Team Talk Fantasy Football Game-week 21

Team Talk Fantasy Football GW21

Right, we’ve got those pesky FA Cup and Capital One Cup matches out of the way for now – and our reward is a cheeky little midweek gameweek! Lovely jubbly. There are three matches today as the seemingly doomed Villa host Palace, Bournemouth welcome West Ham and Man Utd go to Newcastle. Wednesday is fantasy funland with seven matches – Chelsea entertain West Brom, Man City play Everton, Watford travel down to Southampton, Stoke host Norwich, Swansea battle Sunderland, it’s Klopp vs Wenger as Arsenal visit Anfield and Spurs play Leicester at the Lane. Points galore hopefully! Now, where have we heard that before?!
Let’s go Around the Grounds to see what the managers have had to say.

Aston Villa vs Crystal Palace (Tues 12 Jan 19.45)
Things are looking very bleak for Villa – marooned at the bottom of the league, seven points off the next worst team and eleven points off safety, winless since the opening day, need I go on? Not really – I write the same old rubbish every week about them. The visiting Eagles will be circling their prey on Tuesday evening, with Pardew’s men looking to bounce back from their 0-3 reverse to Chelsea in GW20. The Lord will no doubt have been spending the time since that defeat trying to restore some confidence and self belief in his team, probably by making them sit through his own lifestyle dvd “Me, Myself and I” twice a day. Palace are winless in three and even haven’t scored a goal during that time, though they will take heart from their away form over the course of the season and of course the fact that they are playing the league’s worst team by quite a long way. Villa have only won one of their last seven league meetings with Palace – relegation could be a step nearer by the end of the evening.

As if things weren’t bad enough Remi Garde had to field questions on an alleged row between weekend subs Brad Guzan and Joleon Lescott and Villa fans at Wycombe. The fans were, allegedly, told to “f*** off”, which to be fair seems fairly sensible advice from the players, but it’s just raised the pressure on Garde and his players. Michah Richards is expected to be ok for the visit of Palace, but Carlos Sanchez and Alan Hutton have both been ruled out and Jack Grealish is a doubt as he is suffering with tonsillitis. Gabby Agbonlahor faces a late fitness test.

Embarrassed at excluding me from his Christmas and New Year pressers, the Lord sent assistant Keith Millen to this week’s presser – you can run, but you cannot hide, Lord. Millen said that Yohan Cabaye has picked up a knock as have a couple of other unnamed players, but all will be travelling with the squad, with a late decision to be made on them all. Connor Wickham is “medically fit” and will also make the squad, but is unlikely to be risked unless necessary, while Yannick Bolasie and Dwight Gayle continue to be ruled out.

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Bournemouth vs West Ham (Tues 12 Jan 19.45)
In what is likely to be the most entertaining match of the night, Bournemouth welcome the Hammers to Dean Court with the south coast side desperate to end a Palace type run of three games without a goal. A victory for the Cherries would take them onto 24pts, ahead of Chelsea, albeit for possibly just 24 hours, but would be fantastic reward for a club whom many of us have enjoyed watching, despite being hit by a number of long-term key injuries. The Hammers meanwhile are fresh off their win over Liverpool and are unbeaten in seven, although five of those have been draws. Slaven Bilic has always said his team can compete with the best with a fully fit squad and he almost has that now, but will be wary of a Bournemouth side that has taken points off Palace, Man Utd and Everton in their last three at home and came away from Upton Park with the three points after a memorable 4-3 victory back in August.

Bournemouth are still waiting for confirmation that new signings Benik Afobe and Juan Iturbe will be given clearance to play vs the Hammers. Skipper Tommy Elphick is described by manager Eddie Howe as “not too far away”, but admits the defender has good days and bad days as he attempts to regain his fitness after his long term injury. Tyrone Mings has been ruled out for the season, Max Gradel could return in March, while Callum Wilson faces a battle to play again this season. Striker Lewis Grabban has signed from Norwich.

Slaven Bilic has been impressed by the return of Dimiti Payet and after a couple of cameos off the bench, the manager says Payet is 99% likely to start at Bournemouth. For the first time in a long time, Bilic has all his centre halves fit after Winston Reid’s successful return to training, giving the manager a “nice problem”. Victor Moses has also returned to training but is unlikely to be risked, but Enner Valencia could be back. Bilic says he does have a couple of doubts but all the players who played in the Cup on Saturday are fit. Diafro Sakho remains out while Manuel Lanzini is likely to be sidelined for 3-4 weeks.

