Matchday Open Thread

Mazel tov to Carlos Tevez and family on the birth of their baby girl. That's great news for him personally, and for fantasy managers it means a much more rapid return to Manchester City than was originally planned. He and Craig Bellamy could be available for the Liverpool match but will miss today's match at Stoke.

Two-match hero Matt Etherington - really, is there a player other than Stephen Hunt who steps up their game more in Y!fantasy football double-match weeks? - is out with a knee injury which will sideline him for a few weeks. Perhaps Liam Lawrence becomes a good pick-up for the weekend's trip to Portsmouth?

These multiple match weeks can be so frustrating!  Especially in a "week" like this one where you have FA Cup games before or between matches... there is so much can go wrong in terms of injuries, suspensions and squad rotation.  Who knew that Martin Petrov would be injured or that Tevez's wife was having a difficult pregnancy?  How could you predict that James McCarthy would go out with a hamstring strain or Etherington would do his knee 15minutes into the FA Cup match? 

However, persevere we must.  As always, consider this your midweek matchday open thread.