Team Talk Fantasy Football Game-week 9

Team Talk Fantasy Football GW9

Welcome to GW9 and it’s a gameweek that many were looking forward to after an improved and Kun-inspired GW8 – however numerous injuries over the dreaded International break, including the aforementioned Aguero, has left many a manager waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, fearing how they will field a team without a points hit or two – or three! It’s a gameweek where we welcome Jurgen Klopp as the new Liverpool chief – damnit I like Klopp – this is going to test my loyalty to the extreme. We also welcome back Big Sam, we’ve missed you buddy, though a few weeks in charge of the Black Cats may leave you questioning your sanity.

Our gameweek kicks off Saturday lunchtime with Klopp and his new lads travelling down to Spurs. Not all of England, is like Tottenham, Jurgen – in fact you’re getting some of the worst out of the way immediately – then again our new German is based in Liverpool, so Tottenham is probably a small upgrade. Then we have six 3pm kick offs as Villa attempt to heap more misery and pressure on Mourinho, West Ham travel south of the Thames to meet Palace, United take the short journey west along the M62 to take on Everton, Kun-less City welcome Bournemouth to the Etihad, the Baggies “entertain” Big Sam’s Sunderland and Southampton and Leicester do battle in what could be the game of the day. Fast forward to the evening and Arsenal take on Watford at Vicarage Road. Onto Sunday and the Sabbath could become the Last Supper for Steve McClaren if Newcastle can’t beat Norwich at home. Our gameweek then concludes on Monday night as Welshie Mark Hughes takes his Stoke team to Swansea for a Monday night special.

As we have already touched upon, the internationals have been littered with injuries – therefore the pressers this week take on a huge level of importance for FPL managers. Therefore, let’s go Around the Grounds to see if there is any good news from the managers.

Spurs vs Liverpool (Sat 17 Oct 12.45)It is only fitting that this fixture kicks off the weekend. As an Arsenal fan (lawdogg barking here), I must admit I am jealous to see Jurgen Klopp land where he did. I fancied him to skipper the Arsenal after Wenger steps down. Oh well. Fair play to Liverpool, you’ve landed a great manager. Spurs have won all four of their home games this season and are unbeaten in their last seven. Enter Liverpool, who have won just once in their last nine away matches in the league. There has been no bigger fantasy flop this season than Harry Kane, who has as many goals this season as he does own goals – 1!! Play – Daniel Sturridge, who scored three goals in five games against Spurs while at Chelsea, but has yet to score in four matches as a Liverpool player. He did however open his league account for the season with a brace vs Villa in GW7.

Spurs will continue to be without Ryan Mason, Nabil Bentaleb, Heung-Min Son and Alex Pritchard through injury, while Eric Dier also misses out through suspension. Danny Rose, the careless tosser, is expected to recover from the wrist injury he has been suffering from.

Klopp in his first pre-match presser as Liverpool boss says he will not look to change too much right now, “just to turn the screws a little bit”. Plenty of screws are needed in Liverpool with that crime rate, Jurgen mein freund. Joe Gomez will be a long term absentee with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament injury – sad news for him, but positive for owners of Alberto Moreno. Klopp describes Gomez as a “wonderful young boy, with muscles in all the right places” – sounds like something Wenger would say. The scousers have also been rocked by the news that Danny Ings has been ruled out for the season after suffering the same injury as Gomez in training. My new German pal says that Christian Benteke and Roberto Firmino are not yet training with the first team but he hopes they will be back next week. Philippe Coutinho has however trained and should be involved at the Lane while Dejan Lovren has recovered from his ankle injury. Now, if I were nice Jurgen, we’d sit down and I’d tell you about Lovren, but as a United fan I’ll let you find out first-hand how good he really is. Cheers Jurgs mate, appreciate all the info, you told us more in one presser than Brenda did in three years. We’re gonna get on ok. Rumours circulated Friday morning that Daniel Sturridge has suffered another injury though it has been reported that the invalid, sorry striker, was at Melwood this morning and has travelled with the team down to London.

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Chelsea vs Aston Villa (Sat 17 Oct 15.00)If Chelsea are to turn things around this season, a home match against Aston Villa has to be the place. We have detailed in this space just how poor Aston Villa are and, if the mood in the Stamford Bridge locker room is to change, the Blues need a convincing win at home. A clean sheet for the Blues isn’t a certainly for Villa have scored in each of their away fixtures, while the Blues have conceded at least two goals in seven of their eight league matches this season. Chelsea have netted at least once in four games at home this season and going back further Mourinho’s men have scored in each of their last 23 home matches in the league.

