Injuries and Suspensions

Premier League team news - Barclays Premier League - ESPN Soccernet

Before we get started with the news, today marks Jeremy's and my debut as print writers about Fantasy Football/Soccer.  The picture you see in this post is the cover photo.  On the pages following that cover we give a bit of a primer on how to play fantasy and then preview each team in the World Cup for fantasy players.  It was a lot of fun and we appreciate the nice people at Time, Inc Home Entertainment giving us the opportunity to participate.  Hopefully, there will be more to come between your favorite bloggers and World Soccer/Time, Inc.

OK, with that promotional announcement out of the way, we'll get started with the news that everyone is waiting for...



The news from Villa seems fairly decisive - while it doesn't come right out and say Warnock will play, the language certainly leads you to believe that he'll likely play on Sunday and almost definitely play mid-week.  For those hoping to get Luke Young on the cheap as a way to get some points from a two-gamer, this probably isn't your best avenue.  For those who were thinking of buying Warnock, I'd probably focus on the other three Villa defenders first since there is still some chance that Warnock will miss some/all of the Sunday match which might mean him not starting but more likely would mean him not going the required time to qualify for a CS (assuming Villa get one).  Otherwise, the Villa line-up looks to be unchanged from mid-week.

Our other two-gamer, Hull, doesn't have too much surprising to report Andy Dawson should return and Richard Garcia is out.  Otherwise, just a listing of the long-term absentees (Hunt, Gardner, Zayatte, Ashbee, and Zaki).

A guy who the blog remembers fondly from last season, John Pantsil, returns to the line-up vs. Wolves.  Might be worth a look coming down the stretch as FUL make up matches they've missed due to their European journey. 

For Chelsea, ACole is back from his ankle injury although he'll likely come in as a late sub for Zhirkov this weekend.  Might be worth a look for next week and beyond if his price drops at all.

For those wondering, you have to assume that the Verm injury dramatically reduces the value of the entire Arsenal defence and Almunia (fill in your own jokes about Almunia's value and it's ability to go lower here).  Hard to see too many clean sheets with Verm, Gallas, and Song all absent regardless of how well Sol has played in recent weeks.

In the Manchester Derby, Wayne Bridge may return (meh), Zabaleta is back from suspension (double meh), and Ireland and Vieira face late fitness challenges for Citeh.  Read that last sentence as "no news of consequence"

For ManYoo, Rooney isn't 100% to play but it sounds like he's in the 90% range.  Elsewhere in the squad, Giggs and Rio are question marks not that anyone is seriously considering either for their fantasy line-up this weekend.  If you are for some reason, hopefully you'll come to your senses after reading that.

Finally, the news on Nando is pretty vague.  He "may" return after seeing a specialist but Rafa may not risk him...Doesn't fill me with confidence in a week when there are two-gamers to be had.  If he plays, I'm sure some will be upset with the recommendation not to pick him but with the uncertainty, I can't, in good conscience, recommend having him on my/your team.

Other absentees...Samba (BLA), Grella (BLA), Arteta (EVE), Dempsey (FUL), AJ (FUL), Henry (WOL) (suspended), BFAR (SUN), McCartney (SUN), Kranjcar (TOT), Essien (CHE), Carvalho (CHE), Bosingwa (CHE), Verm (ARS), Song (ARS), Arsh (ARS)

Other questionable...Heitinga (EVE), Eth (STO), Fuller (STO), Cattermole (SUN), Thomas (WIG), RvP (ARS)

See you for the Live Chat tomorrow starting with the Manchester Derby.

Cheers - Neal