"Out of intense complexities, intense simplicities emerge."
The 'holiday' mayhem continues into a cold, wet January - now with an added sprinkle of uncertainty and confusion from the opening of the mid-season transfer window. And it's another midweek gameweek, following on with very little break from the last batch of fixtures at the weekend...!
The 'early' fixture on Tuesday, West Ham v Forest, was a pretty drab affair. West Ham were somewhat improved over their recent terrible performances, and might feel a little aggrieved that the Fates were so harsh on them here: they appeared to have taken a 2-0 lead early in the second-half through Summerville's stinging half-volley from the edge of the box, but it was ruled out for a very narrow offside by someone else during the build-up. They conceded an equaliser soon afterwards, again an unlucky fluke: Dominguez's near-post flick-on from a corner was completely uncontrolled, intended merely to help the ball on towards the far post - but it fortuitously looped high into the far top corner of the goal. And then the visitors sealed the points with an extremely soft penalty (goalkeeper collides with an attacking player when trying to punch away a corner - when is that ever culpable?).
Bournemouth finally ended their long - and often very unlucky - winless run with a narrow victory over a spirited Spurs. Their visitors had taken an early lead with a fine solo effort from Tel (although his final shot from the edge of the box was not very powerful, and Petrovic was probably somewhat at fault in letting it past him), but Evanilson soon equalised with possibly the best header we've yet seen this season. A rasper from Kroupi then put them ahead, but in the second-half Spurs pinned them down in their own box for long periods, and an equaliser began to seem inevitable. Spurs were frustrated when a penalty awarded to Van de Ven, going down in the box after one of his marauding 60-yard carries, was rescinded after a pitchside review; but the wonder here was that Darren England ever bought such an elaborate dive - the Spurs man was really lucky to escape a booking for 'simulation' (although he got one anyway for arguing about the decision); presumably that was only because there had indeed been some contact with the Bournemouth defender, but clearly 'initiated' by his own leaping into him. Other good efforts - a long-range curler fizzed on to the roof of the net by Bergvall in the first-half, a corner headed against the foot of the post by Richarlison early in the second - had failed to go in, but eventually Palhinha got them their deserved equaliser with a spectacular bicycle-kick. Alas for Spurs, this roused the home side to go on the attack again in the closing 10 minutes, and Semenyo finally came up with a screamer in the final moments of added-on time. There seems to have been only one bad refereeing decision in this one, and that was corrected with the help of VAR. But it was remarkable that all of the goals were such improbable bangers (a mini 'Goal of the Month' competition in one game!): both teams had an xG of only about 1.4, but the match ended up 3-2??!
Poor Sunderland really seem to be struggling without their African contingent, especially their midfield lynchpin Sadiki. They barely mustered an attempt on goal at Brentford, and even squandered a chance to equalise from the penalty spot (Kelleher will presumably be credited with a 'save', but Le Fee chipped it tamely into his hands). Brentford really could have won by a much bigger margin, with Lewis-Potter (from a free-kick) and Schade both rattling the woodwork.
Villa were well below their best on their visit to Palace, and although it was quite a lively game, both defences ultimately came out on top. Palace had most of the chances, but couldn't convert; and the best opportunity probably came right at the end for the visitors, when Lindelof got a great header on Cash's left-footed cross, but it hit the post. Villa fans - and some FPL managers - will be alarmed that Emi Martinez, perhaps suffering from his 'back problem' again, had to be replaced at half-time by Marco Bizot.
Michael Keane popped up for a goal yet again, his third of the season; although this was a somewhat untypical one, not powering home a header from three yards out, but having a hopeful swing at a mishit shot by Iroegbunam. He nearly notched a second not too long after, heading powerfully against a post from Garner's delightful dead-ball delivery. But Wolves fought back bravely in the second-half, and their new teen sensation Mateus Mané again grabbed a superb goal to earn them a point. Everton had to weather a late storm after Keane foolishly got himself sent off for tugging on Arokodare's braids as they both jumped for a high ball in the middle of the park. And in the closing minutes, Grealish also got himself sent off for showing dissent twice in quick succession. Shortly after that, Hugo Bueno nearly claimed a winner, his 25-yard curler being brilliantly fingertipped over the bar by Pickford for the 'Save of the Week'.
Fulham failed to make the most of their one-man advantage, after Cucurella had got himself sent off early in the game for hauling back a breaking Harry Wilson just short of the penalty area; Chelsea were still on top for long spells, and unfortunate not to put away some of their chances. But the irrepressible Harry Wilson - the hottest player in the league at the moment - came through with a late winner for them (after being denied one earlier for a very harsh offside).
With Dias expected to be out for at least a month with a thigh strain and Gvardiol facing a lengthy recuperation from a broken leg, Pep opted to bring back 20-year-old Max Alleyne from loan at Watford (where he's had 15 starts, and has apparently been playing very well) to start in central defence along with the recalled Khusanov. As if that weren't disruption enough, he also chose to 'rest' not only just-back-from-injury Rodri, but also Cherki and O'Reilly, two of his best players over the last month or so. Not so surprising then, that City were so far off their usual game (although it was a lack of control in midfield more than a lack of cohesion in defence that seemed to be the problem early on), and Brighton dominated the early part of the game, forcing a few saves out of Donnarumma and a superb last-ditch challenge from Khusanov to deny Rutter. It was unfortunate for the plucky visitors that they conceded the lead - to a Haaland penalty, after carelessly giving the ball away 30 yards out on their right-flank, leading to City's only decent attack of the opening period - deep in first-half stoppage time. The second-half was more even, although Brighton still had slightly the best of it (though being lucky to survive some big scares, particularly when twice passing the ball to Bernardo Silva in their own box; the first time, shortly after the interval, he rushed his shot and slammed it against the outside of the post; the second, he unselfishly squared the ball to Haaland, who couldn't beat Verbruggen) and deservedly got an eventual equaliser through Mitoma.
