Dilemmas of the Week - GWs19 & 20 (25/26)

 

I always warn that December is invariably the most unpredictable month of the season (well, except insofar as it's predictably disappointing for FPL managers every year!),... and it ain't over yet. The 'midwinter blues' - a huge accumulation of injuries (not to mention just fatigue and ennui), frantic squad rotation, and wild swings of team form as a result - generally continue well into January; and often on into February too. But they are now hitting their climax, with the absurd concentration of fixtures on and around the two 'holiday' weekends at the turn of the year. The only slightly 'good' news is that the threshold for a first suspension for accumulated yellow cards is raised from 5 to 10 after this gameweek; but receiving a 5th is still a problem for some players to worry about in the coming match.

At least there weren't too many new injuries in last weekend's games (although there had been a fair few problems that cropped up 'in training' just ahead of them!), so the rundown for this gameweek should be relatively straightforward. However, since there's only a one-day gap between GWs 19 and 20, we probably won't get much - if any - authoritative further injury updates before the weekend; anything that does emerge, I'll try to add here, making it a combined Gameweek 19/20 post. 

And of course, if anyone does still have any chips left to play, they'd better think about which one of them to use in this gameweek, because they were all time-limited to the first half of the season only; any remaining ones are voided after the Gameweek 19 deadline passes. (We do of course get a complete second set of chips for the second half of the season; but no unused ones from the first half can carry over.)

I am 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 19 (& 20) [&21]?

Does anybody need to be moved out because of injury?

Arsenal were particularly hard-hit at the weekend, with Jurrien Timber suffering a joint injury from 'an awkward landing' in training just before the game and Riccardo Calafiori feeling a leg-muscle stiffness during the warm-ups. No word on the severity of either issue; but Arteta would surely be unlikely to take risks by rushing them back into action so soon. Gabriel appeared on the bench again at last on Saturday, and made a cameo for the last 20 minutes - but is surely still a few weeks away from being able to start. At least Saliba and Hincapie are available again (although only just back from injury themselves), and Lewis-Skelly is a more-than-capable deputy at left-back; but it's hardly the best use of Declan Rice to have him filling in as an emergency right-back. And Arsenal don't seem to have any other defensive cover at the moment, without raiding the youth team - or recalling Jakub Kiwior from loan in Portugal?

Unai Emery mentioned 9 or 10 days ago that Harvey Elliott had been suffering from illness, but he didn't elaborate as to whether this was just a short-term virus, or some more serious, long-term problem that might have been keeping him out of the playing squad - almost since his arrival at the club.

Alex Scott took a whack in the face in the defeat to Brentford, and may have suffered a significant injury to his jaw. He is not much owned in FPL, but is a very important player for Bournemouth.

Sepp van den Berg missed the Bournemouth game with a training knock.

Burnley's Joe Worrall had to miss the Everton game last weekend with a minor muscle problem; but a bigger worry for Scott Parker is that his midfield stalwart Josh Cullen had to go off with a knee injury that looks as though it might be quite serious.

Marc Cucurella had to come off against Villa with a tight hamstring, and his likeliest current replacement, Jorrell Hato, pulled a muscle doing half-time warm-ups, so Chelsea might also find themselves a bit light at the back - if Cucu hasn't shaken the problem off.

Jack Grealish missed the Burnley game on Saturday with an illness, but Moyes is hopeful he'll be back tonight.

Leeds's lynchpin defender Joe Rodon is surely going to be out for a while after suffering two heavy hits in quick succession against Sunderland early in the first-half on Sunday, both of which rolled and twisted his right foot quite severely; he must have at least a very heavily sprained and swollen ankle, and it would be surprising if there isn't some more serious ligament damage; if he needs surgery, he's likely to be out for the rest of the season, but, if he's lucky, it might just need a month or so of rest and recuperation.

Poor Mason Mount is a doubtful starter again, having had to come off at half-time against Newcastle last Friday night after feeling a leg-muscle problem.

Anthony Elanga was a surprise omission against United on Friday; but Eddie Howe said that was due to a training knock, and nothing too serious.

Although Chris Wood has been sidelined for months with a niggly knee problem, it's only just been revealed that he's had to have surgery on it and is likely to remain unavailable until well into the New Year.

Dan Ballard had to miss Sunday's visit from Leeds after suffering an ankle injury in training (he's been quite a poplar 'cheap fifth' defender in FPL).

Lucas Bergvall got hit in the side of the head with the ball in the win at Palace, and had to come off after an hour.

Santiago Bueno had to come off with a knock against Liverpool.

