Team Talk Fantasy Football Game-week 27

Team Talk Fantasy Football Game-week 27

Welcome to GW27 – we hope you’re feeling refreshed, relaxed and ready after last weekend’s FA Cup action which has at least provided more clarity for GW30 and beyond. We kick off this week down in the East End as Big Sam returns to West Ham with his Black Cats. Five 3pm matches follow with leaders Leicester hosting Norwich, Chelsea going to Southampton, Stoke looking to boost their goal difference vs Villa, Watford welcome Bournemouth and West Brom do battle with Palace. Sunday sees Man Utd ‘entertain’ Arsenal and Swansea go to Spurs. The Capital One Cup Final follows between Liverpool and Man City which means a blank game-week for those two as well as Newcastle and Everton.
Let’s Go Around the Grounds to catch up on the latest team news.

West Ham vs Sunderland (Sat 27 Feb 12.45)
Stuttering is probably the best way to describe the Hammers of late – decent results vs Liverpool and City have been mirrored by losses to Newcastle and Southampton and only a second half comeback at Norwich prevented another defeat. Sunderland beat United in GW26 which has seen them rise to within a point of Norwich and potential saftey and Big Sam, on his return to Upton Park, will be hoping for another surprise performance and victory, while Slaven Bilic will have been buoyed by his team’s impressive Cup display at Blackburn which saw Dimitri Payet and Emmanuel Emenike both bag braces.

Bilic is expecting a tough game on Saturday having seen Sunderland draw with Liverpool and beat United. However, he is pleased to have some players back – Manuel Lanzini returned last week in the Cup, Andy Carroll has trained and is fine and Cheikhou Kouyate is available after having the red card he picked up at Blackburn rescinded. Winston Reid has also begun training but may not be available for the weekend, while Diafra Sakho has also resumed training but will need time to recover his sharpness. Enner Valencia has seen a specialist for his ankle injury and Bilic said he will know in the next few days if the striker can feature in the next week. James Tomkins and Joey O’Brien are both working on their rehab and it will be another couple of weeks before they can start training again.

Those cheeky Black Cats have been handed a boost as they prepare to take on the Happy Hammers as Jan Kirchoff, Seb Larsson and Younes Kaboul have all returned to training and are in contention to feature at the weekend. Then again, Big Sam may feel tempted to keep the same starting XI that beat United. The only definite absentees are Duncan Watmore and Jeremain Lens.

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Leicester vs Norwich (Sat 27 Feb 15.00)
The one we’ve all been waiting for, although it will probably have little impact, seeing as though most active and intelligent FPL managers will have loaded up on Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy and possibly one other. It could all come down to the choice of Mahrez or Vardy as captain assuming of course that the Foxes return to winning ways by dispatching Norwich as most are in the habit of doing. The Canaries did battle to a 2-2 draw with the Hammers last time out and will feel they should have won having held a 2-0 lead but the fact they didn’t will only encourage Leicester as they bid to extend their lead at the top before Arsenal and Spurs play on Sunday. Vardy scored once when Leicester won the reverse fixture 2-1 in October – that day Mahrez was rested but will be unleashed on the Canaries on Saturday for what most hope will be another masterclass performance from the Algerian.

Claudio Ranieri is targeting the next five matches as crucial to Leicester’s season. He is looking for his team to be concentrated and angry after losing in the last minute at Arsenal and says he could replace the suspended Danny Simpson with Marcin Wasilewski, Daniel Amartey or Marc Albrighton. He describes Jamie Vardy as 80% fit but didn’t seem that concerned so nor should you be – the managers hopes his striker will be 100% in a couple of weeks or so. Jeffrey Schlupp has returned to full training. Our mate Claudio says Norwich will want to keep things tight and then counter and they have great players who can really play football. Not sure which Norwich he has been watching, but it’s nice of him to be polite – what a gent.

The Canaries welcome back Alex Tettey from suspension with manager Alex Neil hoping the midfielder’s return can produce a change of fortunes. Defender Andre Wisdom continues to miss out with a knee injury, but he is the only definite absentee. Neil says his team needs to win games and that, “we’re going to go out and attack and play with freedom and our strength.” Hmmm, that may also be your undoing tomorrow pal, but best of luck.

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Southampton vs Chelsea (Sat 27 Feb 15.00)
Guus Hiddink’s unbeaten run in domestic football since taking charge at Chelsea will come under pressure on Saturday as he takes his team down to Southampton. The Saints have won five of their last six matches, keeping clean sheets in all those games and will no doubt set up to be tight to counter the threat of Diego Costa, Willian and crew. The Saints beat Chelsea 3-1 at the Bridge in October, but with both teams showing a resilience at the back a closer outcome is expected on Saturday.

