Team Talk Fantasy Football GW9

Team Talk Fantasy Football GW9

Well have you recovered from GW8? Whether it was a monster week for you, a bit of a shocker or somewhere in between, it’s now time to put it behind you, refocus and as Slippy Gerrard would say, “let’s go again”. It’s another 3-day gameweek and guess what? City again kick off proceedings, so if you missed out on the early captain treat last weekend, you get a second chance as Aguero & co travel down to east London to take on fourth placed West Ham. Following that we have just four 3pm kick offs as Liverpool entertain Hull, free scoring Southampton take on Stoke at fortress St Marys, Arsenal travel to the ever generous Sunderland and West Brom welcome Crystal Palace to the Hawthorns. The evening match takes place down in south Wales as Swansea welcome Leicester. Onto Sunday and due to their Europa League involvement Everton go to Burnley and Spurs host Newcastle, before the big one of the weekend as United followers cower behind the sofa as Chelsea come to town. And then the grand finale and those who love a Monday night captain will have their dedication tested to the limit as own-goal specialists QPR take on Aston Villa at Loftus Road.
It’s been a busy week of European action, which has saw Chelsea adopt the Sixth Sense, a Titanic moment for Liverpool, an Escape to Victory for Arsenal, but was certainly not From Russia With Love for City. In the Europa Cup on Thursday, Spurs were Kick Ass, while Everton lacked The French Connection in Lille.

So plenty to catch up on and with some high profile injuries to monitor, there is much to get through, so let’s go Around the Grounds to see what the managers have had to say.

West Ham vs Man City (Sat 25 Oct 12.45)
If there’s a good time to play City, it’s probably after they’ve travelled to Russia in the week and been demoralised after throwing away a two-goal lead, irrelevant of the circumstances. That’s Big Sam’s hope as he welcomes the champions to the Boleyn. Most eastenders will have just finished their pie ‘n mash by the time of kick-off, but their team news will put a spring in their step and build even more confidence. They welcome back midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate and defender James Tomkins into the squad, while Andy Carroll has returned to full training and is expected to be back in action by November. Winston Reid is on four yellows, so will need to be careful for a few weeks if he is to avoid a suspension. There are no new injuries, while Guy Demel, Ricardo Vaz Te and Mauro Zarate are all making good progress. The Hammers are flying, having won three of their last four and would go to within a point of City if they can continue their impressive run.
City are unbeaten in their last seven in all competitions but are already five points behind Chelsea – a failure to win on Saturday could be catastrophic in their quest to regain the title. They go into the game with just ex-Hammer Frank Lampard and Samir Nasri ruled out. Nasri is targeting a return for the derby in GW10, while Lampard should return to training next week. Worryingly for the Hammers and the rest of the league (and non Sergio Aguero owners), Manuel Pellegrini says that Aguero is slowly returning to his best and there is better to come from him yet.

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Liverpool vs Hull (Sat 25 Oct 15.00)
Sadly for Liverpool, Real Madrid weren’t quite as generous as QPR last weekend and refused to kick the ball in their own net. Much of the fall out since Wednesday’s humbling has centred around Mad Mario and his shirt swopping antics – with Daniel Sturridge still out, will the nutter get another chance this weekend or will Rickie Lambert (remember him?) get the shout? Brendan Rodgers gave little away as usual, so we’ll have to wait and see on that one. Or maybe there is another option. Rodgers spoke of the possibility of playing Raheem Sterling up front on occasions – an option that I’m sure all Sterling owners will be happy about. That’s if he’s not too tired of course. Defenders Mamadou Sakho and Jon Flanagan are still out, but everyone else is available, even Kolo Toure.
They say it’s a good time to play a team straight after a Champions League game – well, it may just be a good time to play Hull. First choice keepers Allan McGregor and Steve Harper are injured, so Eldin Jakupovic will again deputise between the sticks. Defender Michael Dawson is out with an ankle injury, while Andrew Robertson has a knock and is a doubt. In midfield Tom Huddlestone is also doubtful and Robert Snodgrass is of course out. Nikica Jelavic has been ruled out for 4-6 weeks, so much will continue to depend on the recent good form of Abel Hernandez and Mohammed Diame.

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Southampton vs Stoke (Sat 25 Oct 15.00)
Stoke’s only fresh doubt for the game is Phil Bardsley after he injured his back in the win over Swansea – the defender will be given every chance to make the game, though he has missed training most of this week. Geoff Cameron will likely deputise if Bardsley is ruled out, although Mark Hughes has suggested Cameron could play for him in midfield. Victor Moses is fine after suffering from cramp on Sunday, the winger returned to training on Thursday and should be ok. Peter Odemwingie remains sidelined, while Glen Whelan has been ruled out for 4-6 weeks with a leg fracture. Stoke’s last victory at Southampton and indeed last top flight vs the Saints was 34 years ago and one would think they’ll have to pull out all the stops and a bit more if they are to record two successive wins for the first time this season.
Southampton boss Ronald Koeman has no fresh injuries for the match and must be tempted to name an unchanged starting XI for the match – let’s be honest, you’d be pretty gutted if you were dropped after being part of an 8-0 victory! However, Sadio Mane, who scored after coming off the bench last week, will be hoping for a recall, which may be bad news for Shane Long. We shall see. J-Rod and James Ward-Prowse are still sidelined.