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Newcastle vs Man Utd (Tues 12 Jan 19.45)
Most punters will predict this match as follows: “Newcastle will continue their stubborn-like play of late, making it hard for United and keeping David de Gea and the United defence busy throughout the match, before United steal a late winner in a 1-0 win.” Difficult to argue with that – the Toon has shown some sort of sign of life lately and made the Gooners work hard for a 1-0 win last time out in a game where Petr Cech was man of the match. In fact three successive 1-0 losses have put the pressure back on Steve McClaren after the Toon seemed to be rising off their lows of the season. Who knows what to expect from United – chief sponsor Adidas has even suggested they are not playing “the way we’d like them to play”!! Ouch. The win over Swansea in GW20 was United’s first win in seven games which has seen LVG’s philosophees slump outside of the top four, which will no doubt anger the Adidas CEO even more. Newcastle have won just two of the last 28 meetings between the two with last season’s fixture ending up in ….yes you’ve guessed it, a 1-0 win for United.

Toon captain Fabio Coloccini is a doubt for the match after picking up a knock at Watford and coming off at half time. Given Newcastle are playing the attackingly challenged United, his potential absence shouldn’t be a major worry. Jack Colback trained on Monday and has a chance, while Florian Thauvin and Kevin Mbabu both have knocks. Manager Steve McClaren says everyone else is fine, which isn’t strictly true as Tim Krul, Papiss Cisse and Gabriel Obertan all remain out and Vernun Anita is carrying a knock.

United will be without ze German midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger who picked up a knee injury in the exciting Cup defeat of Sheffield United. Marcos Rojo, Luke Shaw and Antonio Valencia also continue to miss out, while LVG fears that Ashley Young and Morgan Schneiderlin are in the red zone and could miss out.

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Chelsea vs West Brom (Wed 13 Jan 19.45)
They’re back, they’re back, don’t miss this train! Yep, after their win over Stoke last week which makes it two wins in two everyone will surely be jumping on those Baggies. As for Chelsea, they’re looking like they may have turned their rather big corner – big Guus has come in and seemingly made everyone, bar young Eden feel happy and energised again. Unbeaten in four under Hiddink, they stormed the Crystal Palace to bring down the Lord – my heroes!! The Baggies meanwhile are not that great, I was only kidding you before, though the two recent wins will have eased some pressure on all concerned as they now sit just below halfway. However, on the road they have only scored six times this season, while the previously leaky Blues have kept two clean sheets in a row and the commanding victory over Palace was as much about the performance as the scoreline. West Brom haven’t won in the league at the Bridge since 1978 when they beat a team featuring the likes of Peter “the cat” Bonetti, Ron “Chopper” Harris and Ray “the crab” Wikins – not even a pussy, an aggressive chopper and a ten-legged sea creature should put off John Terry and friends this week.

Chelsea have gone from no fit strikers to two fit forwards in 24 hours!! Both Diego Costa and Loic Remy have shaken off knocks and are available to face West Brom tomorrow evening. Eden Hazard isn’t quite there though – the stroppy midfielder trained with the physios today but is not yet training with the first team, with manager Guus Hiddink saying he’ll give Hazard all the time he needs to fully recover from his most recent injury. Bless. Strange – Eva got him up and performing in no time. Right, better leave that one. When asked if he thinks Hazard needs an arm around his shoulder, Hiddink replied, “I’m not his mother.” Or indeed his ex-physio, eh Guus?

Tony Pulis says that Victor Anichebe and Jonas Olsson should be close to being available for the trip to Chelsea, which would give the Baggies a fully fit squad. Pulis is naturally expecting a tough game and accepts his players will need to be at their best and says he has been very steady with them in training. Probably the most boring presser ever.

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Man City vs Everton (Wed 13 Jan 19.45)
The team who can’t defend play host to the team who always score. According to some, City can’t keep a clean sheet without captain Vincent Kompany, although they put paid to that demon when they claimed a shut out at Leicester. The Toffees meanwhile have scored in their last eleven matches, but are equally as generous at the back, whether their captain plays or not. So anyone fancying a 0-0 here should get down the bookies and take advantage of the odds – after all, you all wish you’d put a tenner on a 0-0 when City kept out Leicester don’t you? I’ve heard some suggest that Everton are a bogey team for City – well, not in recent times as City have won four and drawn the other in the last five league meetings. Manuel Pellegrini’s men have won their last three at home and staged an impressive late comeback to win at Watford last time out, while Everton have won just one of their last five on their travels. The Toffees beat City last week at Goodison in the Capital One Cup semi-final first leg, bringing extra spice to this encounter.

