Dilemmas of the Week - GW16

Throughout this hectic December, the main uncertainties are likely to surround 'rest rotations' - and the sudden realisation of 'totting up' suspensions -  rather than injuries. Although, with the final round of European games for this year taking place in midweek, I suppose there are bound to be a few knocks and niggles complicating the picture. Fingers crossed for no major disasters (or last-minute postponements)!

It's still early morning in the UK as I put this together. I'll add updates as necessary if any major news breaks on Friday or Saturday.

So, what are the conundrums we face ahead of Gameweek 16?

Does anybody need to be moved out because of injury?

Leon Bailey went off with some kind of hamstring strain in the match against Southampton last weekend; although described as a 'mild' injury, it seems it might keep him out of the reckoning for the rest of the month. And now Ollie Watkins has hobbled off with a knock in Tuesday night's game in Leipzig; he's a pretty resilient guy, and I suspect he'll be OK for Saturday - but this is probably the biggest FPL worry of the week, with around 24% of managers still owning him (despite his and Villa's iffy form for most of this season?!). Some, though, are no doubt getting excited about the possibility of a start for Jhon Duran in his place.

Of Brighton's numerous 'walking wounded', only Joel Veltman yet seems close to being able to feature this weekend; and it might be doubtful he'll immediately replace Tariq Lamptey, who was outstanding last week.

Marcos Senesi has just had surgery on his thigh injury, and is now likely to miss most of the rest of the season. (Good news, at least, for early adopters of his promising understudy, Dean Huijsen, one of my new 'Picks of the Week'!)  Marcus Tavernier also picked up a hamstring problem in Monday night's game against Wolves, and could be out for weeks at least. (This probably makes more room in the starting line-up for recently back-from-injury Dango Ouattara, and will perhaps allow more creative space to Kluivert and Semenyo to earn FPL points.)

Callum Wilson has reportedly picked up yet another hamstring injury in training this week, and could be out for a couple of months or so. (Presumably no-one owned him anyway; but the news could slightly enhance Alexander Isak's perceived value, by reducing his risk of rotation or 'managed minutes'.) Joe Willock also dropped out of last week's squad to face Brentford with a hamstring problem, but said to be 'minor' - and he might be available again this week.

Disasters mount for under-pressure Ange Postecoglou: his central defensive pairing of Cristian Romero and Micky Van de Ven, both rushed back perhaps a little over-hastily from lengthy injury absences last week, both broke down with new hamstring problems in last week's game, and both now seem likely to be out until at least sometime in January.

Michail Antonio seems likely to miss the rest of the season after suffering a broken leg and other injuries in crashing his Ferrari a week ago. (It is at least fortuitous for West Ham that Niclas Füllkrug has finally got himself fit at the same time.)

José Sá's unexpected absence last week was apparently only due to a minor shoulder problem picked up in training, and he could be back between the sticks for Wolves this weekend. Pablo Sarabia might also be able to take part again, after missing a couple of weeks with a calf problem.

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

Alexis Macallister, Yves Bissouma, Calvin Bassey, Emerson, Joao Gomes, Boubakary Soumaré, and Pedro Neto all miss this gameweek after clocking up their fifth bookings (which is going it some for Neto, given he's only registered 7 starts this season). And Southampton's Jack Stephens is starting a 4-game ban for a 'violent conduct' sending-off last week. Rico Lewis, of course, is also stuck with a 1-match ban for his ridiculous sending-off, because you can't appeal against double-yellow cases.

Alex Moreno, only on loan at Forest, is ineligible to play against his parent club Villa this week (although he hasn't been getting regular starts anyway, so this is probably of just about zero FPL relevance).

In better news, Alisson is now back in goal for Liverpool, and looked pretty much straight back to his imperious best in Tuesday's Champions League game at Girona. I just about never see a goalkeeper change as an urgent priority, though; and I'd probably wait a week or two, just to make sure he doesn't break down again - muscle problems like this have a habit of recurring. [His return is an unwelcome, though hardly unexpected, development for those who've been relying on Caoimhin Kelleher for the past two months.]

Did anyone give other cause to consider dropping them?

There's obviously something amiss between James Maddison and his manager, and I wouldn't be taking any chances on him - even in what is generally perceived to be the 'easiest' fixture in the calendar (I would argue that Wolves and West Ham currently look even weaker than Southampton); remarkably, some 7.6% of FPL managers still would.

And I would be tempted to say... the whole of the Manchester City team! (If anyone still had any of them anyway....)  However, I expect they'll rouse themselves to best efforts against their cross-town rivals, United; and they have a long run of pretty soft-looking fixtures from here. But damn - Foden is strangely out-of-sorts (and maybe out of favour with Pep?), DeBruyne is trying to play through a hernia problem, Ederson is unfathomably dropped, Gundogan looks hopelessly off the pace, Lewis is suspended this week, Walker's pace and stamina are failing him, and Stones and Ake and Akanji all seem likely to be missing again, while Gvardiol is starting to look desperately weary from constantly having to cover for everyone else. So, their prospects this week don't look that great.

And Wolves, alas, are on the 'highway to hell', and I find it impossible to fancy their prospects even against fellow-strugglers Ipswich (surely a last chance game for poor Gary O'Neill??). After this, they don't have another likely winnable game until the end of February. Cunha appears to have put his scoring boots into storage already anyway; and, as I predicted two months ago, Ait-Nouri is now mostly being held in a more defensive role and so rarely threatening attacking contributions even in games where they have been briefly able to get on top. Thus, I wouldn't be keeping these two any longer - or any other Wolves players, obviously.

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

Well, Minteh and Lamptey both came up with cracking goals for Brighton last week, but they're both 'minutes risks', uncertain starters. Sancho also looked very lively for Chelsea, but again isn't likely to be an invariable starter when Neto and Madueke are also competing for inclusion on the flanks.

I think the whole of the Bournemouth defence - even including Kepa in goal - are starting to look very promising, and they have a good run of fixtures through the rest of December. (Kepa might perhaps gain additional value if he gets recalled from his loan in January to replace the very unconvincing Robert Sanchez; but I suspect his bridges are well burned at Chelsea.)

BEST OF LUCK, EVERYONE!