Team Talk Fantasy Football – GW2

Team Talk Fantasy Football – GW2 2014/15

Whether you had an excellent, average or disappointing start to the season, it’s time to put that behind you and move on – FPL waits for no-one and only looks forward, not back. Which is a result as I’m fed up of hearing about United’s failure to compete in the transfer market, Malky Mackay not quite being the victimised, sweet, innocent guy we all thought he was and Tim Sherwood pulling “out of the race” for every job going as if he’s just turned into Matt Busby, Bill Shankly and Fergie all rolled into one. But, it looks like we have Mad Mario back, for entertainment purposes at least – firework suppliers have gone into overdrive and “Why Always Me?” t-shirts are, errmmmm, still selling well in Liverpool. GW2 is here and like ourselves, some teams will be looking to push on from a decent start, while for others it is time to kick-start their season. The gameweek commences on Saturday lunchtime as Aston Villa host Newcastle at Villa Park and then we have just four 3pm matches as Chelsea entertain Leicester at the Bridge, West Ham travel the short distance to Crystal Palace, Southampton welcome West Brom and Burnley visit Swansea. Everton host Arsenal in the late game. Due to their Europa League commitments Hull and Spurs host Stoke and QPR respectively on Sunday before the late game sees LVG’s United go to Sunderland, hoping for a quick turnaround. Our gameweek comes to a conclusion on Monday evening with a humdinger of a match as Man City host Liverpool at the Etihad.
So, there’s plenty to look forward to, let’s go Around the Grounds to see the latest news.

Aston Villa vs Newcastle (Sat 23 Aug 12.45)
Villa attempt to continue their good start and welcome new boys Carlos Sanchez and Joe Cole into the squad, leaving just strikers Christian Benteke and Libor Kozak on the treatment table.
Alan Pardew is delighted to be able to include Siem de Jong into the squad after the attacking midfielder recovered from a calf injury, but midfield enforcer Cheick Tiote is still a week away, despite returning to light training. Davide Santon, Ryan Taylor and Papiss Cisse remain sidelined.

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Chelsea vs Leicester (Sat 23 Aug 15.00)
As if going to Chelsea isn’t hard in itself, Leicester will have to cope without Matthew Upson, Danny Drinkwater and Matthew James. However they could welcome back Marc Albrighton and Jamie Vardy as they attempt to avoid their seventh consecutive defeat vs the Blues.
Unfortunately for the Foxes, Chelsea have no new injuries and a fully fit squad to choose from. The Special One didn’t give much away in his presser, but did offer hope to Petr Cech and others who didn’t make the team in GW1, by saying the games will be coming thick and fast soon, meaning there will be chances for the fringe players to perform. Probably in the Capital One Cup!! Ramires is available after serving his suspension.

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Crystal Palace vs West Ham (Sat 23 Aug 15.00)
Big Sam has to make do without the suspended James Collins for the trip to Palace, while strikers Diafra Sakho and Emmer Valencia continue to build up their fitness. Andy Carroll and Ravel Morrison remain unavailable and James Tomkins is struggling with a hamstring injury, but will be given every chance to recover as this would leave Winston Reid as the only fit central defender. Joey O’Brien and Carl Jenkinson are also both struggling, while Matt Jarvis has a slight chance of being available.
Palace caretaker manager Keith Millen once again takes the reins of the side and revealed that on the pitch at least, things are improving. Jonny Williams is available again, Scott Dann has an outside chance of playing, Jerome Thomas could also be available, while Adrian Mariappa has returned to training and could be in contention. Jason Puncheon is suspended. Palace have kept clean sheets in five of their last six meetings with the Hammers and reading the team news on both clubs, another Eagles shutout is on the cards.

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Southampton vs West Brom (Sat 23 Aug 15.00)
West Brom have a fully fit squad to choose from for their visit to Southampton, although new signing Joleon Lescott only took part in half of Thursday’s training, so could be eased back gently, while defender Cristian Gamboa is lacking actual match fitness and unlikely to be involved quite yet. Gareth McAuley is pushing for a recall and striker Brown Ideye is hoping to feature and make his debut for the club. Georgios Samaras, who signed for the Baggies on Friday, won’t be involved vs Southampton.
The Saints will aim for their first win under Ronald Koeman and after last week’s spirited display at Anfield, they will be confident. Ronald Koeman will need to decide whether new defender Florin Gardos is fit enough, while midfielder Gaston Ramirez is sidelined for another week. J-Rod is still missing.

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Swansea vs Burnley (Sat 23 Aug 15.00)
Having won at Old Trafford in GW1, Garry Monk needs to earn all his managerial skills to keep his player’s feet on the ground and avoid any overconfidence by taking Burnley lightly. An unchanged squad is expected, though new defender Federico Fernandez may be included if international clearance is received in time. Leon Britton, Marvin Emmes and Jay Fulton are unavailable. The Swans have signed Spurs midfielder Tom Carroll on loan for the rest of the season.
Burnley are still missing key striker Sam Vokes so Lukas Jutkiewicz will likely partner Danny Ings up front again, with manager Sean Dyche suggesting he will begin the season in an attacking formation, but accepting the need may come to shore things up if their brave style of play in top tier does not produce results after a few weeks. Vokes is the only injury, while Stephen Ward could be in line to make his debut for the club.