Interim United coach Darren Fletcher switched to a much more sensible 4-2-3-1 line-up, with a potent-looking attacking three of Cunha, Fernandes, and Dorgu supporting Sesko, and they produced one of their best displays for a long while - with Sesko bagging a brilliant brace (very nearly a hattrick, or more). The home side, however, rose to the occasion and gave perhaps their best performance of the entire season. Burnley left-back Bashir Humphreys, making only his third start of the season, gave the home side a fortuitous lead when his cross took a huge deflection off Ayden Heaven to loop over Lammens into the goal. And shortly afterwards, the youngster preserved the lead by clearing Cunha's header out from under his crossbar. A little later though, Sesko was unjustly denied an equaliser when his goal was ruled out for a non-existent 'foul' by Martinez (Walker had fallen over under the lightest possible push in his back, scarcely even a caress...). Esteve then made an even more stunning goal-line block from Dorgu's dink over the keeper. United made a storming start to the second period, with Sesko grabbing a quickfire brace, and Fernandes firing against the post, but then Jaidon Anthony finally found his scoring boots again (remember, he notched 4 in the opening 6 games to make him a surprise FPL frontrunner, but has had a long string of blanks since then) to earn a point. In a thrilling match, 18-year-old United winger Shea Lacey, given a token run-out for the last 5 minutes or so, also cracked a superb effort against the crossbar. Overall, a draw seemed a fair result here, but this new-look United emphatically demonstrated that they are potentially a far better team than the inept Amorim has allowed them to be over the last year-and-a-bit.
Poor Malick Thiaw had some rotten luck, first falling over to give away the ball to Aaronson to nick the opening goal, and then having a penalty given against him to put the home side behind again (very harsh, this one: it was not clear where on the upper arm the ball struck him, and it was entirely outside of his control, as he was falling over and only had his arms extended to break his fall - I really don't see how this one was given); and then being withdrawn at half-time (injury, or just being spared further embarrassment/fearing that his confidence had been fatally dented??). They also lost Schar 15 minutes from the end, with what looks like it might be a bad ankle injury - so, once again, the club is getting dangerously short of fit defenders, and will probably have to look to bring in stop-gaps over the window. Despite these setbacks, Newcastle increasingly dominated the game as it went on, but they survived a big scare when James Justin beat Pope to an Aaronson cross from the left but headed against the crossbar, and then went behind again from another banger from Aaronson. But Aaronson was then penalised for a handball in the closing minutes of regular time to give the home side a lifeline (again very harsh: the ball was fired at him from such close-range that he really had no chance to get out of the way; moreover, he appeared to be just outside the box - and we never heard VAR's verdict on this issue). We then got a colossal 10 minutes of additional time indicated (apparently very largely for Leeds's time-wasting late in the game), extended yet further by an injury stoppage after the end of the regulation 90 minutes - enabling Barnes's to grab the winner in the 102nd minute! It was probably a deserved result on the overall balance of play - but very hard on Leeds, who'd come so close to a vital win.
The Arsenal v Liverpool game ended up being a tense goalless draw, as might have been expected. Arsenal imposed relentless pressure in the final third for the first 15 minutes or so, but couldn't find a breakthrough, and from there on the visitors were increasingly able to get into the game, and created more moments of real danger. The worst of these was when a hasty back-pass from Saliba found Raya charging out towards the edge of the box, such that the keeper had to make an immediate panicked clearance which went straight to Bradley, whose first-time effort from 30 yards struck the face of the crossbar. Szoboszlai also went fairly close with a long-range free-kick in the second-half. Arsenal's only major chance fell to Gabriel in the final seconds of the game, when he was first to Madueke's high corner at the far post but couldn't control his header. It's a measure of how sterile the game ultimately was that only Konate and Zubimendi earned 'defensive points', and only just barely; both sides had long spells of ultimately unproductive possession, not much to-and-fro. Liverpool, however, might feel somewhat cheated in that they had two pretty good penalty shouts ignored. In the first, Hincapie brought down Frimpong and left him in some pain: the contact didn't look that heavy, and might have been interpreted as a half-and-half 'coming together', but the Arsenal defender definitely stepped into the attacker, and happened to catch his toe just as he was lifting his foot - turning the foot sharply inwards and badly spraining the ankle. Later, Wirtz was brought down by Trossard, but again got nothing: the German probably ran into his opponent too readily, went down a little elaborately - but again, Trossard clearly stepped across him, and we see those given more often than not. Both calls might have been slightly contentious, not entirely clearcut; but to me they both looked considerably more than 50/50 in Liverpool's favour, and it really seems a travesty that they didn't get either of them. (Will these incidents stop Arsenal fans whingeing that big decisions never go their way? Of course not!) Unhappy news at the end, when Conor Bradley collapsed on the touchline immediately after making a clearance in stoppage time, and looked as though he might have ruptured knee ligaments - let's hope not; he has been one of the few bright spots in Liverpool's thus-far tepid season. Hincapie also had to come off early in the second-half.
It's another rather weird FPL 'Team of the Week', with Thiago the only widely owned player featuring in it, and Kelleher coming out as top keeper for his not-really-a-save from Le Fee's epically bad penalty attempt. And it's yet again a miserably low global average of just 48 points - though at least this time we haven't had any such egregious misfortunes as an injury-flagged player unexpectedly starting and getting the haul of the week...! An unusually large number of goals, most of them again from somewhat unexpected sources, 3 red cards (all uncontentious, at least), an unjustly denied goal for Benjamin Sesko, bad penalty decisions against both Newcastle and Leeds in their game, a questionable one against West Ham to deny them a draw, and 2 very dubious 'no penalty' decisions for Liverpool which might have skewed the title race, plus a few very tight offsides again - it's not quite as bad as GW20, but still looking like an 8 out of 10 on the 'Luck-o-Meter' this gameweek.
For no particularly good reason (only the TV companies' remorseless appetite for airtime-filler...), the opening match of the Gameweek 21 schedule, West Ham v Nottingham Forest, is kicking off tonight - Tuesday evening, 8pm, UK time.
These midweek gameweeks are a huge hassle for everyone in FPL, because almost everybody has less time to attend to these things during the working week: certainly less time during the day to check up on the latest team news, but also probably less opportunity to watch games live - or perhaps even to catch up on highlights (promptly, or at all...).
But it's even worse for folks like me living in Asia - well, anywhere east of the Arabian Gulf or the Caspian Sea, really. For us, evening games are starting at midnight or later, much too late for most of us to even think of watching them live; much too late, in fact, or most of us to even be staying up until the FPL deadline to try to catch late-breaking team news before finalizing our squads.
