Team Talk Fantasy Football Game-week 28

Team Talk Fantasy Football Game-week 28

Joy, another game-week, not much time to rest around here is there? Truly these midweek game-weeks I despise, no sooner has one stopped listening to the managers’ bollox than we have to go through it all again. And again in 2/3 days time for GW29 ffs. You think I’m moody now, just wait till Friday. Oh well, best get on with it. Our wonderful, fun, exciting gameweek begins tonight with five matches, all kicking off at 19.45 – how sweet. Everton go to Villa, good luck on the M6. The Saints have a much shorter journey as they travel to Bournemouth. Leicester welcome West Brom, Norwich host Chelsea and Palace have the worst journey of the lot as they go to Sunderland. Lucky things – just what you want on a Tuesday night, the only happy one will be Lady Pardew – “Don’t wait up darling, it’ll be a late one.” “I won’t”. Then onto Wednesday and the other five fixtures – Arsenal welcome Swansea, Newcastle go to Stoke, West Ham fans get to beat up the Spurs fans, we have a repeat of Sunday’s Mickey Mouse Cup as Man City go to Liverpool and finally Man Utd host Watford.
Let’s go Around the Grounds to see what twaddle the bosses have spouted this week. Enjoy!

Aston Villa vs Everton (Tues 1 Mar 19.45)

Another defeat for Villa, another game gone, still eight points from safety but with one game less to make up the ground. Or one game less for the fans to suffer. Which ever you prefer. Manager Remi Garde is trying his best and saying the right things, whether he believes them or not only he knows. Check his latest – “I spoke to the players and the minimum is keeping the spirit and improving on the field to convert the chances we create – and having a clean sheet. Then we will have the three points.” Well, his logic cannot be argued with – sadly his team don’t (can’t) score enough goals and don’t (can’t) keep enough clean sheets. Doomed is the word we’re looking for. There is good news for Garde with Jordan Ayew available again after suspension, but Jack Grealish is again ruled out with the manager suggesting the player may be out for a while.

Everton will have the majority of the squad available for the trip to Villa with just Mo Besic and Darron Gibson ruled out. The Toffees enjoyed a rest at the weekend due to the Capital One Cup Final and will be well rested and refreshed as they look to get their league campaign back on track. Joel Robles is expected to retain the starting spot in goal. Villa actually won this fixture last season with Christian Benteke grabbing two goals in a 3-2 victory – their other goal came courtesy of Tom Cleverley, who is now with Everton. More significantly, braces from Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley helped Everton thrash Villa 4-0 at Goodison in November – a repeat of which wouldn’t be the biggest surprise tonight.

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Bournemouth vs Southampton (Tues 1 Mar 19.45)

Bournemouth are waiting to hear the results of Junior Stanislas’ scan, but the winger is expected to be sidelined for a few weeks. Max Gradel replaced the crocked Stanislas at Watford and impressed but manager Eddie Howe is aware that three games in a week may be too much and he will need his game time managed. There are no other new injuries – Tommy Elphick continues to fight for a starting spot, but after keeping a clean sheet at Watford, Howe is unlikely to change anything at the back, while Lewis Graaban is making good progress after his groin strain but is not certain of featuring tonight.

The Saints proved that they are human after all as they conceded two and lost to Chelsea at the weekend. The local away day at Bournemouth may not be much easier with Eddie Howe’s men battling to stay up, though they do have the comfort zone of a five point advantage of those in the drop zone. Ronald Koeman says that Shane Long is a doubt after the striker scored then picked up a hamstring injury vs Chelsea, while Victor Wanyama remains missing through suspension.

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Leicester vs West Brom (Tues 1 Mar 19.45)

Claudio Ranieri maintains that Spurs and Arsenal are favourites for the league and his only focus is on beating West Brom this evening. He is expecting a tough match having watched them beat Palace Saturday evening. Leicester will be without key midfielder N’golo Kante for the next couple of matches but Claudio is confident that Andy King can come in and do a good job as he did vs Norwich. Ranieri is still to decide whether to recall Danny Simpson after suspension or persevere with Daniel Amartey at right back. There are no other injury concerns.

West Brom will be without Chris Brunt who picked up a knee injury in the win over Palace and is due to see a specialist. Tony Pulis is hopeful that Jonny Evans may be available and if he is he will come straight back into the side. There are no other new injuries, James Morrison and Callum McManaman are longer term casualties while Pulis was pleased with Saidio Berahino’s performance and fitness at the weekend. Wonders will truly never cease.

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Norwich vs Chelsea (Tues 1 Mar 19.45)

Canaries boss Alex Neil is relishing the challenge of taking on Chelsea but will do so without Andre Wisdom who continues to suffer with a knee injury. The manager will leave it to the last minute to see if Sebastien Bbassong and Wes Hoolahan will be available after both missed the loss at Leicester with knocks described by Neil as “not serious.”

