Team Talk Fantasy Football GW7

Team Talk Fantasy Football GW7

Welcome to GW7 and you best make sure you enjoy it as it’s the last one you’re gonna get for a fortnight, due to another snooze-fuelled international break. Its a short, sharp gameweek, no early game on Saturday and all over on Sunday afternoon, so all our fun and games and points and excitement and tension and relief and emotion will be like one large 24 hour booze binge….until we wake up Monday with that dull, nagging feeling that we have nothing to look forward to for soooooo long. Right, let’s get down to it. Saturday 3pm – Hull entertain Palace….zzzzzzzz. Leicester welcome Burnley….jeeez, I thought this gameweek was meant to be good?! West Brom go to Liverpool, Sunderland host Stoke and poor old Alan Pardew brings his Magpies to Wales to take on the Swans. The evening match sees Man City travel down the M6 to meet Aston Villa. And then onto Sunday. It’s Old Trafford to start with as United host Everton before Spurs take on Southampton at the same time as the big one at the Bridge for the game of the weekend as Chelsea aim to put further space between themselves and the Gooners. Our gameweek ends with another London derby, this time down east as West Ham take on struggling QPR.
So points, points and more points to play for – let’s Go Around the Grounds and catch up on the latest team news.

Hull vs Crystal Palace (Sat 4 Oct 15.00)
Hull keeper Allan McGregor has been ruled out for a month with a shoulder injury, meaning Steve Harper will deputise in the meantime. Gaston Ramirez is stepping up his fitness after his groin injury and needs game time. Robert Snodgrass remains a long term absentee, but fellow midfielder David Meyler has a chance of being fit for the game.
Palace have no new injuries and a fully fit squad to choose from as they look to win their third game in a row. Therefore the matchday squad will be the same as last week, the only difference being Marouane Chamakh is now 100% fit and may thus receive more than the 18mins he played last week as a sub.
Despite their resolute performance vs City last week, Hull bring no form into this game – five games without a win, no wins in any of their last five league matches at home and winless in their last eight matches vs Palace.

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Leicester vs Burnley (Sat 4 Oct 15.00)
As the Foxes attempt to return to winning ways, manager Nigel Pearson says that only Matthew Upson and Zoumana Bakayogo are missing. Who the hell is Bakayogo? He’s not even listed on FPL. Don’t worry, no one cares – let’s move on. Get well soon Zoumana. While it’s the likes of Leonardo Ulloa and Jamie Vardy who are taking the plaudits, don’t ignore Potty’s tip of the season, David Nugent – the striker has scored five goals in his last six matches vs Burnley.
Burnley continue to have issues in midfield – David Jones and Dean Marney are likely to miss out, while Nathaniel Chalobah is definitely ruled out after injurying his windpipe in the week and Matty Taylor remains on the sidelines. Strikers Danny Ings and Sam Vokes will also miss the glamorous day trip to Leicester, but Lukas Jutkiewicz is fit.

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Liverpool vs West Brom (Sat 4 Oct 15.00)
Brendan Rodgers said in his presser that none of his injured players are yet ready to return this weekend – Daniel Sturridge is the main man in question here. The manager said that he will have to “wait and see” whether Sturridge can play a part vs West Brom and one must assume he will wait until the last minute to give him every chance. Bear in mind the battle Rodgers is fighting with England re Sturridge, don’t be completely shocked if the striker is named on the bench as Rodger’s game of smoke and mirrors with Roy Hodgson continues. The rest of the casualty list is Mamadou Sakho (moody, stormed out of the club last week, but has a knock – yeah, course he does), Glen Johnson (no loss, useless), Jon Flanagan, Joe Allen and Emre Can. Rodgers also came out with the great comment that Liverpool is all about hard work and honesty. I better stop. This is too much.
The Baggies will be without Brown Ideye, Victor Anichebe and Silvestre Varela, who are all injured – defender Andre Wisdom also misses out as he is ineligible to play against his parent club, but Chris Baird has recovered from illness. West Brom are looking for their third win in a row in the league and can they cause an upset at Anfield? History suggests they can as they have won three and lost just one of their last five PL matches vs Liverpool, while Rodgers’ men have won just two of their last five league games at home.