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Sunderland vs Arsenal (Sat 25 Oct 15.00)
A stroll in the park for the Gooners surely? Arsenal have won their last three at Sunderland and will be confident of extending that run, while the Black Cats won just one of their 21 Premier League matches vs Arsenal. But wait, hold that bus. Despite last week’s humiliation, faux pas, FUBAR (f*** up beyond all recognition), call it what you will, Sunderland have actually kept twice as many clean sheets this season as Arsenal – but then again Arsenal have only kept one, so it’s a pretty worthless stat.
The casualty ward is as hectic as ever for Dr Wenger with Laurent Koscielny, Mathieu Debuchy, Mesut Ozil, Theo Walcott, Abou Diaby, Serge Gnabry, Yaya Sanogo and Olivier Giroud still out. The good news regarding Walcott is that he is very likely to be back next weekend – Wenger is treating him very carefully and is wary about bringing him back this week, hence he will play for the U21s on Saturday, rather than travelling with the first team. Expect maybe a 20min cameo off the bench at home to Burnley in GW10 is my prediction at this stage. Calum Chambers returns to the side after serving his suspension, but Jack Wilshire sits this one out after picking up his fifth yellow card last weekend.
Black Cats boss Gus Poyet says 75% of the side who were unceremoniously shat on by Southampton will keep their places for the visit of the Gooners. Keeper Vito Mannone is one of the 75%, despite a horrific performance at St Marys, which he then compounded by saying he and his team mates would compensate all the traumatised fans who travelled down to the game – sure that went down well in the dressing room! So, two or three changes likely – Jack Rodwell should come in for the lazy Jordi Gomez, while Adam Johnson could replace Will Buckley. Sunderland have signed 34 year-old French full-back Anthony Reveillere until the end of the season and is likely to go straight into the squad, which gives the squad more cover with Billy Jones still sidelined. Poyet has confirmed that Wes Brown is fit – his substitution at half time vs Southampton was tactical – sh*te, they only had four fit defenders to start with and he brings one off, no wonder they got hammered. Joey Altidore is fit again, if that helps.

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West Brom vs Crystal Palace (Sat 25 Oct 15.00)
Palace travel to the Hawthorns needing a victory to pull themselves clear of the relegation zone, but will not have it easy against a spirited Albion side who were only denied a victory vs United by a last ditch equaliser. Eagles midfielder James McArthur is a doubt after suffering a hip injury vs Chelsea, while defender Scott Dann is unlikely to feature despite recovering well from his knee ligament injury. Fellow defender Damian Delaney is suspended after being sent off in the defeat to Chelsea, while manager Neil Warnock has been talking positively about Wilfried Zaha, though tempers it slightly by saying he is up against some stiff competition in Yannick Bolasie and Jason Puncheon, two wingers he describes as being the best in the league. Ok Neil.
Baggies keeper Ben Foster has returned to training and should be available but Jonas Olsson and Silvestre Varela both continue to miss out. Striker Victor Anichebe is fully fit but will have a battle to get back into the starting XI with Saido Berahino impressing.

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Swansea vs Leicester (Sat 25 Oct 17.30)
Leicester go to Wales with no new injuries and the same squad as last weekend, not that it really helped them. Their only absentees are defenders Matthew Upson and Zoumana Bakayago. This is the first Premier League meeting between the Foxes and the Swans. I can’t think of anything else to say about Leicester.
The Swans have failed to win any of their last five matches and manager Garry Monk is desperate for his team to pick up three points on Saturday in front of their home support. Jonjo Shelvey is available again after suspension, which should add some steel, fight, aggression and general ugliness to the midfield. Jordi Amat, Rory Donnelly and Dwight Tiendalli are all expected to miss out again.

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Burnley vs Everton (Sun 26 October 13.30)
Burnley midfielder Dean Marney, who has been suffering from a hamstring strain, trained today and a late decision will be made on him, but Michael Keane has recovered from injury and is available. Steven Reid, Matty Taylor and Sam Vokes all remain sidelined but Nathaniel Chalobah may make his first start as manager Sean Dyche searches for their first win of the season.
Everton will be looking to build on their victory over Villa last week and start their quest for some sort of European qualification – a disappointing start has seen them languish in the bottom half, but some kind looking fixtures is expected to see an improvement in form. Seamus Coleman, Antolin Alcaraz and Romelu Lukaku were all benched for Thursday’s night drab goalless draw in Lille and are expected to come straight back into the team for the short journey to Burnley. John Stones, Kevin Mirallas, Bryan Oviedo and Arouna Kone are still sidelined. Worth noting that Ross Barkley played 90mins in Lille and also suffered a slight eye injury, so don’t bet your life savings on him this week.