Jose Mourinho confirms that Branislav Ivanovic is out with a hamstring injury, with the Special One saying he has four solutions for the position, namely Cesar Azpilicueta, Kurt Zouma, Ramires and a young chap called Ola Aina. The only other injury continues to be Thibaut Courtois, so Asmir Begovic will continue in goal. Diego Costa is available after suspension, while Jose talked up midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek and said he is ready to start in the Premier League.

Despite being marooned in the drop zone and only being held up by their weaker cousins in the north east, Tim Sherwood has taken on Lord Pardew status by announcing he is 100% sure that Villa will stay up and, wait for it, “the fans were singing my name three weeks ago and they will be singing it again in three weeks time”. Oh Tim. “Sacked in the morning, Tim, you’re getting sacked in the morning”, maybe? Or… “Sherwood is a w*****r, Sherwood is a w*****r, la la la la”? How about it, “You’re just a shit Brendan Rogers”? Got it….”Tim Sherwood, oh oh oh, Tim Sherwood oh oh oh. He wears a blue gilet. Now please f*** off today”.

Onto team news and Adama Traore is fit to face Chelsea, but Gabby Agbonlahor and Ciaran Clark remain sidelined, while Carlos Sanchez will be assessed after his long travels this past week. You should of stayed where you were and said the flight was cancelled Carlos pal. Jack Grealish is fit, but Jores Okore, despite having returned to full training, is not quite ready to play.

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Crystal Palace vs West Ham (Sat 17 Oct 15.00)Palace have won their last two and haven’t sat this high in the table this late in a season since they finished third in the 1990/91 season. After starting the season hot, West Ham’s jets have cooled – the club have managed disappointing draws against Sunderland and Norwich. If your team isn’t playing when this one kicks off you really should give it a watch… but maybe wait until the second half as 15 of the 18 total goals scored in Crystal Palace matches (scored and conceded) have come in the second half. Dimitri Payet the man to watch here – he has had a hand in 14 goals (five goals, nine assists) in his last 16 league appearances in the Premeir League and Ligue 1.

The Lord says that all his internationals have returned injury free and that Damien Delaney, Mile Jedinak, Jordon Mutch, Chung-yong Lee are all back training. Connor Wickham, Marouane Chamakh and Joel Ward all remain missing. Pardew is expecting a tough game vs one of his old clubs in what he describes as a “top of the table clash” – West Ham are sixth mate. And all being well, you won’t be in the top four for too much longer as you’ll be even more unbearable.

Slaven Bilic is cheered to reveal that Angelo Ogbonna, Andy Carroll and Enner Valencia are all 100% fit and available, with the manager specifically saying that “Valencia is one of our biggest weapons” – thanks Slaven, but a bit too much information there mate. Defender Joey O’Brien has returned to full training, but is unlikely to be called upon this weekend, while Alex Song is still three weeks away from a return and Winston Reid and Aaron Cresswell have minor knocks and a late decision will have to be made on them both.

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Everton vs Man Utd (Sat 17 Oct 15.00)Everton come into this match unbeaten in nearly two months and they will fancy their chances this weekend – they have won their last three home matches against United, keeping clean sheets in all three. However, Everton have conceded at least one goal in each of their home games this season and have won just one of their last six at home. Manchester United come to town looking to right things after a 3-0 defeat to the Gunners. The Reds’ attack starts and ends with new Arrival Anthony Martial, who averages touching the ball in the opposition box a league-best every 9.2 minutes. Romelu Lukaku is one of just four players to score an Premier League hat-trick against Manchester United… a feat he accomplished while on loan at West Brom. He has yet to score against them for his current club.

Roberto Martinez says he will monitor Bryan Oviedo, Tim Howard and Ramiro Funes Mori after their delayed return from international duty. Talking of international breaks the Spaniard says by the next one he could have most, if not all of his players back, as Leighton Baines has stepped up his recovery and could be back in a couple of weeks, while Tony Hibbert and Mo Besic are progressing well. Kevin Mirallas is available after serving his suspension, John Stones is expected to play despite lacking match fitness, but Steven Pienaar and Tom Cleverley remain sidelined.

