Team Talk Fantasy Football Game-week 17

Team Talk Fantasy Football GW17

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Welcome to GW17 and the final TeamTalk before Christmas. And because it’s the festive time of the year, I have a little song for you to summarise our season so far:

On the 12th day of Christmas
My true love sent to me,
Twelve Lukaku goals
Eleven Butland bonus points
Ten Ighalo finishes
Nine United clean sheets
Eight Deulofeu assists
Seven Jose excuses
Six Wilshere setbacks
Five Wenger zips
Four Chelsea wins
Three Kun comebacks
Two big eyes of Ozil
And Leicester top of the tree.

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The things I do for you all eh?! Right, let’s get on with it. The schedule this week has been kind to those who have been presented with a Christmas “to-do” list by their better half as we have no early match and a Saturday evening match of little interest to most. We kick off with six 3pm kick-offs as Chelsea host Sunderland, Everton and Leicester likely produce a goal fest, Norwich travel to Man Utd, Southampton welcome Spurs, Palace go to Stoke and West Brom entertain Bournemouth. The evening sees Newcastle and Villa do battle zzzzzzzzz. Sunday sees Klopp’s Liverpool travel down to Watford for a lunch time kick off and then at 4pm Swansea host West Ham. The best is saved for last however and it’s another Monday evening special as Arsenal play Man City at the Emirates.
Let’s Go Around the Grounds to catch up on the latest team news.

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Chelsea vs Sunderland (Sat 19 Dec 15.00)
The Special One has been sniped and turned into the Special Gone. Poor old Jose losing his job just eight days before Christmas – just think what a shite Christmas his mrs and kids are going to have now. “Papa, Papa, can we watch the footy?” – slap! Oh dear. Told you weeks ago, these Russians are bloody ruthless – one misplaced comment and “bang, bang”, game over. Obviously the loss at Leicester and Jose’s comments after the game were just too much for Roman the Executioner and the rest is, alas, history. Loved by some, loathed by more, this article will be a lot poorer without our mate, while the Premier League will be a lot quieter and the FA fine pool a lot emptier. The Blues start the gameweek in 16th place, just three points and three places above their opposition this week. A huge relegation six pointer awaits and it’s possible, although unlikely, that a Black Cat win at the Bridge will see the Champions in the bottom three at Christmas – of course other results would have to follow for that to happen, so it is not likely, but in this season of crazy results and unpredictability, nothing should be written off. Not even a Sunderland win here as they won at the Bridge two seasons ago.

With no presser from Chelsea today, there is no official injury news. However, I understand that Eden Hazard didn’t train with the first team squad today and one would therefore assume he is a huge doubt to play any part this weekend. The only other injury in the squad is Radamel Falcao. Steve Holland and Eddie Newton took training today and will be in charge of the team vs Sunderland, with the media reporting that Guus Hiddink will be appointed caretaker manager soon.

So just when Big Sam was looking forward to taking on a manager distanced from his team, the opportunity has been taken away from him and he must now be fearful of a backlash from the Chelsea players, who may feel set free with Jose now offski. Black Cat defender Sebastian Coates will miss the duel at the Bridge as he is suffering with an illness, but Younes Kaboul comes back into the squad. Midfielders Lee Cattermole and Seb Larsson continue to miss out through injury.

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Everton vs Leicester (Sat 19 Dec 15.00)
We could go through the stats, the form players, the records, the excitement, the attacking endeavour, but let’s face it all everyone is expecting here is goals, goals, goals. The managers Roberto Martinez and Claudio Ranieri don’t do defending, in 32 matches between them this season, we have seen a total of just seven clean sheets and 43 goals conceded. Leicester have scored in every game, Everton have scored in every game since GW7. Leicester are top of the league after seeing off Championship-bound Chelsea on Monday, while Everton lie 10th after failing to see off Norwich last week, despite creating chance after chance in the first half. Five of the last six meetings between these two have ended in draws and maybe this one will too, but it won’t be a 0-0!

Martinez says that James McCarthy remains a doubt for the weekend – the defensive midfielder has missed the last two matches, but has started running and will be assessed before the weekend. Ross Barkley owners will be keen for McCarthy to return as it will allow Barkley to play further up the pitch than has been evident in the draws with Palace and Norwich. John Stones has suffered knocks to his ankle and knee but has trained fine this week and will play on Saturday, while Stones’ preferred partner at the back, Phil Jagielka, has a chance of returning before the end of the year. Steven Pienaar should also be back soon as he has started full training with the squad and needs to just pick up his tempo.

The Foxes chances of a rare clean sheet have been further damaged by Robert Huth’s suspension this week, with Ranieri having to decide between Yohan Benalouane or Marcin Wasilweski….oh dear. I did tell you it wouldn’t be 0-0. Jeffrey Schlupp has been ruled out for 4-6 weeks with a hamstring injury, while Danny Drinkwater won’t be risked at Goodison but should be available for the trip to Anfield on Boxing Day. Ritchie de Laet remains out also, while Ranieri says he has spoken to his key men Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez and told them they won’t be leaving in January.

