Team Talk Fantasy Football Gameweek 17

Team Talk Fantasy Football GW16

For some managers GW16 was great, for others it was a disappointment, but as we always say, don’t look back, look forwards. And there is much to be excited about as the fixtures really do start flowing thick and fast over the next few weeks for, if you weren’t aware….IT’S CHRISTMAS!! So welcome to the TeamTalk Christmas special, where we will aim to give you all the information you need to make GW17 pay rich dividends and see you climb the leagues quicker than Santa can fall down the chimney.
Our festivities start at the Etihad, where half a stadium will watch the lunchtime feast of Man City vs Crystal Palace. Then we have six 3pm matches as Aston Villa take on Man Utd, Swansea travel across to Hull, QPR welcome West Brom, Southampton host Everton, Burnley visit Spurs and West Ham do battle with Leicester. There is no evening game so onto Sunday when at lunchtime there won’t be much Christmas spirit shown as Newcastle play Sunderland before we sit back with our mince pies and mulled wine to enjoy Arsenal’s trip to Liverpool. Our gameweek concludes on Monday evening as Chelsea take the trip to Stoke.
There is much to get through, a whole selection box of injuries and suspensions, so let’s go Around the Grounds and see what the managers have had to say.

Man City vs Crystal Palace (Sat 20 Dec 12.45)
Despite having no strikers and their captain injured, this one has home win written all over it. With Palace languishing just a point above the relegation zone and City on a run of five consecutive wins in the league, a win for the Eagles will be as likely as finding a hotel room in Bethlehem next week. City have won the last six meetings between the two and you have to go back to 1990 for the last time the Eagles won at City. Surprisingly this is a fixture that hasn’t traditionally brought many goals with less than three goals a game being scored in the last three.

City go into the Christmas period with no recognised strikers as Sergio Aguero, Edin Dzeko and Stevan Jovetic have all been ruled out until the New Year. Poor Jose Pozo, manager Manuel Pellegrini says he isn’t even a proper striker. Vincent Kompany is also ruled out of tomorrow but is doing well and is expected back before the three strikers. Pellegrini admits the team will need to find a new way of playing, with many speculating that James Milner, Frank Lampard or David Silva may be used as a false no.9.

Adrian Mariappa and Jonny Williams have resumed full training striker and have a chance of making the trip to City, but striker Marouane Chamakh has been ruled out for a few weeks at the very least with a hamstring strain. This pushes Dwight Gayle and Fraizer Campbell into the manager’s thoughts though Warnock says the team will miss a big presence up front. And they’ll miss Chamakh too. Wilfried Zaha has shrugged off a knock and should be available, while Joe Ledley will have a late fitness test.

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Aston Villa vs Man Utd (Sat 20 Dec 15.00)
If only this game happened a few weeks ago we may have witnessed a behind-the-scenes kiss under the mistletoe between Sir Alex and Roy “The Beard” Keane, but with the Irishman having now left Villa, there will be no distractions for the game. Which is probably just as well, for Keano would be as welcome in the United dressing room as King Herod in a manger. Villa have an extraordinarily horrendous record vs United – just the one victory in 35 meetings, with their last victory over the Reds at Villa Park coming in 1995. You’ll remember the match, or at least the analysis of it as Alan Hansen confidently predicted, “You’ll never win anything with kids.” Just the double, cheers Alan. United have scored at least three goals in each of the previous five matches with Villa and will be looking to extend their current run of six consecutive wins in the league which has seen them rise to third place. Villa meanwhile have been consistently inconsistent this season – one thing you can be sure of however is that they won’t score many – they are the lowest scorers in the division with just ten goals.

Troubling is brewing for Villa with manager Paul Lambert saying his squad is down to the bare bones for the visit of United. Alan Hutton, Tom Cleverley and Kieran Richardson are all suspended, while Joe Cole, Ashley Westwood, Nathan Baker, Philippe Senderos and Libor Kozak all miss out through injury. Lambert says some of the kids may even make the bench but did maintain that he is happy with the “strong starting XI”.

