Team Talk Fantasy Football Game-week 6

By FF247 on September 14, 2015 206 Comments

Team Talk Fantasy Football GW6

Team Talk Fantasy Football Gameweek 5 The season continues to baffle and dismay and we continue to lose faith in the majority of FPL big hitters. Will this week be the week they come good and restore some confidence back into the frazzled mind of the experienced FPL manager? Time of course will tell as we plod into GW6 of what for many of us already feels like a long, painful road ahead to May! We kick off the week with what we assumed in August would be a top of the table clash – bizzarely it is far from it, but it’s not Arsenal who have underperformed but Mourinho’s Chelsea. The Gooners take the short trip to West London for the lunchtime kick off to see if the Blues can kick start their season or if Wenger can plunge his great mate into further disarray. We then have five 3pm kick offs – there is the West Midlands derby as Villa host West Brom, Bournemouth welcome Sunderland, Watford travel to Newcastle, Stoke take on Leicester and Swansea entertain Everton. West Ham are the evening visitors to the Etihad. Onto Sunday and at lunchtime Spurs and Palace do battle in another derby and Norwich go to Liverpool before we wrap up the gameweek down at St. Mary’s as LVG and Koeman do battle.
So lot’s to look forward to with the derbies and the managerial duels – after a busy week of Champions League and Europa League football, let’s go Around the Grounds to catch up on the lastest team news.

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Chelsea vs Arsenal (Sat 19 Sept 12.45)

Lunchtime at Stamford Bridge, but it may be Jose Mourinho who has lost his appetite with his team sat lowly in the table with just one win and four points from their opening five games. Saturday presents Arsene Wenger with his best opportunity yet of claiming his first ever league win over the Special One. Le Professeur did of course triumph in the Community Shield in August, though Mourinho described that as nothing more than a pre-season friendly!! Hardly the happiest of losers at the best of times, Mourinho is already feeling the pressure of an abject start to the season and with he and Wenger constantly sniping at each other, much of the build is bound to be centred on their rivalry/hatred. This of course, could play into Arsenal’s hands, especially if they are allowed to forget their recent record at the Bridge which has seen them lose the last three, conceding ten goals in the process and scoring just one. The Gooners sit third in the league and have made a decent start to the season and with ex-Blue Petr Cech not conceding in their last three, another clean sheet and a first Wenger win over Jose will leave Mourinho not only licking his wounds, but also staring down the barrel to the bottom of the league and an itchy and slightly volatile Russian owner in the stands. People have been assassinated for less. Allegedly.

Arsene confirmed that he has new injuries after the midweek Champions League debacle which saw the Gunners go down 2-1 away to Dinamo Zagreb. The main highlights from that one centered around the two men vying for that forward slot – Giroud and Walcott. Giroud was the main catalyst for the defeat really having managed to get himself sent off with barely 40 minutes on the clock. Walcott was introduced later in the second half and did what he always does from the bench, in his now permanent role for club and country as ‘professional substitute’, by grabbing what would ultimately be a consolation goal. When asked which of them would start this one Wenger was less than helpful saying “that is a decision I am yet to make”. It’s such a shame really as Walcott could be fantasy gold if he was a regular as 11 goals in his last 11 games would suggest. In other news he confirmed that Mertesacker missed that game due to an illness and conceded that he may still be a bit short to play. Other irrelevant absentees are of course Tomas Rosicky and Danny Welbeck.

Oh Jack, poor little Jack. Yep he’s out again. It’s surgery this time for Wilshere which is to fix some sort of ongoing issue but in all honesty he’s had that many injuries we couldn’t even be bothered to check which one this procedure is designed to fix. Pick any conceivable injury a human can suffer and it could be credible. We’ll have a stab in the dark and say he’s lost an arm this time. He’s now spent more time injured than actually available since he signed for Arsenal. Ok, we admit, we made that one up too but it’s probably not far off, even Darren Anderton would blush at the actual stat, whatever it is. Anyway young Jack gets his own paragraph this week simply because from now on we aren’t going to mention him, you can just assume that it’s a given that he’s out. So a small obituary if you will. Whatever the injury is it’s safe to assume it was sustained in an horrendously reckless tackle (by him) on a much bigger, fitter, stronger player (pick any player) who subsequently swatted his then lifeless corpse aside having already rolled poor little Jack into a small ball and stomped on it, crushing every bone in his frail bow-legged skeleton. Farewell Jack and thanks for the memories. *walks away with small tear in eye whilst trying to recall any worthwhile or sustained fantasy contributions. Nope, none.

