Team Talk Fantasy Football Gameweek 28

Team Talk Fantasy Football GW28

Straight off the back of GW27 comes midweek GW28, which as we’re all aware by now is a DGW28 for Spurs and QPR. Loved by some, hated by others, midweek gameweeks do give managers who are well prepared the chance to make big strides over those in their mini league who fail to log in to their team until Thursday or Friday – and who this week will be shocked and left cursing their usual discipline!
Our gameweek begins on Tuesday with three fixtures, for which we will be able to see the teamsheets before the FPL deadline of 19.30 UK time. All three matches kick off at 19.45, meaning the teams will be announced an hour beforehand at 18.45. We have a West Midlands derby as Aston Villa host West Brom, Hull entertain (!) Sunderland and Crystal Palace travel to Southampton.

And then onto Wednesday. Man City will hope to put Sunday’s disappointment behind them by battering Leicester, while neighbours United will be hoping to hold on to a top four place by securing three points at Newcastle. QPR’s first London derby of the GW sees them hosting Arsenal, while fellow DGW’er Spurs welcome Swansea to the Lane. Everton take the tough trip to Stoke, West Ham take on Chelsea and then 15mins later Liverpool and Burnley will do battle at Anfield.

Somewhat frustratingly, we then have to wait until Saturday for the completion of the DGW as our two participants, QPR & Spurs meet on Saturday at Loftus Road, where undoubtedly many a fantasy manager will be banking on their DGW’ers to boost their week.

We have for you a mini TeamTalk with team news only, no waffle! Let’s go Around the Grounds to see what the managers have had to say!

Aston Villa vs West Brom (Tues 3 Mar 19.45)
Villa captain Ron Vlaar has served his suspension, however the defender has now picked up a calf injury and is a doubt for the match. Haha you couldn’t make this up! Kieran Richardson and Aly Cissokho have both been ruled out, but Alan Hutton is expected to return and Matt Lowton is likely to continue at left back. Nathan Baker, Phillipe Senderos and Libor Kozak remain unavailable.

Baggies strikers Saido Berahino and Brown Ideye are rated “touch and go” for the derby and will both need late fitness tests. Victor Anichebe remains out, leaving West Brom short up front if Berahino and Ideye don’t make it. With West Brom struggling to field a striker and Villa struggling to field anyone who can score, a repeat of last season’s entertaining 4-3 victory for the Villains looks unlikely.

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Hull vs Sunderland (Tues 3 Mar 19.45)
Hull striker Nikica Jelavic trained on Sunday and Steve Bruce is hopeful the striker can play on Tuesday, but Robbie Brady will again miss out after the midfielder picked up a calf injury on Friday and missed the match at Stoke – he is expected to be out for 4-6 weeks. Maynor Figueroa is a doubt after needing stitches in a wound sustained at the weekend, while Mo Diame, James Chester, Liam Rosenior and Robert Snodgrass all continue to miss out.

It hasn’t been a dull few days at Sunderland. Wes Brown sent off at Old Trafford when it should have been John O’Shea. Bless the ex-Reds for trying to help out United. Anyway young Wes has had his red card and subsequent ban rescinded and is now free to play, score an own goal and then get sent off again tonight. Bizarrely, O’Shea gets off scot-free. Work that out. Aside from that we have the tale of Adam Johnson, who has been suspended by the club following his arrest on Monday. It is understood Johnson’s suspension will last until the police investigation has been completed….and of course, when his Mrs let’s him out of the house. Which could be a while. Ricky Alvarez, Jack Rodwell and Billy Jones are all fit and come back into the squad. Only Will Buckley and Emanuele Giaccherini are out due to injury. That’s until Mrs Johnson has finished with naughty Adam’s knackers.

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Southampton vs Crystal Palace (Tues 3 Mar 19.45)
Southampton have no new injury concerns and could welcome back Toby Alderweireld if he comes through training with no reaction. However, more focus will be up top to see what Koeman comes up with to stop their dry run in front of goal which has seen the Saints score just once in five matches.