City will be without Vincent Kompany, Wilfried Bony, Eliaquim Mangala, Samir Nasri and Fernandinho this week, meaning that Gael Clichy and Pablo Zabaleta are fit to provide competition to Bacary Sagna and Aleksandar Kolarov at full back. Bear in mind that Zabaleta and Kolarov played the 90mins at Norwich at the weekend. Manager Manuel Pellegrini is pleased with Sergio Aguero’s comeback from injury and said “his movement is improving and he scored a lovely goal at Norwich.” The manager did suggest that Kompany’s injury may keep him out until the latter part of the season, which would be a huge blow to City’s title hopes. Regarding David Silva, Pellegrini says although the diminutive midfielder is 100% fit, it may be a risk for him to play tomorrow and on Saturday vs Palace.

Romelu Lukaku is fit!! There you go, that’s all you really wanted to know isn’t it? Roberto Martinez says the striker has trained well, feels great and is ready to face City. Martinez says his team will need to defend well, but will need to do so, or attempt to do so, without Seamus Coleman who picked up a knock vs City last week and will be out for a further 10-14 days. The manager wouldn’t be drawn on Coleman’s replacement at the back, with Brendan Galloway and the fit again Phil Jagielka in the running. Ramiro Funes Mori has had 10 stitches in his head but is expected to be fit for the game, while Tom Cleverley is 50/50 and Tim Howard is likely to return in goal.

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Southampton vs Watford (Wed 13 Jan 19.45)
Truly, I don’t know what to say about Southampton – remember their Boxing Day thumping of Arsenal? Well that win sandwiched two losses either side and their loss at Norwich last week was clouded by the benching of Sadio Mane for disciplinary reasons and Victor Wanyama getting himself recklessly sent off. Would you believe it – a Dutch manager losing his dressing room? Would never happen with LVG. The Watford story is something much more positive – backed heavily at the start of the season to get relegated, the Hornets have already accumulated 29pts and have very nearly secured their top flight status for another season – thanks in large to their well drilled defence coupled with the Ighlao/Deeney partnership up front. Watford have failed to score in their last three vs the Saints including a goalless draw at Vicarage Road in GW3 – but that was before Ighalo decided to go on a Vardy type run of scoring that has seen him score thirteen goals this season – and not many would bet against him adding to that tally this week.

Saints keeper Maarten Stekelenburg is suffering with a hamstring injury and is therefore a doubt for the game – if he fails to recover, Ronald Koeman has confirmed that Fraser Forster will start his first match of the season. Striker Graziano Pelle has been passed fit after finally shrugging off his knee injury and Ryan Bertrand is expected to be ok after illness, but Victor Wanyama misses out through suspension.

Watford will again be without the suspended Nathan Ake, while defenders Joel Ekstrand and Tommy Hoban remain unavailable. QSF has been singing the praises of midfielder Ben Watson, who has performed so impressively he has been keeping Valon Behrani out of the starting XI. Odion Ighalo was given a rest at the weekend in the Cup but will come back into the starting XI.

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Stoke vs Norwich (Wed 13 Jan 19.45)
Norwich travel to Stoke on a cold windy Wednesday night – not really anyone’s cup of tea, but they’ll take confidence after following on from their must-win match over Villa by beating Southampton last week – two clean sheets to boot and they’ve jumped ahead of Swansea and Bournemouth. Exciting times eh? Nah, thought not. Meanwhile, Stoke continue to be consistently inconsistent. Last week’s defeat at West Brom was preceeded by wins over Man Utd and Everton so what happens in this one is anyone’s guess. Many of you will of course be hoping that Xherdan Shaqiri and Marko Arnautovic can continue their decent recent run – though the history of this fixture in the Premier League shows that in seven meetings neither team has scored more than one goal in any of the matches. Stalemate time or will the shackles come off?

Stoke are likely to recall Bojan Krkic, Marko Arnautovic, Ibrahim Allefay and Xherdan Shaqiri after they were given the weekend off. Mark Hughes says that those who came in did well, notably Peter Crouch and Jon Walters, but both are likely to find themselves back on the bench for the visit of the Canaries. Geoff Cameron, Steven Ireland and Marc Muniesa will miss out due to injury.

Norwich rested some key personnel for their Cup loss to City at the weekend but expect to be at full strength for the trip to Stoke. They could even welcome back winger Matt Jarvis who hasn’t featured since GW11. The game is likely to come too soon for new signing, defender Ivo Pinto, who is still acclimatising to life in England – nice touch from Alex Neil that, don’t want to scare the poor bloke off too early – “welcome mate, I know you’ve just got here, so I thought we’d show you the sights – we’ff off to Stoke on a Wednesday night.”

