Team Talk Game-week 34

This weekend marks the closest weekend to the 25^th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster, when of course 96 Liverpool fans lost their lives on that fateful day in Sheffield in 1989. It was a tragedy that struck the hearts of not just the city of Liverpool, but football fans the world over and served to remind us that football is just a game. There will be numerous remembrances over the course of the week and as a poignant reminder, a minute’s silence will be held before each match and kick-offs this weekend will be delayed by seven minutes. It will, of course, be felt most at Anfield when Liverpool entertain Man City on Sunday. As our mark of respect, we’d like you to view the images below and just take some time to remember those that lost their lives that day, think of the families and loved ones who continue to grieve for their losses and also those that were present who survived Hillsborough but are still affected by the events of the day.

Let’s go around the grounds and catch up on the latest team news:

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Crystal Palace vs Aston Villa (Sat 12 April 15.07)

Palace welcome Villa to Selhurst Park with both sides a win away from probable safety – but it’s Tony Pulis’ men who come into the game with more confidence after their 3-0 away day success at Cardiff last week, while the Villains capitulated at home to Fulham, of all teams. Palace’s defence seems as solid as ever and one would think they shouldn’t have too many problems keeping out a Villa side without Christian Benteke – three clean sheets in the last four matches will have tempted many to invest in their defence for their DGW and they already have a win over Villa under their belts when they triumphed 1-0 at Villa Park on Boxing Day. Villa have lost their last three and have only won on their last eight league meetings with Palace.

Pulis admits Palace have had a very good fortnight, but is keen for his players to keep their feet on the ground and says he doesn’t think the 34pts his team have will be enough for survival, therefore he is looking to secure safety as soon as possible. The squad has a couple of minor knocks but the manager is confident everyone will be ok for the weekend.

Paul Lambert is delighted to report that Gabby Agbonlahor, Fabian Delph and Karim El Ahmadi have all been passed fit for the trip to Palace. As well as Benteke, Charles N’Zogbia, Chris Herd, Jores Okore and Libor Kozak are also ruled out.

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Fulham vs Norwich (Sat 12 April 15.07)

A huge game down by the river, where a defeat for Norwich and new manager Neil Adams would see them slide right into the relegation battle – a win on the other hand would be a massive step towards safety. We know, of course that with these two anything is possible and to expect the unexpected and so the Lord only knows what will happen here. One thing you can guarantee is that will Fulham score, for such a rubbish outfit they have only failed to score once at home this season, whereas the Canaries haven’t kept a clean sheet on their travels since just before Christmas. Looking at Norwich’s fixture list, this is really as much of a must win for them as it is for the Cottagers – the Canaries end the season with trips to Old Trafford and Chelsea and entertain Liverpool and Arsenal at Carrow Road – a loss here would spell impending doom. Norwich have never won in the Premier League at the Cottage, losing on all three occasions and failure to end that run will likely have huge ramifications for the club.

Penfold is convinced he will keep the Cottagers up, but admits that Saturday’s game is massive. Striker Kostas Mitroglou is improving but will not be available this weekend, he may possibly be around in GW35, while Moussa Dembele is not available this weekend as he has travelled with the Dallas Cup squad. Scott Parker has trained well this week and will come back into the squad, while Dan Burn and Giorgos Karagounis are both available again after recovering from injuries. Darren Bent is also available after being ineligible vs Villa.

Adams has been pleased with the squad’s training and attitude in his first week in the job and says his team is ready to fight for their top flight status. Understandably, he didn’t give much away in what will be the makeup of his first selection, but did say that this week is likely to come too soon for midfielder Leroy Fer to play, though he has returned to training, but Sebastien Bassong is expected to recover from a minor knock. Centre-backs Joseph Yobo and Ryan Bennett will also be given every chance to make the squad.

