Team Talk Fantasy Football Gameweek 37

Team Talk Fantasy Football Gameweek 37

How was GW36 for you?
For Kun cappers it was just heaven.
But now we must move on
To Gameweek 37.

Villa kick us off this week,
As they go to Southampton.
No longer do we look for Benteke,
It’s all about Young Tom.

It’s too late now for Burnley
Their top flight days gone up in smoke.
Just two weeks left for them now
And this one they welcome Stoke.

Rangers join the Burnley
And with any luck the Toon.
For if they can’t beat Ramsey’s Hoops
They could be Championship bound soon.

For that to happen we need Hull,
To start winning games again.
Starting with their away day
Down at White Hart Lane.

The Foxes visit the Black Cats
Both sides almost secure
While Sunderland rely on Defoe
Leicester depend on Ulloa.

At Goodison, Everton meet the Hammers
For an end of season stroll.
You may see a Mirallas special
Or a strike from Carlton Cole.

Anfield says bye to Stevie G
As the US of A beckons.
Palace are the special guests
If he lasts more than 38 seconds.

Away day Sunday for Kun and co
To the world of the valleys and pits.
But Swansea will be up for another scalp
After the win at the Emirates.

The Goonies stumbling over the line?
Or falling apart at the seams?
Another big test vs United this week
At the Theatre of Dreams.

Monday night not so special this week,
Trust me this is the truth.
Pulis happy with a boring shut out,
And Jose playing the youth.

Our double gameweek finishes
With Alexis taking on PVA
So let’s Go Around the Grounds
And see what the bosses have had to say.

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Southampton vs Aston Villa (Sat 16 May 12.45)
Our gameweek is kicked off down on the south coast with Villa still looking for one more victory that will guarantee them safety. A win at Southampton would also mean Sherwood can rest his “stars” in GW38 ahead of the Cup Final vs Arsenal. When I say “stars”, I mean Christian Benteke and Young Tom obviously. Southampton have properly packed it in now – last week’s loss at Leicester was their fourth match without a win – summer has arrived for them, which could well make Villa favourites for this one, a situation which would have got you locked up in a padded cell if you’d said it just six weeks or so ago. The Saints have won just one of their last six meetings at home to Villa and don’t rule out Tekkers and Tom inflicting more misery on Ronald Koeman and his airport bound team.

Southampton welcome back James Ward-Prowse from suspension. Other than the midfielder, Ronald Koeman will have the same squad that lost at Leicester, while Fraiser Forster, Dusan Tadic, Morgan Schneiderlin and Jay Rod continue to sit out, while Paolo Gazzanigga is set to start in goal once again.

Villa welcome Nathan Baker back into the squad – the defender has struggled all season with injury but Sherwood has declared him fit. Libor Kozak sadly has picked up a back injury which has stopped his comeback while Ciaran Clark has been ruled out for the season. Gabby Agbonlahor is now 100%.

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Burnley vs Stoke (Sat 16 May 15.00)
Burnley’s final home game in the Premier League before they are deposited back to the Championship sees the visit of Stoke – not the most glamorous or illustrious of guests, but guests nonetheless. Both teams come into the game on the back of victories, amazingly enough – Burnley won at Hull last week, while Stoke dumped on Spurs, something we’d all like to do really. Sean Dyche’s men can now approach the final two gameweeks without any tension or pressure – their fate is sealed and it may well be that you see a side full of attacking intent and creativity – something Leicester tried a month ago and look where it got them! Burnley do have some fond memories of their season, one of which was their away win at Stoke in November, courtesy of two Danny Ings goals – a repeat maybe? Or will Stoke get at least the point they need to set a Premier League points haul club record?

Burnley striker Sam Vokes is available again after missing the last three matches with a hamstring injury. There are no other changes to the injury list with Dean Marney and Kevin Long remaining long term absentees.

Ryan Shawcross is unlikely to play on Staurday after the defender tweaked his knee in training in the week, but Mark Hughes is confident he should be ok for next week. Marc Wilson is available after serving his suspension and could replace Shawcross. Jack Butland is expected to continue in goal, while Victor Moses and Bojan Krkic remain out.