And when the games are staggered across multiple days, that hassle is greatly increased; especially when having an 'early' game or two, a day ahead of the majority of the gameweek fixtures, compresses the gap with the preceding gameweek such that we'll have no real opportunity to learn about new injury problems,... or, really, to ponder our FPL squads at all! It is a right pain-in-the-arse, frankly.
At least, if the Gameweek started on Wednesday, we'd have a full two-day breather after GW20, and some chance for press conference updates to filter through to us on the far side of the world. Thanks to this bloody West Ham game, we're essentially flying blind into this one...
All of which is to say.... no, I don't really have time to do my usual detailed preview for Gameweek 21; sorry.
The main NEW INJURY PROBLEMS I'm aware of are:
Wesley Fofana (illness) and Robert Sanchez (muscle strain) missed the last game for Chelsea.
Jefferson Lerma (concussion) Nathaniel Clyne (groin strain) both had to come off with knocks in the weekend game against Newcastle at the weekend. That leaves Palace stretched very thin in defence.
Leeds right-back Jayden Bogle missed the weekend's game against Manchester United with a calf problem.
Hugo Ekitike was missing at the weekend with a slight hamstring strain.
The big news of the gameweek though, is that Josko Gvardiol had to come off early in the second-half against Chelsea with a leg injury, and has since needed surgery on a cracked tibia - so, he's likely to be out for several weeks at least (a major blow to the 10% or so of Fantasy managers who own him). Even worse for Pep, Ruben Dias also had to come off shortly before the end of the game with a leg-muscle problem. I wonder if they might have to recall Manuel Akanji from his loan to Inter.
Jacob Murphy had to come off before the end against Palace, complaining of a tight hamstring.
Callum Hudson-Odoi missed the Villa game with a sore Achilles tendon, and goalkeeper John Victor had to come off in the second-half with a pulled muscle behind his knee.
Sunderland striker Wilson Isidor was also missing at the weekend, apparently because of a training-ground knock.
Mo Kudus had to come off against Sunderland with a thigh strain.
Lucas Paqueta missed the Wolves game with a back problem.
Joao Gomes and Hwang Hee-Chan both had to come off in the West Ham game with muscle soreness, Gomes suffering in the groin and Hwang in the calf.
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.
Oh, and Ruben Amorim's been sacked at last (about 8 months too late, but better late than never...). Youth team coach Darren Fletcher is expected to take over as an interim manager, but I wonder if the ownership made the move now because they think they can land the suddenly available Maresca. A change like this is always disruptive, but Amorim has been such an embarrassment of flailing disaster (and a source of constant uncertainty for his players as he messes with the line-up every single week!) that I would expect the 'new manager bounce' at United could be huge - even if only short-lived.
The video clip at the top is of course from the seminal campus comedy National Lampoon's 'Animal House': the classic little scene where the boys go shopping at a local supermarket to get food for an upcoming toga party at their fraternity house, and geeky freshman Kent Dorfman (Fraternity name: 'Flounder'), played by the late Stephen Furst, for a while manifests unexpected dexterity in catching the avalanche of food items tossed his way by his mischievous frat brothers. It is, I think, one of the great bits of improvised physical comedy in cinema. (I saw this film during my first week at university; and I like to say that I have never looked forward since...)
The 'holiday' mayhem continues into a cold, wet January - now with an added sprinkle of uncertainty and confusion from the opening of the mid-season transfer window.
Forest were looking dogged and determined in their visit to Villa for the lunchtime game, and frustrated their in-form hosts for long periods. Apart from an excellent save by John Victor in the opening minutes when a blocked clearance from Neco Williams fortuitously fizzed sideways across the area straight to Watkins lurking in the middle at the edge of the six-yard box, there were few clearcut chances for either side. However, Watkins broke the deadlock with a ripper from 20 yards out on the stroke of half-time. Villa appeared to have given themselves a comfort margin when McGinn grabbed a second within minutes of the restart; but their energy levels dropped off, and Forest gratefully took the chance to grow back into the game. Bakwa should really have got them back in the game when he ghosted in unmarked just beyond the far post to meet Hutchinson's cross, but hopelessly miscued his header. Shortly afterwards, Gibbs-White broke in behind and finished coolly past Martinez to give the visitors hope again - but a second goal from McGinn soon dashed them again; a terrible error from John Victor, coming 30 yards out of his goal to challenge for a ball, when there were plenty of his own defenders on hand to deal with it, allowing McGinn to calmly curl the ball around him into an empty net. The Brazilian keeper apparently pulled a muscle behind his knee in the course of this, and was immediately replaced by Sels.
Brighton should really have won more comfortably against a particularly clueless-looking Burnley. Fine goals from Rutter and Ayari secured the win, but they could, should have had many more goals; debutant winger Kostoulas nearly opened the scoring just a few minutes in, but had been offside by a shoulder; near the end, De Cuyper thundered a free-kick against the top of the left-hand post. The visitors had only 1 effort on goal during the first 70 or 80 minutes, but roused themselves to a few desperate final flurries, one of which had to be headed out from under the bar by Kadioglu (which was apparently enough to secure him a massive BPS tally and maximum bonus points, despite not registering any attacking contributions and only 4 game actions eligible for 'defensive points'!!), and another of which was eventually claimed by Verbruggen after the ball had pinged around the six-yard box rather worryingly for several seconds. Burnley are now looking very nearly as certain to be relegated as Wolves.
Wolves appear revitalised by the sensational form of their new young attacking midfielder Mateus Mané, only turned 18 a few months ago and just promoted from the youth team for the past three games. He regularly tore a woeful West Ham apart, winning a penalty (although that was very soft), scoring a terrific final goal from the edge of the box, and a little later having another good, low cross-shot well turned away by Areola - after he'd got away from two West Ham defenders on the edge of the area with a Cruyff turn. However, West Ham really should have had a penalty of their own in the opening minutes, when Freddie Potts was clipped on the toe by wild swish from a Wolves defender; the contact was fairly light, but completely clearcut - and I don't see how that was not given. And if the visitors had obtained an early lead so easily, perhaps the match would have taken on a very different character; although, to be honest, West Ham looked so lethargic and demoralised in this game, were so easily dominated by the home side, they were probably lucky not to lose by a landslide; they needed a couple of outstanding saves from Areola to keep thm hanging on by their fingernails. The penalty award against them, though, looked very dubious: Magassa and Mané both lifted their feet to a high, dropping ball in the box - but their boots barely clashed, and it was an entirely 50/50 coming-together, no way a penalty. West Ham had another shout of their own a bit later when Soucek went down while grappling with Krejci at a corner, although there didn't look to be anything in that one; if anything, Soucek was the one holding on, and trying to drag his defender down with him.
