Around the Grounds FPL Team News Gameweek 5

Around the Grounds FPL Team News Gameweek 5

Righto, before I start waffling on, the No.1 thing you have to remember this week is THE EARLY DEADLINE! Tonight my friends at 19.00 hrs UK time is the cut off! This is because we have another Friday evening treat as Chelsea face Liverpool at the Bridge ce soir. So, do not be caught out. After this evening’s excitement, we have just four 3pm matches on Saturday as Hull entertain Arsenal, Leicester entertain Burnley, Man City entertain Bournemouth and West Brom entert….erm, welcome West Ham. The Saturday evening match sees Middlesbrough travel to Everton. Sunday sees some of our Europa League rascals play – Man Utd go to Watford, Southampton welcome Swansea and then Spurs host Sunderland. In the middle there somewhere is Palace vs Stoke.
So, not much time to chat today, it’s fast and furious with only a few hours left to contemplate our transfers, hits and capo choices. Mrs Mitro is so grateful! No time to waste folks, let’s go Around the Grounds to see what the managers have had to say.

Chelsea vs Liverpool (Fri 16 Sept 20.00)
It’s been a strange week for both clubs. Firstly we saw Liverpool hammer the champions while a day later Chelsea threw away three points and then eventually rescued one as Diego Costa attempted to take on the whole of South Wales. And then this week both have had to twiddle their thumbs while many have been in European action, how times have changed. Liverpool’s win over Leicester has catapulted them up to 6th, three points behind 2nd placed Chelsea – but Klopp’s men should approach the match with confidence as they won here 3-1 last season courtesy of a Philippe Coutinho brace and with Chelsea now looking as vulnerable at the back as their opponents we could be in for a treat.

Bad news for Chelsea as captain John Terry has been ruled out of the match, with Antonio Conte confirming that David Luiz will make his second debut for the club – that should be entertaining. Kurt Zouma is the only other definite absentee while Conte says that Cesc Fabregas is training excellently and is making it hard for him to be left out of the starting line-up.

Liverpool picked up no injuries in the win over Leicester and can welcome back Dejan Lovren for the trip to Chelsea, with the Croat likely to replace Lucas at the back, despite his wonderful assist for Vardy last week. Emre Can has recovered from injury but is short of training and match fitness and is more likely to return in midweek in the League Cup. Kepper Loris Karius has returned to training, but like Can, is unlikely to be thrust back in this evening.

Hull vs Arsenal (Sat 17 Sept 15.00)
“The fixtures are great” they said. “Arsenal coverage is necessary” they said. “Alexis is a must-have” some strange people said after one good game. Well, it was this game these experts had in mind, after all it’s only Hull. Dull Hull. Well experts, both teams are on seven points and goal difference is identical. Maybe I’ll start a campaign. “The fixtures are great” – “Hull coverage is necessary” – “Snodgrass is a must-have” – sit down GP, only joking. On paper of course Arsenal should walk this one, Wenger’s men have won every time they have gone to Hull in the Premier League, scoring three goals on three of those four occasions. Of course the experts will also point out that Alexis has scored three goals in his last two league matches at Hull. But my friends, don’t ignore Snoddy.

Hull have no new injuries, which is a massive result, for they have enough already. Allan McGregor, Michael Dawson, Greg Luer, Moses Odubajo and Alex Bruce all remain out, with Dawson being the closest to a return which could be as soon as after the next international break. New signing, Dieumerci Mbokani, will be included in the squad to face the Gooners.

Theo Walcott could be back for the Gooners – the flying winger and wannabe striker missed the trip to Paris in the week with a knee injury but Arsene Wenger says he will be assessed and “may return”. Aaron Ramsey remains out, but Gabriel may return to action in the League Cup next week. Musical chairs again in goal with Petr Cech returning, while Olivier Giroud will need to be checked as the poor love suffered a knock on his big toe in Paris.