Chelsea defender Baba Rahman had a shocked at Southampton and has been “spoken to” by Big Guus, who says “he has to recover from Saturday’s game”. Rahman you dopey turd, spoiling my double Chelsea clean sheet. More interesting for you FPLers, Hiddink says that Diego Costa could be rested in one of the next two games, presumably with the Champions League return with PSG coming up. In that regard, Pato is ready to feature but not play 90mins. Pedro picked up a hamstring injury in the win at Southampton and is likely to miss the next three games, while John Terry won’t play at Norwich and like Costa will likely be wrapped up in cotton wool before PSG come to town as Hiddink said he is very pleased with the Branislav Ivanovic and Gary Cahill partnership.

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Sunderland vs Crystal Palace (Tues 1 Mar 19.45)

The Black Cats suffered no fresh injuries at West Ham but will continue to be without Jeremain Lens and Duncan Watmore. Big Sam felt his team were unlucky to lose at the weekend but admits that their destiny is in their own hands and they cannot afford to rely on relegation rivals continuing to lose. The away side has won the last three meetings between these two with Jermain Defoe grabbing the winner in a 1-0 at Selhurst Park in November.

Despite the loss at West Brom, the Lord was able to take some positives (clutch at straws?) from the game. The main one being the second half influence of Yannick Bolasie, who will surely start at Sunderland and will hope to repeat the hat-trick he scored in the same fixture last season. Another positive was the goals for Connor Wickham, who also scored in the same match last season, but for Sunderland. Bakary Sako is likely to be available again after stepping up his recovery at the weekend. The Lord admitted his team is in a relegation fight, “because we keep losing” – sorry, that amused me. He then went onto say that it’s up to him to deliver victories and thus positioning himself perfectly for the acclaim and plaudits when Palace stay up, with ease. It’s really quite horrible listening to him. Pape Souare continues to miss out through suspension.

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Arsenal vs Swansea (Wed 2 Mar 19.45)

Arsene Wenger says he doesn’t think there are any injury problems after Sunday’s loss at Old Trafford – he did say a couple of players are suffering from muscle tightness but should be ok for Wednesday evening. Expect then a similar squad to the weekend with Santi Cazorla, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jack Wishere and Tomas Rosicky remaining on the sidelines. On Alexis Sanchez, Wenger says “he is fighting to get back to his best” and Arsenal may need him to be if they are to beat the Swans, who have won two and drawn the other of their last three league trips to the Emirates. Wenger repeats that he has to be cautious with Danny Welbeck, implying that Olivier Giroud may start vs Swansea. Oxlade-Chamberlain has been ruled out for 6-8 weeks due to the knee injury he suffered last wee.

Swansea have a fully fit squad for the trip to the Emirates but the weekend loss at Spurs sees the Welshies perched precariously just three points above Newcastle. The Swans have shown a resilience under Francesco Guidolin but it’s points that they need and much of their hope will again centre around new striker Alberto Paloschi who netted against Spurs.

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Stoke vs Newcastle (Wed 2 Mar 19.45)

Mark Hughes believes that Newcastle’s break from competitive football could have an impact on their performance tomorrow night, although he’s not sure if this will aid or hamper them. Sounds as though he’s working on his excuses! On the pitch midfielder Glenn Whelan is expected to play with a broken nose. Ryan Shawcross will again miss out and he will be checked on again later in the week. Glen Johnson and Marc Wilson also remain side-lined but Marc Muniesa is progressing and could come into contention. Geoff Cameron came through the Villa game ok but has been a little sore since although the club are hoping it will settle down over the next 24 hours. Phil Bardsley is to have a scan on his calf.

Listen to this beauty from McClaren…”It’s about the hear & now and winning matches. We have to keep clean sheets and score goals – that hasn’t been the case for us.” Steve and Lord Pardew have clearly been reading the same managerial self-help book…football management for dummies! It’s not good news at the back for Steve as Chancel Mbemba is likely to remain on the sidelines for the next two games while club captain Fabricio Coloccini is also looking doubtful for the next two games but his calf strain is being assessed every day. There is some good news though as Dummett, Colback, Anita, de Jong & Mitrovic are all fit again.