Saints boss Ronald Koeman says that Jay Rodriguez and Florin Gardos have both returned to full training and adds that J-Rod will likely need another two weeks before he is given any match time. Victor Wanyama remains suspended. There are no fresh injuries. Koeman added that the run of clean sheets have given the team immense confidence and is the result of hard work from the whole squad. Fraser Forster is 34mins away from breaking Paul Jones’ club’s top-flight record of 666mins without conceding. Devilish.

Chelsea captain John Terry has been ruled out of the clash at St Mary’s – with Kurt Zouma a long term casualty expect Branislav Ivanovic to continue to partner Gary Cahill in the middle with Cesar Azpilicueta playing right and Abdul Rahman Baba on the left. Hiddink says Radamel Falcao is still injured and can give no guarantees that he will play again this season, while Alex Pato is not yet ready to play.

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Stoke vs Aston Villa (Sat 27 Feb 15.00)
Having seen an average Liverpool side put six past Villa in GW26, Mark Hughes must be secretly licking his lips at the thought of this week’s fixture, despite the standard comments of, “they will be determined to bounce back and compete” and “they are fighting at the bottom and we’re expecting a tough afternoon.” Righto Sparky. Having lost three in a row and failed to score in four, the Potters rediscovered some form by winning at Bournemouth last time out and will clearly fancy their chances of extending that run vs a Villa side that seem destined for the drop and are marooned at the bottom.

Stoke have been hit by the news that Ryan Shawcross has failed to recover from his back injury and will miss out again this weekend. The defence continues to be a major issue for Mark Hughes with Marc Muniesa, Glen Johnson and Marc Wilson also sidelined. Geoff Cameron has a chance of playing despite not training much with Hughes saying, “he is a fit guy and a real athlete and he won’t have a problem in coming straight back in if we think he is ready.” Cameron did actually train today increasingly the likelihood he will feature. Marko Arnautovic has recovered from illness and is available but Charlie Adam is still out.

Life is not good for Remi Garde, nothing is going right. If conceding six at home to Liverpool in front of the cameras wasn’t bad enough, he then had to deal with Joleon Lescott ‘accidentally’ tweeting pictures of expensive cars on the way home from that match, then he had to watch his first team lose a friendly to the U21s 3-0 last weekend. Now he admits he has to, “fight everyday, to find the right words to make the players committed. If I had the choice to select others players than some that I select sometimes, I would like to. But I don’t have this possibility.” So basically, “my players are shite and don’t give a toss” – the fans will love that. Not. Oh well mon ami, you seem like a good guy, the summer will be here soon and you can get yourself outta there and head back to France. There is some good news for Garde with Rudy Gestede and Gaby Agbonlahor available for the trip to Stoke. That, my friends, is considered good news. Oh Lord. Jack Grealish, Libor Kozak and Carlos Sanchez all out and Adama Traore is improving his fitness, but won’t be ready for the weekend. Do yourself a favour Remi pal, play the U21s.

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Watford vs Bournemouth (Sat 27 Feb 15.00)
Life is turning a tad tricky for the Bournemouth boys – two defeats on the spin has seen the Cherries edge ever closer to the drop zone so this weekend take on extra significance for a victory would take them through the 30 point barrier and may just give them the confidence to push on to safety. Watford meanwhile won at Palace last week and will be confident of another three points which would virtually seal their safety for another season. The reverse fixture ended 1-1 in September.

QSF says he has a big selection headache after some of the fringe players who came in for the Cup last week performed well. One player who won’t be involved is Jose Manuel Jurado who missed the Cup win over Leeds with a calf injury and hasn’t trained since. Joel Ekstrand is training again but Tommie Holban continues to battle a long standing groin problem.

Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe is expecting a tough afternoon at Watford, describing Troy Deeney and Odion Ighalo as “the best front pair we played against last season”. Lewis Grabban has picked up a groin strain and is doubtful while Tyrone Mings, Max Gradel and Callum Wilson continue to be sidelined. Tommy Elphick played 90mins in the Cup defeat and is therefore closer to a return in the league.

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West Brom vs Crystal Palace (Sat 27 Feb 15.00)
Pulis past visit Pulis present with both on 32 points. How amazing eh? That’s about as excited as I can get about this fixture. The Baggies surprised everyone by going to Goodison and stealing the three points in GW26 while Palace were undone by Watford at home just to prove there is a God. The Eagles did manage to beat Albion at home earlier in the season. Whoooopeeee Dooooo!