The major FPL bombshell of the weekend was that Declan Rice, who'd appeared to be a big doubt before the game, was fine to play from the start after all - and had an absolute blinder, delivering what will probably be his best points return of the season... and one of the best from any player. Away to Bournemouth on the weekend after New Year's might not have looked one of Arsenal's more promising fixtures anyway, and indeed, they did concede first; but it proved to be quite the ding-dong game, with Rice registering a brace of goals (for the first time ever in the Premier League) and a huge 'defensive contributions' tally; but many FPL managers (he's owned by just over 20%, and it really ought to be more) - not unreasonably - might have left him on the bench this week (though some may have enjoyed some further luck if an unexpected non-appearance allowed him to be auto-subbed in for them). To add insult to injury, Saka - a popular captaincy choice this week - was rested (something Arteta just about never does, so long as both feet are still attached to his ankles); although he did at least come on for the last 20 minutes or so, and was still able to register a contribution.
The game got off to a calamitous start for the title-chasers, with Gabriel making a horrible mistake inside 10 minutes - bizarrely passing the ball to Evanilson in the middle 20 yards out (leaving him to pass the ball into an empty net, since Raya had come way out to the left to be available for a short back-pass). He was able to at least partly atone very shortly afterwards when he grabbed an equaliser by lashing in a left-foot half-volley at the far post from a corner (Fate being rather on his side, as it was somewhat fortuitous that the ball broke so perfectly to him after the packed Bournemouth defence had successfully blocked initial efforts from Hincapie and Martinelli). However, the home side were well on top for most of the first-half, creating constant danger; and although the Rice goals in the third quarter of the game deflated them slightly, they again came back very strongly in the closing minutes, encouraged by substitute Kroupi's banger from 20 yards out which put them back in contention. Arsenal managed to convert three pretty difficult chances, but their xG was lower than Bournemouth's and they really looked second-best in this game.
Leeds v Manchester United was almost unwatchably dull in the first-half, looking very much as if it was going to be one of those games that would end goalless because neither side were good enough to create a decent chance. Fortunately, both sides upped their game somewhat in the second-half, though this still very much had the look of a lower mid-table clash. There was a strange moment early on when Cunha appeared to have lashed home a long-range half-volley after a long clearance from Lammens. It was flagged offside, but I still haven't seen any convincing explanation for this decision; 2 or 3 United players were just offside when Lammens launched his kick upfield, but they all ran back on, and I don't think any of them played the ball on its way through to Cunha - who had been onside throughout: a rough decision, and frankly a rather baffling one. Calvert-Lewin also had one very good effort in the first-half, a glancing header that flashed across the goal and struck the face of the far post. Apart from these untypical moments of excitement, it was a terribly sterile first 45 minutes. Leeds really looked like they deserved 3 points from the game, but Cunha popped up for an equaliser just a few minutes after Aaronson had given them the lead, and that deflated them rather; although Okafor's bicycle-kick attempt nearly gave them the win, demanding a sharp save from Lammens, and Piroe curled an effort on to the roof of the net in the dying minutes. Cunha finally seems to be coming into a little bit of goalscoring form - perhaps enjoying the greater responsibility placed on him in Mbeumo's absence. Ominous signs afterwards when Amorim struck a petulant note in his press conference, apparently declaring that he would leave the club at the end of his current contract, and also hinting at a rift with the hierarchy in asserting that he was supposed to be 'the manager' not just the coach at the club (which is usually code for being pissed off that the Sporting Director isn't giving you the new players you want... and generally leads to an imminent departure, as we've already seen this season with Nuno Espiritu Santo and Enzo Maresca). [Ooh, that's a bingo! Nothing especially prescient in my saying this - but, of course, he did indeed get the boot first thing the next day, mere hours after I wrote this.]
Everton v Brentford was an all-action game - really the day's best, though well down the 'Match of the Day' running order, presumably simply because they're not 'big name' teams. Thiago, who had been strangely goalless in December, despite continuing to put in excellent performances, quelled any doubts about his form by bagging a hattrick (and it might have been 4: he brought one very good stop out of Pickford in the first-half). Everton's usually robust defence was a bit out-of-sorts here, perhaps just overstretched by the pace of their visitors' relentless counter-attacks; the home side had some decent moments of their own, though, forcing a few very good saves out of Kelleher, and grabbing a couple of late consolation goals. Thiago had been clearly offside for his second when the long ball was initially played over the top, but was safely back onside before the final pass was played to him; but again we suffered a long VAR check, and - as with the Wirtz incident at Craven Cottage - the SAOT picture eventually shared did not correspond at all to what we'd seen on the TV; and it was apparently declaring him to have been onside (presumably for the final pass rather the initial long-ball, for which his position should not have been relevant?) only by the thickness of a wrinkle on the defender's forehead - I do wish this nonsense would stop! Moyes risked the ire of FPL enthusiasts - and possibly some Everton fans too - by withdrawing Tyler Dibling and Dwight McNeil at half-time. Lewis-Potter, recently popular in FPL because of his scoring potential when started as a forward, was unexpectedly rested for this one, only coming on for the last 25 minutes or so (which, unfortunately, was when Everton banged in their 2 goals....).