LVG says Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick are fit to face the Toffees despite both sitting out the England internationals. Marcos Rojo and Ander Herrera are now fit, though probably not enough to play 90mins. It’s not all good news though as LVG says Phil Jones is now ready for selection “when I want to”. Like never then, Louis. Ashley Young picked up a calf injury in training this week and is ruled out, Paddy McNair continues to miss out with an abdominal injury, while Luke Shaw is obviously out for a few months.

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Man City vs Bournemouth (Sat 17 Oct 15.00)One of the fun things about researching for these articles is that you sometimes run across really interesting stories and, since we all know City will annihilate Bournemouth this weekend, we thought we would share one of those stories with you. The last time these teams squared off, current Cherries boss Eddie Howe featured in defence for Bournemouth, helping them secure a 0-0 draw. Interesting bit about Howe is that he spent his youth career at Bournemouth and played for the senior side 201 times from 1994-2002. After an injury-filled, two-year stint at Portsmouth the Cherries wanted to bring him back. The club, however, was in dire straits financially. The club’s supporters joined together and created “Eddieshare” to fund the transfer fee. Within days of the fund’s creation, fans raised £21,000 to fund the transfer fee to bring Howe back to his boyhood club. Wow.

The good news that many hoped for didn’t arrive, as Aleksandar Kolarov and David Silva join Sergio Aguero on the injured and not available list. Manuel Pellegrini says that he hopes to have Kolarov and Silva back “within 15 days”, while he expects Kun to be missing for at least a month. Pellegrini says he trust Wilfried Bony in Kun’s absence. There is some good news for City as Yaya Toure and Samir Nasri have both recovered from injury and come into contention. Fabian Delph is maybe a week away and Gael Clichy remains sidelined.

Bournemouth’s injury woes continue with the news that captain Tommy Elphick has been ruled out for around 10 weeks with an ankle injury, for which he had surgery earlier this week. This follows on from the recent long term injuries sustained by Tyrone Mings, Max Gradel and Callum Wilson. The only other concern, as if they are not enough, is midfielder Harry Arter, who continues his road to a return to the first team but is still a fortnight away at least. Glenn Murray will again start up front in the absence of Wilson and will hope to continue where he left off last week when he scored vs Watford.

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Southampton vs Leicester (Sat 17 Oct 15.00)The Saints have won their last two and will look to continue their winning history against the Foxes, who have just one win in their last 18 top flight matches at Southampton. Jamie Vardy comes to St. Mary’s Stadium the hottest player in the league. And arguably the ugliest. The Englishman has eight goals in his last nine league games and has scored in each of his last five. Don’t bet on a clean sheet in any game involving Leicester, as the Foxes have scored and conceded at least one goal in each of their eight league matches this season.

Ronald Koeman confirms he won’t be the next manager of Holland before revealing that striker Shane Long has been ruled out for 2-4 weeks after picking up an ankle injury vs Poland. Midfielder Jordy Clasie is not 100% but needs game time, while Sadio Mane will need to be assessed after his delayed return from international duty.

Claudio Ranieri said that Riyad Mahrez and Jeffrey Schlupp missed training on Thursday as they arrived late back from international duty – both players will need to be checked after training today, while the manager says he is also considering Nathan Dyer, who is now 100% fit.

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West Brom vs Sunderland (Sat 17 Oct 15.00)Recipe for a win against Sunderland: 1. Win five and draw one of your last six home meetings with the Black Cats. 2. Keep a clean sheet in four of your last six home matches with Sunderland. 3. Keep in mind the visitors they have the fewest shots on goal of any team in the league and 4. Remind Big Sam the reigns of the last three Sunderland managers have all started with an away defeat. Not all hope is lost for Sunderland though for West Brom haven’t won a league game in the month of October since 6 October 2012, a 3-2 victory over Queens Park Rangers.

Baggies chief Tony Pulis has doubts over Jonny Evans, James Morrison and Saido Berahino, who are all rated 50/50 and will need late assessments. Striker Salomon Rondon will also need to be checked after travelling back late from his international duty.

Ola Toivonen is a major injury doubt for the Black Cats after picking up a groin problem while with Sweden – he could be replaced by Seb Larsson should he fail to recover in time. There is better news (ish) as Younes Kaboul has trained fully this week and could replace the suspended Sebastian Coates and Yann M’Vila is expected to be available after limping off against West Ham. Jeremain Lens is also suspended, while Adam Matthews is likely to miss out again.

