Team Talk Fantasy Football Game-week 12

Team Talk Fantasy Football GW12

An international break awaits us post GW12, so it’s time to set up your team correctly and get the most out of your squad before we get to put our feet up and hope our players get through the subsequent fortnight injury free! It’s been another interesting week which has seen Remi Garde arrive at Villa, continued speculation on the future of Jose Mourinho and a busy week of Champions League and Europa League action. Our game-week starts off down at Bournemouth with Newcastle the visitors Saturday lunchtime and then onto the 3pm kick offs. Vardy and Mahrez will hope to carry on their great form and break down a stubborn Hornet’s nest, United welcome West Brom while Norwich and Swansea do battle, Southampton hope to be this week’s beneficiaries of the charity that is Sunderland and Everton visit the capital to play West Ham. The evening kick off sees struggling Chelsea travel to Stoke – not the ideal place when you need a result. Sunday could be a big points day with City the guests at Garde’s Villa Park welcome party, Liverpool look to follow last week’s win at Chelsea when they entertain the Lord and his courtiers and we have the North London derby at the Emirates.
Much to get through, let’s go Around the Grounds and see what our managers have had to say.

Bournemouth vs Newcastle (Sat 7 Nov 12.45)
Things are not getting any easier for Eddie Howe and Bournemouth – a third successive defeat last weekend has seen them drop to just a place above the relegation zone and this week’s visitors. A win for the travelling Toon would indeed see them plunge the Cherries into the drop zone, while it could give Newcastle the impetus to climb up the league a few places over the forthcoming weeks. Newcastle continue to confuse all and sundry – last week’s 0-0 draw with Stoke was their first clean sheet since they achieved the same scoreline at United in GW3. If there is any crumb of comfort for Bournemouth, and we are clutching at huge straws here, is that they matched Southampton for large parts of the 2nd half last week and are unbeaten at home to the Toon in the history of this fixture – but bear in mind those matches have come in the form of one lower league match, one FA cup tie and a League Cup tie in 1963.

Eddie Howe says that keeper Artur Boruc and defender Steve Cook (great player, questionable fantasy manager) will need to be assessed late, but will be given every opportunity of making the game. The manager praised Harry Arter’s impact on the team since his return and is expecting more from him as the season progresses. Still missing are Tommy Elphick, Max Gradel, Tyrone Mings and Callum Wilson.

Good news for the Toon as keeper Rob Elliot and defenders Daryl Janmaat and Kevin Mbabu have all been passed fit. Midfielder Jack Colback remains missing while Rolando Aarons faces 3-4 weeks on the sidelines with a twisted ankle. Manager Steve McClaren says there are other peripheral injuries as well as longer term absentees Tim Krul, Steven Taylor and Gabriel Obertan.

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Leicester vs Watford (Sat 7 Nov 15.00)
Everyone promises us goals in this match – just like they did when Leicester hosted Palace a fortnight ago – and that ended 1-0, so maybe this will not be the exciting goal-filled, points extravaganza that everyone is wishing for. Watford come into the game on the back of two clean sheets and impressive victories over Stoke and West Ham and continue to surprise those who were seeing them relegated before Christmas. Some were also speculating similar for Leicester when Claudio Ranieri replaced Nigel Pearson, but fair play to the Tinkerman, he has adopted an exciting and successful gung-ho policy that has seen the likes of Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy defy logic and subsequently sees the Foxes occupy a lofty third place with only City and Arsenal ahead of them. This has been a fixture generally won by the home side in recent seasons and the stubborn and well-drilled Hornet’s defence will need to be at their resolute best if they are to stop Vardy scoring for the ninth consecutive league match.

Ranieri says that “at the moment everybody is ok. Christian Fuchs is ok. Jamie Vardy is ok.” Good news then. The Italian is also pleased that he has Leonardo Ulloa to call on again, while Matty James is back training with the squad and could be back playing in the New Year.

The good news for Watford is that 7-goal striker Idion Ighalo has shaken off the dead leg he picked up in the win over West Ham and will be fit to lead the line on Saturday. The not so good news is that Jose Manuel Jurado has suffered a setback in his recovery from a hamstring injury and has been ruled out of the trip to Leicester. Valon Behrami is fully fit but is unlikely to replace the inform Ben Watson, while defender Joel Ekstrand remains sidelined.