The Fulham v Liverpool game was marred by more weirdness with the offside calls. There was a protracted delay to confirm Harry Wilson's goal, initially flagged offside by the linesman, although to the naked eye he had looked clearly on (not by much, but fairly clearly an inch or two the right side of Van Dijk); but when we finally got the SAOT graphic, he and the last defender appeared to be exactly level, and it was not clear what 'the line' was being drawn on! The 'margin', if indeed there was one at all, can't have been much more than the thickness of a player's shirt; I don't like to see goals ruled out for such minimal distances, but it's also a bit harsh on defending sides when a decision goes against them on such a hair's-breadth difference; I really hope we soon see a revision of the Offside Law to allow for a much larger and more clearcut gap between the attacker and the last defender. The subsequent delay for Wirtz's equaliser was even more confounding: in the TV freeze-frame that kept being shown, the German was clearly offside by the length of his leading foot, from instep to toe (and it actually looked as if that chosen frame might have been one or two premature, that Bradley had not yet finished releasing the ball to him!); but the SAOT picture, when it finally appeared, showed his leg less extended and the foot twisted inward - so that the tip of his toe was now exactly level with the line of the last defender. When there is such a big discrepancy between the TV picture and the SAOT rendering, we really need some explanation of that - to restore some confidence (of which I, frankly, have none at all!) in this new system: it appeared very much as though the SAOT had chosen the moment of ball-release from Bradley (supposedly determined by a sensor inside the ball?) at least a tenth of a second or so too early - and that makes a huge difference on tight calls like this. I have said often that I think the answer to this is not to 'improve' the technology, but simply to abandon the idea of trying to determine such tiny margins and return to the old policy of 'giving the benefit of the doubt' to the attacking side. Alas, in this technological age, I doubt that will ever happen.
Ekitike was another omission, yet another victim of a late hamstring problem. Liverpool had some good chances (Gakpo and Macallister both headed against the bar), but they looked a bit short of energy at times; even the usually dynamic Szoboszlai seemed a bit leggy here. Fulham were overall much the better team, and their pressure through the second-half might have wrapped up a win (especially when Harry Wilson chipped Alisson, but saw the effort bounce back off the top of the crossbar) before they were shocked by Gakpo's late second goal; they were thoroughly deserving of their own late, late goal - substitute Reed's absolute banger - that saved them a point.
Eddie Howe started Wissa over Woltemade and Murphy over Barnes, while Glasner gave an immediate start to Brennan Johnson, barely 48 hours after joining the club on loan from Spurs. Visitors Palace survived an early scare when Gordon finished off a quick break, but Wissa was - rightly - adjudged to have been very slightly offside as he ran through to receive the initial through-ball. It was mostly one-way traffic, though - with Palace's only decent chance unfortunately falling to Will Huges, who prodded wide - and they were visibly tiring as Newcastle ramped up the pressure in the last 25 minutes; they really might have conceded a third, as Henderson made a fantastic save from Barnes with his foot in the closing minutes, and Willock somehow blazed the rebound wide of an open-goal. Things are really starting to look a bit grim for Palace.
Spurs and Sunderland both played like teams with a bad New Year's hangover; this might well have been the poorest performance of the season from both of them. Spurs had much the best of the first-half, but didn't have the quality to create any decent chances, let alone convert any (their best, actually, didn't come until the closing minutes, when Porro put in a sublime cross from the right, but substitute Palhinha couldn't direct his header on target). Sunderland will be kicking themselves that their defending completely broke down on one first-half corner, allowing Ben Davies (getting his first start of the season, mysteriously preferred now to Djed Spence) to lash the ball home from the edge of the six-yard box. In the second-half, Sunderland roused themselves to chase the game, and began to look more like the home side - as Spurs had no response. An equaliser started to look inevitable, and Spurs were lucky, really, not to end up losing 2-1 or 3-1.
Gonzalez and Savinho were ruled out by injury for City, and Doku was strangely left on the bench; and they lost Ruben Dias and Gvardiol to injuries in the second-half here; but at least Rodri was able to return, lasted the full 90 minutes, and looked somewhere near his best again. Chelsea were without Caicedo due to a totting-up suspension (in the last game before the mid-season 'amnesty'), Fofana due to illness, and goalkeeper Sanchez due to a muscle strain suffered in training, but didn't appear too disturbed by the acrimonious departure of their manager in midweek. They defended stalwartly through the first-half, mostly confining City to hopeful shots from outside the box (Foden and Bernardo Silva not getting their efforts particularly close to the target); Haaland had two good first-half efforts, one a deflected shot from the edge of the box that needed a fingertip save from stand-in keeper Jorgensen, and the other a fierce curler from 15 yards that rebounded off the inside of the post. But the pressure had been mounting, and when Reijnders nicked the lead just before half-time, you feared the floodgates might open. But they came back out looking much more positive, and created most of the better chances in the second-half: Neto was set up with a sitter by Enzo, but scooped it over the top. City's best chance came with a fast break that ended with Cherki finding Silva in the middle of the box, but Hato stole it off his toe with a great sliding challenge. It was looking as if City had managed to hang on to the 3 points, but right at the death Enzo managed to prod the ball home at the far post after a fast break down the right. Chelsea caretaker manager Calum McFarlane acted decisively to give his side a chance in the game, taking Estevao off at half-time (and making 2 further substitutions only just past the hour!): the introduction of Santos alongside James as the second pivot allowed Enzo to play further forward alongside Palmer, and that immediately transformed Chelsea's attacking play. No dodgy refereeing at all in this one - remarkable!
It's another particularly weird FPL 'Team of the Week': though it might have been even worse - in mid-gameweek it included 4 Brighton and 4 Wolves players!! In the end, we still had Ayari, Janelt, McGinn, Enzo Fernandez, and newcomer Mateus Mané dominating the list; Declan Rice was the only fairly high-owned player to gain inclusion (and he was probably left on the bench by a majority of his owners, as he was said to have missed training all week with a swollen knee).
A few selection surprises and late injury-reveals, a couple of dubious penalty calls, and some weird shenanigans with very tight offside decisions, and a whole host of improbable goals banged in from well outside the penalty area... as well as a lot of big hauls from slightly unexpected sources, while the majority of the most popular players again produced fairly little - and we saw yet again a miserably low global average of just 42 points! All of this makes it about a 7 out of 10 on the 'Luck-o-Meter' this gameweek.
In addition to the escalating vagaries of form, the horrible winter weather and the sudden accumulation of injuries and suspensions in December, and the insane domestic fixture congestion we suffer at this time of year (when just about every other league in Europe is sensibly enjoying an extended break), we now have an additional layer of disruption due to the mid-season transfer window opening.
It began for the Premier League (and most of the other leagues worldwide) on 1st January, and - because the month ends on a weekend this year - the final deadline is 7pm, UK time, on Monday, 2nd February. A few of the European leagues have a little bit longer; Switzerland has a whopping two extra weeks. Clubs playing in European competitions have a few further days - up until midnight on Thursday 7th February - to submit any squad revisions to UEFA.