Leicester vs Burnley (Sat 17 Sept 15.00)
Another match which sees two similarly performing teams matched up. Both teams are on four points, the surprise of course is Leicester’s slow and languid start to the season after the heroics of last season. Claudio Ranieri’s men will be hurting after being thoroughly outplayed in front of the cameras at Liverpool last weekend but the midweek CL win may be the kick start they needed. While Burnley will have been annoyed and frustrated at Hull’s injury time equaliser. The previous two meetings between the two at the King Power Stadium have ended in draws, though it should be noted that Burnley have not beaten the Foxes in any of their last nine clashes.

Ranieri says his team has trained superbly after their midweek win and they must now show him that they are capable of playing three matches at this level in a week. Danny Simpson and Jeffrey Schlupp have both shown that they are ready for action, but Nampalys Mendy needs another week or so. Ranieri doesn’t yet think that Islam Slimani is quite ready to play 90mins, while Matty James has been suffering from an ankle injury.

Very little injury news from the Clarets. It’s just Ashley Barnes who continues to miss out, the winger suffered a hamstring injury in July and hasn’t been seen since, poor lad. Patrick Bamford who came on for the last 11 minutes last weekend, seems determined to stake a claim for a start, “In the next few games I’ll see what I can do off the bench and see if I can push myself in to the starting XI and we’ll go from there.”

Man City vs Bournemouth (Sat 17 Sept 15.00)
I have to hold my hand up, even as a United fan, and admit that City were excellent at Old Trafford last week. If they keep that standard up, the league is over my friends. This week the opposition is Bournemouth and let’s face it we are surely only expecting one result – the tricky part will be which one of the buggers to select – KdB was on fire vs United, Silva ran the show and Sterling was, well, just like the Sterling we know. His 59 minute substitution did make me laugh though. The two teams have met eight times in their history with Bournemouth winning, errrr….none. They have drawn a couple though. The two meetings in the Premier League last season saw City win 5-1 and 4-0 with that man Sterling scoring a hatty in the clash at the Etihad. Those FPL managers who have taken a punt or are thinking of taking a punt on Kelechi Iheanacho will be encouraged to know that the striker has scored nine goals from just 13 shots on target in the PL for City.

David Silva is very unlikely to play vs Bournemouth after suffering an ankle injury in training before the Champions League win on Wednesday – the injury is not serious according to Pep. Guardiola says he is “thinking” about playing Ilker Gundogan tomorrow but is yet to make a final decision, while Vincent Kompany is not yet fit, but not far away. Sergio Aguero completes his suspension.

Eddie Howe reports a clean bill of health for his squad but admits his side will have to be at the very top of their game if they are take anything away from the Etihad. The manager lavished particular praise on Calum Wilson and Jack Wilshere – Wilson for the winning goal last week and the confidence that has brought him and Wilshere for being a positive influence on his squad and for being a contributing factor for the Cherries winning vs West Brom.

West Brom vs West Ham (Sat 17 Sept 15.00)
Tough times at West Brom – the manager feels let down by the lack of transfer activity in the summer, the fans are growing restless at the performance of the team and last week they couldn’t even score at Bournemouth. I mean, everyone scores at Bournemouth – why do you think Wilshere went there? Amazingly, the Baggies are a point better off than the Hammers who gave up a 2-goal lead to lose 4-2 at home to Watford last week. Imagine having to spend a week with Bilic now…. ouch! Expect an improvement from the Hammers who have won on their last two league visits to the Hawthorns. As for West Brom, don’t expect a lot. West Brom have won just one of their last eleven league meetings with the Hammers and have won just one of their last thirteen league matches.

Tony Pulis (begrudgingly) says the Hammers have invested well in the summer and is therefore expecting a tough match. The injuries in the camp appear to be clearing – Chris Brunt could play for the reserves in midweek while James Morrison is a lot fitter than last week, according to grumpy Pulis. Hal Robson-Kanu continues to build up his fitness and is unlikely to feature on Saturday.

As expected Bilic has spent the week working with his players and analysing how they conceded four at home to Watford – acccording to the manager, “It was not a good performance. More individual mistakes. We have talked about it behind closed doors, had a really good meeting and now wait for the reaction of the team.” Alvaro Arbeloa’s lack of match fitness may mean Sam Byram keeping his place but James Collins will come under pressure from Angelo Ogbonna, with Bilic saying, “we need to defend better, like we did last season.” Lucky they’re only playing West Brom. On the injury front, Andy Carroll has begun running, but won’t be ready for this weekend, Aaron Cresswell and Diafra Sakho will be “back soon” and Andre Ayew is ahead of schedule.

