Dilemmas of the Week - GW24

It looks as though we've again picked up a few new injury doubts from final round of midweek games in the group phase of this year's European competitions.

The torpid transfer market is finally 'hotting up' ever so slightly, but so far the news is still more about likely leavers than big new arrivals; and most of it is only at the level of gossip and speculation so far.

The main excitement of the week, of course, is the Double Gameweek for Everton and Liverpool (rescheduled from early December when the original fixture date was crashed by Storm Darragh). Alas, the League's unfathomable decision to count this rearranged game as part of Gameweek 24 (although it is 10 days and two different Cup competition rounds after it!!) instead of Gameweek 25 (which it is immediately adjacent to) means that Liverpool are facing Bournemouth along with Everton in the same gameweek, rather than the much more enticing prospect of Wolves and Everton that we'd all been eagerly expecting, and so it's really not a very exciting double gameweek. Nevertheless, huge numbers of managers are punting one of their three bonus chips on this week. Here are my thoughts on the options there.

So, what are the conundrums we face ahead of Gameweek 24?

Does anybody need to be moved out because of injury?

David Raya missed the midweek game against Girona with an unspecified problem, and might be a doubt again this weekend. (Neto will presumably deputise for him in the Arsenal goal again.)

Tyrone Mings limped off with another knee problem last week, but it's being said it's nothing too serious and should only keep him out for a few weeks. And Matty Cash came off with a muscle problem in the midweek game against Celtic, and is likely now to miss a few weeks.

Pervis Estupinan and Solly March dropped out last weekend with muscle problems, and continue to be  doubts.

Eberechi Eze has picked up a foot injury and will now be out for a while.

Ipswich midifelder Wes Burns and Everton midfielder Orel Mangala will both be out for the season after suffering serious knee injuries last weekend.

Harry Wilson suffered a stress fracture in his foot against Forest last week and will probably be missing until April.

Darwin Nunez missed the midweek game against Feyenoord because of illness, and might not be fit enough to be involved this weekend.

James Maddison missed last week's game against Leicester because of a calf problem, which seems likely to keep him sidelined for a least a couple more weeks. And Radu Dragusin picked up a knee problem in Thursday's win over Elfsborg which will keep him out this week at least. (Micky van de Ven was able to play in that one, but Postecoglou doesn't fancy his chances of being able to last a whole match just yet - so, Spurs could be serious short of first-team defenders for the next game.)

Calvert-Lewin and Strand Larsen are both likely to miss a few weeks at least with hamstring strains.

And Lucas Paqueta has been reported to be struggling this week with a groin strain.

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

Wolves's Joao Gomes is serving a one-match ban after receiving two yellow cards in the game against Arsenal last week. Arsenal's Myles Lewis-Skelly, however, has had his red card in that game overturned on appeal by his club, and will be able to play this week.

Emi Buendia and Jhon Duran look to be set to leave Aston Villa, so will probably not be involved for them again (though they've not been involved that much anyway...)

As I'd anticipated for a little while, Lukasz Fabianski appears to have lost the West Ham goalkeeper's jersey to Alphonse Areola again (that might be rather concerning for the nearly 17% of managers who owned the Pole as a cheap back-up keeper who was actually starting).

Did anyone give other cause to consider dropping them?

Well, injury-ravaged Spurs are still looking very much like a team to AVOID! They couldn't even beat Leicester last week, for heaven's sake!

And despite a surprisingly comfortable win against somewhat-in-the-doldrums Chelsea, City are still looking deeply unimpressive to me. Foden, Haaland, and Gvardiol look to be in good form, but the team as a whole is a bit of a shambles. As Pep himself dolefully put it in a post-match interview, "Without the ball, we are one of the worst teams."

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

Well, Josko Gvardiol is starting to look like he might score in almost every game. I was very sceptical whether he could possibly be that productive at the start of the season, but he has intermittently given hints that perhaps he could; and lately, those hints have been becoming stronger (just a pity that he - and City - still aren't really that good at any of the defensive stuff!). He is the only City player I'd currently even consider touching with my bargepole.

And the entire Bournemouth team, of course - especially Dango Ouattara, who just might prove to be one of the best-value goalscorers for the remainder of the season.

BEST OF LUCK, EVERYONE!

And DON'T FORGET The Boycott; the dratted new 'Assistant Manager' chip has gone live this week - and I am urging everyone to please consider quitting the game, or at least refusing to use this silly chip. 

And if you can't bring yourself to do either of those things, please do criticise the Assistant Manager chip as vigorously as possible on any relevant social media channels you use, raise objections to it with any football or media figures you know how to contact, and - if possible - try to find a way to protest about it directly to the FPL hierarchy (and let me know how, if you manage that!).

#QuitFPLinGW23         #DownWithTheNewChip