At the moment, the best summary of all the details of how this works appears to be on Chelsea's website.
Fantasy Football Scout usually runs the best regular update page on all the moves; but of course, there's nothing confirmed yet.
It will be interesting to see if any Premier League clubs can radically shift their form and fortune with some handy acquisitions this month. Villa did some good business this time last year, getting Asensio, Malen, and Rashford in on loan for the second half of the season. Given how thin their squad now looks, after an absence of any major transfer activity in the summer, they could really do with some more of that this time. Burnley might also be looking to bring in a few new players to try to salvage their hopes of survival - although I feel a new manager is more needful for them. Palace, Newcastle, Bournemouth, Manchester United, and of course Forest and West Ham are also in conspicuous need of some strengthening.
For some clubs, though, the impacts of this window are going to be mainly negative - key players lured away from them. I really hope Antoine Semenyo will see out the season at Bournemouth; it would be a huge loss for them if he leaves. (And it will ruin his value in FPL for the rest of us, if he goes to City or Liverpool or Arsenal, to sit on the bench most of the time...)
"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is an absurd one."
François-Marie Arouet (Voltaire)
I wouldn't actually be tempted to this year anyway. But, just as the Wildcard can be a too-ready 'comfort blanket' if you have a really bad start to the season, so too it can seem like an easy quick fix if you've suddenly taken a battering from all the seasonal injuries in this miserably cold December. But I generally feel that even if you are feeling thus battered, it's almost always better to take a hit or two to repair the damage, and/or soldier on for a while with one or two holes on your bench. An even worse injury crisis might well pop up later. And, if it doesn't, the Wildcard can be very useful at the end of the season for dodging around a Blank Gameweek, and/or optimising your squad for a Bench Boost play in a Double Gameweek. Or just for adapting to a major 'turn' in fixture-difficulty for a lot of teams. Having a few gaps in your squad at the start of the second half of the season is not a sufficient reason to give up such an important chip.
2) I will not buy Dominic Calvert-Lewin. (Yet...)
Arguably, we're already a little bit 'late' to be considering that. It might have been nice to get him 2 or 3 gameweeks back, when it was becoming apparent that Leeds had taken a major step forward in their performance level, and that big Dom had settled into a scoring groove again - rather than just enjoying a one-off (or two-off, or three-off...) stroke of untypical good fortune. But 6-in-a-row is an exceptional scoring streak for anyone, and it must be due for a break now. And Dom, bless him, has rarely managed to stay fit for this long in the last several seasons. Moreover, that run of good results for Leeds in December came from a big slice of good fortune with the fixtures: they met Liverpool, Chelsea, Palace and Sunderland when they were woefully out of form. They are still at the bottom end of the table for a reason, and have few if any 'easy' fixtures; in the next couple of months, they might struggle to pick up points from anyone except Everton and Forest. Admittedly, Calvert-Lewin could be a handy 'budget enabler', if you were to decide you wanted to bring in Ollie Watkins or Hugo Ekitike. But I would imagine that most people are currently content with Thiago and Woltemade, who have generally been in excellent form, and have very nice runs of fixtures coming up.
3) I will not buy Cole Palmer. (Yet. Or, probably, ever. Not this season, that is.)
Now, I am a huge fan of Cole Palmer. I think he's the best advanced playmaker we have in the Premier League. Only Foden and Odegaard come anywhere close; but Foden's much less consistent, and Odegaard far less of a goal threat - so, not that close. But Chelsea are a mess at the moment: no balance in the side, no consistency. And Joao Pedro and Liam Delap have not provided the answer to their scoring problem; they probably now regret letting Nicolas Jackson go! Now, 'Ice' Cole is capable of carrying a team on his own, and he might yet go off on a scoring streak, once he's fully regained his fitness. But it feels like that might still be some way off. With Chelsea's current form, his prospects don't look strong enough to be bringing him into your squad on spec.
4) I will not bet on either Arsenal or City to win the title.
It's a two-horse race this year, and, at the moment, too close to call. I've long had a hunch that City will edge it - largely because they're so much more free-scoring: they'll rarely or never drop any points just from conceding a single goal; Arsenal probably will. But I think it would be rash to put money on that hunch. The outcome could well turn on significant injuries for one or other contender; losing Haaland would surely be catastrophic for City; but so might losing Saka or Saliba or Raya for Arsenal. Let's hope they both keep their full rosters intact, and give us a thrilling title battle right through to the end of the season.
5) I will not laugh at Manchester United.
Well, you've got to have at least one that you know you're going to break almost immediately, and you're happy to allow yourself that. Even with some 'better' performances finally emerging (and a long overdue departure from the unbalanced, ineffective 3-4-3 system to which Amorim had been so stubbornly wedded for the whole of his first year), I still don't have much confidence for their season. They'll still almost certainly be the year's most risible under-performers - a club with pretensions to being European champions again who struggle to finish mid-table in their domestic league... And they accomplish this non-achievement with such an inventive array of foot-shooting every year, they have been a reliable source of mirth ever since Fergie retired. [Ha! - well, it looks like I'll be able to adhere to this one after all. With the United ownership finally putting an end to the Amorim fiasco just a few days into the New Year, we were suddenly able to start seeing again what such a talented group of players is really capable of. With the remarkably impressive start they've made under Michael Carrick's tenure as manager, they're starting to look as if they might even have a slight chance of getting into the title conversation! It's nice to have one of the tradtional 'Big Six' getting back to those sorts of levels. Competition at the top of the league feels a bit thin this year, with Liverpool and Chelsea still floundering rather - and Spurs again flirting with relegation.]
Now, of course, the 'resolutions' above about player choices or chip play might seem to be purely hypothetical for me, as some will remember that I got excluded from the game this year by a maddening FPL glitch at the start of the season. However, I am still 'playing along' on my own. And I empathise with all those who are still in the fray, still battling for mini-league glory.... So, I hope these observations may prove of some use.
2025 was a pretty awful year for me; and for a great many other people, I fear. Let us hope that 2026 will bring better things....
HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!
