Around the Grounds FPL Team News Game-week 3

Around the Grounds FPL Team News Game-week 3

Welcome to Around the Grounds FPL Team News Game-week 3. No Friday night matches this week I’m afraid – no Monday match either, just the standard two-day working week – now you know how the average Frenchman feels. Our game-week begins Saturday lunchtime at the Lane, with Kane vs Mane and ends at the Etihad as Gold’s Hammers take on Silva’s City. In between there is plenty to get our teeth into with Christian Benteke beginning life at Palace and Yannick Bolasie and Ashley Williams hoping to start for Everton. Zlatan will look to continue to please his owners as United face fellow table toppers Hull. Don’t forget there is an international break between GW3 & 4. Now the managers have started the season a tad naughtily, not disclosing injuries in their pressers (Andy Carroll, Dimitri Payet, Victor Valdes etc) much to the chagrin of many an FPL manager. Let’s go Around the Grounds to see if they can be more helpful this week.

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Spurs vs Liverpool (Sat 27 Aug 12.30)
After destroying Arsenal in GW1, Liverpool were humbled at Burnley last week in a performance that was by all accounts “dreadful”. They were able to bounce back in midweek…..vs Burton and now travel to the Lane to face the Spurs, who they have not lost against in seven meetings. Spurs themselves are not firing yet but did manage to claim their first win of the season last week when they scraped past Palace. Both matches between the two last season ended in a draw – much here may well depend on whether we get a “vs Burnley” or “vs Burton” performance from Liverpool.

Spurs will continue to be without the injured Hugo Lloris and the suspended Mousa Dembele. Manager Mauricio Pochettino expects Lloris to be ready to return after the international break. Defender Kevin Wimmers is fit again after recovering from a hamstring injury, while Heung-Min Son also comes back into contention. Nabil Bentaleb and DeAndre Yedlin have both left the club.

Divock Origi and Emre Can are both very doubtful for the early trip to Spurs after both picked up knocks at Burton. Can has injured the ankle that he has had problems with in the past – both are unlikely to be risked unnecessarily. Philippe Coutinho will be assessed after training on Friday as he is struggling with a hamstring injury and wasn’t risked in midweek, but Sadio Mane returned from his shoulder injury to play 90mins at Burton, so he is fine. Still out are Loris Karius, Mamadou Sakho, Joe Gomez and Lucas.

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Chelsea vs Burnley (Sat 27 Aug 15.00)
The conquerors of Liverpool travel to the Bridge for what will likely be a sterner test as Antonio Conte’s men endeavour to make it three wins out of three and maintain their position at the top before City, United and Hull play. Burnley held the Blues to a 1-1 draw at the Bridge when the two met in 2015, though Chelsea won the three matches previous to that. One to watch is Branislav Ivanovic who has scored in the last two meetings vs Burnley.

Sean Dyche is expected to name an unchanged team for the trip to west London with Andre Gray looking set to play up front despite the FA charge hanging over him. Only striker Ashley Barnes is a definite absentee with a hamstring injury. Dyche is very relieved to get the first win under their belts and is looking for a similar battling performance at Chelsea.

Willian returned to training on Thursday after recovering from his calf injury and manager Antonio Conte says he will make a late decision as to whether the Brazilian can feature at Burnley. Ola Aina picked up a knock in the week with the manager hoping it is not serious – with Kurt Zouma still missing, the Blues only have four fit defenders if Aina is crocked, a situation that leaves Conte “a bit worried”. It could be an interesting last few days of the transfer window at Chelsea with Conte implying the club are desperately trying to recruit “in a difficult market”. For now, Conte and his team are focused are securing win no.3.