Angel di Maria has made a good recovery from his hamstring injury and could make the bench for tomorrow, while striker Radamel Falcao could start the game after he has shown better fitness in training. Luke Shaw has also returned to light training but won’t play tomorrow, while Marouane Fellaini has been ill this week and won’t make the trip. Chris Smalling, Marcos Rojo and Daley Blind remain out.

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Hull vs Swansea (Sat 20 Dec 15.00)
Swansea travel to Hull on the back of two successive defeats and having fallen to 9th place, which in comparison to Hull is almost Champions League form. Steve Bruce’s boys are firmly entrenched in the relegation zone having not won since GW7 and scored just two goals in their last eight league matches. But if they can win one game, then this is it – they have won five and drawn one of the last six meetings between the two at home to the Swans, who this season have lost four and drawn two of their last six matches away from home. The problem Bruce has, apart from his team being woeful, is that together with injuries and suspensions he also has Hatem Ben Arfa to deal with, or put more accurately he could deal with him if he could find him – he literally doesn’t know where his lazy French midfielder is!! A failure to win for Hull would result in a very silent night in the town on Saturday, while Bruce could may well be better off hiding with Ben Arfa if the owner comes looking for him.

Hull midfield powerhouse Tom Huddlestone is suspended following his red card in the defeat at Stamford Bridge last week, while there is bad news of defender Michael Dawson, who has been ruled out until mid-January with a hamstring injury. Midfielders Mohammed Diame and Robert Snodgrass remain unavailable, while our old mate Hatem Ben Arfa has played his last game for Hull, with Bruce saying, “if he decides to stay in France that’s up to him, there’s only ten days until the window opens”. A Frenchman running away – who would have believed it?

Garry Monk has a fully fit squad to choose from for the trip to Hull with keeper Lukasz Fabianski returning from suspension to replace Gerhard Tremmel between the sticks. Swansea have failed to score in their last three matches at the KC Stadium and will be heavily reliant on leading scorer Wilfried Bony who has scored eight goals in his last ten league games.

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QPR vs West Brom (Sat 20 Dec 15.00)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we’ve all got this one nailed down as a Rangers win as we know they’re useful at home, while being awful on the road. West Brom will have other ideas of course and will be looking for their second win in a row after last week’s derby win over Villa. Wins at the Loft vs Sunderland, Villa, Leicester and Burnley does suggest that ‘Arry’s men have too much home form against their closest relegation rivals, although the Baggies have enjoyed a victory in London already this season when they won at Spurs in September. QPR have won just one of their last six league meetings at home to West Brom, although they did win the last clash in the FA Cup in January.

Rangers are relieved to welcome back leading scorer Charlie Austin from suspension. There are no fresh injuries, although defender Mauricio Isla has returned to Chile as his Mrs is due to give birth. Steven Caulker is expected to be fit to return, but Alejandro Faurlin, Sandro and Adel Taarabt are long term absentees.

Baggies boss Alan Irvine says Jonas Olsson and Georgios Samaras are the only definite absentees. Striker Victor Anichebe will need a late assessment while Chris Brunt has returned to training and is hopeful of being available.

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Southampton vs Everton (Sat 20 Dec 15.00)
It was a popular opinion that life would get tough for Southampton from GW13 and so it came to pass. Four defeats in a row borders on a crisis and a failure to arrest the decline will be a massive shame for Ronald Koeman who had engineered such a great start to the season. The visitors this weekend are Everton who had the pleasure of plunging their nearest and dearest into the bottom half of the table courtesy of Monday’s win over QPR.

Everton’s Kevin Mirallas will miss out with an ankle injury, but it is not as serious as first feared, while Leon Osman remains out. James McCarthy and Darron Gibson are progressing well and are rated 50/50 for the match, but Tony Hibbert has been ruled out. Gareth Barry returns to the heart of midfield after serving his suspension, while Roberto Martinez says defender John Stones has returned ahead of schedule but is wary about rushing him back too early.

