fantasy League, by following the rules in the competition advert at the bottom of this page.