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Crystal Palace vs Bournemouth (Sat 27 Aug 15.00)
Poor starts for both clubs leaves Palace and Bournemouth rooted to the bottom of the league alongside Moyesie’s Giants and looking for their first points. Both teams suffered tight 1-0 defeats in London town last week, but the Premier League offers no sympathy, especially where Lord Pardew is concerned. The Lord was chuffed to finally seal the acquisition of Christian Benteke and the striker started and played 45mins in the midweek League Cup win. Tekkers will be key as to how Palace’s season pans out – in fact he may be key to how Palace’s weekend pans out for the Eagles haven’t beaten Bournemouth in any of their last four meetings, losing three of those.

Beneteke however is likely to start on the bench given his lack of preseason and gametime thus far, leaving Connor Wickham to start up front. Pardew says the club has rejected a bid from Spurs for Wilfried Zaha, so we’ll have to wait and see what develops there. Wayne Hennessey and Joe Ledley are both struggling, so Steve Mandanda is expected to start in goal if Hennessey is ruled out, while Damien Delaney should be ok if called upon.

Junior Stanislas could come into contention after making his first appearance of the season in midweek. New signing Marc Wilson debuted vs Morecambe and is also pressing Eddie Howe for a starting spot with the manager expecting a physical battle at Palace. Only Tyrone Mings is a definite absentee with the left back still building up his fitness after his knee injury.

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Everton vs Stoke (Sat 27 Aug 15.00)
With just one point so far, Stoke find themselves just a single place outside of the relegation zone – but it is early days and plenty of time for Mark Hughes to sort things out. Hughes take the Potters back to one of his old stomping grounds this week to face an Everton team who sit in 5th place, courtesy of last week’s win at West Brom. Romelu Lukaku, Ashley Williams and Yannick Bolasie all played 90mins in the Toffees’ midweek Cup win over Yeovil to give Ronald Koeman a big boost in terms of selection. For Stoke, matches are not yet must win, but Hughes will be keen to lift confidence with their first win of the season and having won on their last two trips to Goodison, the Welshman will be hoping that history repeats itself.

Everton will again be without Seamus Coleman and Mo Besic and have doubts for Saturday regarding Tom Cleverley, Darron Gibson and James McCarthy. Koeman says some of his squad are not yet at 100%, which we believe to be Lukaku and Williams, who both missed preseason. On Lukaku, the manager said, “I am not worried about Romelu scoring goals. He is still not 100% at his physical level. If he has two chances, he will score one. ” Oh Ronald, you have much to learn my friend.

Hughes says Peter Crouch’s League Cup hat-trick has given him something to think about and is quoted as saying, “my thinking may well be shaped by Tuesday’s win” – maybe a reprieve for Crouch then and if he takes his chance he’ll be back playing for England with John Terry soon! On the injury front, Xherdan Shaqiri has a chance of a return, but he will be assessed after training today as he is still suffering from some tightness. Jack Butland and Glen Johnson won’t be rushed back and will likely be given the extra time over the international break to build up fitness ready for GW4. Stephen Ireland and Ibrahim Afellay remain long term absentees.

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Leicester vs Swansea (Sat 27 Aug 15.00)
A tough season was predicted by many for the Foxes and it’s turning out that way it seems – humbled at home by Hull in GW1, the Champions did at least steady the ship with a battling draw with Arsenal. This week the Swans come to town – the enigmatic Swans who won at Burnley and then lost at home to Hull, making this match very difficult to predict. Riyad Mahrez has happy memories of playing Swansea – he scored four times vs them last season, including a hat-trick at the Liberty as Leicester completed the double ove the Welshies.

The Champions will be without midfield enforcer Nampalys Mendy who got booked and limped off after just 52mins of his debut last weekend. Defender Jeffrey Schlupp also misses out, but Claudio Ranieri hopes to have both back after the international break. Ritchie de Laet has decided to join Aston Villa but fellow defender, Yohan Benalouane has recovered from a back injury.

Swansea’s record signing Borja Baston again misses out but should start training and should be available soon after the international break – young striker Oliver McBurnie will travel with the squad to Leicester after scoring twice in midweek. Also on the bus will be midfield lynchpin Leon Britton, while Neil Taylor will play for the U23s on Friday as he builds up his fitness, so Stephen Kingsley will get another start.