Palace’s hero from Saturday Glenn Murray is suspended after being sent off at West Ham – the striker who scored twice was sent off for two bookable offences and must serve a one match ban. A longer ban for midfielder Mile Jedinak who has today accepted an FA charge of violent conduct for elbowing Diafra Sakho in the same match – Jedinka has been banned for four matches, beginning with tonight. Maroune Chamakh, Yaya Sanogo, Fraizer Campbell and Jordan Mutch are all expected to miss the match through injury. Palace, who have won their last three on the road, have lost their last five league meetings with the Saints, but do have recent memories of knocking Koeman’s men out of the FA Cup at St Mary’s in January.

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Man City vs Leicester (Weds 4 Mar 19.45)
City will hope to bounce back from the loss at Liverpool with a resounding victory over Leicester and will do so with a fully fit squad. Manager Manuel Pellegrini could give Wilfried Bony his first start as he attempts to close the five point gap on Chelsea, which has arisen due to City’s poor recent form which has seen them win just two of their last seven league matches.

Leicester have an almost full strength squad for their visit to the Etihad, with only Kasper Schmeichel unavailable – Nigel Pearson is hoping his keeper, who has returned to training, should be back in a week or so. We all know how this one will turn out, although Leicester can claim to have won the last time these two met in Manchester in the Premier League – just bear in mind that was in 2003.

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Newcastle vs Man Utd (Weds 4 Mar 19.45)
Toon defender Massadio Haidara is unlikely to be fit, despite saying his injury wasn’t serious after he was replaced vs Villa – if he doesn’t make it, Ryan Taylor will likely deputise. Rolando Aarons has suffered a setback in training and is expected to miss a further 7-10 days, Jack Colback completes his suspension and joins Steven Taylor, Siem de Jong, Chieck Tiote, Paul Dummett, Remy Cabella on the “watch from the stands” list.

LVG repeats his presser of last Friday, stating that Robin van Persie is United’s only absentee through injury and it’s still too early to tell how long the Dutch striker will be out for. Expect therefore Wayne Rooney to start again up front, which should sound obvious, as that’s his position, but as we know the philosophy doesn’t always reflect that. Rooney scored twice in United’s 3-1 win over Newcastle at Old Trafford on Boxing Day and the Red’s record versus Newcastle shows them losing just two of the last 26 meetings. Michael Carrick is still not match fit to start vs his home club, but Phil Jones and Luke Shaw have recovered from injury and illness respectively and rejoin the squad. Regarding Angel Di Maria, LVG says the midfielder has responded well to his disappointing first half display vs Sunderland and has every confidence that the Argentine will adapt well to the Premier League.

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QPR vs Arsenal (Weds 4 Mar 19.45)
QPR welcome back Sandro into the squad – the midfielder has not played since GW12 and is a big boost for manager Chris Ramsey who is without the injured Leroy Fer and the suspended gonad grabber Joey Barton. Defenders Mauricio Isla and Nedum Onuoha both have a chance of a return, but Richard Dunne and Alejandro Faurlin remain out, while Adel Taarabt is struggling with a groin injury that will likely keep him out for a couple of games.

Gunners midfielder Francis Coquelin could play in a protective mask after breaking his nose in the weekend win over Everton – he will be checked today by the medical staff, but is expected to be fine. Someone break Phil Jones’ nose quick! Aaron Ramsey is fit and will come back into the squad, but Jack Wilshire is still not available as he continues to recover from ankle surgery…probably in a bar in Dubai with a packet of Marlboro Lights alongside Wojciech Szczesny. Mathieu Debuchy, Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini remain out.

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Spurs vs Swansea (Weds 4 Mar 19.45)
Eager to put both their Europa League and Capital One Cup defeats behind them, Mauricio Pochettino will be keen to get back to winning ways before Spurs season disappears quicker than a Russian opposition politician. The manager may choose to freshen up his starting XI with the likes of Mousa Dembele, Erik Lamela, Federico Fazio and Benjamin Stambouli all hoping for recalls, while ex-Swan Ben Davies will be keen to play. There are no obvious injuries, though Kyle Walker did pick up a knock at Wembley and could be rested.

Garry Monk says Gylfi Sigurdsson has returned to training and ready to come back into the squad to face his old employers. The Icelandic midfielder missed the win at Burnley after complaining of a tight hamstring. Kyle Naughton is another ex-Spur looking to get one over his old team mates as Swansea look for a third consecutive league win, but Tom Carroll won’t be involved – he is ineligible to face his parent club. Swansea have lost their last six matches to Spurs, but two league wins in a row has lifted the Welshies to eight and a first Premier League victory at the Lane will lift them to within a point of 7th place Spurs.