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Man Utd vs West Brom (Sat 7 Nov 15.00)
There will be a large amount of money placed on this match being last of the Match of the Day running order on Saturday evening, unless LVG takes some philosophy replacement tablets in front of the game. One of these teams has created the fewest chances in the division this season and have failed to score in three of their previous four matches – and the other team is West Brom, who have failed to score in just one of their last six matches. Who’d have thought it eh? Just to confound things further, the Baggies have won the last two at Old Trafford and were somewhat unfortunate to lose to Leicester last weekend, care of some dodgy defending according to Tony Pulis. He was fined £8k for his outburst. For United, things are not clicking offensively and it’ll be interesting to see what LVG does to rectify this – at the back they are solid and have posted three clean sheets on the bounce since being undone at Arsenal.

United scored a goal on Tuesday – wooohoooo!! And it was none other than Wayne Rooney who scored it! Ok it was only CSKA Moscow but who cares? The performance was better as LVG played a 4-4-2 formation rather than the usual sideways, possession, must keep possession formation we have been forced to watch as of late. What happens next is anyone’s guess, but everyone got their wish to see Anthony Martial play up front and the poor chap got subbed off at 62mins after a fairly average showing. United will continue to be without Antonio Valencia, Luke Shaw and Paddy McNair, while Morgan Schneiderlin has been ill but did return to training today and a late decision will be made on him. Matteo Darmian is suspended, so Ashley Young or Phil Jones will fill in at right back.

Tony Pulis, fresh from receiving his FA fine chooses to be as helpful as never, by saying, “We have one or two injury worries, but I’d rather keep those to myself”. You know what, Tone, do one – just bloody do one. You said the same last week so bore off and pay your fine you unhelpful turd. Jonny Evans and Darren Fletcher look forward to a return to Old Trafford – United fans will just be glad Jonny will be wearing an Albion shirt.

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Norwich vs Swansea (Sat 7 Nov 15.00)
The Swans take the cross country flight to Norwich with both sides suffering a slump and in need of a win. Swansea did at least win in GW10, but that was against Villa which hardly counts while the Canaries have now lost four in a row, though they showed last week at City that they have it in them to frustrate and keep the best of attacks quiet. But losing can become a habit and manager Alex Neil needs to earn his salt if he is to lift his players and turn things around. Swansea were beaten 3-0 last week by Arsenal, a scoreline that may have flattered to deceive the Gooners but nonetheless the quality shone through and the inability of Bafetimbi Gomis to finish the easiest of chances is clearly having an effect on his team mates. Norwich have never lost to Swansea in the Premier League at Carrow Road and another win at the weekend will not only prove some relief to Neil but also pile some of the pressure on Garry Monk.

Norwich have been hit by the news that winger Matt Jarvis has been ruled out for a few weeks after damaging knee ligaments at City last week – expect Nathan Redmond to reclaim a starting spot in Jarvis’ absence. Defender Russell Martin was sent off in the same game and is suspended for this week. Andre Wisdom is fully fit, but Dieumerci Mbokani, although over his illness, has only trained once this week and is unlikely to feature. Manager Alex Neill refused to solely blame keeper John Ruddy for the side’s recent performances at the back, saying “to lay the blame at John’s door is wrong – every player is under threat if they are not performing.” There is nice news as Robert Snodgrass, who has missed 15 months through injury, will play in a behind the doors friendly next week.

The Swans travel to Norfolk with a fully fit squad with Wayne Routledge hoping to force his way into the squad after recovering from a calf injury which has kept him out since GW5.

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Sunderland vs Southampton (Sat 7 Nov 15.00)
You know things are bad when a new manager says the side is missing John O’Shea and Younes Kaboul – and it doesn’t bode well for the contract negotiations of Wes Brown and Seabatian Coates either. Last week’s embarrassing meltdown at Goodison keeps the Black Cats firmly entrenched in the relegation zone, with only an abject Villa below them. That’s how good you really were Tim Sherwood!! As for the Saints, Ronald Koeman described the first half of last week’s win over Bournemouth as one of their performances of the season and if they reach anywhere near that level on Saturday then this match could be over by half time. Well, blow me down, Sunderland have won the last three home matches vs the Saints – but then again they’d won the previous two at Goodison also and look what happened there. It’s difficult to see anything other than an away win and more misery for Big Sam – Saints have won at Chelsea and drawn at Liverpool in their last two on the road and Koeman will be stressing the need for professionalism rather than over confidence if they are to challenge for anything other than a Europa League spot again.