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Southampton vs Cardiff City (Sat 12 April 15.07)

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer takes his wounded troops to Southampton knowing that it’s time to start winning or he’ll be in front of the firing squad before long – and Cardiff will be in the Championship. Last week’s damaging 3-0 loss at home to Palace stunned most people – not the fact that they lost – but the fact that they allowed goal-shy Palace three goals in a game. Well this week it’s the Saints and even without the sadly injured J-Rod, one feels that the executioner is loading up as we speak as Southampton were somewhat unfortunate to lose 4-1 at City last week, dominating for long periods, before being undone by a shocker of an offside decision conveniently missed. Big clubs and decisions eh. Cardiff have lost ten and drawn three of their last thirteen visits to Southampton and have collected just seven points on the road this season.

Craig Noone has joined captain Mark Hudson by being ruled out for the rest of the season – Noone picked up a knock vs Palace and he is off to the US to see a specialist. Striker Kenwyne Jones sustained a heavy blow in the game vs Palace and is a doubt for the game. Local reports suggest Craig Bellamy, Declan John and Ben Turner are also doubts for the game.

Mauricio Pochettino says that keeper Artur Boruc and midfielder Gaston Ramirez will need to be assessed in front of the game. If Boruc doesn’t make it then Paulo Gazzaniga will again deputise in goal. With J-Rod ruled out and Ramirez doubtful, James Ward-Prowse could be deployed with Steven Davis and Adam Lallana in the attacking roles behind Rickie Lambert.

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Stoke City vs Newcastle (Sat 12 April 15.07)

The only game of the weekend that will have no bearing on anything at the top or bottom, with both clubs sat in mid-table with nothing to play for, except pride, which will rule Newcastle out of this one seeing as though they appear to have spent the last few weeks building sand castles and chatting up Essex girls in Puerto Banus. Their last three matches – lost three, none scored, eleven conceded, two of those matches were in front of their faithful, if long-suffering supporters. Stoke meanwhile, have put a nice little run together and despite last week’s 3-0 reverse at Chelsea, they’ll be confident of kicking off another run vs the Toon. The man to watch here is Peter Odemwingie, he has scored four goals in his last four games and, like most strikers right now, loves playing Newcastle as he has scored four goals in five league matches against them. However, the Toon have a decent record vs the Potters, winning four of the last five and if Stoke have Odemwingie, then Newcastle have Papiss Cisse, who has scored in every one of his four PL matches vs Stoke. Expect goals in the game then, as each of the last seven league meetings between the two has seen at least three goals scored.

Mr Angry has revealed that leading scorer Loic Remy is still not available – the striker has resumed training and should be back next week. Better news of keeper Tim Krul, who has also resumed training and has more of a chance of making the trip to Stoke. Defender Mathieu Debuchy has returned to light training but it’s unlikely he’ll be rushed back this week and midfielder Moussa Sissoko is still battling a hamstring strain. Chieck Tiote is on 9 yellows and needs to avoid getting booked this weekend or will face a 2-match ban.

Sparky says that Charlie Adam broke his nose in several places in training in the week – he may still play, but only if the club can get an acceptable mask for him to wear – honestly, sometimes this stuff just writes itself – I have found some possible masks for Charles to wear, but I’m sure you could find some better ones. Anyway, he may play, may not, depending on the local fancy dress shop’s stock. Stephen Ireland is available after illness, but Oussama Assaidi, Matty Etherington and Robert Huth are not. But no-one really cares.

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Sunderland vs Everton (Sat 12 April 15.07)

Whenever I see this fixture, I think of Peter Reid, who served both clubs with such distinction. Reid will have mixed emotions here with the Black Cats needing to win to retain any survival hopes, while the Toffees are powering themselves towards some lucrative Champions League football if they can keep up their great form. Monday night’s capitulation at Spurs, will have given the Sunderland lads an uncomfortable week in training and it remains to be seen if manager Gus Poyet can inspire them to one big final effort or is able to lift a dressing room which looks, quite frankly, like it has given up. What can we say of Everton? Many people’s second club, manager is loved by all, playing decent football, don’t have loads of cash to spend – and they put four past Arsenal. If they can win both matches in this DGW they’ll go above the Goonies into fourth, at which point they’re in control.