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Spurs vs Newcastle (Sun 26 October 13.30)
There is not a whole host of good news coming out of Newcastle these days, but we can bring a happy story – versatile defender Ryan Taylor, who has not played since August 2012 will be part of the squad for the trip to Spurs. Don’t expect him to start, he may not even get on, but Alan Pardew will be very keen to get Taylor back into that starting XI asap as they attempt to climb out of the relegation zone. Emmanuel Riviere remains a doubt, while Papiss Cisse may also miss out after picking up a knock. Davide Santon, Siem de Jong, Rolando Aarons and Jonas Gutierrez remain out, but they have chinsandbellies NBF Gabriel Obertan, so all is well.
Mauricio Pochettino did his usual and rested first team regulars Nacir Chadli, Danny Rose, Christian Eriksen and Roberto Soldado for their Europa League match on Thursday – expect all four to be recalled for Sunday’s game. Federico Fazio is suspended after he was sent off in last week’s defeat at City, while fellow defenders Kyle Naughton and Kyle Walker are still sidelined through injury. Midfielder Nabil Bentelab is hoping to shrug off an ankle injury.

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Man Utd vs Chelsea (Sun 26 October 16.00)
Does anyone care about anyone except Diego Costa and Angel Di Maria? Nah, thought not. Ok straight into it then – Jose says Costa has “a small chance” of featuring at Old Trafford – he has returned to training, but individual training only at this stage. After being hospitalised with a virus he has been kept away from the rest of the group. The Special One seemed to be fairly genuine when he said he didn’t yet know if his star striker would be able to start or even feature and given the game is on Sunday, he has the luxury of an extra day to make his judgement. If you are in doubt but are afraid to sell him or just don’t know what to do, I would suggest, having listened to Mourinho that Costa is almost certainly going to be fit for QPR in GW10….unless something happens inbetween!!
Loic Remy is the only definite absentee – the French striker has been ruled out for a couple of weeks. Jon Obi Mikel, Andre Schurrle and Ramires have all returned to training and will be given every chance. Cesar Azpilicueta is suspended after being sent off at Palace last week, so Filipe Luis will deputise for his first Premier League start.
So that’s the Costa problem errrr cleared up. Ish. Now onto Di Maria and LVG has revealed that he has recovered from the knock he sustained vs WBA and is fit to face Chelsea. Ander Herrera is also fit, but no other players are back from injury, meaning the squad will likely be the same as per Monday evening. Wayne Rooney is still suspended, so the only doubt now is who the manager will select to start the game. One would think Marouane Fellaini, who imprerssed as a second half substitute at the Hawthorns, may get a start to add some muscle in midfield, with either Adnan Januzaj or Juan Mata missing out. Michael Carrick continues his return tonight by playing for the U21s.

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QPR vs Aston Villa (Mon 27 Oct 20.00)
Monday night football usually means GOALS, GOALS, GOALS and what makes you think this will be any different? We know enough about QPR to expect them to score and attack with passion in front of their own fans, especially under the lights. However, we also know that they can be very generous and if the oppo is having trouble in front of goal, they’ll just whack it in for them.
Villa of course started the season tightly, conceding just one goal in the first four but since then they have conceded eleven goals in their last four games – pretty tough fixtures though to be fair. Philippe Senderos and Nathan Baker face late fitness tests, but Fabian Delph and Libor Kozak continue to miss out.
‘Arry is not playing ball this week – his official presser is not until tomorrow morning, which clearly doesn’t help us, but in all seriousness, gives him more time to assess his injured troops. There are reports that Adel “fatty” Taarabt could be in line for a shock recall to the team after owner Rangers owner Tony Fernandes sought to sort out the differences between player and manager. It is hoped that midfielders Joey Barton and Jordan Mutch and defender Nedum Onuoha could all be available again, not that any of them are likely to interest any of you. Keeper Robert Green is battling to shrug off tonsillitis in order to return to the side, Alejandro Faurlin is a long term absentee, while Rio Ferdinand has announced that he is likely to retire at the end of the season.

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That, my FPL’ers, is it for me. What will you do with Diego? Hopefully your move will not Costa you a lot! On that note, I’m off – best of luck for GW9!

Thanks for reading Team Talk Fantasy Football GW9. This article was written by Cookie

Follow @SteveCook9

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