Gameweek 9

Two weeks without anything from me and my rank has dropped 800,000 spots, don’t even ask why and what’s happened, I really don’t know. It’s been a difficult season so far for everyone. Liverpool sitting pretty at the moment and possibly are on track to win the league but Tottenham and Leicester are on track too. In my opinion INTERNATIONAL BREAK should never of happened. Too many players now have coronavirus, getting injured and are playing too many games. FIFA need to think of player welfare before trying to make some money. Fans will always have football. FIFA just needed to take into account that players never really had an off-season, players from big clubs are playing nearly every 3-4 days. Jurgen Klopp made a valid point after the draw with Man City, clubs are getting too many injuries and not enough turnaround time between games due to all these condensed games. With the champions league on at the moment, Liverpool are playing 3 games a week, but so are 6 other teams in the premier league. That’s a third of the teams. From when we had project restart till after the 2022/23 season the players won’t really get a break, due to the euros, olympics and Copa America in 2021 in June/July and then we don’t know what’s going to happen after that with the 2021/22 season, then the players will have not much of an off season and have to start the 2022/23 season early due to a World Cup in November/December in Qatar. If someone wins FPL by a huge margin this season then that person will be a genius. 

Many popular players are picking up injuries and that’s due to workload, plenty of footballers just want to play constant football but that can have a detrimental effect on them. I’m just going to look at Liverpool’s injury list because ours is a mile long and to players that are in our best XI. First of all VVD is done for the season, thanks Pickford! NOT! Thiago is slowly back into training after an injury against? yes you guessed right, Everton, but since then Trent picked up an injury v Man City, maybe a blessing in disguise as he’s had poor start to the season and you can now transfer him out. Robbo came up sore after the game that sent Scotland through to the euros, first major tournament in 22 years. Mitrovic just hasn’t had a good season. His penalty miss allowed Scotland through. Jordan Henderson picked up a calf injury on international duty for England, while Joe Gomez willl also be out for an extended period of time due to a knee injury he picked up at training for England last week. While these three aren’t injured at the moment, they either have coronavirus or are being told to isolate, Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino and Allison Becker. It does open the door up for Jota and Shaqiri to get minutes alongside Mane. While Liverpool’s injury list and absentees are long, we aren’t the only team in that boat, there are several other teams who have important players who could and will miss Gameweek 9:

Ben Chilwell (CHE) - possible to play

Christian Pulisic (CHE)

Kai Havertz (CHE) - possible to play

Eric Pieters (BUR)

Tyrick Mitchell (CRY)

Eberechi Eze (CRY)

Kalvin Phillips (LEE)

Rodrigo Moreno (LEE) - possible to play

Timothe Castagne (LEI) - possible to play

Kasper Schmeichel (LEI) - possible to play

Virgil Van Dijk (LIV) - season

Joe Gomez (LIV) - long term

Fabinho (LIV)

Thiago Alcantara (LIV) - possible to play

Jordan Henderson (LIV) - possible to play

Andy Robertson (LIV) - possible to play

Trent Alexander-Arnold (LIV) - possible to play

Mo Salah (LIV) - possible (waiting on negative test)

Sergio Aguero (MCI) - possible to play

Raheem Sterling (MCI) - possible to play

Luke Shaw (MU) 

Marcus Rashford (MU) - possible to play

Callum Wilson (NEW) - possible to play

Rhian Brewster (SHE) - possible to play

Danny Ings (SOU)

James Ward-Prowse (SOU) - possible to play 

Matt Doherty (TOT) - CoVid-19 - negative test wait

Matheus Pereira (WBA) - possible to play

The above is a long list of players that have sat in coaches teams and still do. I’ll be waiting on Salah’s test on Thursday night to determine what I do with him. 

So far lots of people have transferred out TAA and Salah and that could hurt them. Trent has been playing well in the Champions League but just not getting it done in the premier league, but he will bounce back. Will I hold both? possibly! 