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Swansea vs Sunderland (Wed 13 Jan 19.45)
17th meets 19th at the Liberty – that pretty much says it all regarding my excitement with this one. Sunderland at least scored three while beating Villa last weekend which has kept up their hopes of another great escape. The Swans were beaten at Old Trafford – oh the shame of it. The Welshies have won just once in ten matches and although they have tightened up at the back under caretaker manager Alan Curtis, it’s the scoring part that is the bigger issue – three goals in seven matches isn’t going to help much in a relegation battle, but to be fair, any team that cashes in on Wilfried Bony and then relies on Bafetimbi Gomis pretty much deserves what they get. Sunderland have failed to win any of the last seven meetings vs the Welshies, with the last three matches ending in draws. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Swansea have a fully fit squad but will be without Jonjo Shelvey. The midfielder, who manager Alan Curtis has admitted is likely to leave the club, is currently undergoing a medical at Newcastle – assuming he gets his massive head through the door of the medical facility he is believed to be close to signing for £12mln. Wow. £12mln for the world’s most impressive head since Pamela Anderson’s sex tape. Curtis is set to revert back to his normal starting XI after making 10 changes for the Cup defeat at Oxford at the weekend.

John O’Shea remains a doubt for the Black Cats – the defender has suffered a recurrence of his recent calf injury, though hasn’t yet been ruled out completely. New signing Jan Kirchhoff will travel to Swansea but is “unlikely to play”. Younas Kaboul, Seb Larsson and Adam Matthews remain missing.

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Liverpool vs Arsenal (Wed 13 Jan 20.00)
League leaders Arsenal face a tough trip to Liverpool – not tough because Klopp’s lot are in scintillating form, but beacuse the M1 and the M6 are a nightmare during the week. Honestly, the tailbacks you wouldn’t believe. They’d be better off flying – which is what they’re doing in the league right now. And don’t we know it. Liverpool are stuttering under Jurgen – a couple of wins are followed by a defeat, one step forward is followed by a couple back – luckily our German friend has a load of hair to pull out. The loss at West Ham was an incredibly tepid performance with Klopp noticeably angry with his team after the match – he’ll be demanding a reaction from his team and while he’ll be reminding his players that Arsenal lost their last away match 4-0 at Southampton, what may be more telling is that the Gooners have won their two matches to bounce back and have only lost once in their last eight vs Liverpool.

Klopp syas that Kolo Toure will return to face his former club, while Mamadou Sakho “wants to be available” and will face a late assessment. If Sakho doesn’t quite make it then Lucas will partner Toure. Please oh please!! Dejan Lovren could return at the weekend to face United, but Martin Skrtel is still a few weeks away. Steven Caulker has joined Liverpool on loan for the rest of the season to give the team much needed cover at the back – Caulker is available for selection vs Arsenal. Daniel Sturridge, Divock Origi and Danny Ings all remain out but Liverpool could welcome back Jordan Henderson and Jordon Ibe while James Milner isn’t far away.

Arsene Wenger expects to welcome back Mesut Ozil and Mathieu Flamini for the trip to Anfield. However, the game comes too soon for Alexis Sanchez – the manager says he is training very well and could be back for Sunday’s trip to Stoke, while David Ospina will have a late fitness test to see if he can sit on the bench and freeze his arse off. Santi Cazorla, Francis Coquelin, Jack Wilshere and Danny Welbeck remain out.

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Spurs vs Leicester (Wed 13 Jan 20.00)
Spurs will be looking to consolidate their top four slot and with a victory they will go to within a point of Leicester, who have hit a tad of a stumbling block of late. Indeed the team that just couldn’t not score, now found themselves not able to score in their last three league matches and another blank will leave many fearing that they eon’t be able to hold on to what was a wonderful first half of the season. Spurs have lost just once since the opening day defeat at Old Trafford with Mauricio Pochettino organising them to be well drilled at the back. Spurs won the corresponding fixture last season 4-3, with Harry Kane scoring a hat-trick, while it will surprise no one to learn that Dele Alli and Riyad Mahrez were the scorers when the teams drew 1-1 earlier in the season.

Mousa Dembele has recovered from injury and will rejoin the squad for the visit of the Foxes – this is great news for Harry Kane owners, for Kane’s returns are significantly greater when Dembele plays. Clinton N’Jie and Ryan Mason are the only absentees as the two teams go head-to-head for the second time in four days.

Jamie Vardy warmed up with the team in training on Monday and manager Claudio Ranieri expects the striker to be ok to face Spurs, though he will face a late test. The Foxes have no new injury concerns, meaning just Matty James and Jeffrey Schlupp continue to miss out.

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Suspension Report for GW21

Those players suspended this week are:

Victor Wanyama (Southampton)
Nathan Ake (Watford)

Players who earn 10 yellow cards by the second Sunday in April will receive a 2-match ban.

Those players one booking away:

Jack Colback (Newcastle)

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Thanks for reading Team Talk Fantasy Football Game-week 21. This article was written by Cookie

Follow @SteveCook9

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