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Southampton vs Sunderland (Sat 27 Aug 15.00)
Oh dear. The words “Moyes” and “pointless” are again included in the same sentence as the Black Cats look as though they are in for a tough, long, relegation-battling season. They’ll be planes flying over the Stadium of Light soon. Poor old Moyesie. Sunderland travel down to the south coast this week to face Southampton who are also looking for their first win after being Capoue’d and Zlatan’d in the first two game-weeks. Many of us will recall the Saints knocking eight past Sunderland two seasons ago and while we are not predicting anything similar this time around, a home win seems the hot favourite for the weekend.

Saints defender Ryan Bertrand has returned to training this week, but manager Claude Puel has not yet decided if the left back will feature on Saturday – midfielder Oriol Romeu is ok to play despite limping off early in the defeat at Old Trafford last week. Defender Jeremy Pied picked up a knee injury in midweek and is expected to be missing for a few weeks while Puel says Jose Fonte is staying at the club, despite speculation linking him with a move to Man Utd.

Moyesie confirms that keeper Vito Mannone has torn ligaments in his elbow and will be out for a minimum of three months – Jordan Pickford will deputise with Moyes saying that the club will be in the market for another keeper to cover for Pickford. So, wildcarders, you have been given a 4mln starting keeper in Pickford. New loanee Javier Manquillo has a good chance of starting at Southampton, presumably in place of Donald Love, while Fabio Borini may also be available. Lamine Kone will be checked after training on Friday, though it would appear he has little interest in playing for the club unless a massive contract comes his way, while Jan Kirchoff remains, John O’Shea continues to struggle with a hip problem and Steven Pienaar and Jeremain Lens are also doubts. Bit of a mess really.

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Watford vs Arsenal (Sat 27 Aug 15.00)
It’s been a slow start for both sides – maybe not the biggest surprise with the fixtures for both sides though. Perhaps this weekend signals a change of fortunes for the Gooners who have won all six Premier League meetings with the Hornets and triumphed 3-0 at Vicarage Road last season – with the fitness of their Euro trash improving it would be a wise FPL manager who considers some Gooner coverage. Watford battled hard and only went down late on to Chelsea last weekend and will be looking for the same level of committment vs the Gooners.

Chief Hornet Walter Mazzarri is buzzing with his new signings Roberto Pereyra, Daryl Janmaat and Younes Kaboul and says all three could feature vs the Gooners, but not all three will start the match. Pereyra, who has joined from Juventus, is clearly the most exciting and is described by his manager as an “eclectic player who can play on the wing, as an external striker and a more offensive player”. Isaac Success returned to training on Thursday and could also feature this weekend and Ben Watson is available after suspension. Tommie Hoban has joined Blackburn on a season-long loan.

All those new signings for Watford will only highlight the Arsenal fans displeasure at Monsieur Wenger’s frugal nature, although the Frenchman is 99% confident that a deal or two will be completed very soon with specualtion that Shkodran Mustafi and Lucas Perez are both having medicals at the club today. Wenger says the sqaud for the short trip to Watford will be the same as last week, though Mesut Ozil and Olivier Giroud should be closer to a start after a good week of training behind them – Wenger says Giroud is “a fraction behind Ozil physically.” Rob Holding will again partner Laurent Koscielny at the back.

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Hull vs Man Utd (Sat 27 Aug 17.30)
Four teams have taken maximum points from their opening two matches – while most of us are not surprised to see Chelsea, City and United as three of those teams, the inclusion of Hull into the quartet will have shocked most if not all. But there they all – at the summit with the big boys, and deservedly so. Of course, no-one expects it to last and many of us will be hoping that Zlatan continues his impressive start to life in the Premier League – three goals in two matches for the Swede has rewarded those who owned him from the start. Well, I have bad news for you lot – I bought him in the week, so expect his returns to dry up and you’ll all be wasting 11.5mln of your FPL budget. My pleasure.