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West Ham vs Spurs (Wed 2 Mar 19.45)

The Hammers will be without the suspended Sam Byram, who picked up his tenth booking of the season in the narrow win over Sunderland. Weekend hero Michail Antonio could fil in at right back with James Tomkins and Joey O’Brien both ruled out. Diafra Sakho has been training with the first team for a week now and Slaven Bilic says he could make the squad, while Winston Reid and Enner Valencia should both be back in the next week or so. Andy Carroll is fully fit again but Bilic is doubtful if the striker will be able to last the full 90mins – I think we’re all doubtful of that Slav! The Hammers haven’t beaten their arch enemy in any of their previous three meetings and were pummelled 4-1 by Spurs at the Lane in GW13 – however they are unbeaten at home since defeats to Leicester and Bournemouth in August and there is nothing they’d like more than to destabilise Spurs’ push for the title.

The main Spurs news that many fantasy manager’s are waiting for concerns Dele Alli after he was reported to have been limping heavily after the Swansea game. Having trained yesterday Pochettino had this to say about his star midfielder today, “(he) had problems before and during the game. He’s OK but we’ll assess tomorrow and decide”. So yeah, we’re all still none the wiser then really! Elsewhere Mousa Dembele remains out with a groin problem but should be back by the weekend and Tom Carroll returns for this one having recovered from an achilles problem.

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Liverpool vs Man City (Wed 2 Mar 20.00)

Don’t be too fooled by the 1-1 scoreline between these two at Wembley on Sunday, City could and should have won it by a few but for a combination of Sterling fluffing his lines and Mignolet producing a few sublime saves, the irony of which being that if it wasn’t for his earlier mistake they wouldn’t have been 1-0 down in the first place. Such is life with Simon between the sticks. As for the team news Liverpool are looking increasingly short on numbers in the centre-half spots as Klopp says he is awaiting medical reports on Mamadou Sakho after his clash of heads with Emre Can forced him off at the weekend, Lucas Leiva picked up a muscle injury whilst taking his penalty (“I think he is not available. We have to wait, but I don’t think so”), they are still sweating on Dejan Lovren returning from illness and Matin Skrtel remains out with his hamstring injury. All of this could see Stephen Caulker partner Kolo Toure at the heart of the defence. Reconsidering snubbing Aguero as captain anyone?! Elsewhere Daniel Sturridge was suffering from cramp at the end of the final which could see a recall for either Origi or Benteke or even mean Firmino being pushed up top again, something which worked a treat last time these two met as Liverpool royally hammered City 1-4 at the Etihad. The boss said he would know more later today as they aren’t training until this evening.

City did not come out of the encounter unscathed either as Pellegrini revealed that Yaya Toure picked up a knock, “(he) has a problem – a kick on his right foot – we’ll see tomorrow if he can play or not”. Yeah righto, bruised ego again more like after his entire team ran past him after his winning penalty to go and celebrate with Willy Caballero instead. If you missed the picture which City tweeted after the game of the entire squad in the dressing room celebrating we implore you to go and take a look, and then look on the far right of it where you will see billy big boots sat on his own looking the other way! Speaking of keepers, Pellegrini would say only this “It’s a very easy decision – we’ll see tomorrow”, so that’s back on the bench you go then Willy. He wouldn’t be pushed on his starting X1 but did confirm that Raheem Sterling would play and be cast to the lions, which is presumably his punishment for his woeful display on Sunday. Elsewhere Kevin de Bruyne is out of his protective cast and is eyeing a return to training at the end of March.

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Man Utd vs Watford (Wed 2 Mar 20.00)

Life is good at Old Trafford these days. They beat the goonies 3-2 on Sunday and they’ve discovered a new goal scoring sensation. When talking about their new sensation, Rashford, Van Gaal said that “the media need to leave him in peace to be 18 years old.” Good luck with that Louis, there’ll soon be calls for him to be on the plane to France. Martial, Darmian and Smalling could all return against Watford. In Van Gaal’s own words, “Players are coming back. It is positive.” Fellaini & Valencia are nearing a return but Wayne Rooney remains in a leg brace.

The Hornets have no new injuries for their trip to Old Trafford, where they have never won in the league. United have won the last ten meetings between the two and Watford will be wary of facing a confident United side who disposed of Arsenal on Sunday and have scored eleven goals in their last three matches. Just four goals conceded in their last six suggests Watford are set up to frustrate, although they did win on the last road trip when they came away from Palace with the three points. Then again, everyone beats Palace these days. Defenders Joel Ekstrand and Tommie Hoban remain out, while Jurado is unlikely to be risked as he continues to recover from a calf injury. Flores admitted that he took Etienne Capoue off early at the weekend due to ‘fatigue’ and hinted that he may be rested for this one and he may not be the only one as he indicated that he may well rotate a few for this game.

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Suspension Report for Game-week 28

Those players suspended this week are:

Pape Souare (Crystal Palace)
Victor Wanyama (Southampton)
Sam Byram (West Ham)

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)

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Thanks for reading Team Talk Fantasy Football Game-week 28. This article was written by Cookie

Follow @SteveCook9

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