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QPR vs Newcastle (Sat 16 May 15.00)
I can only imagine that being at Loftus Road on Saturday will be akin to attending a wake. QPR are down of course, have a hefty FFP fine waiting to be paid and have the toughest of rebuilds if they are to survive in the higher divisions. Newcastle can’t claim to be in a much better state, but sadly it looks like they will survive, but only because Hull have been so dreadful and lost at home to Burnley, meaning they are favourites to join Rangers in the departure lounge. Newcastle, if they do survive, will need a rebuild of sorts, starting ideally with the owner, spreading to the manager and then onto the players – it’s been a true season to forget for the Geordies and one they are clearly very keen to wave goodbye to. What this game will produce is impossible to predict, but what we do know is that come 5pm on Saturday, both teams will have just 90mins left of a miserable season – and that’s something we can all celebrate!

Rangers boss Chris Ramsey promises the fans that the players will put up a better fight than they did at City – that’s all well and good Chris, but it’s a tad late mate. Nedum Onuoha is available again after suspension, but Sandro won’t be considered as the Home Office are dealing with a work permit issue. Clint Hill and Bobby Zamora both played with niggles at City and will need to be monitored.

Newcastle will continue to be without Adam Armstrong, Siem de Jong, Steven Taylor and Chieck Tiote, while Mike Williamson completes his suspension. Daryl Janmaat returns from his ban, Gabriel Obertan is available after injury and Papiss Cisse will hope to build up his playing time this week.

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Spurs vs Hull (Sat 16 May 15.00)
Well Hull, this is your time. Time for a performance, time for some bottle, time for a victory. Languishing two points from safety with games vs Spurs and United to come doesn’t bode well, but then we’d all written Leicester off, so there is hope – not a lot, but some. To be fair there is no better time to play Spurs – their season is done, their interest has gone and thoughts are very much on the sun, sea and sangria that a summer in Benidorm will bring. The 3-0 loss at Stoke highlighted that very clearly. Last week’s loss at home to Burnley has really hit Hull hard – that was their home banker for a victory sandwiched between some tougher fixtures. Well that went well boys. They’ll need to go and win at Spurs, something they have only ever done once, though they did win the last time they came to London three weeks ago when they won at Palace. So it can be done – all about desire at this stage of the season.

Kyle Walker and Ben Davies remain sidelined for Spurs, but Danny Rose has been passed fit and will come in for the suspended Vlad Chiriches. Aside from that Emmanuel Adebayor is a doubt due to illness.

Hull have been rocked by the news that midfielder Jake Livermore has tested positive for cocaine – details of this are still coming out, but there is reports that he has aleady been suspended by the club and it’s likely that his season is done. Steve Bruce says he has no new injuries but has revealed that Gaston Ramirez has returned to parent club Southampton as he is suffering with a hamstring injury. Mo Diame, Curtis Davies and Robert Snodgrass remain out, while Nikica Jelavic will be hoping for a start.

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Sunderland vs Leicester (Sat 16 May 15.00)
Sunderland begin their double gameweek at home to the Foxes and on the back of a weird victory at Everton where they were completely outplayed, heavily outclassed, yet strolled off with a 2-0 victory courtesy of two of the luckiest goals you’ll see. It’s true, when it’s your day, it’s your day but what an invaluable victory that could turn out to be. Leicester will of course be the toughest of opponents having won six out of seven which has lifted them from the bottom of the league to the edge of safety – one more win would see them safe and would enable a last day party at home. The Black Cats are somehow unbeaten in three – those three all against teams playing for nothing – that’s not the case this week as Leicester and Arsenal are both still involved at the top and the bottom so it’ll be a testing week for Dick Advocaat’s men and one which may still leave them some work to be done on the last day.

FPL double gameweek plans go up in smoke as Advocaat reveals that Jordi Gomez and Wes Brown have been ruled out for the rest of the season. Damn, bother and blow. Jack Rodwell is also out, obviously, but my DGW followers I have some good news for you – Liam Bridcutt is likely to start, while John O’Shea and Emanuele Giaccherini are both fit and go into the squad for the gameweek. But will they go into yours?

The Foxes welcome back Andy King, but fellow midfielder Matty James is set to undergo knee surgery and will obviously miss out. Strikers David Nugent, Leonardo Ulloa and Jamie Vardy are all fit and healthy and ready to secure the club’s Premier League status for another season.