The Saints midfield has been left wide open by the suspensions of both Morgan Schneiderlin and Victor Wanyama, so Ronald Koeman is naturally hopeful that Steven Davis can recover from a knock to face the Toffees. Dusan Tadic and Jake Hesketh have been ruled out while striker Graziano Pelle is a doubt having picked up a knock. Jack Cork and J-Rod remain unavailable.

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Spurs vs Burnley (Sat 20 Dec 15.00)
One look at the league table would suggest this is a nailed on home victory, but football ain’t like that as this may not be the pushover that many are expecting. Despite a resounding 4-0 midweek Capital One cup victory over Newcastle, Spurs league form at home has been inconsistent – just one win in their last four league games at the Lane. Burnley meanwhile are fighting for their lives and are giving it their best shot – just one in defeat in six suggests they are again battling hard and this is unlikely to be the stuffing that owners of Christian Eriksen and Harry Kane are hoping for.

Spurs have an injury free squad to select from after witchcraft guru Emmanuel Adebayor returned after a week back in Togo, though the striker is not thought to be 100% match fit. Nacer Chadli made a goalscoring return to the starting line up on Wednesday, which he hopes will be enough to persuade manager Mauricio Pochettino to start him tomorrow. Ben Davies, Kyle Walker and Ryan Mason all come back into the squad after being rested in midweek.

Sean Dyche is likely to name an unchanged team to the one that beat Southampton last weekend. Ben Mee is expected to shrug off his illness, while Michael Duff is unlikely to be back this week after his suffered a recurrence of his calf injury. Stephen Ward misses out with an ankle injury, but there is good news of striker Sam Vokes, who will continue his comeback by playing in a Development Squad game on Monday and a return to the first team is not far away. Matty Taylor is still missing.

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West Ham vs Leicester (Sat 20 Dec 15.00)
And they saw the star that rose in the east…and ended up at Upton Park. Wise man Big Sam has has plenty of stars under his watch this season that has resulted in the Hammers starting the weekend in the fourth Champions League place. Leicester on the other hand have had a shocker and will need a win here if they are to have any chance of not being bottom at Christmas. Nigel Pearson has seen his flock slump to eight defeats in nine matches and frank(incense)ly, they look doomed for the drop unless they can rub their magic lamp and start putting some victories on the board.

Ben Hamer will continue in goal for the Foxes with Kasper Schmeichel recovering from a broken metatarsal, while striker David Nugent has returned to training. Matt Upson is not available for Saturday and Zoumana Bakayogo remains a long-term absentee.

Big Sam is talking fatigue, risk of injuires, lack of recovery time…and rotation! In a very brief presser, the manager said Mark Noble is the only member of the squad not available this week but he should be back for GW18.

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Newcastle vs Sunderland (Sun 21 Dec 13.30)
There’s nothing like a seasonal tear up and whoever arranged this one just days before Christmas clearly had a sense of humour. A derby is always looked forward to by the fans as much as a child can’t wait to see if Santa has visited and this one rarely fails to disappoint, whether it’s goals, action, controversy or just a good old scrap, this is a must-see match, if only to see who throws the first punch. Despite the Mackems currently trailing the Toon by seven points, it’s Gus Poyet’s men who have the form in this fixture – they have won the last three derbies, two of them at Newcastle, including last season’s 3-0 victory which saw Jack Colback score. Colback is now one of Alan Pardew’s elves and so will be certain of a hostile reception from the Sunderland fans, though they may be better advised encouraging their own players, who have failed to win any of their last six matches.

Keeper Jak Alnwick has been passed fit after recovering from his injured shoulder – just as well as Tim Krul and Rob Elliot are out until mid-January. Steven Taylor and Moussa Sissoko are available again after serving their suspensions, with both recovering from knocks in time for the match. Ryan Taylor, Gabriel Obertan, Rolando Aarons, Siem de Jong and Jonas Gutierrez are all missing. Papiss Cisse has been suffering with an illness, but did resume training today and hopes to be ok although he does struggle to complete 90mins, Mehdi Abeid will need a late assessment and Cheick Tiote and Sammy Ameobi will train tomorrow.

Gus Poyet is pleased to report that midfielder Emanuele Giaccherini is likely to be fit enough to make the squad but Sunday will come too early for defender Billy Jones. The only other absentee is Patrick van Aanholt, who remains out with a dislocated shoulder.

