Team Talk Fantasy Football Game-week 14

Team Talk Fantasy Football GW14

Well, we’re over a third of the way through the season now and whether you’re doing well and time has flown or you’re struggling through a rough patch, FPL waits for no-one. And so we plod on into GW14 and it’s a 2-day game-week which kicks off at 3pm as struggling Villa welcome Watford, struggling Bournemouth host Everton, struggling Newcastle go to Palace, struggling Sunderland entertain Stoke and struggling (on last week’s form) City and Saints do battle at the Etihad. Not struggling top of the table Leicester face 2nd placed United in the evening game. Sunday lunchtime sees a London derby as Chelsea visit Spurs and then a couple of hours later West meets West in the East as the Hammers meet the Baggies. Our game-week then is concluded as Swansea try and stop the Klopp-tastic Liverpool and Arsenal look to enjoy a Sunday feast at the expense of Delia’s Norwich.
It’s been a week of European action with Chelsea, City, United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs all featuring, so let’s see how those injury updates are shaping up and hear what the managers have had to say.

Aston Villa vs Watford (Sat 28 Nov 15.00)
Poor old Remy Garde, he took on a job which was sold to him as one of the Premier League’s bigger and more historical clubs and immediately held City to a scoreless draw only to see reality hit home at Goodison last weekend. A 4-0 humbling could have been a lot worse, but gave Monsieur Garde the realisation that this really will be a cold, long winter for he and his squad of uselessness. Watford are the visitors on Saturday and they’ll go to Villa Park feeling like they have every chance of coming away with a win as they enter a run of fixtures vs relegation candidates, which will be a relief after losing their previous two vs the division’s top two clubs. Villa are firmly set at the bottom having won just once and lost eight of their last nine – the one exception being the 0-0 vs City! Watford have never won at Villa in the top flight, but Saturday will bring their best chance yet.

Remi Garde is not expecting an easy game against Watford! I’ve got news for you Remi, there’s no such thing as an easy game for Villa so you’d best get used to it. Jack Grealish is once again in the headlines for the wrong reasons. The 20 year old apparently went out on the lash in Manchester following last weekend’s defeat to Everton and Garde has subsequently dropped the youngster from the first team squad and he will train with the under-21s for the foreseeable future. Gabby Agbonlahor will face a late fitness test as he struggles to shake off a calf problem. Jose Okore who hasn’t featured since the FA Cup final has finally recovered from a knee injury and is available for selection. Garde was full of praise for Carlos Sanchez, not that anyone cares!

After a decent start to the season Watford boss Flores spoke of their determination to use the upcoming games to put some distance between themselves and some of their fellow ‘relegation candidates’ as they face Villa, Norwich and Sunderland in the next three. There were no new injuries to report ahead of this one but he did reveal that Valon Behrami is close to returning but will likely need five or six more days to be in contention. Sebastian Prodl remains out with a calf injury picked up on international duty and we won’t see him again until mid December.

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Bournemouth vs Everton (Sat 28 Nov 15.00)
Poor old Bournemouth – they entered their first ever season in the Premier League with optimism, playing attractive football, managed by a young, enthusiastic and easy to like boss. But nice guys rarely win – a series of horrific and long-term injuries has coincided with a run of seven games without a win which has seen the Cherries staring a return trip the Championship in the face. One look at the fixture list will not lift Eddie Howe’s mood and it’s Everton who this week travel down for an enjoyable day out at the seaside. The Toffees saw off Villa easily enough last weekend and are well set for a top four challenge if they can take advantage of their up and coming fixtures. These two have never met in the league, just the Cup, with Everton winning all three. With confidence flying high through Roberto Martinez’s team and the likes of Romelu Lukaku, Ross Barkley and Gerard Deulofeu looking sharp with every attack, it is likely to be another disappointing day for Bournemouth.

Eddie Howe insists that that their performances in their last two games have been right up there with their best performances for a long, long time. It’s unfortunate that they’ve only managed to secure a point from those two games. Howe has no new injury worries. Marc Pugh is still not training while Artur Boruc has a niggle in his knee. Long-term absentees Tommy Elphick, Tyrone Mings, Max Gradel and Callum Wilson all remain out.

