Dilemmas of the Week - GW33

Amazingly, there don't seem to have been many major new injuries this week. But once again, the main uncertainties will arise from how physically and emotionally strung out - and hence, below par in performance - Arsenal and Villa and Spurs and Manchester United and Chelsea may be after their big European games in midweek. And with all of those but Villa now facing semi-finals in those competitions shortly, precautionary 'rest rotations' are a huge hazard for FPL managers (this is why you really need a good bench at this time of year!).

Of course, it's a Double Gameweek; but it's a very bad one - curb your enthusiasm.

I am trying to streamline these weekly round-ups, 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 33?

Does anybody need to be moved out because of injury?

Jorginho suffered bruised ribs against Brentford last weekend, and looks like being unavailable this week.

Ipswich's Liam Delap is also suffering with bruised ribs, and only got short minutes against Chelsea last week.

Ederson strained a groin muscle against Palace last week, and his recovery timeline is uncertain - so, Stefan Ortega will be deputising for him again.

At Manchester United, Joshua Zirkzee pulled a hamstring in last week's game and has been ruled out for the rest of the season, while promising young defender Ayden Heaven missed out against Lyon in midweek with a training-ground knock. But at least Luke Shaw is back in contention again now, after managing an extended appearance in the European game.

Southampton striker Paul Onuachu had to go off against Villa last Saturday with an ankle problem, and remains a doubt.

Postecoglou was trying to be upbeat about the condition of James Maddison after he was laid out by a heavy collision with the Frankfurt keeper on Thursday night, but 'concussion protocols' must surely keep him out this weekend.... and possibly next as well? Son Heung-min had to drop out of last week's game at Wolves with a foot injury, and was unable to be involved against Frankfurt either.

At West Ham, Aaron Wan-Bissaka is a slight doubt with a bruised toe.

Wolves's Matt Doherty and Jean-Ricner Bellegarde were both withdrawn in the Spurs game 'as a precaution', but remain slight doubts for this weekend. Having an excuse to rest Bellegarde might be convenient for Vitor Pereira, since it allows an easy path to reintroducing Matheus Cunha - who will surely get in a sulk if he's left on the bench much longer.

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

Remarkably - we have no new suspensions this week.

But all the teams that just played in Europe - Arsenal, Villa, Manchester United, Spurs, Chelsea - are likely to be seriously fatigued and below their best.... and (except for poor Villa) may be resting key players ahead of the semi-finals. That is particularly a concern in regard to Bukayo Saka, who I would expect to get very short minutes in the League until the PSG games are out of the way.

Did anyone give other cause to consider dropping them?

It would be tempting to omit Asensio, Eze, and Saka for crimes against penalty-taking in this past week!

But on a more serious note, there must now be grave doubts about retaining any Palace players: they don't have the easiest run-in, and their confidence must be dented by suffering two such heavy defeats inside a few days. While they were just a bit unlucky in the close-fought game with City at the weekend, against Newcastle in midweek they were absolutely abysmal.

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

Kevin DeBruyne, Omar Marmoush, and Nico O'Reilly were outstanding in the comeback win against Palace last Saturday. However, the rest of the City team were still pretty poor.... Moreover, O'Reilly is a surprisingly expensive 4.9 million, and is - unfortunately - classified in the game as a midfielder, which greatly lessens his appeal. Marmoush, though in impressive form, is still probably not quite a top three forward pick (outside of the current double gameweek, anyway). And KDB.... well, he's made a bit of a habit of rousing himself to a superb 'comeback' performance soon after returning from a long absence, but he's rarely managed to hit quite the same heights subsequently. He's nearly 34 now, and has struggled with a string of persistent injuries over the last few seasons: it's very difficult to imagine him playing a full 90 minutes very often, and certainly not twice within four days.

Most people have probably done with the dratted 'Assistant Manager' chip now - wanting to keep the last few weeks of the season (and the Double Gameweek resulting from the FA Cup Semi-Finals) open for playing their Bench Boost (and/or, perhaps, their Triple Captain chip), while keeping their Free Hit and/or 2nd Wildcard available till now to help deal with these tricky blanks and doubles at the end of the season. If anyone does still have AssMan in play, Arsenal and Mikel Arteta are surely the favourites for this week: they're the only one of the doubling teams that look likely to register 2 wins (and probably at least 1, maybe 2 clean sheets as well); none of the others looks to have a great chance of managing even 1 win. Some might fancy Ange and his Spurs to pull off a table-bonus upset against Forest, but in the midst of their battle for European consolation, and possibly - probably - without Son and Maddison this week, that looks extremely unlikely to me. David Moyes's Everton, however, could well nick something off still rickety Manchester City....

BEST OF LUCK, EVERYONE!

AND PLEASE DON'T FORGET The Boycott; I loathe the pointless innovation of the 'Assistant Manager' chip - and I have been urging everyone to please consider quitting the game, or at least refusing to use the chip, in protest. 

And if you couldn'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