Team Talk Gameweek 27 – FPL Fantasy Football Premier League

How painful is a 10-day break in FPL, especially when most experts’ advice is to “hold your transfer in front of GW29”? Dull, dull, and dull. Well, I don’t know about you but I don’t know what to do with myself – the Mrs hates me moping around, I’m tired of building a 759 man squad for Ultimate FPL, I’ve realised I have no comprehension of anyone except a handful of players in MLS and I’m bored of playing Candy Crush.

Well, fear not, because we’re back, the waiting is over, the pain is eased – GW27 has arrived!!

Our game-week kicks off at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea look to increase their lead at the summit when they entertain Everton in the lunchtime kick-off. Five 3pm’s follow as Arsenal host Sunderland, Hull travel to Cardiff, Man City welcome Stoke to the Etihad, West Brom play Fulham and Southampton take on West Ham at Upton Park. The late kick-off sees Crystal Palace play Man Utd and then onto Sunday….Liverpool play Swansea and Newcastle take on Aston Villa in the lunchtime kick-offs and then our game-week is wrapped-up in Norfolk as Spurs travel to Norwich.

So, allow me to feed your appetite as we go Around the Grounds to see the latest team news.

Chelsea vs Everton (Sat 22 Feb 12.45)

Chelsea will look to temporarily extend their lead at the top to four points with a victory against an Everton side, who have not won a league match at the Bridge since 1994. Unbeaten in their last eleven league games, Chelsea are on a roll and will be confident here, though Jose Mourinho will be urging against over-confidence – after all, Everton still hold ambitions of a top four place, but will need to improve their away form, which has seen them take just two points from their last four games on the road.

Everton are boosted by the return to fitness of Antolin Alcaraz & Gerard Deulofeu and while Romelu Lukaku is fit and should return to action next week, he is ineligible to face his parent club Chelsea. Roberto Martinez has a full and fit squad to choose from, bar long term absentees Bryan Oviedo, Darron Gibson and Arouna Kone. Steven Naismith has recovered from concussion.

The Special One says captain John Terry has recovered from injury and will take the place of David Luiz, who has a slight muscle injury. Mourinho will field a strong team vs Everton, who he describes as well-balanced and dangerous on the counter-attack. Expect Nemanja Matic and Mohammed Salah to also play as they are cup-tied for the Champions League.

Arsenal vs Sunderland (Sat 22 Feb 15.00)

It’s been a mixed week for the Gunners – Sunday’s FA Cup victory over Liverpool was soured somewhat by their loss to Bayern on Wednesday night, but it’s now time for them to refocus on their league campaign. Sunderland in comparison have been well rested, just playing the once in thirteen days and need to get back to winning ways after their disappointing loss at home to Hull last time out. With two blank game-weeks coming up, they could find themselves in deeper trouble come their next league match in GW30.

Gus Poyet admits he has some difficult choices after a much changed side dumped Southampton out of the Cup last weekend. Striker Steven Fletcher may be available after returning to training but is unlikely to start the game, but defender Carlos Cuellar has been given more time to recover from injury. Wes Brown is, surprise surprise, suspended and keeper Kieran Westwood remains sidelined. Lee Cattermole may be rested for next week’s Capital One Cup Final.

Wenger is promising changes from the side that lost to Bayern. Definitely out is left back Kieran Gibbs, who suffered a hamstring injury in the week,  Nacho Monreal will deputise. Olivier Giroud will likely be recalled up front after being rested from the starting line-up on Wednesday, while Wenger says of Mesut Ozil, “we have to let him recover from missing the penalty” – insinuating he may be the next for a rest. Tomas Rosicky, Lukas Podolski & Mikel Arteta may also be recalled. Aaron Ramsey, Theo Walcott and Thomas Vermaelen remain out.

Cardiff City vs Hull City (Sat 22 Feb 15.00)

Ex-United legends Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Steve Bruce lock horns down in South Wales with both sides desperate for a win. Hull, if they manage a victory would climb to the 30pt mark, but its Cardiff in more trouble, lying just 2pts above bottom club Fulham, having won just once in ten league games. The Welsh outfit will need to improve their record against Hull as they have won just one of their last five league meetings against tomorrow’s opponents.

Hull welcome back keeper Allan McGregor from suspension, but will be without defender Paul McShane and midfielder Robbie Brady. Liam Rosenior returned to training on Thursday and has been passed fir for the weekend, as has James Chester, while striker Sone Aluko may also feature. Joe Dudgeon is approaching a return to full fitness.

