Team Talk Fantasy Football GW4

Team Talk Fantasy Football GW4

Finally, GW4 is here, thank the Lord or whoever one thanks in this situation. Wildcard talk is soooo yesterday and we can all move onto counting our riches as our players prove us right in including them….or sadly wrong for neglecting them. It’s a 3-day gameweek, a treat for us deserving and long-suffering managers who have spent the last fortnight worrying how our players will fare on international duty, contemplating how all the new signings will impact on the current starters and trying to second guess a Diego Costa & Jose Mourinho hamstring report. We start Saturday lunchtime down at the Emirates as the Gooners entertain Man City – a game which promises goals and entertainment. Cue the drab 1-1 draw. Six 3pm matches follow as Chelsea host Swansea, Burnley go to Palace, Southampton play Newcastle, Stoke take on Leicester, Spurs travel to Sunderland and West Brom do battle with Everton. The late game is at Anfield where Liverpool and Villa will both hope to build on good starts. Sunday we just have the one match and it’s a fixture where all eyes will be on the starting line-ups as Man Utd host QPR at Old Trafford, before finally, agonisingly, Monday evening sees the conclusion of our gameweek as Big Sam takes his Hammers up to Hull, to take on his great mate Steve Bruce.
Without further ado, let’s go Around the Grounds to see what damage the international matches have done to our squads.

Arsenal vs Man City (Sat 13 Sept 12.45)
Arsene Wenger came out with some strange comments in his presser, suggesting that if he had bothered to be around on Deadline Day, he wouldn’t have signed Danny Welbeck. Not a great confidence boost for the striker who, earlier in the week, said he had “envisaged himself playing for the Gunners in the past”. Course you did Danny Boy. Straight out of the Robbie Keane book of comments that one. What this means for Welbeck remains to be seen, but with Olivier Giroud ruled out until the New Year, one would think young Welebck would prove a better option than young Yaya Sanogo, who has still to score a competitive goal for Arsenal. Then again, this is good old stubborn “I know best” Wenger who, as we know, has a dislike of strikers, unless his name is Thierry. Back to the game and Mikael Arteta, Kieran Gibbs and good ol’ Mesut Ozil are all fit and will be in the squad to face City, but Aaron Ramsey faces a late test after injuring his ankle this week. Theo Walcott is 2-3 weeks away from a return to full training.
City defender Pablo Zabaleta is expecting to be fit for the Emirates after he was injured by a heavy tackle from Arsenal striker Lukas Podolski in the recent friendly between Germany and Argentina. Nice try though Lukas. The only absentees for City are striker Stevan Jovetic and midfielder Fernando, who is likely to be out for two weeks. Frank Lampard and defender Eliaquim Mangala are both available and in the squad for the trip.

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Chelsea vs Swansea (Sat 13 Sept 15.00)
Swansea have no new injuries for the weekend clash between the top two, though, according to some reports, Garry Monk is considering playing Bafetimbi Gomis instead of Wilfried Bony, who has only just returned from international duty. Midfielder Leon Britten faces a further 4-5 weeks out, while Dutch striker Marvin Emmes is closing in on a return and has started full training.
Jose, Jose, Jose – up to his old tricks again. According to the Mischievious One, Diego Costa returned from international duty last weekend injured, has been working all week and has a training session today to determine if he can feature vs Swansea. Take that anyway you like, your interpretation will be as useful as mine. Everyone else is fit for Chelsea so all the speculation will be who plays up front. Will you stick or twist?! Interestingly, Mourinho praised both Petr Cech and Loic Remy. Hmmmmmm, I wonder.

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Crystal Palace vs Burnley (Sat 13 Sept 15.00)
It could be debut day at Palace as James McArthur, Kevin Doyle and Zeki Fryers could all make their first start for the Eagles, while Andrew Johnson is also available after re-joining the club. Joe Ledley is fit again, but striker Marouane Chamakh misses out with a hamstring injury. No worries though, as Dwight Gayle is bang in form and could be a cheeky punt this week – eight goals in his last six games, four goals in his last two…don’t say you weren’t warned.
Burnley manager Sean Dyche welcomes back Danny Ings who is available after recovering from illness, while new signings George Boyd, Nathaniel Chalobah and Michael Keane are all vying to make their club debuts, with Boyd the most likely to get the call this week.

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Southampton vs Newcastle (Sat 13 Sept 15.00)
The problems mount for our old mate Alan Pardew. If losing Siem de Jong wasn’t bad enough, exciting young prospect Rolando Aarons injured his hamstring while with the England U21s and faces a month or so on the treatment table. It doesn’t end there. Chieck Tiote, who hasn’t played for the Toon yet this season, played 2 x 90mins for the Ivory Coast after Pardew had agreed with the national manager that the midfielder wouldn’t even play 90mins. Haha – couldn’t make it up. Tiote, if fit enough, will make the bench for the Saints game, but Pardew is not a happy Pardew and the pressure is rising for the old chap who has failed to win a game yet this season. Just to rub it in, Papiss Cisse, Davide Santon and Ryan Taylor are all still missing. Jack Colback, however, has declared himself fit.
Ronald Koeman has said that all his players have returned safe from international duty. He talked excitedly about new midfielder Sadio Mane, but maintained that if he was involved this weekend, it would be from the bench. J-Rod remains out, while defender Toby Alderweireld will be hoping to make his debut.

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Stoke vs Leicester (Sat 13 Sept 15.00)
Foxes manager is sweating on the safe return of a number of internationals (honestly), with some having played African Nations. Matty James has returned to full training, but will not be involved on Saturday, but new recruits Nick Powell, Tom Lawrence, Esteban Cambiasso and Danny Simpson will all be available and competing for their first starts for the club.
Mark Hughes has a few late decisions to make re the make up of his side for Saturday. The biggest concern is Etihad matchwinner Mame Diouf, who has been away with Senegal – Hughes will assess him before the match, but understandably wants his man involved in some capacity. Oussama Assaidi has looked sharp in training and the manager spoke glowingly about him, this weekend likely comes too soon for Stephen Ireland and Peter Odemwingie while Geoff Cameron continues his rehab from his hernia operation.