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West Ham vs Everton (Sat 16 May 15.00)
A game of true nothingness down in the East End as tenth meets eleventh, both sides have obviously jacked it in for the season. Everton to be fair to them had been on a good run until they came across Villa and Sunderland – and proceeded to lose both. The Hammers however have been crap since well before Christmas – fortunately for them they had a great start to the season and spent a number of weeks in the top four. Fixture form certainly favours the Toffees here – they have not lost to the Hammers in any of their last thirteen league meetings – a hell of a run and one you can see being extended this weekend.

Big Sam is hoping to have defender Winston Reid back in the squad for the weekend – the defender has missed the last three games with a hamstring injury, though in his absence the Hammers have only conceded once. James Tomkins, Andy Carroll and Diafra Sakho remain out.

Leighton Baines has undergone ankle surgery and has been ruled out until pre-season. Enjoy Lanzarote Leighton. Apart from Baines, Roberto Martinez reports no new injuries. Luke Garbutt will deputise at left back while Bryan Oviedo, Tony Hibbert, Darron Gibson and Steven Pienaar remain unavailable.

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Liverpool vs Crystal Palace (Sat 16 May 17.30)
Saturday night takes us up to Liverpool as the locals get to say goodbye to their darling Steven Gerrard. It’ll be an emotionally charged night as they shed tears and part company as Gerrard packs his bags and heads across the pond to take penalties in LA. Luckily the local mafia allowed this move. No doubt he’ll be back soon “on loan” so don’t get too upset, I’m sure we’ll see the slips and stamps back on the hallowed turf again soon. Palace haven’t been Liverpool’s favourite opponents of late, but they’re in shocking form having lost four in a row and indeed while they may love entertaining the scousers down in south London, they don’t really enjoy a trip to Liverpool…oh the jokes. Palace have lost their last three league games at Anfield and on the night he says goodbye, Gerrard will be looking to end on a high.

Brenda was, as ever, completely useless in giving any detailed injury news. “Nothing new”, was his comment. Thanks pal, you keep on talking about Gerrard and how he doesn’t love the limelight. Hmmmm. So there is “nothing new” to report from Liverpool – Jon Flanagan, Mamadou Sakho and Daniel Sturridge remain out, we assume. Mario Balotelli won’t be picked, we assume. Oh and if you hadn’t heard, Gerrard is leaving Liverpool, almost ten years after he first tried. There have been a number of words of praise spoken about Stevie Mee, but when asked which word he would use to describe Slippy Brenda replied, wait for it….”Liverpool”. Hahahaha you pillock. Not “great” or “superb” or “influential”…no…”Liverpool”. You wally. (polite version). What a shame Gerrard didn’t play for such illustrious teams (and these are real) such as “Bell End”, “Slippery Rock”, “Knob Lick”, “Lake Disappointment” or “Still No League Title”. (ok, the last one may have been made up).

The Lord says all his squad have trained well this week and everyone is available, although after four successive loses Pardew says he will make a couple of changes in a bid to stop the losing run. One of those changes may be a return to the starting XI of Jason Puncheon, who has this week signed a new contract at Palace – when speaking of Puncheon, the Lord said, “Since I’ve come in, Puncheon has been the best player, he’s orchestrated our play.” Doesn’t sound like someone you’d leave out to me.

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Swansea vs Man City (Sun 17 May 13.30)
Second placed City could go six points clear of Arsenal with a Sunday lunchtime win in Wales. The ex-Champions who were suffering some sort of mid-life crisis just after Christmas have now won four in a row, Kun is scoring for fun, Silva looks hungry again and Yaya got his birthday cake this week. However their trip to Swansea won’t be straightforward – anyone who saw the Swans devour the Goonies on Monday night will appreciate that City certainly won’t have things their own way vs a rampaging Shelvey, a creative Siggy, a stubborn Fabianski and a clinical Gomis. Swansea have struggled in the Premier League vs City, winning just one in seven and Yaya has scored in the last two meetings – however with Southampton seemingly in free fall, Garry Monk’s men could still claim seventh or even sixth place – something that Monk will be very keen to put on his cv.

The Swans will likely have a similar squad available as per Monday’s win at Arsenal, though Monk says there are a few niggles. Angel Rangel will need a late assessment after picking up a knock at the Emirates, while Kyle Naughton, Jordi Amat, Wayne Routeledge and Nelson Oliveira all remain sidelined.

Manuel Pellegrini says that just Samir Nasri is unavailable during to injury. The manager faces a dilmena on whether to recall Vincent Kompany and Yaya Toure or stick to a winning and settled side.