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Man Utd vs Norwich (Sat 19 Dec 15.00)
Time at United for LVG may be coming to an end if some of this week’s reports are to be believed. Pep wants to come to the Premier League and Ancelotti would love to manage United, apparently. The United old guard are not enjoying life, while the majority of the Old Trafford faithful are about as happy with the style of football as Scrooge was on Christmas Eve morning. United’s loss at Bournemouth last weekend was the fifth game without a win in all competitions and came just a few days after the Reds crashed out of the Champions League. Norwich meanwhile are being Norwich – not really doing much, not really going anywhere, they staged a spirited comeback to secure a draw vs Everton last week in a game they could have won and could have lost. Unsurprisingly, the Canaries have yet to win at Old Trafford in the Premier League, but if LVG fails to lift his players and if Norwich can repeat their 2nd half spririt of last week and Cameron Jerome can remember how to finish a tap-in then maybe we’re in for another shock.

Better news on the injury front for United as LVG says that Wayne Rooney, Chris Smalling and Ander Herrera have all trained for a full week and are available for a return to the side. Ashley Young is “progressing” and will be assessed late, but Matteo Darmian and Jesse Lingard remain unavailable as of course do Marcos Rojo, Luke Shaw and Antonio Valencia. Bastian Schweinsteiger continues to enjoy his traditional winter break due to suspension – these Germans are not stupid.

Alex Neil is expecting a tough game at Old Trafford but has confidence in his team and is confident in their ability to repeat last week’s 2nd half performance and get something out of the game. The Canaries will be without Andre Wisdom who picked up a hamstring injury last week, while Matt Jarvis remains out, but could feature over the festive period. Wes Hoolahan has recovered from a knock and is available. Keeper John Ruddy will travel with the squad despite the ongoing club investigation into reports he was involved in a fight outside a nightclub last Saturday night.

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Southampton vs Spurs (Sat 19 Dec 15.00)
This game is likely to be as thrilling as listening to the Spurs fans sing, “Come on you Spurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrs”. Both teams are on a dismal run of form that is threatening to destablise their season just when both were starting to show some promise. The Saints have failed to win any of their last four and are heading rapidly to Chelsea territory, while Spurs have won just one of their last five and lost at home to Newcastle last week. Hahaha how the Gooners loved that one. The teams shared four goals in this fixture last season with Graziano Pelle scoring both goals for the Saints – the Italian greaseball has somehow scored six goals and created five assists this season but has only contributed one goal since GW9. Before the draw last season, Spurs had won the previous five meetings between the two.

Good news for fans of the greaseball as Ronald Koeman says his striker has recovered from injury and is expected to come straight back into the side. The news is not so good at the other end of the pitch however as Maarten Stekelenburg will miss out again with a toe injury, and with Fraser Forster still unavailable, good old Paulo Gazzaniga will be between the posts again. Super news for suffering Harry Kane owners, especially with Koeman predicting an open game!

Spurs will leave it late to assess Mousa Dembele after the midfielder missed the defeat to Newcastle due to illness – Mauricio Pochettino describes him as close to a return. Ryan Mason remains missing with an ankle injury, while striker Clinton N’Jie has picked up a knee ligament injury and will be out for a while, leaving Spurs down to the bare bones up front with just Harry Kane and Heung Min-Son fit. Where’s Adebayor when you need him?

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Stoke vs Crystal Palace (Sat 19 Dec 15.00)
I have a funny feeling this may resemble more of a chess battle than an epic, free-flowing goal frenzy. Palace have only kept one clean sheet on the road all season, but in all the other matches they have only ever conceded one, while Stoke have kept seven clean sheets in their last nine matches, with Watford the only visiting team to score more than once at the Britannia this season. Now I give Lord Pardew a whole load of stick, but I’m a fair man and I’ll give credit where it’s due. He has taken Palace to the heights of sixth place, he has orchestrated wins at Chelsea and Kloppfield and he has got his team playing decent football along the way, despite resembling the bloke who can only be loved by his mother. The problem with this game is that Stoke love to sit back and counter, using the pace of Shaqiri, Affelay and Arnautovic, while Palace like to, errrm sit back and counter, using the pace of Bolasie and Zaha and the creation of Cabaye. So load up on your defenders ladies and gentlemen.

Mark Hughes is expecting Xherdan Shaqiri to be ok for the match after the creative midfielder returned to training this week. However, Geoff Cameron, Marc Muniesa and Peter Crouch all miss out and Phil Bardsley and Stephen Ireland will need late checks.