Jose spent most of his presser talking about his teams performance in midweek when they cruised past Maccabi Tel Aviv by four goals to nil whilst insisting there are no real issues within the squad and his relationship with his players is fine. Which is more than can be said of the one with the physios but we will touch on the lovely Eva later. On the Hazard penalty miss he quipped that ‘maybe it was an agreement with some sponsor to promote the Rugby World Cup’ but then added that Hazard was still his first choice penalty taker. And for good measure insisted he was still the best player in England. Tell that to his fantasy managers, Jose. As for injuries he ruled out Willian completely but said on Pedro, Falcao and Oscar ‘let’s see what happens’. That’s definitely progress for Pedro as he was out for sure the other night and he is now in the squad at least. We just don’t know what to believe with Jose to such an extent that it almost renders any Chelsea injury updates useless really. And so back to Eva… She’s been recalled to Cobham after a month away and make even make the bench for this game.

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Aston Villa vs West Brom (Sat 19 Sept 15.00)

The second derby of the day takes place at Villa Park with the Baggies looking for their third successive clean sheet on the road this season. Pulis does what Pulis does and aside from the unenviable early visits of City and Chelsea they are still to concede. Villa on the other hand are giving goals away for fun – two to Sunderland was followed by the collapse against Leicester last week, where they threw away a two goal lead to eventually lose the game. Sherwood’s team do at least have fixture form on their side here – they have won the last three at home to West Brom and have recruited ex-Baggie Joleon Lescott to shore up the defence. Not that it worked well at Leicester!! Penetrating the dogged and well drilled Albion defence may prove an equally hard task, but after having experienced a week of angry Sherwood on the training ground, getting past Johnny Evans, Craig Dawson and Boaz Myhill may just seem like the preferred option to another week of wrath and fury from the Gilet Genius.

Sherwood reported that both Carles Gil and Adama Traore were doubts for this game but wouldn’t confirm for certain that either were out. Idrissa Gana trained today for the first time since pulling a hamstring on international duty with Senegal but this one may come too soon for him. Danish centre-half Jores Okore is back in training but is still a while away from a comeback. Rudy Gestede lost his place last time and will be pushing for a recall. If Gil doesn’t make it then Agbonlahor or Sinclair may be pushed out wide to accommodate Gestede.

The main news from the other side of the fence is that Jonny Evans has trained and is expected to be fit for this one having gone off with with cramp as a precaution in the Southampton stalemate. Pulis went on to helpfully add that he had two or three others that needed checking on before the game but stopped short of actually naming them. It’s a massive derby game so he can be forgiven for keeping his cards close to his chest for this one. Just.

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Bournemouth vs Sunderland (Sat 19 Sept 15.00)

Having suffered a hammering at the hands of the Canaries last weekend, Bournemouth will be glad to get back on home soil and attempt to win their first home match in the Premier League. And with Sunderland being the visitors, the Cherries will be licking their lips at the prospect of the bottom club coming into town. The Black Cats are looking as dire as we suspected they may, despite their opening fixtures looking half decent. A home win would put some clear day light between the two teams and heap more pressure on Dick Advocaat, who must be wondering why the heck he signed up for another season at the perennial relegation contenders. The two clubs have only ever met six times in the past, with Bournemouth still seeing their first win – by 5pm Saturday they may be celebrating just that.