The peak month for 'randomness' draws to a close at last - although I'm not sure that January will be much better! It didn't seem a promising omen for the Tuesday batch of games - and perhaps for the gameweek as a whole - that BBC's 'Match of the Day' felt obliged to lead with the utterly dire game between West Ham and Brighton! Apart from the splendid top-of-the-table clash between Arsenal and Villa, this might well prove to be the most lacklustre gameweek of the entire year.
Newcastle were looking rather better than they have recently, possibly getting a boost in confidence from the return of Pope in goal. They could have gained more of a lead early on. However, their second goal - scrambled home in the goalmouth by Wissa for his first league strike for his new club - shouldn't have stood, as Guimaraes had clearly shoved over Laurent in front of the keeper before the ball was spilled towards his centre-forward in the middle of the six-yard box. The unfortunate Laurent put his side back in the game shortly afterwards with a great strike. A plucky Burnley fight-back had the away side's goal under siege for a while in the second-half, but their finishing just wasn't good enough. And Newcastle came back at them again at the end, with a Thiaw header being cleared off the line, and moments later Jacob Murphy, presented with an open goal, somehow scooped his effort over the bar. Newcastle eventually claimed the third goal they'd long threatened in added-on time, when a terrible mix-up on the edge of the box between Dubravka and one of his defenders gifted the ball to Guimaraes to curl the ball around them into an empty net. The big surprise/annoyance for FPL managers was that Nick Woltemade, owned by nearly 20%, was given a rest, and only came on for the last 10 minutes.
Chelsea dropped points yet again from being 2-1 up, and were perhaps fortunate to get anything from a game in which their defending from set-pieces was absolutely dreadful (Garnacho's marking in the box was so non-existent that he was withdrawn at half-time, and this has been such a consistent problem from him, I wonder if he'll now get any more starts; he may have value as an impact sub, but Neto and Gittens are obviously much superior options for almost every aspect of the game except take-ons), and in which Bournemouth had rather the better of the chances. Semenyo - widely feared to be making his farewell appearance for the club before an anticipated January transfer - was somewhat unfortunate not to get any FPL credit for for his long-throws which set up both of the goals (I really think 'pre-assists' are often more worthy of points than the official 'assists', which are often just accidental and/or uncontrolled flick-ons), and to concede a penalty for a very slight and entirely unintentional tap on Estevao's heel (not all 'contact' is culpable, and this was another of those right on the cusp, where many referees, perhaps the majority of them, would not have given it; except that Sam Barrott was here directed to take a second look by VAR, and that always prejudices referees towards reversing their original decision). Bournemouth had a much stronger shout for a penalty waved away when a high, dropping ball struck Gusto in the middle of the outside of his upper-arm; the contact was neither intentional nor consequential, but those are not the criteria these days; the ball struck him well below the shoulder, and his arm was extended a long way away from his body - 9 out of 10 incidents like that seem to be given these days. At least it was nice to see Palmer (from the penalty spot; although Petrovic had anticipated the direction of the shot correctly, and very nearly got to it) and Kluivert scoring again; but otherwise, yet another pretty drab match.
Everton's James Garner will perhaps be the most surprising inclusion in the 'Team of the Week', with the breakthrough early goal at Forest, a sublime assist for Barry's late second, another strong 20-yard effort flashing just wide, and a huge defensive contribution as well. Forest had a few chances, with Igor Jesus nicking the ball off a crowd of Everton defenders in the first-half but putting his effort just past the post, and substitute Bakwa striking a good cross-shot inches wide in the closing minutes. Everton regained some energy later in the game, especially after Grealish, back from several days sidelined with an illness, came on from the bench for the last 20 minutes. It was not a great performance from the home side; but even so, the result flattered Everton somewhat - this really felt more like a 1-1. Michael Keane was another late omission as a result of a 'training knock'.
West Ham v Brighton was a bit of a topsy-turvy game. 2 penalties in quick succession for Brighton, both utterly uncontentious (despite Nuno's inevitable gripes); but Danny Welbeck, having despatched the first quite competently, then bizarrely opted for a Panenka chip on the second and crashed the effort against the crossbar (and he couldn't turn in the rebound either). The visitors then gave up a penalty of their own for a supposed handball, which was much harsher - a shot fired at Dunk from point-blank range when he'd spread himself on the floor to try to block (my view on these is that it should be 'strict liability' if the defender's arm blocks a goal-bound shot; but that's not actually what the rules currently say - sometimes we see these given, sometimes we don't). In the second-half, the home side retreated into their shell and tried to hang on to their slender lead, and were increasingly under siege in their goal: as Areola flapped at a succession of corners, it became inevitable that one of them would be bundled in - and they were really fortunate to hang on to even a point. A limping Todibo had to be replaced by Mavropanos after half-time. And Mitoma finally returned from injury, playing the last half-hour, and bringing one good save out of Areola.
Arsenal eventually came out comfortable winners against distant title rivals Villa, although the visiting team had some of the best chances in the first-half, and came back strongly again late in the second, to earn a deserved consolation from Ollie Watkins (via a particularly freaky 'assist' from substitute Malen - a toe-poke at goal from just outside the left post, which somehow squirmed through Raya's legs and rebounded off the upright across the face of the goal straight to Watkins's feet!). Arsenal's opener, however, a corner bundled across the line by just-returned Gabriel, was a bit dubious; the big defender had raised his elbow dangerously into the opposing keeper's chin as he jumped against him to challenge for the ball; the contact was probably only light, if there was any at all, and Martinez appeared to be guilty of going down easily looking for the foul (rather than standing strong and making sure he claimed the ball), but it did look like an unfair challenge - given the exaggerated protection usually afforded to keepers. This didn't ultimately matter, though, as Zubmimendi got the steamroller well and truly in motion shortly afterwards, and the home side went on to their most convincing win of the season. There might have been another slightly contentious moment near the end when Raya scrambled a Watkins effort out from behind him on the line, and it looked as if the ball may momentarily been fully in the goal - but the goal-line technology didn't have a clear view of the ball, and the referee and linesman weren't going to find against the league leaders on something like that. Rice was a surprise late omission with a previously undisclosed knee problem, and Emery made his first substitutions right on the hour - but fortunately they all walked off the pitch just slowly enough to earn their FPL owners full appearance points.