Roberto Martinez says that Phil Jagielka is still out, though the club have arranged a friendly next week for him to build up his fitness with a view to having him available for the visit of Man Utd in GW35. Midfielder Leon Osman is the only casualty from last week – he picked up a nasty eye injury which has not yet healed well enough for it to fully open and he will need to be checked nearer the time of the game. Steven Pienaar, Bryan Oviedo, Darron Gibson, Arouna Kone and Lacina Traore remain unavailable. Note Gareth Barry will face a two-match suspension if he gets booked on Saturday, but the manager says he is not tempted to rest the midfielder, who he says has the experience to deal with the issue and for someone not known for his scoring, he has scored four league goals against the Black Cats.

Poyet will once again be without striker Steven Fletcher and keeper Keiren Westwood due to injury, while Wes Brown’s facial injury is not thought to be serious enough to make him unavailable, though John O’Shea stands by. Striker Jozy Altidore has picked up a knock in training and misses out. Phil Bardsley needs to escape a booking to avoid a 2-match suspension. With Poyet openly admitting his team need a miracle to escape the drop, he’ll be relying on the likes of Fabio Borini and Adam Johnson to work some magic up front. Good luck pal.

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West Brom vs Tottenham (Sat 12 April 15.07)

West Brom welcome Spurs to the Hawthorns hoping to record back-to-back wins for the first time since September, while Tottenham will be looking to keep alive their hopes of European football next season after their demolition of Sunderland on Monday. Poor old Tim Sherwood, you have to feel for him – seems an honest if a little crazy old pro, just trying to do a good job, but would appear to have about as much chance of being in charge at Tottenham next season as Kim Jong-Un has of winning the Nobel Peace Prize. So, West Brom – won last week at Norwich, won four weeks ago at Swansea, but haven’t won in front of their own fans since beating Newcastle on New Year’s Day and let’s face it, everyone beats Newcastle – so what can we expect here? Well, Spurs are unbeaten in eight PL meeting with the Baggies, winning four of those. I’m going for a draw.

Good news for Pepe Mel as defender Billy Jones and midfielders Claudio Yacob and Chris Brunt have all made successful returns from injury and are available for selection. James Morrison faces a late fitness test on a muscle injury, if he doesn’t make it, Brunt will come in to a probably otherwise unchanged team. Zoltan Gera suffered a hamstring injury in the victory at Norwich and may not play again this season.

Sherwood is expected to select from pretty much the same squad as he had available for Monday’s match vs Sunderland, with the one exception being Sandro, who is a doubt after he picked up a calf injury in training on Thursday. Michael Dawson is also unlikely to feature while Jan Vertonghen, Roberto Soldado, Erik Lamela, Kyle Walker and Etienne Capoue all remain on the sidelines. Pretty irrelevant as anyone who cares about Spurs is only really interested in Adebayor or Eriksen and they’re both fit.

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Liverpool vs Man City (Sun 13 April 13.07)

In what will, without doubt, be an occasion full of emotion for Liverpool, they will, for 90mins at least, have to try and remove that emotion from their thoughts as they face a potential title-decider against a City side, who sit just four points behind them, but crucially have two games in hand. This makes this game pretty much unloseable for Liverpool if they are to continue their title charge – which is not great as they are not a team gifted at sitting on a lead and one would imagine and hope that this will be an open game full of chances, goals and incident. We are of course looking at the best two attacking two teams in the league and the talent on show needs little introduction to you….Luis Suarez, Sergio Aguero, Daniel Sturridge, Edin Dzeko, Philippe Coutinho, Yaya Toure, Raheem Sterling, David Silva, Jordan Henderson, Samir Nasri. But it may just be the captains who have a big say on Sunday – Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard has been prolific from the penalty spot of late, while Vincent Kompany has been in great form of late, although his desire to give the referee his autograph may again be tested as he has the little Uruguayan running/diving around him.

Good news for Brendan Rodgers as he confirms that Daniel Agger is back and available for the big game, leaving Jose Enrique as the only one missing. Note that captain Gerrard is still in danger of a two-match ban if he gets booked. Joe Allen could come in if Rodgers decides to play an extra body in midfield.

Manuel Pellegrini has pleased many a FPL manager by saying that striker Aguero has worked well in training all week, doesn’t have any problems and is back! He also said that Yaya and Silva are fine, despite reports they were doubts for the game. The only unfit member of the squad remains Matija Nastasic.