The Toffees travel down to Bournemouth with the same squad which faced Aston Villa last weekend. Roberto Martinez will leave it until the last minute before deciding whether Leighton Baines will make a return to first team action against the Cherries, he’s physically ready but Roberto wants to ensure he has the confidence to go into a 50-50 challenge. Steven Pienaar, Bryan Oviedo and Tony Hibbert are training but at a slower pace to the rest of the squad and therefore will not be ready for the weekend. Martinez also insisted that ‘it is important to have Cleverly and Besic back, pushing for places’.

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Crystal Palace vs Newcastle (Sat 28 Nov 15.00)
No surprise here but this game is all about Lord Pardew. I mean, most Palace games are of course, but this one really is as he ‘welcomes’ his old employers to Selhurst Park. Many FPL folk will be hopeful of a better showing than on Monday evening when they lost at home to Sunderland – have to laugh. Well, unless you had one or even two Palace defenders or even captained Yannick Bolasie. Nah, that’s silly. No-one would captain Bolasie would they? Errrr, let’s move on. The Toon are looking dreadful, their 3-0 home defeat by Leicester last weekend brought about fresh calls of disdain and anger from the crowd, most of whom were drowning their sorrows in their local well before the end of the game. Strangely, Newcastle have never lost to Palace at Selhurst Park in the Premier League, winning four and drawing one, though despite Monday’s result, one would still expect a home win. After all, the Lord was strangely negative going into Monday night, suggesting Big Sam normally gets the better of him – I doubt he has the same feelings about Steve McClaren.

Lord Pardew failed to grace us with his presence today instead we had to make do with his assistant Keith Millen, although that’s probably a good thing! Having come on as a sub last weekend only to be subbed off again with a hamstring injury Bakary Sako is out of tomorrow’s game and is likely to miss a few weeks. Dwight Gayle is nearly fit but tomorrow will be too soon. Connor Wickham and Marouane Chamakh are both medically fine but neither are yet 100%, although either could feature.

Steve McClaren has apparently read the riot act to his players ahead of the Palace game with some players now playing for their future ahead of the January transfer window. The player’s attitude was questioned while most were asked if they had the bottle for a relegation fight. Captain Fabricio Coloccini was singled out following his performance against Leicester, however McClaren has insisted that the Argentine is still his captain. McClaren is also believed to have requested more British players in January. On the injury front the big news is that Massadio Haidara has suffered a knee injury in training and will be sidelined for four months. Cheick Tiote is set to miss the game due to a muscle injury and this could see Jack Colback make a return following his injury.

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Man City vs Southampton (Sat 28 Nov 15.00)
Well, well, well, we may as well rename this match Dumb vs Dumber after last week’s horror shows. City were horrendous in the defeat at home to the scousers and no doubt Manuel Pellegrini has been reading the riot act to his team – the chances of Eliaquim Mangala and Martin Demichlilis being selected together again look as likely as Mourinho sending his kids to Dr Eva for a flu jab. The Saints meanwhile lost at home to Stoke and missed the chance to climb into the top six and therein lies their problem. Every time we think they’re pushing on they can’t deliver. Well, if City defend as per last week, then Southampton will fancy their chances though it’s unlikely they will face similar personnel as per what Liverpool were up against. City have won the last four meetings between the two at the Etihad, scoring eleven times in the process but after taking just a point in their last two games, it will take all Pellegrini’s man management skills to get them back on track.

Pellegrini revealed in his press conference that Mangala will indeed miss out in this one, as will Vincent Kompany, Joe Hart and Pablo Zabaleta. This should mean starts for Willy Caballero between the sticks, Otamendi and Demichilis in the middle and Sagna at right-back. The good news for Kolarov owners is that Clichy played the full game in Turin on Wednesday and so he should start this one at least but we have the feeling that this particular rotation headache is only just beginning again. If the defensive news wasn’t good there was better news for the City attack as both Silva and Bony are back in the squad for this game. Silva has a chance of starting and after last weeks debacle you’d have to think he probably will. Bony will likely have to be content with a place on the bench though as Aguero will look to build on last weeks goal.

Ronald Koeman confirmed that Jay Rodriguez has undergone surgery on a foot injury and is expected to be out for seven to eight weeks. Koeman also confirmed he has no other injury concerns (aside from long-term absentee Fraser Forster) ahead of the trip to Manchester. Graziano Pelle is suspended but Koeman has backed Shane Long to do well in the Italians absence.

