Dilemmas of the Week - GW29

Hmm, after a few weeks of the Napoleonic battlefield.... it seems as if the rate of injuries is finally slowing up a bit: not such a terrible week this week! (Although some problems emerging from the midweek European games probably haven't been publicly acknowledged yet...)

I'm trying to streamline these weekly round-ups, as they had been getting dangerously over-long. I'm aiming 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 29?

Does anybody need to be moved out because of injury?

It looks like Trent Alexander-Arnold is the only high-owned player (in just over 30% of squads) to be ruled out this time, after having to come off in the defeat to PSG on Tuesday with an ankle injury; Arne Slot now thinks he'll be out until May.

Leny Yoro also picked up a foot injury and had to be withdrawn against Arsenal last weekend, but is only expected to be out for two or three weeks.

And Wolves's Zimbabwean midfielder Marshall Munetsi, a winter-window signing from Reims, was feeling a problem and had to come off at half-time against Everton last week; however, Vitor Pereira seems optimistic he could feature again this week. (This one might seem to be pushing the definitional limits of my 'relevant to FPL' threshold, but the big guy has made quite an impression since his introduction, with a goal and an assist in just three starts. Because nobody had any idea who he was, he was only priced at 5 million. And he'd be facing top punchbags Southampton this week, so.... there is a fair amount of interest in whether he might be available.)

Raheem Sterling, of course, is ineligible to appear for Arsenal against his parent club, Chelsea - though that is probably of zero relevance to FPL managers.

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

No new bans this week (um, for maybe the first time this season?): but Will Hughes, Sasa Lukic, Anthony Gordon, Patrick Dorgu, and Matheus Cunha are still serving extended suspensions.

And, of course, the Aston Villa v Liverpool and Newcastle v Crystal Palace games have been moved because of the League Cup Final between Liverpool and Newcastle on Sunday. (Villa v Liverpool was already played - early - in Gameweek 25; and Newcastle v Palace has been rescheduled in Gameweek 32.)  Potentially missing players from FOUR teams is a bit of a speed-bump: but we've known for quite a while that these were going to be the affected teams (and I really don't see why anybody would have had any Villa players anyway...), so it should have been easy enough to move excess players from these sides out over the last few weeks, or saved up the Free Transfers to do so now (while leaving a few of the highest-priced on the bench for the week, to avoid losing money on them to the dreaded 'transfer tax' with a sell-and-buy-back). As I argued in detail a couple of days ago, there is absolutely no reason to be using the Free Hit chip this week (but it seems well over 300,000 people - so far - are doing so anyway!).

Did anyone give other cause to consider dropping them?

Well, cause for not buying anyway.... Manchester City last week were, I thought, much improved; but they still couldn't mount any sort of attacking threat, and quite deservedly - if only very narrowly - lost the game. I really can't see any grounds for rising confidence in their prospects, especially with their not-particularly-easy fixture run to the end of the season. Because Salah and so many others are missing this weekend, there is a rush of enthusiasm among The Sheep - fuelled, as so often, by the FPL website's own inane (probaby AI??) pundit, The Scout - to get Haaland back (and make him captain - WTF??), if only for this one gameweek. Yes, he's good enough to produce a big week at any time. But it helps a lot when the team behind him is firing on something like all cylinders, and at the moment it's plainly not. And Brighton have been rediscovering their mojo again over the past few weeks; they must surely be favourites - if only by a little - in this fixture. Nobody seems to be making an argument for getting in Foden or DeBruyne, or Savinho or Doku, for this one; without those guys on top of their game, Big Erling isn't likely to do much.

The Sheep are starting to bolt away from Cole Palmer after his penalty 'miss' last week as well - although not in such great numbers as I would have expected, so far: only about 300,000 deserting him this week, which still leaves him with nearly 55% ownership. I think there's still a case for hanging on to him a little longer - if only because there aren't too many obvious alternatives showing themselves just at the moment.

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

Rashford and Asensio impressed in Europe again, and a lot of people (including Thomas Tuchel?) are perhaps getting a bit overexcited about that. It's worth remembering that was only against Club Brugge, probably the weakest team to make it into the last 16 of the Champions League. And a 10-man Brugge at that, after they'd unluckily had a defender sent off in the opening minutes (I've watched that replay half a dozen times at least, and I still can't see any contact on Watkins). In that context, it was not, I think, a super-impressive performance - by Villa generally, or by these two players. And they've got a Blank Gameweek this week, anyway.

As for the goddamned AssMan.... well, not a lot of 'excitement' this week, as all the fixtures are quite closely matched and hard to call, and none of them seem obviously likely to result in a comfortable win, with a big goal margin - even the relegation teams are drawn against fairly weak teams (or in Ipswich's case, a less prolific - though still very good - team). And there are no 'table-bonus' points available (unless you fancy Ipswich to pull off a huge upset against visiting Forest!); Spurs and Brighton are only 4 places behind their opponents this week, alas - otherwise, they would have been prime contenders. If you're stuck with that chip in play this week, I would say Spurs, Wolves, or Bournemouth are the best bets for scoring a few goals.

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