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Man Utd vs Arsenal (Sun 17 May 16.00)
This fixture is rarely dull – pizzas, brawls, red cards, 8-2 hammerings, it really has had it all over the years and this season is unlikely to be any different. Both sides are still battling for “who finishes where” in the Champions League positions and ironically a United win on Sunday would likely see neighbours City as the biggest winners in the race for 2nd. United escaped their mini slump by somehow winning at Palace last week care of an Ashley Young masterclass – Young scored twice in the aforementioned 8-2 match four years ago and has rediscovered some of the form that attracted him to United. The Goonies reversed at home to Swansea on Monday, dominating but ultimately losing due to some insipid finishing and inspired goalkeeping from Fabianski. This is, of course the first game of their double gameweek and a victory at Old Trafford would go a long way to putting them in pole position for that 2nd place finish they have desired for years. Bless.

Wayne Rooney and Luke Shaw will miss the visit of the Goonies after picking up knocks in the win at Palace last week. However, RVP who joined United to win the league, is available to face his old employers while Angel di Maria is also fit. Marcos Rojo should also be ok, but midfield cog Michael Carrick remains missing for the Reds.

Arsene Wenger says he fully expects Aaron Ramsey to be fit for Sunday, despite the midfielder missing most of the training sessions this week. Not so good news (for United) as Danny Welbeck has been ruled out of a return to Old Trafford. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Mathieu Debuchy and Mikel Arteta remain out though Wenger hopes they may play again this season.

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West Brom vs Chelsea (Mon 18 May 20.00)
The shackles are off for both clubs – the Baggies are safe so they can release those defensive restraints and go play some attacking football. Go on, give it a go, you may just enjoy it! Maybe. Give it time. Chelsea are Champions, half of them are on holiday and the other half will probably play this week as The Special One hints he may give some of the younger lads a run out at the Hawthorns. The Baggies have won two and drawn the other of the last three meetings between the two at the Hawthorns and it wouldn’t be the biggest shock if Chelsea struggled again with many changes to the line up likely and the party atmosphere well under way.

Tony Pulis has a fully fit squad to choose from with the exception obviously of keeper Ben Foster. Striker Brown Ideye and midfielder James Morrison are now 100% fit. Big Tone said Chelsea are worthy champions and Mourinho a world class manager and the Baggies are looking forward to giving the Champs a guard of honour.

There is no end to the love between The Special One and Pulis as Jose says if he owned an English club, he’d hire big Tone. This is proper lump in your throat stuff. In injury matters, ah…there is where it gets interesting. What we know is that Diego Costa is fit and should be ready to be in the squad for Monday. He has also said that Ramires, Oscasr and Kurt Zouma won’t play again this season. Mourinho also says that John Terry, Eden Hazard and Branislav Ivanovic are very keen to maintain their record of playing every league match this season. Mourinho is also quoted as saying that midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek, defender Nathan Ake and midfielder Izzy Brown will all play vs WBA. There you go – who said Jose was unhelpful?

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Arsenal vs Sunderland (Wed 20 May 19.45)
Our gameweek concludes on Wednesday, down at the Emirates as Arsenal and Sunderland finish up their double gameweek. Clearly team news will be decided by the team’s games at the weekend. The Black Cats have lost seven and drawn three of their last ten meetings at Arsenal and have never won in the Premier League at Arsenal. One result surely? Yeah for once, I’ll go with the Goonies. They’ll need a result after being thumped at Old Trafford.

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Suspension Report for GW37

Those players suspended for GW37 are:

Mike Williamson (Newcastle)
Vlad Chiriches (Spurs)

Thanks for reading Team Talk Fantasy Football Gameweek 37. This article was written by Cookie

Follow @SteveCook9

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WooFBet

We would like to remind you that our official partners, WooFBet, are again running a whole host of prize competitions for GW37, which will please many of you who are slowly building a lovely retirement nest egg, while others continue to persevere in the hope that this week will be their week! If you haven’t done so yet we recommend you get yourselves over to WooFBet.com as this week they have a whopping €3,000 in guaranteed pots. You also have the option to create your own tournaments and head-to-head challenges. Choose your rules and buy-in fee, and invite friends or leave it open for the public to challenge you.

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Don’t forget to vote in this week’s Captain poll.

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