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Liverpool vs Arsenal (Sun 21 Dec 16.00)
O come all ye faithful Gooners, it’s “WengerIn” week in North London after last week’s resounding victory over Le Toon. The same cannot be said about events at Anfield where Brendan Rodgers is holding onto his job as confidently as Simon Mignolet holds onto crosses. Their defeat at Old Trafford raised more questions about Rodgers’ future, but of course the midweek win at Bournemouth has allayed fears for now and has given the fans confidence that if relegation ensues, the team will be able to cope admirably in the Championship. Raheem Sterling was compared to Alexis Sanchez by Rodgers after young Raheem, who thankfully has shaved off that stupid haircut, scored twice. Against Bournemouth. Not saying a word, can’t upset the scousers over Christmas. Let the two of them battle it out on Sunday.

Finally some good news for Liverpool as Mario Balotelli and Glen Johnson are both out of the match. Mad Mario is suspended after receiving a one match ban for his controversial instagram post. He must also attend an education course, though when he will get booked into that is unclear as it’s generally oversubscribed in Liverpool. Johnson is injured by the way. Defender Dejan Lovren will need a late assessment after picking up a groin injury, though the manager is hopeful he will be ok, while Daniel Sturridge, Jon Flanagan and Suso are still out. Brad Jones will continue in goal at the expense of Mignolet. At this rate, Rodgers will get his wish of playing two defenders, eight midfielders and the reserve keeper.

The Gooners will again be without Laurent Koscielny, Jack Wilshire, Mesut Ozil, Aaron Ramsey and Mikel Arteta, while David Ospina has returned to full training and Tomas Rosicky should be available again next week. Theo Walcott returned to full training on Thursday, though Arsene Wenger hasn’t yet decided whether he will take Walcott to Anfield and will see how he responds to training. He, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Nacho Monreal will all be assessed tomorrow while Calum Chambers will partner Per Mertesacker on his return from suspension.

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Stoke vs Chelsea (Mon 22 Dec 20.00)
As stocking fillers go, this isn’t the one that the Son of God, or as he is otherwise known, The Special One, would have chosen before Christmas. A cold, probably wet and windy Monday night in Stoke is about as appetising for Chelsea as Christmas is for a turkey. Stoke boss and ex-Blue Mark Hughes will have his troops fired up for this one, as they were when they beat Arsenal at the Britannia in GW15 – the Potters beat Chelsea 3-2 in their meeting at home last season, but that is their only success vs Chelsea in fifteen matches and Sparky will find the league leaders a tougher nut to crack than the Gooners. I’m looking forward to the clash between Ryan Shawcross and Diego Costa, it has explosion written all over it and a pretty certain booking at the very least for both.

Hughes says that Bojan Krkic has trained this week and should be available, but Stephen Ireland has missed training with a knee injury but has until Monday to recover. Steve Sidwell, Victor Moses and Peter Odemwingie continue to miss out.

Mourinho says his side has qualities to counter the “defenders of Stoke”. Go Diego, get involved son. He also has Cesc Fabregas back from suspension, while Didier Drobga is recovering from his ankle injury and has a chance of being available for the match. Defender Kurt Zouma is also ok after his head injury, while Jose thinks Thibaut Courtois should be ok to return but isn’t 100% sure right now. Be aware if you weren’t already that Branislav Ivanovic, Gary Cahill and Costa were all rested for the midweek Capital One Cup match, meaning they should all be safe for starting on Monday.

