Team Talk Fantasy Football Game-week 25

Team Talk Fantasy Football Game-week 25

No time to think, no time to celebrate or recover, Game-week 25 is here! This is fantasy football utopia for many and fantasy football hell for those not doing so great. But whatever your position, we bat on and come what may, we’ll have some fun along the way. After our midweek fun, it’s a more traditional weekend set of fixtures kicked off with a top of the table clash as Man City host Leicester at the Etihad. Six 3pm matches follow as Villa welcome Norwich, Sunderland travel to Liverpool, Newcastle entertain West Brom, Spurs and Watford clash at the Lane, Everton take the short trip to Stoke and Palace look forward to a Saturday afternoon in Swansea. Southampton’s match vs West Ham has been brought forward to Saturday evening due to the Hammers’ Cup replay vs Liverpool in the week. Sunday sees the Gooners travel to the seaside to take on Bournmeouth before our game-week is wrapped up at as Chelsea welcome Man Utd to the Bridge.
Let’s move from a manic midweek to a fun Friday to see what the managers have to say as we go Around the Grounds.

Man City vs Leicester (Sat 6 Feb 12.45)
Bit of a shame really that this clash comes so early in the gameweek, how nice would it be to see Kun vs Vardy on a Sunday afternoon to wrap things up? Still, it is what it is and it’s the Foxes who are continuing to set the pace at the summit after their midweek win over Liverpool. City ensured second place by winning ugly at Sunderland, two of those words are oft seen in the same sentence. Unsurprisingly Man City are unbeaten in their last nine meetings vs Leicester, winning three of the last four, although the two free-scoring teams played out a 0-0 at Leicester in GW19, a result that shocked many but has illustrated perfectly the point that the Foxes have learnt to tighten things up at the back, especially against their title rivals – but will it be enough to stop the Kun machine who has now scored five goals in his last three matches?

City will continue to be without Vincent Kompany, Eliaquim Mangala, Wilfried Bony, Kevin De Bruyne, Jesus Navas and Samir Nasri, though Manuel Pellegrini hopes that Kompany will be back and training with the squad in a week or so. Navas is ruled out for three weeks with a hamstring strain, while Mangala will be out for another couple of weeks after picking up a new injury.

Claudio Ranieri is loving life, he’s very happy at Leicester, but maintains that City are favourites for the title! The Tinkerman is expecting an open game that both teams will want to win – “Both teams want to win, so maybe it’ll be a draw” !! Cheers Claudio, I’m pretty sure that offered a draw right now you’ll take it and preserve the lead at the top. All of the players have recovered well from the Liverpool game but will leave it until after the final training session to decide his starting XI. Ranieri will talk with his fitness coaches to determine the availability of new signing Daniel Amartey, while Jeffrey Schlupp and Matty James remain out.

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Aston Villa vs Norwich (Sat 6 Feb 15.00)
With both teams losing convincingly in midweek, this clash is MASSIVE…. at the bottom. If you care, which in all likelihood you don’t, for the chances of anyone having a Villan or Canary in their starting line up would mean you’re completely deluded, blindly optimistic or just still pissed from your GW1 aberration. For what it’s worth Villa are unbeaten in their last six meetings with Norwich at home and in all fairness have shown some signs of being able to nick a point or two of late, while Norwich have lost their last four, conceding 14 goals in the process. This Norwich team won at Old Trafford. Writing this is destroying me.

As if being bottom wasn’t enough, Villa have to tackle one of their relegation rivals with only one fit senior striker. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the only fit striker is none other than Gaby Agbonlahor, who has failed to score so far this season!! Jordan Ayew is suspended after his red card at West Ham, Rudy Gestede is still recovering from a hamstring injury and Libor Kozak has a fractured ankle and will be out for several weeks. How’s your luck Remi Garde? Poor old Remi says he will review his position in the summer – he’ll do well to last that long. Ashley Westwood could be fit for the weekend, but Carlos Sanchez remains out.

The Canaries have no new injuries and welcome back Robbie Brady after he has recovered from illness. The same cannot be said of Graham Dorrans who is still suffering while fellow midfielder Alex Tettey misses out through suspension after picking up his 10th yellow card of the season in the loss to Spurs. Striker Patrick Bamford is in the squad.