Great news, great news! Big Sam reports that O’Shea and Kaboul are back in training – and after last week’s showing, they’ll get a game even if they’re only half fit! Ola Toivonen and Fabio Borini have also returned to the training ground – all four will be available for Saturday. Good news for the ankles and careers of the Saints midfielders as Lee Cattermole has been ruled out.

The Saints report no new injuries, but also no-one returning from injury. Jose Fonte has recovered from the knock he suffered in GW11, Shane Long is back training with the squad but suffered a setback and Jay-Rodriguez is still out. The only change to last week’s squad is the absence of Victor Wanyama, who is suspended following his sending off vs Bournemouth.

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West Ham vs Everton (Sat 7 Nov 15.00)
The Toffees travel down to the east end looking to press on from last week’s demolition of Funderland and this week face the Hammers who they have a superb recent record against, especially at Upton Park, where they have won six and drawn the other in seven league meetings. Roberto Martinez’s men have been ok on the road this season – aside from the loss at Arsenal, they have won at Southampton and West Brom and drawn at Spurs and Swansea, keeping clean sheets in three of those matches. West Ham will look to hit back after going down at Watford last week, with ex-Toffee Slaven Bilic preferring to remind his Irons of their last league match at home when they beat Chelsea. Last week’s loss was the first time West Ham have failed to score in a league match this season and they will be heavily reliant on Dimitri Payet to orchestrate proceedings. Everton’s mantra seems to be that if Romelu Lukaku doesn’t get you then Arouna Kone will…and if all else fails Steven Naismith can come off the bench. What could possibly go wrong?

Hammers chief Slaven Bilic says it will be a special game for him as he welcomes his “other” English club to the Boleyn. However, striker Diafra Sakho has been ruled out of the clash with a thigh injury, but should be ok for after the international break. James Collins is suspended following his red card in the defeat at Watford, but Winston Reid is available again after training well this week. Alex Song is not far away – the midfielder has been training with the first team for over a week and will play in a friendly next Wednesday to build up his match fitness, while Enner Valencia is closing in on a start.

Roberto Martinez spoke up the growing relationship between strikers Romelu Lukaku and Arouna Kone and said they are close off the pitch. I say. Still, everyone enjoys a good love story I guess. It’s Pretty Woman for me, but whatever floats your boat. Interesting times that we live in. The boss denied rumours that Kevin Mirallas is unhappy at the club. Leighton Baines, Mo Besic and Tom Cleverley have all returned to full training but won’t be rushed back and there seems little sense in doing that with an international break imminent. Bryan Oviedo is likely to be missing for three weeks with a hamstring injury, while Phil Jagielka, Steven Pienaar and Tony Hibbert all remain out.

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Stoke vs Chelsea (Sat 7 Nov 17.30)
Ooooops, this wasn’t how it was meant be Jose. Champions, Eden Hazard up there with Messi & Ronaldo, formidable defence, solid midfield, Falcao up front. Arrrrgggghhh there we have it, blame the Colombian. Something oft cried from the FF247 offices. He ruined United last year, now Chelsea this year. Falcao that is, not Mito. I will pre-empt the team news to inform you that Radamel has been ruled out for a few weeks with an injury, so all will be well again. Chelsea can return to winning ways, Hazard will torment defences again, Cesc can create all the assists, JT can shag all the wives and even the doc can come back and they can all be one happy family again. Except…there is no Jose – he has a stadium ban meaning he either doesn’t have to travel up to Stoke or he can sit in the car park with JT’s family and enjoy 90mins of dogging. Neither side is in great form, Stoke have taken just a point from their last two – versus Watford and Newcastle and failed to score in either! Chelsea’s dismal run has been well documented and they won’t need reminding that Stoke recently knocked them out of the Capital One Cup recently. There is huge chat that Mourinho will be sacked if Chelsea don’t win on Saturday evening, so much to play for and in his absence can JT and the boys save their Special One?

