Dilemmas of the week - GW10

Every week, we need to take a long hard look at our squad, and ask ourselves if we want to make any changes....

And even if we do see a pressing case for a change here or there, we then need to weigh that against the possible advantage of saving our transfer - 'rolling' it over to use in a future week. This option achieves greater tactical complexity this season with the new rule that allows us to save up as many as 5 Free Transfers to use at one time. If we ever manage to do that, it would in effect be a 'mini Wildcard', enabling us to conduct a major squad overhaul in one fell swoop (particularly useful as there are a handful of 'premium' players who cost so much more than everyone else that you can't conveniently move them in and out of your squad without making multiple other changes as well).

Then, of course, occasionally multiple changes may seem so inescapable that we have to consider whether it's worth spending points on 1 or 2 extra transfers (a tactic which obviously deserves a whole post of its own one day).

So, what are the conundrums we face ahead of Gameweek 10?

Does anybody need to be moved out because of injury?

Well, at least it doesn't look like anyone picked up any problems during this week's League Cup ties (well, except for Savinho; and it seems he might be OK...?), but....  There is still an infuriating lack of clarity about the condition of the Arsenal defence: Gabriel, Timber, and Calafiori are still 'doubts' for the weekend. (Arteta has made some optimistic noises about Gabriel; but that means nothing. He has become notorious for being 'economical with the truth' about the injury status of his players.)  My guess would be that, in the absence of any bad news, we can probably expect Gabriel to be back next weekend.... maybe this week; but the other two will probably be resting and recovering until the other side of the next international break. This will probably mean some windfall starts for anyone who took a punt on Kiwior (and maybe Zinchenko??) getting a run of gametime at some point. But it's probably rather bad news for everyone else relying on Arsenal assets. With so much of last season's success founded on the solidity and consistency of their back-line, they look immediately more vulnerable, and less dangerous, when that is badly disrupted; and even the mercurial Saka may struggle to make an impact if they're often going to find themselves with their backs to the wall, as they did in the latter part of Sunday's game. Still, at least Saliba's back from his one-match suspension; so, maybe things won't be too bad.

Son, Kepa, Johnstone, Gordon, Dunk, Hinshelwood, and McNeil all went missing before or during the last batch of games - but it seems there's a chance they might be back this week. Callum Wilson, Luke Shaw, and Morgan Gibbs-White might also be nearing a return.

Alisson and Jota, DeBruyne and Doku, and Joao Pedro remain sidelined for an indefinite (though not 'long') period. But it seems Jack Grealish might be back in contention for this weekend. (Does that mean Phil Foden might be left on the bench again??)

Sancho and Ward-Prowse, as loanees, are ineligible to play this weekend against their parent clubs.

And damn, White, Gvardiol, Rodri, and Wood emerged as late injury doubts for the weekend as well; that could cause a lot of FPL hurt.

And Eze too. (No surprise there...)  And Lerma and Wharton....  (The gods do not love Crystal Palace, evidently.)

Do we have any players who are dropped, or not looking likely to get the starts we hoped for?

Well, Areola seems to have lost his place to Fabianski - although there might have been a fitness issue at play in that decision as well. And while Fabianski made a couple of outstanding saves, and I can see Lopategui might be reluctant to change the lineup after a much-improved performance like that.... the Polish veteran wasn't actually that convincing overall, had a number of very wobbly moments. I've always found it a bit frustrating that West Ham are the only club who have 'two No. 1s', two keepers who are both good enough to deserve the start, with no very clear priority between them. I wouldn't be rushing to bring in Fabianski, when he might suddenly get dropped for his younger rival again... (But a lot of FPL managers had gone for Fabianski anyway as a random cheap back-up choice, and are now reaping unexpected benefits from that selection.)

Sancho was dropped in favour of Pedro Neto in the last game. That might just have been to get him bedded into the side ahead of the hard-to-predict clash with Manchester United this weekend (for which Jadon Sancho, still a United player, is not available); but he had a stormer - so, you have to fear that Sancho could now be out for a while.

Did anyone give other cause to consider dropping them?

I've been thinking for a couple of weeks that Andy Robertson has been looking strangely out of sorts and a little slow, and that was even more evident last Sunday. Admittedly, having to deal with both Saka and Havertz, when both are on fire, is a thankless task. But I suspect he's been playing with some kind of injury problem, and might get rested in favour of Tsimikas for a little while now.

And, oh good grief, Muric - again!! The first time he produced a colossal shit-show of a performance, at least it was early in the season, and he was facing Erling Haaland in a particularly mean mood. But when he did it again against much weaker opposition a couple of weeks ago, the alarm bells began to sound. And then he threw the game against Brentford away - a fixture Ipswich could have and should have taken all three points from. I don't know who Ipswich's back-up keeper is.... but it's looking like one of the ball-boys would be less of a liability than this guy. This is a major test of Kieran McKenna's management. Perhaps he'll judge that Muric is basically sound enough in technique, and strong enough mentally, to bounce back from this string of catastrophic blunders. Or maybe he'll think that it might be better for team spirit to stand by his beleaguered keeper for a while longer, even if he does present a hazard to the club's fortunes. But I call bullshit on both those excuses: the guy is costing you points you can't afford to lose - he needs to be axed at once.

Did anyone play so well, you have to consider bringing them in immediately?

Well, paradoxically, pretty much the whole of the Manchester United side! And since there is typically a positive 'bounce' following a change of manager (and likely to be particularly pronounced, you would think, in an instance like this, where the manager has been a 'dead man walking' for 18 months or more, and had not appeared to be popular with the players, and was holding the team back with his perverse tactical system), you have to fancy that United might cause some mayhem for the next few weeks. But that might be a very short-lived phenomenon; heck, it might not even really happen at all. And if it does, it's impossible to predict which players will thrive most in the new atmosphere at the club. So, I wouldn't be rushing to buy any United players just yet; let's wait and watch for two or three weeks...

And yes, Nico Jackson was absolutely outstanding again. But he's been outstanding pretty much all season, so shouldn't only just be coming on to people's radars.  Pre-season, I wouldn't have fancied him to get anywhere near Watkins or Isak, or maybe even Mateta or Havertz or Solanke; but on current form, it's looking like he could give Haaland a bit of a run for his money, and is becoming a favourite to be 'best of the rest' among the forwards this term. Ditto, Chris Wood - I keep thinking that his 'streak' must surely be about to end; and yet it just keeps going and going. If he can sustain this sort of form, he too - incredibly - is going to be in the hunt for the Golden Boot (and might prove to have been one of the picks of the season).

Pedro Neto put in an eye-catching performance against Newcastle too; though there must be a continuing uncertainty about how far he might have to share minutes with Sancho (and Mudryk?), even if he does become a more frequent starter.

Mark Travers played a blinder in the Bournemouth goal - but surely won't displace Kepa as first-choice on the basis of that one performance. (Or will he...??)

And Lallana continues to impress as Southampton's most crucial player - but he's not likely to produce that many FPL points playing for Southampton.

BEST OF LUCK, EVERYONE!