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Liverpool vs Sunderland (Sat 6 Feb 15.00)
Midweek defeats have never been taken so differently by teams – Liverpool’s loss at Leicester was described as “toothless”, “lightweight”, “pitiful” and “inexplicable”. Ah lovely. They weren’t even my words. When Simon Mignolet is their man-of-the-match it would be cruel of me to go on. And so onto the Black Cats, who were unfortunate losers to an Aguero goal. However, Sunderland were pretty solid at the back and created the better chances and will therefore take confidence from the performance, even if the result continues to leaves them languishing near the bottom with only the doomed Villa beneath them. The Black Cats have never won at Anfield in the Premier League, in fact they haven’t won there since 1983 – to put that in context, that’s 33 years ago – Reagan was President, Return of the Jedi released and most of you weren’t even born.

Jurgen Klopp said his team must strike back from the performance at Leicester, denied reports that Daniel Sturridge is unhappy at the club and wants to leave and said the striker has looked great in training and while he won’t feature this weekend he could play in the Cup replay vs West Ham on Tuesday. Martin Skrtel has got “re-injured” and will be out for a further 2-3 weeks, while Joe Allen has got a little knock (chip) on his shoulder and will be assessed. Philippe Coutinho and Divock Origi have returned to training.

I’m not sure if this is good or bad news but Younes Kaboul has trained all week and is in contention for the trip to Anfield. Kaboul is likely to make the bench at best with Big Sam having to choose between him and Wes Brown for the bench role – bloody hell what a choice. Allardyce also reports than Yann M’Vila and Jeremain Lens are both doubtful for the game and Seb Larsson is still missing as his recovery from a knee ligament injury is taking longer than expected.

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Newcastle vs West Brom (Sat 6 Feb 15.00)
Oh dear, but you have to laugh. So Newcastle spend loads of well-stolen cash on Shelvey, Townsend, Saivet and some chap called Doumbia and travel to Everton – an Everton without Stones, Baines (don’t get me started) and Naismith and with Big Rom spending most of the first half limping before not coming out for the second half. And those stoopid Geordies, get tonked 3-0. The result leaves Steve McClaren’s men in the drop zone and while it’s likely they will overtake Norwich at some point, we can live in hope. West Brom are dull. The Baggies scraped a win home to Swansea last time out and they are frankly dreadful but did at least beat the Toon 1-0 last time they met at the Hawthorns a few weeks ago.

The comedy story continues as Macca reveals he has twelve of his squad unavailable for the weekend and has had to draft in three U21 players to cover. Chancel Mbemba, Jack Colback and Paul Dummett are all injured and Jamaal Lascelles is suspended after being sent off in the defeat at Goodison. Tim Krul, Massadio Haidara, Kevin Mbabu, Vurnon Anita, Siem de Jong, Chieck Tiote, Gabriel Obertan, Papiss Cisse and Ivan Toney make up the dirty dozen sitting in the stands.

The Baggies will have to do without Jonny Evans for a couple of weeks after defender pulled a hamstring vs Swansea. Big Tone says that James Morrison and Chris Brunt also remain sidelined while Callum McManaman is a longer term absentee and finishes by saying that Saido Berahino needs to get fit!!

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Spurs vs Watford (Sat 6 Feb 15.00)
Last week’s win at Norwich has pushed Spurs ahead of Arsenal in the league – just let that good news sink in. Now I’m no real lover of Tottenham, but also I have little against them apart from that stupid song they sing and how it would spice things up in North London if they can finish above their neighbours this season. Watford make the short trip south and won’t be a pushover for Spurs after QSF’s men held off Chelsea on Wednesday and indeed had chances to win the game. A late goal from Son gave Spurs the three points when the teams met a few weeks ago at Vicarage Road and with Kane and Alli in decent form, the Hornets defence will need to be at their best once again to keep North London’s no.1 at bay.

Dele Alli is in line to face Watford but will undergo tests next week to find out the cause of the dizziness he felt at Norwich, which prompted his half time withdrawal. You’re third in the league Dele my friend, ahead of the Goonies and some are tipping you for the league, that my friend is the cause of the dizziness and you’re likely have a couple of nosebleeds also. Dr Cookie has spoken. Ryan Mason will be assessed to see if he can return, but Jan Vertonghen and Clinton N’Jie remain out.

