Dilemmas of the Week - Gameweek 15 (25/26)

Amazingly, we seem to have been spared too many new injury concerns in this packed week of league fixtures (although suspensions, especially for accumulated yellow cards, will be a hazard throughout this month), so this rundown can once more be a relatively concise one.

I'm trying to streamline these weekly round-ups a bit from last year, restricting myself for the most part to just the injuries etc. affecting players that are likely to have a major significance in FPL; and also, of course, only to new injuries - I figure everyone should be aware of players who've already been ruled out for some time!  

[For some years, I have found the 'Injuries & Bans' summary on Fantasy Football Scout the most reliable resource for this kind of information; although this site, Premier League Injuries, is a very good alternative (often a little quicker to update, I think - though it did go through a bit of a glitchy period for a while last year).  Go check these out for more comprehensive coverage. 

I see the Fantasy Premier League site has added an improved 'Player Availability' page this year (though hidden under 'The Scout' tab?!). That also seems to be reasonably comprehensive and up-to-date, but god knows how it's supposed to be 'organised' - maybe by 'date of injury'? Obviously, arranging it by club and alphabetical order would be more sensible; but the denizens of FPL Towers seem to have a deep aversion to the sensible.]

So, what are the conundrums we face ahead of Gameweek 15 of the season?

Does anybody need to be moved out because of injury?

Christhian Mosquera suffered a leg injury in the game against Brentford in midweek (still not clear exactly what, or how serious, but seems likely to keep him out for a few weeks at least). With Saliba still doubtful, it seems likely that Timber will now play alongside Hincapie in the centre, making room for Ben White to return at right-back (he started there anyway on Wednesday - apparently just to give Timber a rest - and turned in a 'Man of the Match' performance!); but both of those could be very short-term assignments: once Saliba is back, it's quite likely that Timber and White will again be contesting, and perhaps rotating the right-back slot. Declan Rice also had to come off with a knock in that Wednesday night game, but it doesn't sound too serious.

Emi Martinez was a last-minute withdrawal from the Wednesday game against Brighton with a back problem, so it seems likely that Marco Bizot will continue to deputise for him for a little while.

Yasin Ayari also had to miss out on that Villa match with a muscle strain suffered in training. And the young Greek striker Stefanos Tzimas had to come off in that game with a knee injury that might be quite serious.

Burnley defender Axel Tuanzebe missed out on the Wednesday game against Palace because of a training knock, and is expected to be out for a couple of weeks. (This might actually be to Burnley's advantage, if it spares him from an AFCON call-up... Conspiracy theorists might indeed speculate that the injury is purely fictitious.)

Sandro Tonali may be a slight doubt, after apparently suffering a dead-leg in the game against Spurs.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin suffered a calf-strain in the surprise win over Chelsea, and could now be out for a few weeks, while Leeds's first-choice striker, Lukas Nmecha, might be out even longer after apparently pulling a hamstring in that match. Presumably, Joel Piroe will now finally get a chance to start up front for them.

Matthijs de Ligt missed out on Thursday's West Ham game with a training knock, but Amorim hopes he might be OK again to face Wolves on Monday night. If he's not, United are getting stretched a bit thin at the back! Diogo Dalot was also struggling with a leg-muscle problem at the end of the West Ham game, but that appears to be not too serious....

Destiny Udogie hasn't quite got back to his best since his return from injury, and appeared to be limping heavily at the end of Tuesday's draw at Newcastle - so, might give way to Djed Spence again this weekend.

Wolves left-back Hugo Bueno missed the Forest game in midweek because of a back-muscle problem, and Marshall Munetsi suffered a calf-strain in that match (although the cynic in me again suspects the club are playing up that one to try to get him out of going to AFCON with Zimbabwe)

Does anyone give other cause to consider dropping them?

Bournemouth's Tyler Adams, Everton's Tim Iroegbunam and Wolves's Joao Gomes are the latest players to have to miss a match for collecting a 5th yellow card. These are the other players now getting close to a 'totting up' suspension.

Moises Caicedo and Ryan Christie have the second instalment of their three-match 'violent conduct' bans this weekend, and Idrissa Gueye is serving the last part of his suspension for slapping Michael Keane for a loose pass out of defence.

West Ham defender Igor Julio is on loan from Brighton, so ineligible to turn out against the parent club this week.

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

'The Sheep', of course, are getting terribly excited about Phil Foden. But I'm still nervous of Pep Roulette, especially at this very busy time of year (and especially because, in recent years, Pep has often seemed to bench him, for no obvious reason, precisely when he's appeared to be coming into top form - almost as if he just doesn't want him to get too big for his boots?!). I still think City's team form isn't stable enough for it to be worth betting on more than one of their midfielders (and maybe not more than one of their players from any position in addition to the, for now, still 'essential' Haaland), and Jeremy Doku still looks likely to be the most regular and reliable points scorer from them. But with a make-or-break Champions League game away to Real Madrid next Wednesday, this weekend's selection at The Etihad is even more of a lottery than usual; it does seem dangerously likely that several top players - perhaps even Haaland - will get only fairly short minutes, or perhaps remain on the bench throughout.

The imminent Early Christmas Present of extra transfers to help us get over AFCON means that this weekend, Gameweek 15, could in effect be a mini-Free Hit: we are incentivised to use all our existing transfers at once (to gain maximum advantage from the extra ones available after the deadline passes), but we could undo all those changes again immediately the next week if we wanted to (the splurge of additional Free Transfers in GW16 being effectively a mini-Wildcard for that gameweek, or one of the ones soon following).

AFCON itself is not likely to be directly much of an issue (apart from Salah [why does anyone still own him??], Mbeumo is the only high-owned player affected; Semenyo and Kudus are not taking part in this year's tournament), although it may lead to some interesting fluctuations of form and revision of team selections in teams that are losing key players.

Also - REMEMBER, the 1st Round of the FPL Cup is this weekend!!

BEST OF LUCK, EVERYONE!