[UPDATES for Gameweek 20:  Decan Rice, Lewis Cook, Ryan Christie, Mats Wieffer, Zian Flemming, Eddie Nketiah, Josh King, Michael Keane and Carlos Alcaraz all missed out in Gameweek 19 due to injuries picked up in training shortly beforehand; Amadou Onana, Yankuba Minteh, Maxime Esteve, Kenny Tete, Savinho and Nico Gonzalez, Brian Brobbey, Jean-Clair Todibo and Santiago Bueno all picked up injuries in their matches. None of these problems sounds too serious, but all leave the players flagged as 'doubts' for this weekend.

Moises Caicedo and Ethan Ampadu became the last players to earn a suspension for reaching 5 yellow cards during the first half of the season; and Xavi Simons has to serve the last part of his three-game ban against Sunderland.

Also, of course, there's now much uncertainty about how Chelsea may be affected by the sudden departure of Enzo Maresca this week. They'd been having a mostly rather disappointing season under him so far anyway, so perhaps at least they'll enjoy a little bit of a 'new manager bounce'.... once a replacement starts settling in. For the coming visit to The Etihad, though, you'd assume they'd be in a bit of a mess.]

[UPDATES for Gameweek 21: I've only been able to do an attenuated update for the following midweek gameweek; as far as I can gather, the following players either missed the weekend game with a problem of some sort, or had to come off with an injury in those games: Wesley Fofana, Robert Sanchez, Jefferson Lerma (concussion), Nathaniel Clyne, Jayden Bogle, Hugo Ekitike, Josko Gvardiol (likely to be out for several weeks at least, after surgery on a cracked tibia), Ruben Dias. Jacob Murphy, John Victor, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Wilson Isidor, Mo Kudus, Lucas Paqueta, Joao Gomes, Hwang Hee-Chan.

At least there ae no new suspensions to worry about for this game. And Xavi Simons. Moises Caicedo and Ethan Ampadu are available again after serving their bans.]

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

Villa face a major headache for their visit to Arsenal, with three key players, Ezri Konsa, Matty Cash, and Boubacar Kamara all having to serve one-match bans for accumulating 5 yellow cards for the season. [Correction: I was relying on the usually reliable Fantasy Football Scout, but they had earlier been saying Konsa had earned a ban as well, and I didn't have time to do an independent check; turns out they were in error on that, and have subsequently amended that detail.]

Wolves central defensive midfielder André has also reached that suspension threshold. 

These are the players still at risk of an imminent suspension from totting-up (though if they can survive this gameweek, they're then in the clear again for a while).

Xavi Simons is serving the second part of his three-match ban for clogging his countryman Virgil Van Dijk the other week.

Igor Julio is only on loan from Brighton, so can't represent West Ham against his parent club.

Ebere Eze wasn't even on the bench for the Brighton game, which gives some grounds for speculation as to a possible rift with the manager over his sudden lack of minutes since Odegaard's return.

Did anyone give other cause to consider dropping them?

Bournemouth, Palace, hitherto high-flying Sunderland, and - despite their narrow, fortuitous win against Palace on Saturday - Spurs all still look as though they're in a bit of a nosedive in form just at the moment. And West Ham and Burnley are starting to look as if they will soon be joining Wolves as irredeemably doomed to relegation barely into the second half of the season. I don't think I'd be touching any of these teams with a bargepole at the moment, even for bench players (except for Semenyo, possibly; he's catching fire again, and looking like the one bright spot for The Cherries).

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

Patrick Dorgu was superb in the dogged win over Newcastle at Old Trafford on Friday night., and it's always especially attractive to find an FPL 'defender' employed as an outright attacker (could we be seeing this year's 'Stuart Dallas Moment'??). But United's form under Amorim always seems too fragile to trust for FPL, even when they do string together a few good results. Can we rely on the flakey Portuguese to use that much more effective 4-2-3-1 lineup ever again? Or to use Dorgu as the wide attacker on the right again (or on the left; anywhere up-front where he can provide an attacking threat will do!), even if he does?? Amorim seems to insist on changing something every game - especially when there's absolutely no need to. [Yes, indeed, United reverted to the 3-4-3, with Dorgu as a much more defensive left wing-back again, for Gameweek 19's floundering draw against Wolves.]

Of course, it's nice to see Ollie Watkins finally find his scoring boots again; but any enthusiasm for a possible immediate turnaround in his season should be tempered by the reflection that he was only used as an impact sub against Chelsea,... and that they're up against Arsenal next,.... and missing a couple of their usual starters due to suspension.

The other outstanding performance of last weekend was from Brentford's Kevin Schade - although he's actually been playing pretty well for most of the season. And all of that attacking trident of Lewis-Potter, Thiago, and Schade look bang on it at the moment.

BEST OF LUCK, EVERYONE!