Pulis says that Gareth McAuley and Craig Dawson have both trained this week and should be ok for the weekend while the manager is also hopeful that Jonny Evans will be fit. James Morrison and Callum McManaman continue to miss out through injury. Pulis maintains the aim is to get to 40pts as quickly as possible – two wins and two draws from twelve matches really shouldn’t be beyond them.

The Lord says the Cup win at Spurs has lifted the whole squad, but he is still aware that Palace’s league form remains a concern – he is convinced that one win will change all that. The Eagles will likely have the same squad available as last weekend with Pardew thinking that Yannick Bolaise is ready for a start after coming off the bench at Spurs. Bakary Sako is close to a comeback and may feature this weekend but James McArthur remains out with his rehab going slowly and Jason Puncheon is probably a couple of weeks away. Pape Soaure misses out through suspension.

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Man Utd vs Arsenal (Sun 28 Feb 14.05)
Ah this fixture used to be so exciting – Fergie vs Wenger, Keane vs Vieira, United knocking eight past the Gooners with a midfield of Anderson, Cleverley, Nani and Young. Danny Welbeck opened the scoring for United that day but will likely feature for the Gooners this week. United of course are struggling, while Arsenal dispatched Leicester somehow in GW26 – however Arsenal haven’t won in the league at Old Trafford since 2006 but did beat the Reds 3-0 at the Emirates in October courtesy of virtuoso performances from Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez.

It’s all gone a bit wrong at Old Trafford and those injuries are piling up. However, Thursday evening’s Europa win will have restored some confidence and put a new face in the spotlight with young striker Marcus Rashford bagging a brace on his debut. Rashford only played as Anthony Martial pulled up in the warm up and is a doubt for Sunday and Wayne Rooney is obviously a longer term absentee. David de Gea and Chris Smalling were also ruled out of the Europa win but will be given every chance to make Sunday’s match. Marcos Rojo came off the bench and may have to be thrown straight into the starting line up with Cameron Borthwick-Jackson struggling. Luke Shaw, Phil Jones, Ashley Young, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Will Keane will all miss out. It could get ugly.

Fresh off the midweek loss to Lord Messi, Wenger has revealed that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will not be in the squad and the winger is likely to be missing for a “few weeks” after seeing a knee specialist. With Per Mertesacker having taken a lot of flak since being Barcelona’d, the boss will be hoping to have Gabriel available to call on. Aside from the Ox, there are no other new injuries, meaning Santi Cazorla, Tomas Rosicky and of course Jack Wilshere remain out.

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Spurs vs Swansea (Sun 28 Feb 14.05)
Last week’s shock loss at home to Palace in the Cup will have brought Spurs back down to earth following their impressive win at City in GW26. The visit of Swansea this week should hold no fears for they have never lost to the Swans in the Premier League and have won four out of four in the league at the Lane. The Swans lost at home to Southampton last week but before that had started to pick up points under new manager Francesco Guidolin and it’s just as well they did for they are only three points clear of Newcastle.

Spurs were hopeful that Harry Kane would train today and will be ok to play in a mask on Sunday, having suffered a broken nose. No presser from Spurs today following last night’s Europa victory, so we will do our best to confirm that Kane did indeed train. I wouldn’t be too concerned – last time we had all this was with Costa before he played Newcastle and the mask worked well that day. Well, for 59mins at least. Aside from Kane, Mousa Dembele, Jan Vertonghen and Clinton N’Jie remain out while those worried about full-back rotation should note that Kieran Trippier and Ben Davies started vs Fiorentina, which suggests that Danny Rose and Kyle Walker are the likely starters vs Swansea.

Swansea’s main casualty is the manager! Guidolin had to miss the presser through illness, though the club are hopeful he will be ok to lead his team at the Lane. So it was permanent caretaker Alan Curtis back to talk to us and he said that the Swans have a fully fit squad for Sunday against a Spurs side who Curtis predicts are the title favourites. Good kidology there Al boyo, they’ll make a manager out of you yet. Curtis went on to say though that the league has produced many surprising results this season and sees no reason why the Welshies can’t get a result in North London.

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Suspension Report for Game-week 27

Those players suspended this week are:

Jordan Ayew (Aston Villa)
Pape Souare (Crystal Palace)
Danny Simpson (Leicester)
Victor Wanyama (Southampton)

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)
Claudio Yacob (West Brom)
Sam Byram (West Ham)

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Thanks for reading Team Talk Fantasy Football Game-week 27. This article was written by Cookie

Follow @SteveCook9

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