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Sunderland vs Stoke (Sat 28 Nov 15.00)
Good ol’ Big Sam, nicking an away win at Pardew Towers on Monday evening – oh how I laughed as they climbed to within a point of their nearest and dearest. It’s back to the Stadium of Light this weekend with Sparky bringing his Potters to town – a second away game in a week for Stoke, who won at Southampton last week and in seven days will have seen more of the UK than most of his squad have ever seen before. That’s apart from Crouchie of course, he’s seen a load of the green and pleasant land in his career – shame he isn’t seeing much football these days, but it’s difficult to have sympathy with the geezer who wakes up next to Abbey Clancy every morning. Anyway back to the game and the Black Cats will be hoping for another victory and it’s not a venue Stoke enjoy going to as they have lost five and drawn the other two in seven visits in the Premier League. One feels this won’t be the most exciting match of the weekend – Stoke have kept clean sheets in five of their last six, scoring just four times in the process, while Big Sam clearly is the architect of the philosophy LVG has adopted of keeping the oppo out and nicking one if possible.

Sam Allardyce is confident that last weekend’s hero Jermain Defoe will be available for the game. Defoe picked up a late ankle injury but Allardyce has confirmed that the injury is not as bad as first feared. Allardyce also confirmed that Fabio Borini is available. Having picked up his 5th yellow card of the season against Palace Billy Jones will sit this one out. Midfielder Liam Bridcutt has joined Leeds United on loan.

Mark Hughes was full of praise for his defence claiming they are very sound and give the team a platform to build on. Apparently this gives the creative players confidence, clearly they need more than confidence as they’ve only managed to score 11 goals this season, only Villa have scored less. Marc Muniesa is back in training but is unlikely to be ready for the weekend. Philipp Wollscheid didn’t train on Thursday but Hughes was hopeful he would train today and would be able to feature against Sunderland.

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Leicester vs Man Utd (Sat 28 Nov 17.30)
Not sure many would have had this one down at the start of the season as a top of the table clash but it is what it is and Leicester sit very proudly at the summit twelve months on from them being bottom of the table and looking dead certs for relegation. See Villa, there is hope for you yet! Sort of. While the Foxes have played gung-ho football, led by the Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez show. United have been the opposite – tough to break down, nicking games, in other words, dull but effective. It’s Vardy of course who has grabbed the headlines and a goal vs United will see him break United legend Ruud van Nistelroy’s Premier League record by scoring in his eleventh successive league match. Leicester shocked LVG and United by coming from behind to win 5-3 in this unforgettable fixture last season and while United have tightened up somewhat since then, Leicester under Claudio Ranieri have scored in every match this season and will go into the match confident of a major scalp and a night of celebration for Vardy.

Good news, Jamie Vardy is fit. Ranieri declared, “He’s fit of course. We manage him in a different way. He’s also under the hands of our physio.” Ranieri went on to say, “We speak every morning about what the best training session is for him, but he is fit.” Everyone one else is also fit aside from Matty James who is still only participating in light training sessions.

LVG described the midweek Champions League game as “intense”. We can only assume he meant intensely boring. He spoke positively about their renewed defensive resolve and nobody can argue with that as the stats bear him out. If only they could add some / any sort of attacking invention then the fans would be back on side but there’s more than one way to skin a cat. Just ask Arsenal fans from the 80’s and early 90’s. As for injuries he revealed little of any use to us fantasy managers saying only that Phil Jones and Ander Herrera are still out, Jesse L
ingard will have a late fitness test and that he still needs to assess the remainder of the squad.

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Spurs vs Chelsea (Sun 29 Nov 12.00)
Just as Leicester vs Man Utd finished 5-3 last season, so bizarrely did this fixture. And it was bizarre, Harry Kane running amok leaving Terry, Cahill et al in a spin and securing Spurs’ first win over the Blues in twelve attempts. There is little to suggest that Mauricio Pochettino’s men can’t achieve another victory – last week’s 4-1 derby win over West Ham was their third win in four and sees them unbeaten since the opening day. No one can really understand what is going on at Stamford Bridge, least of all Mourinho, though their performance in the narrow 1-0 win over Norwich last week was at least better than much they have produced this season. Jeez, a 1-0 win over Norwich is now encouraging for Chelsea, how the mighty have fallen. Mourinho’s men have won just once on the road this season, losing their last two on their travels and while Norwich may have been a routine win, they won’t have things anywhere near their own way on Sunday and it’ll be another stiff test for the Blues and maybe Jose too.