Solskjaer has been hit by the blow that captain Mark Hudson has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a hamstring injury, while midfielder Gary Medel will miss at least a couple of weeks with a thigh injury. Better news of Jordan Mutch, Peter Whittingham and Andrew Taylor who should all be available this weekend.

Man City vs Stoke City (Sat 22 Feb 15.00)

City, like Arsenal have had a mixed week – defeat at home to Barca followed an impressive victory over Chelsea in the Cup and with this their last league game for three weeks, they’ll be desperate to put their midweek defeat behind them and beat a Stoke side who don’t travel well and have not won on the road since GW3 at West Ham.

Stoke will have to do without Oussama Assaidi for a few weeks, after the on-loan winger suffered a knee injury training in Dubai, while Robert Huth remains sidelined, but is at least making progress. Better news of Andy Wilkinson and Matthew Etherington, who are both available for selection after recovering from injury.

City captain Vincent Kompany should be fit after injuring his hamstring during the defeat to Barca, but Matija Nastasic still has pain in his knee and Sergio Aguero is still not 100%, but hopes to restart training with the first team next week. Midweek villain Martin Demichelis should keep his place, while Samir Nasri will be hopeful of a start. The return to fitness of Fernandinho should mean Yaya Toure moves back into his advanced role. It is understood that Edin Dzeko and Alvaro Negredo have both returned to full fitness.

West Brom vs Fulham (Sat 22 Feb 15.00)

You know the feeling when you look at a match and just think “dull”? Well this is one of them. I’ll try and make the preview interesting, but I make no promises. It’s pretty tough working out who is worse, with both teams winless in six league matches, though I think the Baggies edge it as they have won just once in sixteen matches, whereas Fulham battled to a creditable draw at Utd while were unlucky to lose at home to Liverpool last time out. It’s been all change at Fulham since GW26, with Rene Meulensteen, Ray Wilkins and Alan Curbishley all sacked as well as most of the rest of the backroom staff. Felix Magath is the new man in charge and Fulham fans hope he will have a better start than Pepe Mel, who is still in search of his first win as Baggies boss.

Magath praised new signing, striker Kostas Mitroglou, calling him an extraordinary goalscorer, but declined to say if he would feature this weekend. In fact, the signs are not good with this Magath chap, not sure he and I are going to hit it off as he declined to give any team news at all. Therefore I will “best guess”, but don’t shoot me! Keeper Maarten Stekelenburg is expected to recover from the eye injury he received against Liverpool, while defenders Fernando Amorebieta & Matthew Briggs are still considered doubts.

The Baggies are boosted by the return of trio Billy Jones, Stephane Sessegnon and Jonas Olsson for the visit of Fulham, though midfielder Claudio Yacob and striker Nicolas Anelka are unlikely to feature. Both have only just returned to training and are likely to be available for GW28.

West Ham vs Southampton (Sat 22 Feb 15.00)

With both teams showing some decent form of late, this should be an interesting encounter and a tough one to predict. The Saints are unbeaten in six league matches and have won their last two away from home while the Hammers have been 2-0 winners in each of their last three matches, but interestingly, have won only one of their eleven matches against the top group of nine teams and have lost all five of those matches at Upton Park.

Big Sam has no new injuries to contend with and has the luxury of Winston Reid sitting on the bench and unable to reclaim his place as James Collins & James Tomkins are playing so well at the heart of the defence. The Hammers are without Andy Carroll, who remains suspended, defender Joey O’Brien, who is still injured and Ravel Morrison, who has gone to QPR on loan until the end of the season.

Saints defender Jos Hooiveld misses out with an eye problem, but Dejan Lovren and Gaston Ramirez may be fit to travel with the squad after recovering from injuries. Mauricio Pochettino also said some members of his squad have a few niggles, but nothing serious, though he didn’t mention specific names.

Crystal Palace vs Man Utd (Sat 22Feb 17.30)

Never before have Palace gone into a game vs United so confident of achieving a result, especially when you look at their home form, which has seen them record three wins on the bounce and United’s form which has seen them take just one point out of a possible nine on the road and they struggled to a draw at home to Fulham. Things are clearly not going great for David Moyes, a top four spot looks a distant dream right now and a failure to win down in South London on Saturday will likely put that dream to bed for good, while a first PL win over United for the Eagles would see them leap up to mid-table.