Everton vs Middlesbrough (Sat 17 Sept 17.30)
Everton leapt up to 3rd place courtesy of their second half demolition of Sunderland on Monday night – Romelu Lukaku was the hero that night of course and many FPL managers will be hoping the big striker can continue his form. Boro will have other ideas, but do turn up at Goodison on the back of a shameful and embarrassing home loss to Palace, the team that beats no-one. Previously Boro were unbeaten and looking solid and resolute and you would expect them to defend better this weekend than Sunderland did vs Everton in the week. The Toffees are unbeaten in the last seven meetings between the two clubs, though they have not met in the league since 2009.

Everton will likely have the same squad as per Monday night, with Ronald Koeman implying that Enner Valencia could make his debut. Darren Gibson, James McCarthy, Tyias Browning, Matthew Pennington and Mo Besic remain out but Tom Cleverley is fit again and may possibly make the squad. On the subject of Ross Barkley and his half-time withdrawl at Sunderland, Koeman said, “There was a reason to take Ross Barkley off at half-time, he didn’t play well, lost too many balls, players of that quality can’t lose those kind of balls. I had a talk with Ross, he needs to improve and we will see at the weekend. He understands, we showed him the clips and there is no escape.” Ruthless stuff – we will see just how ruthless on Saturday.

Boro have doubts surrounding strikers Jordan Rhodes and Stuani – Rhodes has taken a knock on his knee and will need to be checked by the doctor, while Stuani finished the match vs Palace with a groin injury and will need a late assessment. Grant Leadbitter and Fabio remain out.

Watford vs Man Utd (Sun 18 Sept 12.00)
Despite last week’s derby defeat, United start the week in 4th place and can get their season back on track with a win at Watford. Not that it will be easy – especially after the Hornets came away from West Ham with a victory last weekend meaning confidence will be high in the hive. One look at the fixture history makes for disturbing reading for Watford as they have lost all of their last eleven meetings with United and with Jose looking for a quick bounce back, don’t bet against United making it twelve on the spin.

Daryl Janmaat and Roberto Pereyra both played 90mins in the win at West Ham and looked to have cemented their starting spots. Expect an unchanged starting XI, but Stefano Okaka, who was a late substitute last week suffered a hamstring strain and could be out for six weeks.

United’s abject display and loss on Thursday night will lead Jose to pick a “normal” team for the trip to Watford. That will mean returns to the starting line-up for Zlatan, Wayne Rooney, Luke Shaw, Antonio Valencia and Marouane Fellaini. Henrikh Mkhitaryan is injured as is Phil Jones, but that is hardly a shock. More of a concern will be Eric Bailly who picked up a knock last night and faces a late test – his absence will mean Chris Smalling and Daley Blind as partners at the back.

Crystal Palace vs Stoke (Sun 18 Sept 14.15)
Palace won a game at last!!! Last week’s win at Boro was their first league win of the campaign, new signing Benteke scored, young Zaha scored and assisted (get in Wilfy boy) and the crowd were left signing, “Alan Pardew is a football genius.” Why do I always take things too far? This week the Eagles can extend their winning run to two by disposing of bottom club Stoke, who frankly should be renamed “Joke City”. Another humiliating loss and Sparky could be in trouble. Palace have amazingly won their last four clashes vs Stoke, including doing the double over the Potters last season, which was an achievement in itself bearing in mind they hardly beat anyone last season.

Pardew says that defender Pape Souare is likely to be missing for around six months following his car crash that resulted in a broken thigh, amongst other things. Martin Kelly will continue to deputise. Connor Wickham and Bakary Sako should be ready to play on Sunday, but Yohan Cabaye remains a doubt with the Lord thinking it unlikely the Frenchman will be ready to face Stoke.