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Everton vs Arsenal (Sat 23 Aug 17.30)
Arsene Wenger has confirmed that Mikel Arteta has been ruled out of the trip to Goodison and said he has to “be creative” to fill his shoes – a possible midfield berth for the versatile Calum Chambers maybe? Per Mertesacker, Mesut Ozil and Lukas Podolski will be checked but the manager said they won’t all feature due to a lack of match fitness. David Ospina, Kieran Gibbs and Theo Walcott remain sidelined but striker Yaya Sanogo is expected to rejoin the squad after missing out on Tuesday’s CL opener.
Everton are delighted to have Seamus Coleman and Darron Gibson available again and will be missing just Bryan Oviedo, Ross Barkley and Arouna Kone as they look to repeat last season’s victory over the Gunners. Arsenal have now gone four games without beating the Toffees.

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Hull vs Stoke (Sun 24 Aug 13.30)
Hull’s new signing Robert Snodgrass will miss the best part of six months after dislocating his knee vs QPR. Only Allan McGregor and James Chester retained their starting berths for Thursday’s Europa loss, illustrating Steve Bruce’s willingness to utilise his squad for different competitions. Striker Yannick Sagbo is suspended, while Alex Bruce is a doubt after limping off during the opening day win at QPR and there are rumours he could be going to Blackburn as part of the deal which would see Jordan Rhodes sign for Hull.
On loan Victor Moses is unlikely to feature this weekend for the Potters as manager Mark Hughes says he needs to build up his fitness after a limited preseason campaign. Geoff Cameron and Peter Odemwingie are both inline for a return to the squad after being given extra rest after the World Cup, but Stephen Ireland is out and faces a fortnight on the sidelines after suffering a rib injury.

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Spurs vs QPR (Sun 24 Aug 13.30)
Jan Vertonghen made his comeback in Thursday’s Europa League match in Cyprus, with Paulinho, Ben Davies, Andros Townsend, Lewis Holtby, Harry Kane and Roberto Soldado also featuring – Davies owners will be particularly concerned with his midweek outing, meaning Danny Rose will likely retain the starting spot in the league. Kyle Naughton is suspended after being red carded in the win at West Ham. Emmanuel Adebayor and Christian Eriksen didn’t travel to Cyprus, ensuring their inclusion on Sunday, while Erik Lamela impressed as a substitute, assisting both goals.
Rangers new signing Mauricio Isla has finally received international clearance and could make his debut while striker Vargas will do likewise in GW3 once his clearance comes through. Another new signing, midfielder Leroy Fer has no such issues and will feature on Sunday. The only absentee is Adel Taarabt, who I can’t even be bothered to write about.

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Sunderland vs Man Utd (Sun 24 Aug 16.00)
Gus Poyet is expecting to welcome defenders Santiago Vergini and Billy Jones back into the squad for the visit of United – the manager said “our back four last week was a different one to the one we wanted to play – hopefully we’ll be back to basics this week”. The back four last week, fyi, was Brown, Roberge, O’Shea, van Aanholt – I would suggest this would probably means Brown replacing Roberge in the middle and Vergini to play on the right. Midfielder Emanuele Giaccherini continues to miss out with a groin injury. The Black Cats will be hoping to stop a horrendous record at home to the Reds which has seem them go winless in their last twelve meetings at the Stadium of Light.
United’s midfield continues to suffer as Ander Herrear, Marouane Fellaini, Michael Carrick and Jesse Lingard are all missing, while new signing, defender Marcos Rojo is not eligible to play vs Sunderland as he awaits a work permit. Better news up front as RvP is fit and available for the match, while Jonny Evans and Antonio Valencia were both spotted training yesterday.

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Man City vs Liverpool (Mon 25 Aug 20.00)
Manuel Pellegrini has said defender Eliaquim Mangala is not yet ready to play and needs more time, while City’s only other absentee is striker Alvaro Negredo – the rest of the squad is “mostly fit”, which we assume to be the World Cup players are not quite as fit as he would like, but available for selection. Speaking of Sergio Aguero, Pellegrini said the player “needs a long preseason, which is why he only played a few minutes” (at Newcastle). Both him and Frank Lampard are available for the match on Monday.
Most of the chat regarding Liverpool over the last couple of days has been about Mad Mario – at the time of writing the deal hasn’t been announced, so the crazy loon won’t play on Monday anyway, even if he signs his good behaviour clause. Oh the irony. Midfielder Lazar Markovic has recovered from his hamstring injury and will be in the squad, while Adam Lallana is making good progress with his knee injury and it is expected he will resume training on Sunday, but will obviously not make the game. Left back Alberto Moreno will also make the squad, but Jose Enrique is a doubt and Jon Flanagan will definitely miss out.

That’s your lot – good luck in GW2!

Thanks for reading Team Talk Fantasy Football – GW2 2014/15. This article was written by Cookie Follow @SteveCook9