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Sunderland vs Stoke (Sat 4 Oct 15.00)
The good news (it’s all relative) is that defender and red card/injury magnet Wes Brown is fit and available. The bad news is Sebastian Coates continues to be ruled out, while midfielder Emanuele Giaccherini is a doubt with a knock. If you have a Stoke or Sunderland defender you should enjoy this one – both sides have scored just five times this season in six matches – a classic this won’t be, but you may just sneak a clean sheet.
Stoke striker Mame Biram Diouf is ruled out with a hamstring injury, but the good news is it is not as bad as first feared. Marko Arnautovic could start in Diouf’s absence. Defender Geoff Cameron is not quite ready for the bench, but should be ok to be part of the squad in GW8, while Mark Hughes is hopeful that Victor Moses will be ok after he suffered from tightness in his thigh after an impressive performance in the win over Newcastle. Jon Walters should be ok but Peter Odemwingie will be out until well into the New Year at the very least.

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Swansea vs Newcastle (Sat 4 Oct 15.00)
Comedy king Garry Monk says he is expecting a difficult test on Saturday – ah, nice and polite Garry. What he really means of course, is, “if we don’t stuff this bunch of useless turds, you’ll all be in for extra training tomorrow and fined a week’s wages.” Angel Rangel is suspended after being sent off at Sunderland, midfielder Leon Britten is hoping to return mid-November, while Jordi Amat is also still missing. Defender Dwight Tiendalli faces a fitness test today – if he fails that Jazz Richards could step in for his first PL appearance for nearly three years at right back.
Poor old Pardew remains as arrogantly resilient as ever and just refuses to walk away – just like that annoying mosquito or fly that buzzes around your head all night keeping you awake. Winger Gabriel Obertan has been tipped by some reports to start, having impressed when he came on at Stoke. Things must be bad. Obertan hasn’t started a game for 18 months. Anyone smell that desperation? Yoan Gouffran will make way if genius Pardew plays Obertan, while Papiss Cisse will be monitored to see if he is fit enough to start at the expense of Emmanuel Riviere. The mosquito has no fresh injury worries, thank goodness, that would just push him over the edge, poor love. Mehdi Abeid is available again after suspension, which must be a source of great relief bearing in mind he hasn’t started a league game all season. Davide Santon, Rolando Aarons, Siem de Jong, Jonas Gutierrez all remain out, although Ryan Taylor began his comeback by playing in a private friendly in the week, but is unlikely to feature in the first team soon.

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Aston Villa vs Man City (Sat 4 Oct 17.30)
Great news for Villa as Paul Lambert says Christian Benteke has a good chance of making the bench for the visit of City – a final decision will be taken after today’s training session. The bad news is that Ron Vlaar continues to miss out, although he is not far away and should be back for GW8. Striker Libor Kozak has had another operation on his leg and won’t be seen on the pitch until next year.
Good news too for City as Manuel Pellegrini reveals his only absentee is midfielder Samir Nasri. Both Fernando and Matija Nastasic have recovered from injury and are available for the trip, which will delight the boss as he reiterated his desire for his team to improve defensively, having conceded five goals in their last three games. Regarding Sergio Aguero, Pellegrinio said he believes his striker is 100%.

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Man Utd vs Everton (Sun 5 Oct 12.00)
United vs Everton – the romantic fixture, representing memories of David Moyes, Wayne Rooney and Marouane Fellaini, none of whom will feature at the weekend! Fellaini, despite returning to training is not yet match fit (result!), Moyes was just a waste of nine months and is sunning himself somewhere in the world (result!) and Rooney is of course suspended after attempting to castrate Stewart Downing last weekend (nob!). Phil Jones, Jonny Evans, Chris Smalling, Michael Carrick, Ander Herrera and Ashley Young (another result!) are all still out. “So, come on Cookie, help them out, tell them who is playing”. Well, LVG is being pretty helpful – the defence is unchanged from last week, so Paddy McNair retains his place alongside Marcos Rojo, while Juan Mata will replace Rooney as no.10. Not confirmed and not that relevant, but you can make an educated guess that Darren Fletcher will replace Herrera alongside Daley Blind.
United’s recent record vs Everton is poor, with them having won just one of the last five PL matches against the Toffees – and of course Roberto Martinez’s men did the double over United last season.
Everton had a tricky Europa tie in Russia on Thursday evening and only arrived back home at 2.30am Friday morning, so the midday kick off leaves them little time to recover and regroup. Seamus Coleman and James McCarthy will face late fitness tests, but the more likely player to return to the starting line up is Steven Pienaar, who has trained well all week, according to Martinez. Ross Barkley is hoping to return to first-team training middle of next week, though Martinez emphasises he won’t be rushed back into action too soon. Kevin Mirallas likely to be out for two months with a hamstring injury