The Lord spoke a lot about himself at the presser, as per usual, detailing how he believes things couldn’t have gone any better at Palace…..since he came in. He did report that his squad have no new injuries and could welcome Joe Ledley back into the squad. Mile Jedinak is progressing and will be given every chance to prove his fitness, but Dwight Gayle and Bakary Sako will again miss out.

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West Brom vs Bournemouth (Sat 19 Dec 15.00)
Both teams come into this one side by side in the league and on the crest of a wave. The Baggies are unbeaten in four, which includes a win over the Goonies and a draw at Anfield last week, while Bournemouth have recorded back-to-back wins over Chelsea and United just as we thought their crippling injury list would propel them straight back to the Championship. The styles of the teams differ greatly of course – Bournemouth like to play the ball around with a smile on their face, while the Baggies have been Pulised into battling, fighting, snarling, brickwalling teams and will do anything to take the spoils. But one should always play to one’s strengths I suppose, though if Bournemouth happen to escape with just one major injury after this weekend then I’m sure Eddie Howe will be a relieved man.

A more helpful presser from Pulis this week – maybe he’s softening. Or maybe he’s just feeling the Christmas spirit. Anyhow, he confirmed that Claudio Yacob will again be missing as he is still in Argentina following a family bereavement, but is confident that Stephane Sessegnon will have recovered fully from a hamstring injury to take his place on the bench. The only other definite absentee is keeper Ben Foster, although there is good news for him, and bad news for Boaz Myhill owners, as Foster has returned to training and is understood that he could be available in 2-3 weeks.

Last week’s match winner Joshua King should be ok for Cherries this weekend after training all week despite limping off vs United, while Marc Pugh could come into contention. Christian Atsu and Lee Tomlin have both returned to light training and should be available soon, but Tyrone Mings, Tommy Elphick, Max Gradel and Callum Wilson continue to be sidlelined.

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Newcastle vs Aston Villa (Sat 19 Dec 17.30)
What a season – whatever will happen next? Well, on the basis of the craziness that we have seen so far, Villa will defy the odds and batter Newcastle. And then Remi Garde will wake up and realise that it was all a dream. Villa of course are dreadful and look to be headed down, down, deeper and down. Just one win so far this season sees them marooned at the bottom, eight points from safety, though only nine points off Chelsea. Brilliant, isn’t it? History tells us that being marroned, harpooned or even Tooned at Christmas leads to relegation and more misery for Villa fans. The Toon of course were in a similar boat a few weeks ago, but successive wins over Liverpool and Spurs have provided brief respite and an optimism that survival can be secured. A brief look at the fixture history between these two doesn’t make for happy reading for Villa fans – Newcastle are unbeaten in the last eight meetings between the two and have won each of their last four matches shown live on TV, just as this one is.

Newcastle welcome back Cheick Tiote into the squad after recovering from a knock but aside from him will select from the same squad that won at Spurs last weekend. Steve McClaren was his usual inspirational self at the presser, saying, “The match vs Villa is an opportunity and a challenge to kick on. Can we take it? Are we ready to do it?” Errrr, Macca, stop asking the questions, you fool.

Garde says he feels his team needs at least six points from their four matches over Christmas, which would indeed be a festive miracle in itself given it’s taken them 16 matches to gather six points so far this season. Villa will likely go to Newcastle without captain Micah Richards who is still struggling with a knee injury – he will be given a fitness test late today but if as expected he doesn’t make it, the manager is hopeful the defender should be able to feature at some point over the Christmas run. Ciaran Clark is pushing for a recall if Garde decides to split up Joleon Lescott and Jores Okore in Richards’ absence.

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Watford vs Liverpool (Sun 20 Dec 13.30)
Little did we think that come Christmas Watford would be above Liverpool the weekend before it, but what a first half of the season it has been for the Hornets, built around defensive solidity, team spirit and the partnership of Odion Ighalo and Troy Deeney up front. What Liverpool wouldn’t do for two of those three combos. Of course they now have the team spirit, due to Herr Klopp’s arrival and continuous love-ins and hugs with his crop. However, Klopp’s crop has been blighted by injuries to their strikers, key midfielders and the usual lack of defensive nous – however Rome wasn’t built in a day. How both defences cope with the attacking flair of the opposition will go a long way to decide the outcome of this one – Klopp will hope for a better display than of late with much seemingly dependant on Philippe Coutinho, while Ighalo and Deeney will fancy their chances vs Mignolet and co, who have only kept two clean sheets in their last thirteen.

QSF is confident that Valon Behrami and Sebastian Prodl will be fit to face Liverpool, after both returned to training this week. The only definite absentees are Rene Gilmartin, Tommie Hoban and Joel Ekstrand. The manager has warned of Christmas rotation by saying, “it is impossible to continuously name the same side” over this period.