Watford welcome back Nathan Ake who was ineligible to face his parent club Chelsea in midweek. QSF reports no new injuries, although a late decision will be taken on Miguel Britos and Etienne Capoue who have both been suffering with illness and Joel Ekstrand and Tommy Hoban continue to miss out. New signings Nordin Amrabat and Mario Suarez are ready to start “if required.”

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Stoke vs Everton (Sat 6 Feb 15.00)
Ok, so Roberto Martinez won’t be getting a Christmas card from me in December after the numpty benched Baines in the week and likely deprived me of 21pts. I slept badly, full of rage and anger and frustration – nothing is going right. And worse still, up pops Barkley to take the two late penalties to cut me adrift further and suddenly the fickle Evertonians love him again after booinmg him last week. The Toffees go to Stoke this weekend, who without Ryan Shawcross look dreadful and allowed United to score three past them last week. Oh dear, dat not good. The Potters have actually won their last three vs Everton so have some fixture form while Everton have won only three out of their last 17 league matches, and those were vs Toon, Sunderland and Villa.

The Potters are still struggling at the back with Ryan Shawcross, Marc Wilson and Geoff Cameron continuing to be ruled out. Mark Hughes will assess the availability of Phillipp Wollscheid after the defender limped off at Old Trafford with a calf problem, while the manager also has to decide whether to had a debut to Giannelli Imbula. Charlie Adam is a longer term absentee.

We didn’t get the straight answer we were looking for re Romelu Lukaku but Martinez did say the striker has shown some improvement and is hoping to train today. Kevin Mirallas will return to the side, but keeper Tim Howard is likely to miss out again and John Stones has been ruled out. The club is still waiting for Oumar Niasse’s visa application to be approved but they remain hopeful the striker could be available.

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Swansea vs Crystal Palace (Sat 6 Feb 15.00)
Oh Lord, what are we going to do with you? Five defeats in a row, no wins in seven – your punishment is a day trip to Wales, where men are men and sheep are scared. Our silver haired genius has now become the first manager to lose five consecutive matches with two different clubs – a sixth loss down in the valleys will equal his feat at Newcastle and if he ain’t careful Palace will be swapping places with the Toon before long! The Swans almost nicked a win at West Brom on Tuesday but were denied by a late equaliser – they have however taken seven points out of a possible nine which has seen them put some daylight between them and the relegation losers below them but they will want to keep the run going and inch closer to safety. Seven goals in five Premier League meetings suggest the match may not be a classic, though both teams have invested in new strikers in the January window and maybe Emmanuel Adebayor and Alberto Paloschi have just buck that trends – both came off the bench and impressed in camoes on Tuesday evening.

Swans boss Francesco Guidolin confirms that midfielder Sung-yeung Ki will miss out with concussion after being carried off at West Brom, but did hint that Paloschi could start the game. Swansea have no new injuries and already Guidolin has been more helpful than Garry Monk and I think that Frankie and myself are going to get along just fine.

Palace will be without midfielders James McArthur and Jason Puncheon for the weekend, with McArthur likely to be missing for the rest of the season after suffering ankle ligament damage vs Bournemouth. The better news is that Yohan Cabaye should be ready to return with the Lord stating that Chung-yong Lee and Jordon Mutch will also likely see some game time. Emmanuel Adebayor will start from the bench again but is only a week or so away from being ready to start and Dwight Gayle is available. Connor Wickham again misses out through suspension, Joe Ledley is expected to miss out again while Yannick Bolasie and Bakary Sako should be back for the Cup game with Spurs which will be after GW26.

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Southampton vs West Ham (Sat 6 Feb 17.30)
Now you know me well enough by now. I like a laugh and a joke, am happy to take the piss out of anyone and everyone and will says it how it is. So here goes. Get your duvet ready and fluff your pillows cos this one ain’t gonna be a thriller. Far from it. The Saints have secretly recruited the Ghost of Pulis past and don’t concede and don’t score that many either while the Hammers struggled to penetrate 10-men Villa on Tuesday. The last three meetings between these two at St Mary’s have all resulted in draws, the last two of these being goalless ones. See what I mean?