Mark Hughes reports that Geoff Cameron has recovered from injury and is available. Fellow defender Marc Muniesa will be out for 2-3 weeks with a hamstring injury, but Phil Bardsley is available after suspension. Marco Van Ginkel is ineligible to face his parent club. Get ready to watch the battle between Ryan Shawcross and Diego Costa – could all kick off here!

Chelsea won this week. Yes, don’t adjust your sets, you heard that correct. The Blues won, the fans sung Jose Mourinho’s name and Diego Costa didn’t kick anyone. They’re back. The last few months have been a strange dream and we must all rush to get some Chelsea boys into our squads. The midweek win has certainly eased the pressure on Jose just a little – though will he survive another loss? If they do lose and Jose gets the chop, Mourinho will go down in history as the first person not to be present at his own execution due to the stadium ban. Jose said he isn’t tempted to be smuggled into the ground in the laundry basket, but will stay with his players as long as possible… presumably in the car park, until the action (on the pitch) begins. You already know that Falcao is out along with Thibaut Courtois – the good news for Stoke is that Branislav Ivanovic is fit again as is Pedro who played in the Champions League victory.

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Aston Villa vs Man City (Sun 8 Nov 13.30)
All I can think is that Remi Garde must have one hell of a sense of humour – either that or he hates his mrs and wants her to move from the vineyards and boulevards of central France to the international tourist trap that is Birmingham. There are, in fact nice parts of Birmingham. But Aston Villa ain’t one of them, mon ami. However, I will give our relationship every chance to flourish, though I am sceptical we will become close friends. Not like me and Klopp. First up for Monsieur Garde is City at home – hahaha unlucky pal! On the positive side, the Villans will now be running out to Yazz’s “The Only Way Is Up”. And most likely, running back to “Down Down Deeper and Down”. It’s pretty tough to try and find some positives for Garde, except that Sergio Aguero isn’t about. City are top, Villa are bottom, there should only be one winner. Garde likes his team to play attacking, imaginatve football and draws comparisons to his mentor, Arsene Wenger – i.e. he won’t spend a load of money and will go trophyless for years. This is too easy. Let’s see how he treated me in his first presser.

Remi didn’t give much away regarding team news and like any new manager he will have his own ideas. He said it is a fresh start for each squad player and it’s up to them to impress in training and then on the pitch as and when they get the opportunity. Micah Richards is available once again after missing the loss at Spurs through suspension.

City were impressive 3-1 winners in Seville midweek – and all that without Sergio Aguero, David Silva and a benched Kevin de Bruyne. KdB will start on Sunday, but Kun and Silva remain out, with Manuel Pellegrini saying he hopes Silva’s ankle with be ok after the international break. Kun is expected to be “there or thereabouts” after the internationals also. Gael Clichy and Fabian Delph are described as “back, but maybe not ready to start”. The manager did also say that he hopes all of the players will have recovered after the international break, “then we can rotate more”. Uh oh!!

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Arsenal vs Spurs (Sun 8 Nov 16.00)
Ah the North London derby, when Spurs big themselves up, give it all the chat about how it’s going to be their day and year….and then Arsenal win. Especially at the Emirates where Tottenham have only won once in the Premier League and that was five years ago. Jeez, Arsenal have already beaten their neighbours this season in the Capital One Cup – and they let Mathieu Flamini score twice for fun. Fair play to Spurs, they are fifth and haven’t lost since the opening day defeat at Old Trafford. Arsenal meanwhile are flying, as they normally are this side of Christmas – last week’s 3-0 win at Swansea was their fifth win on the spin, putting them joint top with City. Spurs saw off Villa on Monday night, but switched off massively in the second half – any behaviour like that on Sunday and they’ll suffer a second defeat of the season. The Goonies have conceded just once in four games and look a solid outfit – the likes of Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen will need to work harder than was necessary vs Villa.