Suspension Report

Players suspended for GW17

Tom Cleverley (Aston Villa)
Alan Hutton (Aston Villa)
Kieran Richardson (Aston Villa)
Tom Huddlestone (Hull)
Victor Wanyama (Southampton)
Morgan Schneiderlin (Southampton)

Those players on 4 yellow cards and one booking away from suspension:

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal)
Gabriel Agbonlahor (Aston Villa)
George Boyd (Burnley)
Dean Marney (Burnley)
Steven Naismith (Everton)
James Chester (Hull)
Tom Huddlestone (Hull)
Jake Livermore (Hull)
Andrew Robertson (Hull)
Liam Moore (Leicester)
Mario Balotelli (Liverpool)
Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
Martin Skrtel (Liverpool)
Vincent Kompany (Man City)
Eliaquim Mangala (Man City)
Yaya Toure (Man City)
Cheick Tiote (Newcastle)
Leroy Fer (QPR)
Nathaniel Clyne (Southampton)
Jose Fonte (Southampton)
Sadio Mane (Southampton)
Mame Diouf (Stoke)
Ryan Shawcross (Stoke)
Marc Wilson (Stoke)
Jordi Gomez (Sunderland)
Connor Wickham (Sunderland)
Sung-Yeung Ki (Swansea)
Ashley Williams (Swansea)
Graham Dorrans (West Brom)
James Tomkins (West Ham)

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Africa Cup of Nations (ACON)
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[/three_fourth]Despite the fear of the spread of the ebola virus and Morocco’s decision to withdraw from hosting the tournament, the ACON goes ahead with Equatorial Guinea the new host. Qualification was completed last month, but with many managers splashing their “Kun cash” this week, we thought it prudent to list the players involved, who will miss some Premier League games, as you ponder your transfers. The tournament will be held between January 17th – February 8th, but players will likely be called to join up with their countries a few days before that. The gameweeks that will be definitely be affected are: GW22, GW23 & GW24 (bear in mind the FA Cup Round 4 is between GW22 & 23).
The players likely to be involved are:

Crystal Palace – Adlene Guediora (Algeria), Yannick Bolasie (DR Congo)
Everton – Christian Atsu (Ghana)
Hull City – Mohammed Diame (Senegal)
Leicester City – Riyad Mahrez (Algeria), Jeff Schlupp (Ghana)
Liverpool – Kolo Toure (Ivory Coast)
Manchester City – Yaya Toure (Ivory Coast)
Newcastle United – Mehdi Abeid (Algeria), Papiss Cisse (Senegal), Cheick Tiote (Ivory Coast)
Southampton – Emmanuel Mayuka (Zambia), Sadio Mane (Senegal)
Stoke City – Mame Biram Diouf (Senegal)
Swansea – Wilfried Bony (Ivory Coast)
Tottenham – Nabil Bentaleb (Algeria)
West Ham – Alex Song (Cameroon), Cheikhou Kouyate (Senegal), Diafra Sakho (Senegal)
West Brom – Youssouf Mulumbu (DR Congo)

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[/three_fourth]AFC Asian Cup
The lesser recognised, and let’s face it, little heard of distant cousin of the ACON, unless you’re Asian of course. The Cup takes place between 9 January – 31 Janaury. Players can be asked to report from December 29th, though we expect after January 1st to be more realistic. Hence the gameweeks definitely affected are GWs 21, 22 & 23. The good news is that there aren’t many Premier League players affected but there are some so we thought we had best mention it. We are good like that. No stone unturned for you. The players likely to be affected are:

Aston Villa – Chris Herd (Australia)
Crystal Palace – Mile Jedinak (Australia)
Liverpool – Brad Jones (Australia)
QPR – Yun Suk Young (South Korea)
Southampton – Maya Yoshida (Japan)
Swansea – Ki Sung Yueng (South Korea)
West Brom – Jason Davidson (Australia)

All the above have been named in their nations preliminary 30-man squad, it is possible they will not necessarily make the final squad for the tournament.

I wish you and your loved ones a very Happy, Healthy and Peaceful Christmas. Score big over the festive period! Good luck.

Thanks for reading Team Talk Fantasy Football GW17. This article was written by Cookie

Follow @SteveCook9

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WooFBet
Over on the WooFBet website the exclusive FF247 league is back for GW17 and has a prize pool of €150 and it is free to enter so get yourselves over there sharpish!

To enter, visit woofbet.com and sign up (no card details required). Navigate to the Tournament section and click participate on the ‘FF247 – €150 FREEROLL’ tab.

Isn’t it time your fantasy manager job finally paid off!

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