Injuries and Suspensions

One of these men will not be starting for Chelsea in goal.

Premier League team news - Barclays Premier League - ESPN Soccernet

The big news sure to throw your squad selection for a loop is the news that Cech AND Hilario(us) have returned to training and are "in contention" to replace Turnbull.  For me, this makes Friedel and Howard the clear choices in net this weekend with the trio of Chelsea stoppers virtually worthless to fantasy managers due to their collective uncertainty.

No other news of note from the Chelsea camp.

What a useless update from Villa Park where it says - MON will "check on the fitness of...Gabby Agbonlahor" - no indication if Gabby is probably, doubtful or anything in-between.  My intuition is to stay away from him due to this uncertainty and focus on Friedel, Downing, Milner, and Carew among the Villa players.

He wasn't really on my radar but the information on Stephen Hunt "may be available" is in the same "useless" category as Gabby. 

Defoe is out for Spurs with a hamstring injury along with King, Jenas, Lennon, and Bentley (plus Woody who has been out forever).  Don't know if this means we'll see RPav and Crouch together or if Spurs will load up on midfielders with one or the other of the big strikers playing in a lone role.

Kenwyne Jones is our third "who the hell knows if he'll play or not based on the team news" entry.  This means that both he and Benjani (his likely replacement) are virtually useless.  Certainly seems unlikely that Benjani will play two so even if you're betting strongly that Kenwyne will miss out tomorrow, there are probably better options.

One of last weekend's heroes (N'Zogbia) is doubtful so probably best to dump him despite the home match with Burnley and the great performance from last weekend.

Cesc is back for Arsenal.  If  I were Wenger, I'd use him only as a late substitute if necessary but Wenger seems to be more willing to risk his best player than I would be so I'm guessing he'll start.  Probably too expensive given only one match and the proliferation of worthwhile 2-match players that you'll want in.  Gallas is still out so Sol Campbell will continue as a pretty decent fantasy bet.

Giggs is back for ManYoo and Vidic should be on red card alert given the opposition but otherwise pretty quiet at ManYoo - Liverpool are likewise pretty static in terms of injuries with Aquilani the only real question mark.

Garrido will likely replace Wayne Bridge for Citeh...K2 is still suspended and MPet is hurt.  Otherwise, expect the normal tinkering from Mancini and the resulting pulling out of your own hair...

Good luck and I'll see you tomorrow for a Live Chat (really, I promise) during the early game for sure and then as far into the afternoon matches as I can go.

Cheers - Neal