After two successive wins, Hull caretaker manager Mike Phelan doesn’t see the need to change too much – which is a bit of a result bearing in mind he barely has any more players he can call on. Harry Maguire has given him a boost mind you and is back in contention though a place on the bench is the best he can hope for at the moment. Shaun Maloney impressed vs Liverpool and is pressing for a start, while Michael Dawson, Alex Bruce and Allan McGregor all remain out.

A very uneventful presser from Jose revealed no injuries in the camp and a desire to keep winning and keep improving. Chris Smalling will be pushing for a start at the back, while Henrikh Mkhitaryan will also be hoping for a first start in an United shirt.

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West Brom vs Middlesbrough (Sun 28 Aug 13.30)
The Sabbath, we are told, is a day of rest – and that’s exactly what I’ll be doing while this match is on. I guess there will be some interest with the likes of Ben Foster, Gareth McAuley and Alvaro Negredo in many a team – but it’s not likely to be a classic by any stretch of the imagination. The Baggies have won the previous four meetings between the two, scoring eleven goals and conceding none – but this is a Baggie team who lost at home to Everton last weekend before being kicked out of the League Cup midweek by lowly Northampton. Not all is well at the Hawthorns and it wouldn’t be the biggest surprise to see Boro continue their unbeaten start to the season.

In his presser, Tony Pulis failed to mention Jonny Evans who has been struggling with a hip injury, while Evans’ potential replacement Brendan Galloway came off during the defeat to Northampton with a knock. The only definite absentee is Chris Brunt. Pulis didn’t mention much in actual fact, so neither will I.

Boro have an issue at left back after George Friend and Fabio were both forced off with injury in the midweek Cup defeat at Fulham – manager Aitor Karanka says Fabio is definitely ruled out, while Friend has a muscle injury and the manager says, “I don’t like to take risks with muscle injuries, especially with an international break. Antonio Barragan or Emilio Nsue could fill in on the left if required. Brad Guznan will continue in goal as Victor Valdes has been ruled out once again, while Grant Leadbitter and Marten de Roon both remain sidelined.

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Man City vs West Ham (Sun 28 Aug 16.00)
Feet up, grab the remote and check for the 27th time this weekend that you did captain Kun! Many will of course captained Zlatan and it seems like FPL is split right now – Zlatan has arguably the better fixture, but can you ignore Kun at home? We shall see. What we do know is that City have already scored six in their opening two matches, Kun has scored half of those and has indeed scored in eight of his last nine league matches. The Hammers did win at the Etihad last season and Slaven Bilic will certainly be reminding his team of that.

Pep says new keeper Claudio Bravo will not play vs West Ham, so expect Wally Caballero to continue between the sticks this weekend, with Joe Hart likely to be spending most of the next few days looking for a new club. Striker Kelechi Iheanacho is fine after the midweek scare, while Pep took time to praise Aleksandar Kolarov’s performances as a central defender. Vincent Kompany, Bacary Sagna, Leroy Sane and Ilkay Gundogan all remain unavailable.

Hammers midfielder Havard Nordtveit picked up a foot injury in Thursday’s Europa defeat and is unlikely to be fit for the trip to City, but there is better news of Mark Noble who should be ok. Dimitri Payet and Manuel Lanzini will both be given as much time as possible to prove their fitness, but Bilic says maybe just one of them will feature – neither were on the bench on Thursday evening and neither will be risked on Sunday if they are not ready. Aaron Cresswell, Andre Ayew, Sofiane Feghouli, Diafra Sakho and Andy Carroll are all ruled out but Bilic doesn’t see a reason why the Hammers cannot create another shock at the Etihad.

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Thanks for reading Around the Grounds FPL Team News Game-week 3. This article was written by Cookie

Follow @SteveCook9

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Fixture Tracker – the next 6 games

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