Charlie Austin returns for the Saints after recovering from a knock which kept him out of the trip to Arsenal. Matt Targett has picked up an ankle injury in training and will not be available for the weekend, while Steven Davis has returned to training but the visit of the Hammers probably comes too soon for him.

Slaven Bilic is happy with the way his team is playing but is looking for more consistency, while at the same time he admits he is expecting a tough game at St Marys and specifically mentioned the influence that Fraser Forster has had on the team since his return which has resulted in four clean sheets on the spin. Just as well then that the Hammers may have more attacking options to choose from – Andy Carroll is expected to return to the squad while new signing Emmanuel Emenike will be assessed as his work permit only arrived on Wednesday. Sam Byram has picked up a small injury in training and will be out for a week, while Angelo Ogbonna could be back this week.

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Bournemouth vs Arsenal (Sun 7 Feb 13.30)
We’ll name this match “The Comfort Game” as the midweek win at Palace has taken Bournemouth to 28pts and ever nearer to safety in their first season in the Premier League, while the Gooners are back to their comfort zone of 4th place. It’s four matches without a win for Arsenal and no goals scored in their last three – in fairness they were only denied by a virtuoso perfromance by Fraser Forster at the Emirates and are unlikely to face the same degree of skill from Artur Boruc. However, the pressure is mounting on the Gooners, even more so by the fact that Spurs have overtaken them to hold 3rd place – oh the shame for the Gooners….and the delight for the rest of us. The Cherries have only played Arsenal twice in their history, once in a 3-0 League Cup defeat in 1987 and again in GW19 when the Goonies triumphed 2-0. Given how this season has played out, any result is possible here, but another blank for Arsenal will send serious doubts around the camp.

Bournemouth could be boosted by the return of Joshua King, with Eddie Howe describing the midfielder as “returning to full fitness”, but a late decision will have to be taken on Junior Stanislas. Howe says his team are more confident than the last time the teams met in December. Max Gradel may return in March, while Callum Wilson will be later than that.

The Gooners have as clean a bill of health as they have had for a long time with only Santi Cazorla, Tomas Rosicky and Jack Wilsere injured. Danny Welbeck is playing for the U21s today and will no doubt tweak something – Wenger expects Welbeck to play 2-3 games for the U21s before he is considered for first team duty.

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Chelsea vs Man Utd (Sun 7 Feb 16.00)
And now, the end is near;
And so I face the final curtain.
My friend, I’ll say it clear,
I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain.

I’ve lived a life that’s full.
I’ve travelled each and every highway;
And more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Yep, LVG is certainly doing it his way and after seeing off Derby in the Cup, the Reds then disposed of Stoke with very little fuss and a great deal of flair, if I am to believe the report from one of my closest friends on here, a Liverpool fan to boot, who described the performance as follows: “it reminded me of the great Fergie teams.” These two results seems to have brought the Dutch genius a stay of execution after it seemed inevitable he would be offski’d by now. Damnit. It seems a good time to be a Dutchie manager, for Koeman is turning round the Saints while Big Guus remains unbeaten at the helm at the Bridge and seems to have the dressing room on his side – I even saw him cudding Big Bad Diego on Wednesday. I’m waffling big time as to be honest I see very little excitement in this game – Chelsea are unbeaten in nine vs United who will do well to scrape a draw, in all likelihood a 0-0 as per when the teams met in GW19.

Chelsea will again be reliant on Diego Costa up front with Loic Remy and Radamel Falcao ruled out – Remy should return next week, according to Hiddink. Pedro is a doubt after missing training this week with a groin probem but he will be given a fitness test after training tomorrow. Pato is still in his “pre-season” and won’t feature for the upcoming games.

No fresh injuries reported by LVG who says that Phil Jones is closer to a return after a good week’s training. Great news. Bastian Schweinsteiger is still out, Marcos Rojo is doing well but can’t train yet and Luke Shaw and Antonio Valencia are “progressing”. Ashley Young also remains out.

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Suspension Report for Game-week 25

Those players suspended this week are:

Jordan Ayew (Aston Villa)
Connor Wickham (Crystal Palace)
Jamaal Lascelles (Newcastle)
Alex Tettey (Norwich)

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 25. This article was written by Cookie

Follow @SteveCook9

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