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Swansea vs Chelsea (Sun 13 April 16.07)

Ah the Special One – just when it matters, he pulls the rabbit out of the hat and sees off the Parisians. But can he keep the Blues in the title race? Well, with City and Liverpool slugging it out earlier in the afternoon, Chelsea will know where they stand by the time they kick off. It may well be that they have blown their chances with away defeats at Villa and Palace, though Jose will be keen to ensure no complacency is on display down in the valleys – and to be fair their record after a Champions League game is excellent. The Swans of course, are not out of danger quite yet and last week’s defeat at Hull leaves them on 33pts, though they do have the safety net of Norwich beneath them. But just one win in eight is relegation form and manager Garry Monk will be hoping his boys can turn on a rare display for their fans and secure top flight football for another season and increase his chances of staying at the helm. The two previous meetings between these two have both ended 1-1….a result that will no longer be good enough for Jose.

The Special One is now The Sulking One – after losing his misconduct charge, Jose cancelled his presser, saying he needed time with his team to address their away form. Haha – I used better excuses than that at school mate! I think it’s safe to say that young Eden Hazard won’t play this weekend, due to the calf injury that ended his involvement vs PSG in the week. There are also reports that John Terry picked up a foot injury in the same game – while it is not thought to be serious, he may not be risked. Ramires is available again following suspension and expect Nemanja Matic and Mohamed Salah to be involved as they are ineligible for CL action.

The Swans should have a fully fit squad for the game and so it really depends on what Monk sees are his best chances of successfully tackling Chelsea. Michu has been poor since his return and Pablo Hernandez looked much brighter when he replaced his Spanish team-mate at Hull, leading to some local speculation that Hernandez may get a start.

That’s it for the weekend, but that’s not it for game-week. We fast forward to Tuesday evening, down at the Emirates…….

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Arsenal vs West Ham (Tues 15 April 19.45)

Ah, our week wouldn’t be complete without a London derby – but we’ll have to wait until Tuesday for it due to Arsenal’s FA Cup semi-final at the weekend. Poor old Arsenal, where’s it all gone wrong? No wins in four games, struggling to close out Champions League qualification, demolished at Everton, killed 6-0 in their last derby at Chelsea, will we see a late season resurgence from the Gunners? Well, yeah probably as their fixtures are great and they have key players due back from injury. They come up against a West Ham side who may lay down and get tonked or alternatively could batter and bash them up – I guess much will depend on how bothered Andy Carroll is. Much may also depend on what state the Goonies are in after their semi – if they sail through it and get a couple more players back then momentum may be quickly restored – if they have a shocker and the knives come out further for Arsene, it could be a happy derby day for Big Sam.

Obviously team news for the match is not yet available as both managers will hold a press conference before the game, probably on Monday. However, Wenger in his semi-final presser said that Aaron Ramsey is now ready to start, Laurent Koscielny could be back for the visit of the Hammers and Mesut Ozil could be back for GW35. Mathieu Flamini is suspended. Tomas Rosicky, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Kieran Gibbs are all injury doubts.

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Everton vs Crystal Palace (Wed 16 April 19.45)

The second instalment of the DGW for these two and Goodison under the lights has been a formidable place to be for a while now – then again if anyone can cope with a trip to the city of Liverpool after dark, it’s got to be the South London mafia. The Eagles haven’t won any of their last five meetings with the Toffees, but will of course be buoyed by their last away day victory at Cardiff in GW33 and having already seen off Chelsea, Pulis will be encouraging them to believe they can get a result vs Martinez’s men.

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Man City vs Sunderland (Wed 16 April 19.45)

One of City’s games in hand – and if there’s anyone you’d want to play right now, then Sunderland would be near to the top of that list, for sure. The Black Cats look destined for the Championship, but what will really hurt them more is that they’re making their great rival Newcastle look average. Well, don’t expect much joy for Sunderland here – despite having a decent record vs City at home, they tend to struggle when they visit City – they have not won in eleven games at the Etihad, losing nine of those.

Well, that’s it for me – I wish you the best of luck for GW34.

Thank you for reading Team Talk Game-week 34, this article was written by Cookie.