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Stoke vs Everton (Weds 4 Mar 19.45)
Mark Hughes says he hasn’t given up on the outside chance of sneaking European qualification, although one look at what it has done to Everton should put him off fairly sharpish. Stephen Ireland will miss 2-3 weeks after having internal as well as external stitches after the clash with Maynor Figueroa. Ryan Shawcross continues to miss out, but he should resume training next and will hopefully be available in a couple of weeks time. Marc Muniesa, Peter Odemwingie and Bojan Krkic remain sidelined.

Everton have no new injuries for the trip to the Britannia. Roberto Martinez says Leighton Baines will have a fitness test today, but the manager didn’t sound overly optimistic that the England left-back will make it. Bryan Oviedo, Tony Hibbert, Aidan McGeady, Steven Pienaar and Christian Atsu all remain out. Just one win in eleven for the Toffees sees them sit just six points clear of the drop zone and wins for those directly below them will heap more pressure on Martinez.

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West Ham vs Chelsea (Weds 4 Mar 19.45)
The Hammers will again be without the suspended Morgan Amalfitano and the injured duo Andy Carroll and Carlton Cole. Big Sam will have the same squad as per Saturday’s disappointing defeat at home to Palace, but they will have their work cut out against a confident and buoyant Chelsea who are five points clear at the top with a game in hand and have only lost once to the Hammers in eighteen meetings.

Chelsea will have the same squad available as per Sunday’s Capital Cup win – Nemanja Matic continues to miss out through suspension, while Jon Obi Mikel will be out for a further 3-4 weeks after undergoing knee surgery. The Special One does, however, suggest there will be changes to the team that beat Spurs on Sunday.

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Liverpool vs Burnley (Weds 4 Mar 20.00)
Liverpool youngster Jordon Ibe is likely to be out for 3/4 weeks after tweaking knee ligaments in Turkey, while Jon Flanagan could return to training this week. Rodgers says Steven Gerrard is working hard but remains unavailable, while the manager says Daniel Sturridge is very nearly fully fit and when he is, he’ll fit into the team’s new system perfectly.

Burnley manager Sean Dyche reports no fresh injury concerns, meaning Matty Taylor, Dean Marney and Kevin Long are the only squad members unavailable. Just a solitary win over QPR in their last eleven league matches see Burnley in the drop zone, so a trip to Anfield is not the ideal fixture to start a run that will mean a second consecutive season in the Premier League. Liverpool have won all three Premier League meetings between the two and Sunday’s impressive victory over City has seen Rodgers’ men win six out of seven and a top four place is now very much on the cards.

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QPR vs Spurs (Sat 7 Mar 15.00)
The final match of the gameweek takes place at Loftus Road on FA Cup day. Injury news is impossible to predict of course, with both teams playing on Wednesday before their derby meeting, but it’s safe to say that Joey Barton will still be banned and Leroy Fer will still be injured. For those banking on a Harry Kane captain bonanza, be aware….Spurs haven’t won any of their last three matches at QPR, with the last two matches ended in a goalless stalemate. “But Cookie”, I hear you say, “QPR can’t be involved in a 0-0 draw – they’re rubbish at the back and have a go going forward.” “Very true”, I reply, “but their last home London derby (before Wednesday’s visit of Arsenal) was vs Palace. And that ended…..yep, 0-0”. Now that’s got you as twitchy as ‘Arry hasn’t it?

Kane or Kun then? It’ll be a nervous few days for you all! Enjoy.

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Suspension Report

Players suspended for GW27
Nemanja Matic (Chelsea)
Glenn Murray (Crystal Palace)
Jack Colback (Newcastle)
Joey Barton (QPR)
Morgan Amalfitano (West Ham)

Players who receive ten cautions by the second Sunday in April will receive a 2-match ban. Players currently on 9 cautions are:

Alan Hutton (Aston Villa)
Gareth Barry (Everton)
Phil Bardsley (Stoke)
Lee Cattermole (Sunderland)
Neil Taylor (Swansea)

Thanks for reading Team Talk Fantasy Football GW28. This article was written by Cookie

Follow @SteveCook9

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WooFBet

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Don’t forget to vote in this week’s Captain Poll

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