Is it time to use the Wildcard? I think it is! I will most probably use it this week, I think I need to start fresh and that’s what I’m going to do. I’ll post something in regards to my wildcard tomorrow. 

Fixtures and thoughts for Gameweek 9:

Newcastle vs Chelsea - Werner (C) potential, has been amazing since the October international break and scored again this international break, he’s in some sort of form, Chelsea has played some easier teams but still he has to do his job. Clean sheet incoming, I reckon, Mendy will be keeper and Zouma’s stocks are rising, up 0.4 this season from 5.0. Still can’t believe I picked this guy last season and didn’t even take him into consideration this season for Chelsea’s easy run. Ziyech has been influential too, might be coming under the radar but he’s doing bits at the moment,

Aston Villa vs Brighton - Villa have been giant killers beating Liverpool and Arsenal, but find it difficult against EX-Championship teams. Mat Ryan can sit in your goals this week and will grab you 3 points minimum. 

Tottenham vs Man City - game of week IMO! Spurs in some hot form, City in some form dip and not their creative selves anymore. Should be a tasty affair with Mourinho and Pep on the sidelines, the rivalry goes back to the El Classico days. Kane will bag a goal, Son might be quiet this game but always pops up when Spurs needs him. Just a moment, Kane and Son have been amazing this season in ALL. Competitions. This game will be amazing, and they haven’t let us down over the last couple of seasons, in champions league and in the premier league, always drama in this one. Don’t count on clean sheets. Now I’ve said that we will get a bore draw.

Man United vs West Brom - Rashford could sit out, if he doesn’t and he plays, give him the armband. Give the armband to Bruno as well. Any of those two!! Steer clear of Cavani and Martial as one will get the nod UNLESS Ole wants to save his job, he should play Rashford on the right,  Martial on the left and Cavani up front with Bruno in behind the striker. If that happens on Saturday Night we might be looking at a cricket score for Man UTD, but dont forget they sometimes can’t get the job done against smaller teams, just think back to Instanbul about 10 days ago.

Fulham vs Everton - DCL, Rodriguez are your captain options, Everton should be back to winning ways, Fulham have been dismal this season and Mitrovic showed that against Scotland, he’s out of form just like most of his Fulham team. It’s getting tough for Fulham to stay up.

Sheffield vs West Ham - if you asked me at the start of the season who would win this game I would say to you Sheffield based on the way they played last season but this season Sheffield have been abysmal, this can be a draw but west ham are somehow getting points against tough teams. They’ve picked up 4 points against Man City and Leicester, where I had them down for 0. 

Leeds vs Arsenal - will Arsenal come back to winning ways or will Bielsa mastermind another win, would be the preview headline but I feel like Arsenal will do the job they’ve beaten Man United but lost to Villa, so their form line suggests different but their quality of players compared to Leeds is far superior. Aubameyang only potential captain as Point of Difference.

Liverpool vs Leicester - just behind the Tottenham and City game being the game of the round. Unfortunately so many people will think it’s gonna be a feast for Jamie Vardy, but I’m hopeful that we will get the three points even with a depleted squad, our depth is amazing and Juergen knows what he’s doing. If we lose let’s just blame the new training ground and go back to Melwood. The smart option would be captaining Vardy if you have him, and I reckon he is a number one transfer target but there is some risk. This game will be great and let’s hope we get the game we are hoping for. 

Burnley vs Crystal Palace - Palace should easily win this but Burnley are Burnley, they can prove the doubters wrong and this game will be interesting. We can get Burnley defender in FPL  

as there is a potential of 0-0 draw here. Zaha and Eze only two players I would be looking at from Palace

Wolverhampton vs Southampton - the battle of the Hamptons, who will come out on top? This game is going to be great too especially since both teams are in some good form, could we expect a few goals definitely. Che Adams’ stocks are rising and with Ings out for at least 2 game weeks he will be your go to option. Is it time to sell Jimenez? No he is always consistent. He will be back on the scoresheet.

Lookout for tomorrow’s explanation on what my picks will be when I use my wildcard