Eddie Howe will be without the injured trio of Max Gradel, Harry Arter and Tyron Mings whilst new signing Glenn Murray will be pushing for a starting spot. Charlie Daniels is ‘progressing well and could be fit for this one. That was all really other than Howe bigging up Jermaine Defoe, saying ‘he’s the best finisher I have worked with’. Reverse psychology perhaps?

Dick Advocaat has the “luxury” of welcoming back Adam Johnson and Steven Fletcher – both have recovered from injury and with DeAndre Yedlin also available to make his debut, the Black Cats will certainly have more attacking options. Whether any of them turn out to be of any use remains to be seen. Duncan Watmore misses out through illness, while Adam Matthews is still struggling with an ankle injury.

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Newcastle vs Watford (Sat 19 Sept 15.00)

The Toon trooped back wearily to the North East following Monday’s demoralising and dispirited loss at West Ham, which plunged them to the bottom of the league on goal difference. Yep, you read that right – let’s put it another way to highlight how bad Newcastle’s plight is – Sunderland are AHEAD of them on goal difference!! WOW. Plenty for Steve McClaren to get his brolly into as he seeks a Pardew like escape from relegation – or maybe just a Pardew escape to another club. Liverpool may be looking soon Stevo. Watford arrive on the back of their first win of the season and another clean sheet – that’s three shut outs in five matches. Not too shabby. So something has to give here – either the Hornet’s defence, or the ever fragile pateince of the home support or Stevie Mac’s P45. Maybe he and Dick down the road at Sunderland could swap jobs. I digress. Watford haven’t won at Newcastle since 1981 and while that may bring some hope for the Toon, it’s also a record that, if broken, will plumge the club into further disarray. Guess the muppet who selected Janmaat on his wildcard?

McClaren has said he may well ring the changes after Monday’s insipid performance with the likes of Rolando Aarons, Siem de Jong and Ayoze Perez all vying to start. He rightly criticised their attitude and said that he expected a reaction from the them. Whether he will get it is another matter entirely. He admitted that he doesn’t yet know his best team and is ‘tempted to make changes. Change all you want really Steve – no fantasy manager in their right mind is touching this bunch. On the injury front (if anybody cares) Karl Darlow is out (twisted ankle) and Steven Taylor won’t be available (hamstring). Aleksandar Mitrovic is suspended. That’s a line we imagine we may be wheeling out quite a few times this season. Cheick Tiote is also still out injured whilst Sylvain Marveaux is back in training but this one will come too soon for him. Lucky him.

Watford boss Quique Sanchez Flores didn’t have much to report by way of injuries but he will have to shuffle the pack a bit having lost Valon Behrami who begins a suspension having being sent off last weekend. Ben Watson will probably step in but again nobody cares really. Other than Ben Watson and maybe his Mum. As for other players you’ve never heard of or indeed care about – Miguel Britos is suspended, Joel Ekstrand (knee) is still injured and Mamadou Oulare is still lacking match fitness.

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Stoke vs Leicester (Sat 19 Sept 15.00)

So, take your minds the short time back to August. The Tinkerman had been appointed at Leicester, Cambiasso didn’t fancy another season in the East Midlands and decided Greece was a slightly more preferable location for his family and Stoke were showing great ambition signing Shaqiri, Affelay, Van Ginkel and errrr Glen Johnson. Now fast forward five gameweeks and Leicester are sitting happily in 2nd place not quite believing what is happening to them, while the new look, attractive looking, Johnson-led Stoke are in the drop zone. Then again, if you told Mark Hughes his side would be just a point behind Chelsea at this stage, he’d have taken it. Just three goals and no clean sheets have led Stoke down to the dreaded bottom three, while the Foxes are scoring for fun and have got so cocky they give the oppo a two goal start just to provide some competition and excitement. Just to compound the Potter’s worries, they lost this fixture last season to an Ulloa goal – poor chap hardly gets a look in now, but will no doubt be needed next season as the Foxes build a bigger squad with more depth as they surely enjoy Champions League football for the first time in their history. Think I’m joking? It’s a funny ol’ game, boys.