Tony Pulis has a full-strength squad to choose from. Striker Glenn Murray has had another week to increase his training and will again make the bench, while there is a slight doubt over Jerome Thomas, who pulled up in training on Thursday with a slight back strain, but the boss thinks he should be ok.

Moyes didn’t mention any team news in his presser, hence my patience has finally run out with the prick. I will go ahead and find embarrassing and stupid pictures of him and publish them on here until the situation improves. Expect Nani and Jonny Evans to continue to miss out, but Marouane Fellaini may be fit – joy. RvP will be looking to continue his impressive scoring run since returning from injury, Wayne Rooney will be looking to contribute his first goal or assist in five games and record signing Juan Mata will probably be stranded on the wing again, cos Palace are better than us and we have to be cautionary away from home.

Liverpool vs Swansea (Sun 23 Feb 13.30)

Liverpool continue their pursuit of a top 4 place and are on an unbeaten run of seven games and have now developed the invaluable trait of winning when not playing well, as per at Fulham last time out. Swansea meanwhile have taken four points out of six under Garry Monk but are winless in seven away matches and will likely struggle here, especially as they played Napoli on Thursday in the Europa League. The Swans will however, be looking for an improvement from last season’s fixture when they suffered a 5-0 thrashing, while Luis Suarez will be looking to get on the score sheet for the first time in four games.

Swansea will need to analyse the squad after they performed so well against Napoli on Thursday night. Jonjo Shelvey may return to the starting line-up after playing the last 20mins vs Napoli, but Michu and Alejandro Pozuelo are likely to miss out. Don’t expect much from Wilfried Bony – he has still to register a league goal in England – not great from your only fit striker is it?

The good news for Liverpool is that defender Glen Johnson has recovered from injury and is back in the squad – it is thought that he or Jon Flanagan will replace Aly Cissokho at left back. Lucas, Jose Enrique & Mamadou Sakho all remain sidelined – Enrique has been sent to the US to see a specialist, while Sakho is close to a return.

Newcastle vs Aston Villa (23 Feb 13.30)

The wheels have certainly fallen off at Newcastle since Yohan Cabaye waved them “au revoir” – three games, three losses, no goals scored, ten conceded. Let’s be fair, they’ve suffered a horrible amount of injuries, but with continuing unrest towards Mike Ashley and reports that Alan Pardew is fighting to save his job, it would appear to be a pretty good time for Aston Villa to be visiting the North-East. The Villains are not on a great run themselves, mind you – just one point gained out of a possible nine sees them languish just four points from safety – and we all know how tight it is in the bottom half of the table.

The Toon should be boosted by the return of three of their main players – captain Fabricio Coloccini, who Pardew says they have missed terribly at the back; top-scorer Loic Remy, who has missed the last three matches through suspension and combative midfielder Cheick Tiote, who has missed the last two games with a hamstring injury. Winger Gabriel Obertan is a doubt with a knee injury, which will frustrate the 0.2% of FPL managers who own him.

Paul Lambert reveals he has no new injuries for the game. Defender Jores Okore is nearing a return to the first team – the defender was expected to not play again this season, but it is hoped he may feature in the next few weeks. Striker Libor Kozak is recovering well from his broken leg, but is still a few weeks away also.

Norwich vs Tottenham (23 Feb 16.00)

Our final game of the weekend sees under-fire Chris Hughton take on his former club, Spurs. There have been more comments flying out of Carrow Road this week that the club “won’t have any difficulty finding a replacement for Hughton” – well that’s encouraging for him isn’t it? Nothing like getting behind your manager. Then again, it’s not really any better at Spurs is it? AvB gets the boot, inexperienced Tim Sherwood comes in, does a great job and all you read is that Louis van Gaal is being lined up for his job after the World Cup. Oh well, it’s only Spurs – who cares?

Younes Kaboul, Emmanuel Adebayor, Mousa Dembele, Aaron Lennon, Kyle Walker and Hugo Lloris didn’t travel with the squad for their Europa League tie on Thursday – Sherwood says they all have small niggles, but should be available for Sunday – it is understood that Adebayor has been playing for a few weeks with a hamstring issue which needs regular treatment and is getting worse. Sandro remains out but is closing in on a return, but Erik Lamela and Vlad Chiriches are still sidelined.

Norwich will still be without Ryan Bennett, Jonas Gutierrez, Michael Turner and Elliott Bennett. Better news of Jonny Howson, who has successfully returned to training, but Hughton has still to decide if he will make this weekend’s squad.

Thanks for reading Team Talk Gameweek 27, this article was written by Cookie.

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