Liverpool will be without James Milner and Dejan Lovren for the trip down to Watford. Milner has picked up a slight calf problem, while Lovren was injured vs West Brom, but his injury is not as serious as first feared with Klopp suggesting the defender could even return vs Leicester on Boxing Day. Mamadou Sakho returned to training just this week, though it’s unclear whether he will be thrown straight into the team after missing the last four weeks with a knee injury. Daniel Sturridge, Danny Ings and Joe Gomez remain out.

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Swansea vs West Ham (Sun 20 Dec 16.00)
These are pretty bleak days down in South Wales, yes even bleaker than normal. Just one point out of a possible 18 has seen the Swans slip to 17th place and only ahead of Norwich on goal difference, though they battled hard at City last week and were unlucky to lose late on. The Hammers meanwhile are without a win in six matches and lie eighth, but are caught in a large group of teams that could compete for a top six spot or fall down to half way depending on the results on any given weekend. West Ham are unbeaten in five meetings with the Swans, though this match could truly go any way and let’s face it, unless you own Andre Ayew you probably don’t care all that much.

Swansea have failed thus far to fill the managerial void left by Garry Monk, so caretaker Alan Curtis will again be in charge of the team for the visit of the Hammers. Curtis reports that Franck Tabanou and Eder remain out and will likely miss another couple of weeks – there are no new injuries to the squad.

The Hammers have been hit by a new injury blow as Andy Carroll has a groin problem and is very unlikely to face the Swans. The injury is not thought to be serious and it’s likely he’ll miss just the one game leaving Slaven Bilic to choose whether to play Enner Valencia or Nikica Jelavic up front or indeed play both together. There is more positive news on current injuries as Manuel Lanzini is expected to be available for the match vs Villa on Boxing Day, while Dimitri Payet is making excellent progress and is a month ahead of schedule and could be back training in ten days or so. Winston Reid, Diafra Sakho and Victor Moses are longer term absentees.

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Arsenal vs Man City (Mon 21 Dec 20.00)
And so our gameweek ends with a crackerjack of a match that should provide entertainment, excitement, and fingers crossed plenty of fantasy points to end our game-week on a happy note. Both teams spent a day or so at the top last weekend – City’s last gasp win over Swansea took them to the summit until Arsenal then won at Villa 24 hours later. As per usual, the Goonies weren’t at the top for long as Leicester re-took their place after Monday’s win. So, much to play for as a win for either side would provide a psychological boost with most pundits believing the title will be won by one of these two. The Gooners have a good recent record over City, they are unbeaten in their last four although they haven’t beaten City in any of the last three at the Emirates. Much will depend on the injury news for both teams, so let’s waffle no more and see what good news the managers can reveal.

Alexis Sanchez has a “slight” chance of featuring on Monday, according to Arsene Wenger. The Chilean had not trained until Thursday and the extra day’s preparation should increase his chances, though I think it’s safe to assume that Wenger would not want to rush Alexis back if he is not quite 100%. Wenger also says a second player may also return, but failed to mention who that was – must be his secret weapon match winner vs City – Mikel Arteta. The Goonies have picked up no fresh injuries this week, remarkably, leaving Santi Cazorla, Francis Coquelin, Danny Welbeck, Tomas Rosicky, Jack Wilshere still out. Wenger chose to heap praise on Mesut Ozil in his presser, describing him as “the main provider in our team who has become an excellent player”.

The big news is that Sergio Aguero is back! Again. Manuel Pellegrini describes his striker as “on the squad list”, but says he’ll be assessed over the weekend to see if he is 100% fit to start. Captain Vincent Kompany is not quite ready though – the manager says he is improving and should be back to full training next week, the same applies to Pablo Zabaleta. Fernando and Samir Nasri continue to be sidelined.

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Suspension Report GW17

Suspended this week –

Robert Huth (Leicester)
Bastien Schweinsteiger (Man Utd)

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:

Daniel Gosling, Matt Ritchie (Bournemouth)
Diego Costa (Chelsea)
Yohan Cabaye (Crystal Palace)
James McCarthy (Everton)
Jamie Vardy (Leicester)
Nathaniel Clyne (Liverpool)
Vurnon Anita, Ayoze Perez, Cheick Tiote (Newcastle)
Sebastian Bassong (Norwich)
Oriol Romeu, James Ward-Prowse (Southampton)
Jan Vertonghen, Kyle Walker (Spurs)
Charlie Adam, Glenn Whelan (Stoke)
Jack Rodwell (Sunderland)
Ashley Williams (Swansea)
Etienne Capoue (Watford)
Matthew Connolly, Allan-Romeo Nyom (Watford)
Craig Gardner, James McClean (West Brom)

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Have a great game-week everyone and score well.

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Thanks for reading Team Talk Fantasy Football Game-week 17. This article was written by Cookie

Follow @SteveCook9

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