Mark Hughes gave an update on the recently injured Mame Diouf and it wasn’t exactly good news for his owners as he expects him to probably miss this one as he still has tightness in his hamstring. He didn’t completely rule him out, saying it will be a late decision but it didn’t sound overly promising. He was the only real doubt though as the likes of Bojan and Odemwingie are back in contention. Glen Johnson has trained well and so will probably make a return to the starting team as may Jon Walters who is available again. Charlie Adam and Ibrahim Afellay are both still suspended.

High flying Leicester will close the gap on leaders City if they can reduce Stoke to another defeat. So not quite table topping for the Foxes, but it could be another kind of topping Saturday evening as Claudio Ranieri has promised his side pizzas all round if they can keep a clean sheet. It’s as good a base to start from I guess, and to takeaway three points in the Premier League is no mean feat. Much will of course continue to depend on the delivery of Riyad Mahrez – “everything he touches is gold”, said his manager. The Foxes have no new injuries for the game.

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Swansea vs Everton (Sat 19 Sept 15.00)

While everyone has been fantasising about Swansea – and Gomis, and Shelvey, and Ayew etc, the Toffees have gone about their work, winning 3-0 at Southampton and destroying Chelsea last weekend – leaving them level on points with Swansea and confounding most opinions that had them down to struggle early doors. The Swans have been very popular in FPL terms, but disappointed last weekend at Fortress Watford, going down to their first defeat of the season – however, they have won both their home games and will be confident of carrying on that sequence, although their record vs Everton isn’t good, they are yet to beat them in a league match, with both meetings last season ending in a draw. With both managers liking to play attacking football, this should be an attractive match with the likes of Lukaku, Gomis, Barkley, Ayew and our old mate Naismith all in good form. Cue the 0-0!!

Garry Monk has a fully fit squad to choose from as his team looks to bounce back from last week’s disappointment at Watford. It’s just as simple as that sometimes. Jefferson Montero and Ki Sung-yeung will be hoping for recalls having both featured from the bench last week.

Roberto Martinez has said that midfielder Muhamed Besic and defender Seamus Coleman have both responded well to treatment and have a chance of being available for the trip to the valleys. However, the Toffees will continue to be without Leighton Baines, Tony Hibbert, Tom Cleverley, Darron Gibson, Steven Pienaar and Bryan Oviedo.

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Man City vs West Ham (Sat 19 Sept 17.30)

City continue to march on and are now the only professional team in the main English divisions with a 100% record. Last week’s win at Palace may have been left late and constructed without the services of Silva and Sterling and for the most part Aguero, but it’s gritty wins that ultimately win the league. One look at the fixture list immediately says “home win” here – after all City took Chelsea to the cleaners, they attack from all angles and have yet to concede a goal but the Hammers will be travelling up full of confidence. They took Newcastle to the cleaners on Monday night and of course won at the Emirates and at Anfield and manager Slaven Bilic will be looking for an away day hat-trick. Imagine that. Dimitri Payet will be key – his brace saw off the Toon and he looked a class apart anything else on the pitch – aside from maybe the Hammerettes and of course Andy Carroll once he emerged from his sabattical. City have won the last seven matches between the two at home and though they might not have things all their own way, it would be a brave manager to bet against them making it six wins out of six this season on Saturday evening.

Pellegrini clearly knows his real audience as he played sweet music into the ears of his fantasy crowd with the words ‘Sergio Aguero has recovered very well. He is 100% fit for tomorrow’s game’. There’s most peoples captain sorted then. It wasn’t such good news elsewhere though as he ruled Vincent Kompany out with a calf strain to add to the absences of Zabaleta, Clichy and Delph. He also revealed that Nasri took a kick in the last game and isn’t 100%. He added an update on Zabaleta saying that he needed another week with the physios before returning to full training and that he hoped he’d be back by the end of the month. Sagna owners have been warned then, the countdown to an endless stream of frustrating rotation has begun. He then went on to talk up new signing Kevin De Bruyne saying he’s adapting quickly and that ‘like Sterling, he’s a player we didn’t have before’. Well spotted.