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Watford vs Arsenal (Sat 17 Oct 17.30)There’s something about clubs with a “w” in their name and the month of October. Watford have lost all nine Premier League matches they have played in the month of October and there is no reason to think that trend won’t continue this weekend. Arsenal went into the International break buoyed by a 3-0 win against Manchester United and will look to build on that victory against Watford. The obvious fantasy choice here is Alexis Sanchez, who has scored five times in the Gunners’ last two league matches. Want a differential? Watford forward Odion Ighlao has scored his team’s last five league goals.

Hornets boss Quipe Sanchez Flores (QSF from now on, no way am I writing that every week) expects Ikechi Anya, Valon Behrami and Allan Nyom to be fit for Saturday evening’s visit of the Goons. The trio were unable to play for their respective nations over the international break but have all trained this week and should be ready. Jose Manuel Jurado will miss out with a hamstring injury, while Joel Ekstrand and Tommy Hoban have also been ruled out. Juan Carlos Paredes, who played twice for Ecuador this break only returned on Thursday and is unlikely to feature.

Arsene Wenger says that Alexis Sanchez will need to be assessed upon his late return from international duty, but after the in-form midfielder played an impressive 90mins for Chile in the week, he is thought to be ok, maybe just slightly tired from the travelling. Wenger is upset he played so much for Chile after picking up a hip injury in the win over United in GW8. Laurent Koscielny faces a late fitness test, though he trained with the main group today while Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini should both be available after they returned successfully to full training. Jack Wilshere is at least a month away, while Danny Welbeck won’t be back until January at the earliest – even i’m bored of making jokes about those two. For now.

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Newcastle vs Norwich (Sun 18 Oct 16.00)Sunday’s only fixture sees Norwich visit relegation-doomed Newcastle. As if things weren’t already bad enough at St. James Park, this week Newcastle learned their starting goalkeeper will miss the rest of the season. Sometimes life can be so Krul. Newcastle have won just one of their last 19 league matches and are winless in their first eight games of the season for only the second time in club history. The club record is 10, and I think we all remember how bad that 1898/99 Newcastle team was.

Steve McClaren confirms that Rob Elliot will deputise in goal in place of Tim Krul, who has been ruled out for the rest of the season. There is some positive news for Macca as he reveals that Daryl Janmaat has trained this week and Jack Colback, Massadio Haidara and Paul Dummett have also returned to training and come into contention.

Chief Canary Alex Neill says most of the squad trained on Thursday and the internationals returned fine, thus there are no new injuries to report. Youssouf Mulumbu has returned to full training and the manager is keen to get him up to speed in terms of gametime and striker Gary Hooper is back in training.

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Swansea vs Stoke (Mon 20 Oct 20.00)Stoke have annoyingly won their last two and will hope for a win against a struggling Swans side. Keep dreaming, Orcs you have won just once in your last 18 league trips to Swansea. Swansea have lost their way since a 2-1 home win over Manchester United. Since then Garry Monk’s team has drawn twice and lost twice. Part-human, part-giraffe, and rumored FC Dallas transfer target Peter Crouch has scored four goals against Swansea, the most of any player in this fixture’s history.

Swans defender Kyle Naughton comes back into the squad for the Monday night visit of Stoke after missing the draw with Spurs due to the birth of his daughter. Garry Monk says he has a fully fit squad and everyone trained well today following the internationals, which will ease worried Andre Ayew owners – the midfielder has recovered from a knock.

Stoke striker Mame Diouf will miss the trip to Swansea as he remains on compassionate leave following the sad passing of his mother. Hughes is confident Diouf will be back next week. Marc Wilson and Xherdan Shaqiri have both recovered from knocks and are available, while Ryan Shawcross has stepped up his recovery by playing 90mins in a behind-closed-doors match, with the manager hoping his defender should be available for first team action in a couple of weeks.

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Suspension Report

Those players who are suspended for GW9 are as follows:

Eric Dier (Spurs)
Sebastian Coates (Sunderland)
Jeremain Lens (Sunderland)

It’s worth being aware that any player who receives five yellow cards before 31st December will receive an automatic one match ban. Those players currently sitting on four yellows are:

Ciaran Clark (Aston Villa)
Jeffrey Schlupp (Leicester)
Eliaquim Mangala (Man City)
Matteo Darmian (Man Utd)
Jack Colback (Newcastle)
Oriol Romeu (Southampton)
Bamidele Alli (Spurs)
Billy Jones (Sunderland)
Mark Noble (West Ham)

Thanks for reading Team Talk Fantasy Football Game-week 9. This article was written by LawDogg and Cookie

Follow @PlaneGooner

Follow @SteveCook9

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