Dilemmas of the Week - GW15

 

Once again in this hectic December, the main uncertainties are likely to surround 'rest rotations' - and the sudden realisation of 'totting up' suspensions -  rather than injuries. And with such negligible turnaround between Gameweeks 14 and 15, I fear we're unlikely to get much, if any, definitive news on the weekend's likely lineups until very close to the deadline on Saturday.

However, I'll do my best to sum up what we know so far (still only mid-morning on Friday, UK time).

So, what are the conundrums we face ahead of Gameweek 15?

Does anybody need to be moved out because of injury?

Gabriel missed the midweek game against Manchester United with his ongoing knee niggle, but the Arsenal rumour-mill seems optimistic that he'll manage to be OK again for Sunday's visit to Fulham. Even if he doesn't, it doesn't yet seem worth having a punt on Kiwior!

Ben Davies and Marcos Senesi apparently both picked up serious muscle injuries in last night's game, and look likely to be out for weeks. Particularly bad news for Spurs, who now have Dragusin as their only mainline centre-back still available; I imagine this means that Porro will drop into central defence, and someone will have to improvise as a right-back. It may be a little less of a catastrophe for Bournemouth, as teen star Dean Huijsen, 'Man of the Match' last night, looks like he could deputise very capably for a few weeks.

Luke Shaw has reportedly suffered yet another muscle injury early this week in training, and is set to be unavailable again for a while.

And Nathan Ake had to go off against Forest at the weekend with what looked like a hamstring problem; hopefully, not too serious, but... it probably means that Gvardiol will continue to be worked into the ground while there is no decent cover for him on the left of the defence. Manuel Akanji, pulled at half time in that game, is also now a 'doubt' - although Pep hasn't deigned to say why (he might just have looked at the dugout 'in a funny way'....).

Kieran Trippier and Phil Foden were both surprise omissions from the midweek squads, supposedly with 'illness' - and are likely to be absent again this weekend (even if well again, they probably won't have trained much).

It now seems Alisson and Conor Bradley are likely to remain out until after Christmas; but Diogo Jota might be close to a comeback...  But there's still no timeline on Konate's recovery.

Thomas Frank thinks Christian Norgaard should be OK again to play against Newcastle. And a raft of Brighton players - Hinshelwood, Kadioglu, March, Veltman, Webster - are said to be 'close' to a return at last (although maybe not this weekend 'close').

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

Alexis Macallister is the only new player to reach five yellow cards and so be forced to miss this weekend.

Facundo Buonanotte and Reiss Nelson, as loanees, are ineligible to face their parent clubs, Brighton and Arsenal, this week.

I was on the brink of nominating Amad Diallo as one of my 'Picks of the Week', but then he got dropped in midweek. Ruben Roulette is very much a thing... at least for the time being. It's not clear if he's just trying to give everyone in his slightly bloated squad a fair shake, or if he just can't find any combination of players who really work with his preferred system. Either way, I wouldn't go near any United players with a bargepole... probably until after the 'winter break', by which time the new coach might have settled on a preferred lineup.

Robert Sanchez's omission on Wednesday was ostensibly just another rest, and give-back-up-squad-members-some-minutes decision by Maresca; but Sanchez has been increasingly called out by the punditry in recent weeks as a conspicuously weak link in the Chelsea set-up... and Filip Jorgensen did put in a very good performance deputising for him. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Sanchez 'rested' some more, if not dropped completely over the next month.  And if Jorgensen isn't considered an adequate replacement, I should think it's a near-certainty that they'll try to bring in a new keeper in January (or recall Kepa from loan, perhaps?) - so, if you have Sanchez (he is currently the third most selected keeper, with an ownership of around 13%), it could be time to consider dropping him.

Did anyone give other cause to consider dropping them?

We can usually forgive a goalkeeper one off game (maybe even two or three), but Bart Verbruggen will have sorely tested his manager's patience with his dreadful performance against Fulham last night; and Jason Steele is a very capable back-up option.

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

Night-time games often throw people off their stride a bit; and there were so many changes from normal optimal team lineups in this Gameweek that I don't think any of the results or performances are to be relied on much as a guide to form going forward, for either teams or individuals. 

Alex Iwobi obviously caught the eye with his double strike against Brighton. But we've always known how good he can be; he just hasn't been showing it very often for Fulham so far this season - and this one good game wasn't enough to suggest that that is going to drastically change now.

Mateta and Eze seem to be nearly back to their best... but Palace don't have fixtures to get excited about over the next month or so, and are likely to remain deep in the relegation zone until well into next year.  

I'm more excited about Bournemouth's young defender Dean Huijsen, as a short- to medium-term budget pick.  He looks to have a maturity beyond his years (pretty much kept Dom Solanke in his pocket all game) - and may be about to get an extended run in the side, with an apparently quite serious injury to regular centre-back Senesi last night.

BEST OF LUCK, EVERYONE!