The Happy Hammers travel up to City with the strongest squad they have had available for a long time. Victor Moses impressed on his debut vs Newcastle, while Andy Carroll will have benefitted from a short run out at the end of the game. Carroll will likely have to make do with another 15/20mins off the bench, while Mauro Zarate should also be available after he resumed training this week. Defender Angelo Ogbonna picked up a hamstring injury on Monday, meaning a recall for Carl Jenkinson at the back, while Adrian is available again after suspension. Midfielder Pedro Obiang should be available despite picking up a knock on Monday.

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Spurs vs Crystal Palace (Sun 20 Sept 13.30)

Sunday matches after a Europa League Thursday never seem to bring the best out of a team – compound that by the fixture jester giving them a London derby against a buoyant and confident Crystal Palace, and it could be an uncomfortable Sunday lunchtime for Spurs and their endearing fans. In fact it’s Palace who have started the season in more impressive fashion, winning three and losing two, so draws are not on Pardew’s agenda. Last week’s defeat at home to City was unfortunate after dominating much of the game, but the Silver Fox will take the lessons of that as well as reminding his Eagles what happened the last time they flew the nest – a 2-1 victory over Chelsea. Then again, everyone beats Chelsea these days. Spurs eeked out an unconvincing 1-0 win at Sunderland last week, lifting them to half way but despite them now keeping two clean sheets in a row, it’s at the other end they have struggled, scoring just four goals in five matches, with last season’s Boy Wonder, Harry Kane, still looking to find the target this campaign. Fixture form here is obviously inconsistent being a London derby, though Spurs are unbeaten in their last four at home to Palace. That run may just face a stern challenge on Sunday.

Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino revealed that both Christian Eriksen and Ryan Mason will both be assessed in the build-up to Sunday’s match. Eriksen has been sorely missed as a creative force since he picked up a knee injury last month. Mason was a doubt for this one as he took a knock to his knee whilst scoring the winning goal at Sunderland last week. Mousa Dembele is doubtful due to the foot injury that has sidelined him for the last two matches, while Nabil Bentaleb (ankle) remains out.

Palace boss Pardew didn’t have a lot to report about injury news and so spent most of his presser talking about the game itself and more bizarrely about rewarding his players for good performances with kebabs and burgers! On the injury front itself Joe Ledley is back in contention and Connor Wickham could be too. He will train on Saturday and be assessed from there.

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Liverpool vs Norwich (Sun 20 Sept 16.00)

And so onto Liverpool. Jeez, I’ve missed this – thanks Lawdogg for taking the week off. Two early wins, three consecutive clean sheets had some of us thinking that Brendan was starting to get it right – the defence had tightened up, they were nicking (obviously) games and Benteke had opened his acccount at his news club. “This really could be our season”, was the annual cry from the Kop. The Kop that is, not our Kop. Our Kop is the ultimate pessimist. Or in this case, it appears, realist. For the Hammers then showed up and three goals to nil later danced back to the chimes of the Bow Bells in celebratory fashion. But surely the scousers would then pick themselves up for the hate-filled trip along the M62. Old Trafford. The enemy. Worse than Everton, apparently. Ok. Another three goals later and the scousers were trooping back, tails between their legs for a night of desolation and despondancy. Even the hub caps were safe for the night. This week the visitors are Norwich – surely Liverpool can win this one? It’s Norwich FFS!! Home win, home banker. That’s not rhyming slang – the Cockney’s left weeks ago. Hope for Brendan and his collective gaggle of averageness is that Norwich are yet to keep a clean sheet this season, the bad news is that they have scored in every game bar one. Liverpool of course have a great record in this fixture and have won their last five matches vs the Canaries both home and away, scoring 21 goals in the process – sadly, for them, not one of those goals was scored by a player who will wear a red shirt on Sunday. A home win is indeed likely, but the days of Norwich being the whipping boys of Suarez and Sterling are long gone.