There were a number of decent chances in the Manchester United v Wolves game, with Dorgu flashing a 20-yard cross-shot just wide, Sesko heading a corner against the outside of the post, and Hugo Bueno forcing Lammens into a good save with his leg. The opener for the home side, though, was a bit fortuitous - Zirkzee losing the ball on the edge of the box, but getting it back again from a kind rebound, then slightly mishitting his shot, which lacked much power but took a huge deflection off Krejci to leave the keeper stranded. Krejci got some consolation in the second-half when his powerful header won his side only their third point of the season. As I warned yesterday, Amorim can't be trusted to stick with the same selection or the same tactical approach for any two consecutive games, and although Dorgu, obviously brimming with confidence at the moment, again had a great game, his attacking scope was limited when returned to a left wing-back role in the clunky 3-4-3 system.
Thursday's other goal-dry games were at least quite entertaining, but Spurs's visit to Brentford was not. The home side completely dominated their woefully lacklustre opponents, but hadn't put on their scoring boots for this one. We did, however, see the most incomprehensibly awful refereeing decision of the whole season so far, when Andy Madley - and the VAR team - inexplicably saw nothing wrong with Romero's spastic attempted clearance which got nothing of the ball but wiped out Thiago as he was breaking through on goal 25 yards out; this was unquestionably a 'denial of a goalscoring opportunity' sending-off (and a free-kick in a promising position might have yielded an immediate goal). Spurs fans felt they might have had a penalty when Archie Gray went down on the edge of the box, but there was nothing in that one.
Fulham will feel frustrated they couldn't nick all three points away at Palace. As the home side's legs gave out in the last 20 minutes or so, the visitors' pressure became relentless. Raul had already put a good header against a post before Tom Cairney finally found the deserved equaliser with a sweet left-foot shot from just outside the box. Henderson pulled off a superb reaction save in the closing minutes, when the ball fell to Castagne unmarked in the middle of the box and he unleashed a fierce drive. Andersen had a similar opportunity in the dying seconds of added-on time, but scooped his effort over the top. Marco Silva feels Palace should have been reduced to 10 men in the first-half when Devenny caught Cuenca in the face with an elbow, but it looked a slight and accidental contact that the Fulham man was making a meal of. Somehow, though, 5 Fulham players wound up in the book in this game.
Vastly improved Leeds continued their robust defensive form to deny Liverpool at Anfield - although the home side should have had at least one penalty, when Bijol had both arms around Ekitike for several seconds in the first-half (and concluded by making a vain lunge through his legs, that also made contact with the forward and might have knocked him down), but he kept going rather than falling to the floor; and in the second-half Ampadu commited a very blatant handball right on the edge of the box - and VAR did not seem to check where exactly the contact was. In general, though, Leeds were good value for their point; and indeed they very nearly nicked the win when Calvert-Lewin steered the ball past Alisson in the closing minutes, but was flagged just offside. The FPL frustrations here were more 'rest rotations' - for Calvert-Lewin, Macallister and Kerkez.
Sunderland maintained their impressive defensive solidity to frustrate City and maintain their remarkable unbeaten home record. Their only major scare came when City won a corner in the opening minutes, and Haaland's near-post flick-on was lashed home by Bernardo Silva - but he had been narrowly offside. Pep caused more FPL woe by 'resting' Gvardiol and Reijnders at the start, and making a lot of early substitutions (the removal of Gonzalez and Savinho might have been down to knocks; Nico O'Reilly's replacement wasn't). At least Doku and Rodri were able to make a return from the bench.
It's yet another particularly weird FPL 'Team of the Week', with Krejci, Veltman, Brooks, Garner, Paqueta, and Guimaraes keeping out almost all of the more favoured picks. There were a lot of rest rotations and previously unannounced injuries - and a few early substitutions - causing grief to FPL managers. And it was another wretchedly low-scoring week, both in goals and FPL points - with a dismal global average of just 40 points.
Overall, there weren't very many poor refereeing decisions in this batch of games, but a dubiously allowed goal for Arsenal, a few missed penalty awards (and one very harshly awarded against Brighton), and Andy Madley's bizarre failure to send off Romero easily get this week's score up to an 8 out of 10 on the 'Luck-o-Meter'.
The always marvellous Adam Clery Football Channel has dropped another 'holiday special' video, this time on the remarkable Leicester City Premier League title win ten years ago. Is it really that long ago now? Seems like only yesterday....
This was a triumph so improbable that lifelong fan of the club, Gary Lineker, promised half-way through the season that he'd present the year's final 'Match of the Day' programme on the BBC in his underwear if his team achieved it.
A lot of people didn't think he'd go through with it - but he's a game lad. We're missing him this year, now that he's finally retired from the show.
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!
From Boxing Day, December the 26th, we entered a run of fixtures where we get 4 full Premier League gameweeks inside a fortnight: we only have 4 days of the 14 up until Thursday 8th January without a match on them. (It's even worse for those of us who live in more easterly latitudes: most of these games are late at night for us, or in the wee small hours of the morning - so, we won't have any opportunity to catch up with them until the following day,.... which can throw the internal sense of chronology out-of-whack even further!)
Gameweek 19 is staggered over Tuesday and Thursday this week (at least we're all getting a 'day off' for New Year's Eve!!); so, we only have one full day clear - today, Monday the 29th - to ponder team revisions before the next FPL deadline.
We again only have one clear day before the Gameweek 20 matches this coming Saturday and Sunday.
And although most of midweek Gameweek 21's fixtures are on next Wednesday evening, for no conceivable reason (well, OK, it's TV scheduling; but is that really a good enough reason, at this time of year, when players and fans alike are not getting nearly enough time off...?), West Ham v Forest is on Tuesday and Arsenal v Liverpool is on Thursday.
So, for 3 Gameweeks running, there is only a one-day gap between the end of one and the beginning of the next. It is very difficult for the beleaguered FPL manager to keep up. Over the coming two weeks, many are, no doubt, going to inadvertently miss a deadline - or hurry into changes without having had any chance to check up on all the relevant team news. It is a beast.
At least we've then got a 'mini-break' coming up,.... with Gameweek 22 not starting until lunchtime on Saturday, 17th January. I think we're all going to need this little bit of a rest from the game.
“We must learn to accept the impermanence of all things, and find peace in the midst of change.” Kosho Uchiyama