With Spurs having only played last night there has been no official word from Pochettino today but there was no immediate indication of any fresh injuries and we fully expect Spurs will field a team very similar to the one which impressed last weekend in hammering West Ham 4-1. Full-backs Walker and Rose had the night off so they will return to the line-up as will Dembele. Everyone’s favourite cheap as chips midfielder Dele Alli will be the main absentee as he misses this one through suspension which means Ryan Mason will likely deputise.

Chelsea may be without John Terry for this one as he didn’t train today with Jose saying “we have a little hope it’s possible (that he plays)” but also added that he has “complete trust in Cahill and Zouma” which makes it sound as though those two will be the pairing on Sunday. Ramires is also “in the same situation as John, let’s wait and see”. Other than those two there are no fresh injury concerns after their Champions League victory in midweek. Begovic owners will be on edge soon enough as Jose said that Thibout Courtois is progressing well and will be back “in the first 15 days of December”. It’s a bit vague but you’ve been warned!

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West Ham vs West Brom (Sun 29 Nov 14.05)
The Baggies travel down to the capital looking for another positive result against a London side following their victory over the Gunners last weekend. Sat just below halfway in the league, let’s be honest we didn’t really expect much more from a Tony Pulis team – the odd win, the odd silly loss, trucking along, doing enough to be comfortable in the league without really threatening anything above or below them. The Hammers meanwhile go into the weekend in sixth spot but last week’s heavy loss at Spurs will not have helped confidence, already dented by the loss of best player Dimitri Payet for the foreseeable future. If you’re struggling to get too excited about this one, then I’m not sure I can do much to get you going – six of the last nine league matches between the two have ended in draws and it would be no surprise if this one followed suit – last season Diafro Sakho and Saido Berahino scored in, yes you’ve guessed it, a 1-1 draw.

Slaven Bilic hopes that the Hammers can bounce back from last weekend’s defeat at the hands of Spurs. Apparently the players were hugely disappointed after the game and were angry with the way they had played. I should expect so! Captain Mark Noble is set to miss the game through suspension, so Bilic expects one of Obiang or Song, both of whom are returning from serious injuries, to start in his place. James Collins will once again miss out as he serves the final game of his three game suspension. Dimitri Payet and Enner Valencia continue to miss out.

West Brom boss Pulis was in a bullish mood ahead of the trip to the Hammers citing their away form as reason for optimism, “Our away form has been really good this season. Hopefully we can get another positive result on the road on Sunday”. Now we don’t mean to pee on your bonfire here Tony but you’ve scored three goals on the road all season! To be fair to him, those three goals have somehow resulted in three wins but you get our point. As for injury news he says he has a few issues following the Arsenal game but didn’t name them whilst also saying that he hopes they will all be fine for the weekend. Ok then Tony if you won’t name them, we will. Well, name him. It’s the Baggies leading midfield point scorer James Morrison who has an ankle problem. Aside from him Ben Foster is still out and Chris Brunt is suspended for this one.

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Liverpool vs Swansea (Sun 29 Nov 16.15)
Life is simply Klopptastic at Anfield following last week’s demolition of City – so much so that the GW12 home defeat to Palace has been forgotten, with the fans preferring to remember last week and also the win at Chelsea. Which Liverpool will turn up this week is anyone’s guess but Klopptimism will be at the highest level for a long time with Brenda now forgotten and the Messiah at the helm. Naturally, the scousers will go into this weekend as firm favourites with the Swans in a horrible run of form and the sepculation over the future of Garry Monk failing to go away. Last week’s draw at home to Bournemouth was another disappointment for the Welshies which sees them just five points above the drop zone with just one win from their last nine matches. Monk will no doubt have scouted Liverpool’s performance at City, but in all honesty Monk vs Klopp looks a bit of a mismatch. Swansea have still to register a Premier League win at Anfield and have conceded 13 goals in their last three league visits.