Brendan risked the ire of many a Liverpool fan on Thursday, who perhaps view winning the Europa League (won’t happen) as their only viable way back into the Champions League. He did so by leaving a number of his top stars such as Benteke (can’t think of any more) etc back on Merseyside and left many onlookers googling names such as Chirivella and Brannagan. As it was they sneaked away from Bordeaux with a 1-1 draw and hopefully he also smuggled a few bottles of claret in his carry-on as he may need them if he loses this one. As for the team news captain Jordan Henderson is back from his injection laden trip Stateside and is training today and being assessed over the next 48 hours. Daniel Sturridge is subject to the same assessment as he continues to build up his fitness ahead of a potential comeback , swiftly followed by the inevitable breakdown again. Freshly armed with a new 5 year contract Mamadou Sakho was praised for his Europa performance and may be pushing for a starting spot. Philippe Coutinho was quoted as saying he’s still struggling with the weather – ‘it’s tough when it’s cold’. So basically check the weather forecast tomorrow ahead of selecting him in your team.

The Canaries have no fresh injuries going into the game, but will have to continue to be without Gary Hooper and Youssouf Mulumbu, while Andre Wisdom is ineligible to face his parent club – Steven Whittaker is likely to deputise for Wisdom. Lewis Grabban has returned to training and could be available to make the bench.

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Southampton vs Man Utd (Sun 20 Sept 16.00)

Our gameweek comes to a close on Sunday afternoon as LVG takes his United team down to face Ronald Koeman’s Southampton – much will of course be made of the Dutch managers, who are known to not exactly get on well. That won’t bother either man, though one gets the feeling that there will be a wry and sneaky grin on the face of the winner. Both teams have stuttered somewhat so far, though United find themselves in third place, courtesy of a generally tight defence and last week’s memorable win over the scousers. The Saints have been even more inconsistent, winning just one match (home to Norwich), but have not conceded a goal in three matches now and with the arrival of Virgil van Dijk and the holding onto of Victor Wanyama providing some stability and protection, they will take some breaking down. Despite the Saints winning at Old Trafford last season, that was their only win over United in twelve meetings. Both teams have match winners to change the game and much will be made of Anthony Martial after his scoring debut last weekend, but it’s more likely that the two defences will be the talk of the match. Don’t expect a classic.

Talking of defenders Ryan Bertrand is on the comeback trail for the Saints and may be back as soon as next weekend so for those riding that relative Targett freebie you may have to get off sooner rather than later. Sadio Mane was an unexpected absentee last weekend and could only take a place on the bench but Koeman explained that this was because he returned from international duty late. Now we don’t like to cast aspersions or stereotypes on here (much) but he won’t be the first or last Senegalese player (for Senegalese read any African or indeed South American player) to perhaps, let’s say, ‘get lost in transit’ in that small window between international duty ending and club duty restarting. It’s like the Bermuda Triangle. But with a massive two day party / bender in the middle instead like some weird sort of vortex. It eventually spits them out at about 2.55pm on a Saturday and straight onto the bench of their respective clubs. Anyway we digress. He’s dried out now and may well return to the attack in this one.

Talking of defenders… we all wish poor Luke Shaw the very best for a speedy recovery after his unfortunate injury in midweek. We won’t dwell on it as we are sure everyone is aware of what happened and it’s every footballers nightmare. Suffice to say he will be out for the season and we hope to see him back and fighting fit as soon as possible. Elsewhere, LVG confirmed that captain / talisman / fantasy flop Rooney was back and fit to play. Ok, so nobody even blinked. Moving on then, Phil Jones ‘has trained with the group’. Which is a terrifying thought as ‘the group’ were actually doing ok defensively… Captain Pelle anyone?

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Suspension Report
Those players suspended for GW6 are as follows

Aleksandar Mitrovic (Newcastle)
Ibrahim Afellay (Stoke)
Charlie Adam (Stoke)
Valon Behrami (Watford)
Miguel Britos Cabrera (Watford)