Dilemmas of the Week - GW19

Throughout this hectic December, the main uncertainties are likely to surround 'rest rotations' - and the sudden realisation of 'totting up' suspensions -  as much as injuries. But with such a brief gap since our Thursday/Friday games, there's been little - if any - team news released for the new 'gameweek', so there might not be too much to comment on here.

So, what are the conundrums we face ahead of Gameweek 19?

Does anybody need to be moved out because of injury?

Lukasz Fabianski appears to have escaped any serious injury in his collision with Southampton defender Nathan Wood on Thursday evening, but will presumably be ruled out this weekend by 'concussion protocols'.

Brentford keeper Mark Flekken is also likely to be out for a while, after having to come off in Friday night's game with a groin muscle injury.  This will have quite an impact on FPL, since Fabianski is the second most popular goalkeeper pick in the game (though probably only a back-up for most people), with 20% ownership, and Flekken is still in 6th place with nearly 11%.

Goal hero Iliman Ndiaye might be a doubt for Everton, after coming off near the end of the draw with City with a calf strain.

West Ham's Max Kilman (shoulder injury) and Carlos Soler (knee injury) both had to be substituted early on Thursday with what looked like quite serious problems, so they're likely to be out for at least a week or two.

Wout Faes and Jack Grealish both developed problems ahead of the midweek games, and are now doubts for this weekend.

Kyle Walker apparently missed the Everton game because of an illness; and City fans are probably praying he doesn't recover too quickly, as he has looked an absolute liability to the team the last few times he's started.  Illness was also the reason for Tino Livramento's absence on Wednesday; but he might be back in contention this weekend.

Radu Dragusin came off against Forest with a sore ankle, and remains a slight doubt for the weekend (although, given that he is Spurs's only surviving central defender, I imagine he'll just have to soldier on with painkilling injections....).

And Raheem Sterling has reportedly picked up yet another injury - a knee problem this time - last weekend; but I doubt if even his mum owns him in FPL this year, so that is non-news.

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

Dominik Szoboszlai, Justin Kluivert, Jordan Ayew, Manuel Ugarte, Tomas Soucek, Guido Rodriguez, Ryan Yates, Marc Guehi, and Matty Cash will serve 1-match bans for reaching 5 yellow cards.

Bruno Fernandes and Djed Spence also serve 1-match bans for getting yellow-carded twice on Thursday.

Villa's Jhon Duran is starting a 3-game ban for a 'violent conduct' red card in midweek. I thought his club would have had a good chance of getting that overturned, but apparently their appeal was summarily dismissed. I suppose it was one of those decisions that was so obviously awful, the FA was ashamed to admit to such an error.

Did anyone give other cause to consider dropping them?

The entire Manchester City and Manchester United teams....  But they've all been very dubious picks for a while now.

I would add the entire Wolves team, because, despite much improved performances under their new manager, they have a really horrendous run of fixtures from now until late in February; and they are bound to be hampered by a lengthy ban on their best player, Matheus Cunha. (Fake rumours circulating on the Internet on Friday were suggesting an imminent 5-game ban. I think it could be as much as 8 or 10 games; and he'd be very lucky to get away with anything less than 6.)

And the entire Spurs team - because their form of late has been dreadful; and Ange Postecoglou is starting to have that look of a manager who knows there's a death-sentence hanging over him.

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

It's good to see Eberechi Eze back for Palace, and he might become a candidate for replacing Saka; but he's not quite back at his best yet.

Cody Gakpo had an outstanding game for Liverpool against Leicester, but still can't be relied upon as an invariable starter (unfortunately, none of their midfield or attacking players, apart from Salah, can be).

Oh, and the entire Forest and Everton and Bournemouth defences!!

BEST OF LUCK, EVERYONE!

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