Sparky says that his squad has responded well to last week’s defeat and they trained well this week with a good atmosphere in the camp. There is some positive news on injuries as Mame Diouf has recovered from injury and is likely to be in contention, while Glen Johnson has had 2-3 days training and is in the manager’s thoughts for Sunday. Xherdan Shaqiri remains out, but Hughes says his medical staff have finally got to the root of the problem and he could return to training next week.Jack Butland, Ibrahim Afellay and Stephen Ireland remain out. On Wilfried Bony, Hughes says his performances will only improve by building up his fitness.

Southampton vs Swansea (Sun 18 Sept 14.15)
It’s been a tough start for the Saints who find themselves in the drop zone and winless, but it’s early days yet. Swansea of course somehow grabbed a draw with Chelsea last week, which will lift their belief and confidence of course. Results between the two seasiders have been mixed – the Saints won 3-1 at St Mary’s last season, while the Swans triumphed the season before. With just a solitary win between them thus far, it’s tough to know what to expect to be completely honest, so I will waffle no more.

The Saints had the luxury to bench/rest Jose Fonte, Steven Davis, Ryan Bertrand and Nathan Redmond for Thursday’s impressive Europa win – expect all four to come straight back into the starting XI for Sunday, though Charlie Austin’s form will certainly have given manager Claude Puel some selection headaches – Austin’s penalty duties on Thursday will also of given headaches to owners of Dusan Tadic. Sofiane Boufal remains on the sidelines building up his fitness, while J-Rod “felt something” after the Europa win and will need to be assessed.

Bad news for the Swans as winger Nathan Dyer has been ruled out for around two months after undergoing surgery on an ankle injury. The good news is that Sung-yueng Ki now believes he is 100% match fit after missing the start of the season as he had to complete his military service (seriously). Neil Taylor seems to have made the reserve full back place his own after reacting angrily to being substituted before half-time vs Chelsea – good news for Stephen Kingsley owners. Manager Francesco Guidolin seems a tad unsure on other matters – when asked if new signing Borja Bastion will be available for the weekend, Guido replied, ” I hope yes but I don’t know. He is training and if it is possible he will be available for the bench, I hope.” OK. Then, when asked if young centre half Alfie Mawson is ready for the Premier League, ” No. Maybe, I don’t know.” Brilliant stuff, Frankie.

Spurs vs Sunderland (Sun 18 Sept 16.30)
The end of our game-week, but points still to be won for your FPL team. Maybe you’ve plumped for Kane now he has got himself off the mark? Or a rampaging Kyle Walker? Well, good luck whoever you have playing – of course we are expecting a home win after fifth placed Spurs recorded their second win of the season last week as they brushed aside Joke City 4-0. It seems the goals are flowing again, but ex-Spur Jermain Defoe will be keen to show the home fans what they are missing. Errrr, sorry JD, they’ve been playing Champions League this week pal while you’ve been playing FIFA – don’t really think they are missing you bud. Spurs are unbeaten in their last twelve meetings with Sunderland, winning nine of those including a 4-1 victory at the Lane last season.

Danny Rose has again been ruled out for Spurs, with manager Mauricio Pochettino saying the defender is not quite 100% and will need another week to recover – Ben Davies will again deputise. The rest of the line-up will be driven by how much Poch wants to rest/rotate from the midweek Champions League loss to Monaco – Kieran Tripper is ready if Kyle Walker is given the afternoon off while Mousa Dembele and Moussa Sissoko will both be vying for a start in midfield.

Poor old Moyesie – just when he thought things couldn’t get any worse he is then rocked by the news that Lee Cattermole has recovered from injury. Steven Pienaar and Billy Jones are also fit again, although our favourite Ginger implied that the three wouldn’t be thrown straight in at Spurs. There is better news as Victor Anichebe remains out with a thigh problem. Defoe will hope to continue his run of scoring on the road and not at home. Moyes says he and the squad have talked about Monday (defeat vs Everton) and “the players are back on it.” Looks like they were on something on Monday to be honest.

Thanks for reading Around the Grounds FPL Team News Gameweek 5. This article was written by Cookie

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Fixture Tracker – the next 6 games