Dilemmas of the Week - GW27

Another very tight turnaround before the midweek gameweek kicking off on Tuesday evening, so there probably won't be much detailed team news available.

And I'm trying to streamline these weekly round-ups, as they have been getting dangerously over-long recently! I'm going to confine myself to just the injuries to players that are likely to have a major significance in FPL. [I currently find the 'Injuries & Bans' summary on Fantasy Football Scout the most reliable resource for this kind of information - go check that out for more comprehensive coverage.]

So, what are the conundrums we face ahead of Gameweek 27?

Does anybody need to be moved out because of injury?

Morgan Rogers (ankle knock) and Tyrone Mings ('feeling something' again in his previously injured knee) are slight doubts for Villa after the weekend.

Brighton's Joel Veltman and Danny Welbeck missed the weekend with unspecified knocks, and remain a doubt.

Christian Norgaard had to come off at the weekend after a blow to the head, and will have to miss the next game under 'concussion protocols'.

Trevoh Chalobah injured his back in the game against Villa, and seems likely to be out for a little while. (Tosin will presumably have to deputise for him. But they're getting spread so thin at the back now, you wonder if they might have to recall Axel Disasi from loan at Villa.)  Noni Madueke picked up a minor hamstring problem in the game against Brighton a week ago, and is expected to be out at least a few more weeks.

Emile Smith Rowe had to come off early on Saturday with an ankle problem, but it doesn't look too serious.

Jens Cajuste hurt his ankle and Kalvin Phillips went down with a calf strain in the Spurs game, which will be hard blows for Ipswich - though probably not for many FPL managers!

It seems City are slowly moving towards acknowledging that Erling Haaland has a knee injury, after omitting him from the squad altogether at the weekend - but still no word on exactly what it is. (It's a cartilage tear. I would bet my house on that.)  And John Stones apparently might need surgery on the thigh muscle problem that forced him off against Real last week, which would end his season.

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

Myles Lewis-Skely has a one-game ban for a 'denial of a goal-scoring opportunity' red card at the weekend, and Illia Zabarnyi is facing a three-game ban for 'serious foul play'. (Bournemouth are appealing the decision against Zabarnyi, but I doubt if they'll be successful. The FA seem reluctant to criticise their referees, and I think will probably feel that contact with the studs a quarter of the way up the shin - even though low-impact, and completely accidental - is suffiicent to justify the possibility of such a call; particularly as it was apparently seen that way by both the on-pitch referee and the VAR official.)

Did anyone give other cause to consider dropping them?

Cole Palmer has been... not poor, but decidedly 'quiet' in the last couple of games - and apparently nearly 90,000 managers have quit on him since the weekend. But even a Palmer at only 70% or 80% of his best can turn a game with a moment of magic; and he does have Southampton and Leicester up next, so.... it seems the wrong time to be losing faith in him.

There is more justifiable impatience, I think, with Morgan Rogers (200,000 owners shedding him already this week), who, despite a couple of strong performances in the FA Cup, has made no impression at all in the League since the turn of the year, and in the last couple of games has been scarcely even visible on the pitch. He's probably in need of a rest; and now that Villa have brought in players like Asensio, Rashford, and Malen, he'll probably be getting shared minutes - for a while at least. (And Villa have testing away games at Palace and Brentford next, and then the blank gameweek....)

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

The Sheep will no doubt be rushing in for Marco Asensio after his brace against Chelsea - but, frankly, neither he nor Villa looked all that good in that game. I'd already recommended him as a 'one to watch'... but I'd be still watching for a game or two yet.

With Brighton seemingly getting themselves back together over the past couple of weeks, Joao Pedro and Georginho Rutter are becoming tempting budget picks again. Although Everton's Beto and Abdoulaye Doucoure are starting to look as if they might have even stronger claims for consideration for those cheap final slots in the squad.

As for the dratted AssMan chip....  once again the table-bonus opportunities look irresistible, with Vitor Pereira's Cunha-inspired Wolves looking a strong prospect to pick off recently schizophrenic Fulham, while Oliver Glasner's Palace seem to have strongly upward-trending form, and face an Aston Villa who - despite a lucky win against flakey Chelsea last time - are heading rather in the other direction. And given City's probable low morale after the pair of humiliating defeats to Real and Liverpool, and Spurs' record of being a 'bogey team' for them in recent years, the bold might favour trying a punt on Ange Postecoglou.

BEST OF LUCK, EVERYONE!

DON'T FORGET The Boycott; the dratted new 'Assistant Manager' chip is in play now - 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