Since joining Liverpool back in January 2013 Daniel Sturridge has missed more games (72) than he has played for Liverpool (70) and yes you’ve guessed it, he’s injured again. Step aside Darren Anderton there’s a new sicknote in town. According to Klopp, “It’s not serious but it’s not possible for him to go on as before”. Liverpool fans are starting to get fed up with this. Having had an eventful night against Bordeaux on Thursday night Christian Benteke is a doubt for the game as Klopp is unsure whether he is able to play two games in three days. Lucas is suspended and Joe Allen is likely to replace him in the starting XI. Jordan Henderson is back in training but is unlikely to feature on Sunday with Klopp stating that he needs to be ‘perfect physically’ before he will use him. Philippe Coutinho is rated as 50-50 and he will be assessed on Saturday. If there are any doubts over the Brazilian he’s unlikely to be risked. Sakho, Gomez, Flanagan and Ings all remain on the sidelines.

Apparently Gary Monk has the full backing of chairman Huw Jenkins who has been extraordinarily supportive. Oh Gary, have you never heard of the dreaded vote of confidence?! Monk has a fully fit squad ahead of this game. Only the suspended Jonjo Shelvey misses out.

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Norwich vs Arsenal (Sun 29 Nov 16.15)
Poor old Arsenal, they get all excited and think they’re realistic title challengers and as soon as the cold weather turns up, then they drop back to the warm comforts of fourth place. Bless ’em. And just when they start to get some players back then they lose a couple more. Hahaha. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Mikel Arteta recovers from injury and scores West Brom’s winning goal in his own net. Brilliant. Sorry Mitro, I ain’t finished yet, as Spurs are right on your heels and looking like real challengers for your coveted fourth place trophy. Everything should of course point to an away win with the Canaries hovering just above the relegation zone – the quality between the teams is huge and the Gooners have only lost one Premier League match at Carrow Road and have scored nine goals in the last three matches vs Norwich, winning all three. Alex Neill has tightened up his defence since leaking six at Newcastle, conceding just 2 at City and one at Chelsea last weekend, whilst winning their previous game at home, beating Swansea 1-0. Arsenal will be favourites to bounce back with a win – a failure to do so will really bring those challenging the top four into play. ie Spurs.

Alex Neil has admitted that ‘you’re always concerned when you don’t win games’. No s**t Sherlock! However he feels that they’ve found a balance in recent week. He’s insisted that they will have to become a team that changes their style from week to week. We all know what that means, rotation. Russel Martin will return to the squad for the game on Sunday but Alex Tetty continues to miss out.

The Gunners should have everyone available from the Zagreb game, while Oxlade-Chamberlin should also make the squad. Francis Coquelin is facing three months out having picked up a medial knee ligament injury in the game against West Brom. Mikel Arteta will miss the Norwich game with what Wenger described as a short-term injury. Theo Walcott continues to miss out but he has started running and has had no reaction. Not for the first time Wenger decided to speak in riddles when after informing us that Alexis Sanchez is suffering discomfort in his hamstring he then went on to say ‘I will assess that later. It might not be the right time to rest him’. Thanks for clearing things up Arsene. Unsurprisingly Jack Wilshere, Danny Welbeck and Tomas Rosicky continue to miss out.

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Suspension Report

Those players who are suspended for GW14 are as follows:

Lucas Leiva (Liverpool)
Graziano Pelle (Southampton)
Bamidele Alli (Spurs)
Billy Jones (Sunderland)
Jonjo Shelvey (Swansea)
Chris Brunt (West Brom)
James Collins (West Ham)
Mark Noble (West Ham)

It’s worth being aware that any player who receives five yellow cards before 31st December will receive an automatic one match ban. Those players currently sitting on four yellows are:

Ciaran Clark (Aston Villa)
Matt Ritchie (Bournemouth)
Yohan Cabaye (Crystal Palace)
Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace)
James McCarthy (Everton)
Robert Huth (Leicester)
Emre Can (Liverpool)
Nathaniel Clyne (Liverpool)
Eliaquim Mangala (Man City)
Cheik Tiote (Newcastle)
Sebastian Bassong (Norwich)
Oriol Romeu (Southampton)
Glenn Whelan (Stoke)
Ashley Williams (Swansea)
Matthew Connolly (Watford)
Allan-Romeo Nyom (Watford)
Claudio Yacob (West Brom)

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Thanks for reading Team Talk Fantasy Football Game-week 14. This article was written by Cookie

Follow @SteveCook9

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