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Chelsea vs Arsenal (Sun 5 Oct 14.05)
Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas plays against his old employers for the first time in a Chelsea shirt – and no doubt the bitter Goonies will give him a lovely, warm reception as they do with all their past players. It’s ok lads, you have Mesut now and didn’t want Cesc back. Rememeber??? Mourinho says Diego Costa will start on Sunday before reluctantly waving him off for international duty with Spain. Chelsea’s only injuries are Ramires and Didier Drogba – the rest of the squad is fit.
But this is not just Cesc vs Arsenal. It’s also Mourinho vs Wenger and in eleven matches between the pair, Wenger has never beaten the Special One and in four matches at the Bridge have only scored once.
Well, Arsenal have no injury worries for their visit to Chelsea as they look for better fortune than last season when they were destroyed by the Blues. Nacho Monreal may be available, though in all seriousness if he plays a repeat of last season could be on the cards. Calum Chambers will again feature, but beware, he is already just one booking away from a suspension. Alexis Sanchez is fine despite him being removed early in the game vs Galatasary, while the new Thierry Henry will be looking to continue his impressive form that he has shown over the last….errr…two matches. Some injury updates that may be of interest – Aaron Ramsey is expected to be missing for four weeks, while Theo Walcott and Serge Gnabry are in line to return after the international break. Mikel Arteta and Yaya Sanogo remain sidelined, Abou Dhiaby is likely to be rested (rested?? he’s been resting for 2 years ffs), while Mathieu Debuchy and Olivier Giroud remain long term casualties.

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Spurs vs Southampton (Sun 5 Oct 14.05)
Spurs chief Mauricio Pochettino faces up to his old club on Sunday, with Spurs home form proving a concern. They have lost their last two at White Hart Lane, including last time out to West Brom which also came three days after a Europa League draw, although they have won four out of four vs Southampton in the Premier League. Pochettino did his usual for Thursday’s Europa draw with Besiktas and rested his entire starting XI bar keeper Hugo Lloris. An unchanged side from the one that drew at Arsenal last week is likely, with Danny Rose and Etienne Capoue both expected to shrug off knocks, while Nacer Chadli has been given a clean bill of health and will be looking to continue his impressive form.
Second placed Southampton will be without Maya Yoshida, James Ward-Prowse, Lloyd Isgrove, Sam Gallgher and of course J-Rod. Defender Florin Gardos, who has been suffering with a calf injury, trained on Friday and if he suffers no reaction, will be available for selection for Sunday. As Spurs home form is bad, so Southampton’s away form is good, having won three of their last five on the road.

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West Ham vs QPR (Sun 5 Oct 16.15)
Big Sam says none of his injured players are ready to return, meaning Mark Noble, Joey O’Brien, Andy Carroll and Cheikhou Kouyate all remain out. Matt Jarvis played for the U21s in the week, though is unlikely to feature given Sam’s comments. Defender Guy Demel pulled out of training on Wednesday and will need to be checked over the weekend. The manager praised Stewart Downing’s recent form, suggesting his change of position has rejuvenated the player, giving him more of the ball and increased his effectiveness.
It’s a trip back to their former home for ‘Arry, Robert Green, Rio and Bobby Zamora. Midfield is a continual concern for Rangers, with Joey Barton and Jordan Mutch unlikely to be fit for Sunday, though they are not yet definitely ruled out – a decision will be made after training. Sandro at least has recovered from his head injury and Leroy Fer is getting there with his fitness. Adel Taarabt and Alejandro Faurlin remain sidelined.

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There you go – no excuses, climb your leagues and score well. Good luck for GW7!

Thanks for reading Team Talk Fantasy Football GW7. This article was written by Cookie

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