Oh Arsenal. Oh Arsene. What are we to do with you?! So buoyant going into Wednesday’s Champions League match vs Bayern before two more injuries hit the squad in the shape of defenders Laurent Koscielndy and Hector Bellerin. Things didn’t improve from there as the Gooners were trounced and just grateful to see the ball in the second half when Bayern stopped playing after the fourth goal. Bellerin has been ruled out of the derby this weekend, though Koscielny “may be back” according to Wenger – the manager gives him an 80% chance of playing. Mathieu Debuchy will deputise at right back. Ouch. Debuchy’s only other league appearance this season was in the opening day home defeat to West Ham. He also played in the Gooners 3-0 Capital One Cup defeat at Sheffield Wednesday and in Bayern’s light training session on Wednesday. Fortunately and a tad surprisingly, Wenger reports no injuries from their trip to Bayern – one would of thought Petr Cech’s back would of gone after continually picking the ball out of the net, while a few of the team should have suffered dizziness after being run ragged by ze Germans. So that just leaves Theo Walcott, Aaron Ramsey, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jack Wellshit, Tomas Rosicky and Danny Welbeck still missing. Not in action. Mikel Arteta and David Ospina have returned to training.

Spurs warmed up for the derby with a Europa victory over Anderlecht on Thursday, with Harry Kane and Mousa Demeble again the scoring heroes. Dembele has now scored in three consecutive games while Kane has five in his last three matches. Ryan Mason played 77mins before being replaced by Demeble while Heung-Min Son made his comeback off the bench. Danny Rose was rested vs Anderlecht as he wasn’t 100% after suffering a dead leg in Monday’s win – he should be ok for the derby, but Nabil Bentaleb, Nacer Chadli and Alex Pritchard will continue to miss out.

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Liverpool vs Crystal Palace (Sun 8 Nov 16.00)
The Klopp effect. Three opening draws, then they kicked on with a Cup win over Bournemouth before piling more misery on Chelsea last week at the Bridge. And now they’re going to win the league. Lovely. Almost Pardew-esque. Now that is a marriage made in heaven – the Lord in charge at Liverpool one day – please, please someone make it happen one day, it’ll be soooooo much fun. But for now, the Lord has much work to do in his Palace – the Eagles are three matches without a win and just one goal scored in that time – pretty much since he was talking up the “top of the table” clash with West Ham. Which they lost and they’re now mid table. With Liverpool. Palace, of course, bring back awful memories for the scousers – and eternally happy ones for me. Remember that night at Selhurst Park two season ago? Palace 3 down but 3 goals in the last ten minutes forced a draw and got Suarez crying. How we cried too. Tears of joy and happiness. Since then Palave have won both matches vs Liverpool by 3-1. Unlikely to happen again with Klopp’s inspiration now working it’s magic. Going back to that night, there is big speculation Klopp is trying to get Gerrard back. Yes, do it please – go Jurgen, go!! Slippy can always be relied upon to deliver when the pressure is on in April and all you have to do is trap the ball and pass it sideways. And avoid Demba Ba. D’oh!

Klopp benched Philippe Coutinho and Adam Lallana for their 1-0 victory at Rubin Kazan on Thursday. The manager said Coutinho had a minor hamstring issue and last week’s hero stayed on the bench, while Lallana had a knock, but Klopp said he could have played and indeed came off the bench after 61mins. Both should be fine for Sunday. Christian Benteke played 90mins. Jordan Henderson, Danny Ings, Daniel Sturridge and Joe Gomez all remain out.

The Lord says he still has issues up front with Connor Wickham and Marouane Chamakh not quite ready for Sunday, while Dwight Gayle is struggling and will need to be assessed late on. Yannick Bolasie could play as a striker. Better news of Pape Souare, who has been passed fit with Pardew saying the defender will play at Anfield. On the keeper situation, the Lord said that Wayne Hennessey has to play well to keep his place as Julian Speroni is now ready to play and Alex McCarthy is also ready to step in.

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Suspension Report

Those players who are suspended for GW12 are as follows:

Matteo Darmian (Man Utd)
Russell Martin (Norwich)
Victor Wanyama (Southampton)
James Collins (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)
Yohan Cabaye (Crystal Palace)
Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace)
Lucas Leiva (Liverpool)
Eliaquim Mangala (Man City)
Oriol Romeu (Southampton)
Bamidele Alli (Spurs)
Erik Lamela (Spurs)
Billy Jones (Sunderland)
Jonjo Shelvey (Swansea)
Ashley Williams (Swansea)
Allan-Romeo Nyom (Watford)
Claudio Yacob (West Brom)
Mark Noble (West Ham)

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Thanks for reading Team Talk Fantasy Football Game-week 12. This article was written by Cookie

Follow @SteveCook9

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