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Sunderland vs Spurs (Sat 13 Sept 15.00)
New signings Sebastian Coates and Ricky Alvarez will be pushing for a start for the Black Cats, who have no new injuries for the visit of Spurs.
Spurs will again have to cope without right back Kyle Walker, who continues to recover from surgery. Meanwhile striker Roberto Soldado is a doubt as he has failed to shake off a neck problem – he will be assessed again today, but is likely to miss out. Danny Rose and Eric Dier should both be ok, while Pochettino says everyone else has returned from international duty ok.

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West Brom vs Everton (Sat 13 Sept 15.00)
Romelu Lukaku is expected to be for the trip back to his old hunting ground – the striker rejoined training on Thursday after he missed Belgium’s friendly with a toe injury. However, Samuel Eto’o and Leon Osman both face late fitness tests – Eto’o got injured scoring vs Chelsea whilst Osman picked up a knock in a club friendly earlier this week. In the aforementioned friendly, striker Arouna Kone started his comeback, playing 55mins. Stephen Pienaar and Bryan Oviedo also returned to training this week, but neither are likely to be ready for the weekend. Ross Barkley still faces a few weeks on the sidelines.
Ex-Toffee defender Joleon Lescott says he is ready and available to play against his former team if the manager needs him. Lescott continued his comeback by playing 90mins in a training ground friendly vs Hull on Tuesday. Baggies keeper Ben Foster, defender Gareth McAuley and midfielder Graham Dorrans should all be ok for the game while Youssouf Mulumbu will need to be assessed before the game. Georgios Samaras and Silvestre Varela are closing in on a return to full fitness and will be included in the squad, but are not expected to start.

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Liverpool vs Aston Villa (Sat 13 Sept 17.30)
Liverpool haven’t had the best of international weeks. Brendan Rodgers has confirmed that Daniel Sturridge could be missing for up to three weeks with the (latest) thigh injury he picked up while with England. Midfielder Emre Can will be out for longer, maybe up to six weeks with an ankle injury he received playing for Germany U21s, while Welshman Joe Allen will need to be assessed after hurting his knee in Andorra. Rodgers also expects to be without Martin Skrtel, Glen Johnson and Jon Flanagan for the visit of Villa, but better news of Adam Lallana, who is available. Prepare for the home debut of Mad Mario, who has had a bug all week, but will be ok for the weekend – expect fireworks, although owners of the loon will be cheered to know that his only Premier League hat-trick came vs……Aston Villa.
Young Tom could make his Villains debut up at Anfield and has a chance to completely redeem himself in the eyes of all United fans when he scores a 15 minute hat-trick and causes Captain Slippy to fall over. Aside from Tom, Ron Vlaar will need a late check as he struggles with a calf injury, while strikers Christian Benteke and Libor Kozak remain on the treatment table.

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Man Utd vs QPR (Sun 14 Sept 16.00)
LVG says RvP has no injury concerns and describes the striker as being “fitter than ever”. So you’ve just been crap then, Robin? More worryingly, Van Gaal gushed about Falcao as the striker was unveiled as a United player, saying, “he had one chance in training – the ball was in the goal”. Hold on. So there’s Di Maria, Rooney, Mata, van Persie, Januzaj and he only gets one chance? Maybe he was on Young and Valencia’s team that day. Moving on, a welcome sight for United fans was the return to training of Michael Carrick, Luke Shaw and Rafael, while Marcos Rojo’s work permit has been sorted and the defender will be available for Sunday. Phil Jones won’t though, he picked up his monthly injury while with England and is expected to miss 3-4 weeks. No one is surprised. It is thought that Shaw, Rafael and Ander Herrera are all available after injury, but Chris Smalling, Carrick, Marouane Fellaini and Ashley Young continue to miss out.
Rangers’ midfielder Joey Barton is suffering with a hamstring injury and will need to be assessed on Saturday – reports suggest he has a good chance of making the game. However, ‘Arry has said the squad “has a few knocks”, without revealing who was affected, but he didn’t seem terribly worried, or bothered, so maybe it’s just Sean Wright-Phillips and Adel Taarabt. Alejandro Faurlin is a long term absentee with a ACL injury, while new recruits Sandro and Eduardo Vargas and likely to go straight into the squad.

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Hull vs West Ham (Mon 15 Sept 20.00)
Steve Bruce had a busy Deadline Day and then saw most of his squad fly off on international duty. He is still waiting for Mohamed Diame and Abel Hernandez to return – Diame is due back today and Bruce hopes to have him available to play against his old club, but Hernandez is still sorting his work permit out and is unlikely to feature vs the Hammers. Hatem Ben Arfa and Gaston Ramirez were two of just six of the squad who stayed at home and both will be eager to kick start their season at their new home. Andrew Robertson will need to be assessed before the match, but Robert Snodgrass and Joe Dudgeon both remain out.
The Hammers could hand a debut to Morgan Amalfitano on Monday night. Big Sam welcomes back James Collins into the squad, but Kevin Nolan remains out until the end of October, Andy Carroll has resumed training but is not anywhere near a return, Matt Jarvis and Carl Jenkinson may make the squad but are unlikely to be fit enough to play and Alex Song is short of match fitness.

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That, my friends, is all our fixtures previewed – all that remains is for me to wish you all the very best for GW4!

Thanks for reading Team Talk Fantasy Football GW4. This article was written by Cookie

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