Willkommen zurück in der Head-to-Head-Liga der Hive FPL!
That's right, with Thomas Tuchel now the head coach of the England Team we've all spent the international break brushing up on our German here in the UK. Let's be honest, learning a new language is probably more entertaining than watching a mid-season international football match anyway!At least the Premier League is back and with some absolutely key games this week to get ourselves into.
For FPL managers, the first thing to look out for will be injury and illness coming back from international duty. I can certainly attest for the latter this week and it seems that half the population of the UK is carrying a bug of some description at the moment. The problem of course with players going down sick is that it's something that very often occurs overnight, throwing your carefully crafted FPL plans into disarray.
There are also a good number of players carrying knocks into this weekend. The entire Arsenal frontline of Havertz (FWD), Saka (MID) and Martinelli (MID) are all rated as a 75% chance of playing against Bournemouth while White (DEF) and Timber (DEF) are not certainties for the game either.
Allison (GK) is definitely out for Liverpool which might of course attract a few managers to bring in his able deputy in Kelleher (GK) who costs just £4.4mil at present. Manchester United's great midfield rebuild may be put on hold (again) by injuries to Mainoo (MID) and Ugarte (MID).
The weekend's fixtures start with a derby match between Spurs and West Ham that carries more significance than just local bragging rights. Tottenham have had to wait a fortnight to try and correct their 2nd half implosion at Brighton while West Ham's start under their new manager has been a bit bumpy. This is a match that the Hammers have performed well in recent seasons including a 2-1 victory here in December.
Of the 3 O'Clock kick-offs the game of real significance is likely to be United vs Brentford. Ten Hag managed to survive the international break but his plans will undoubtedly have been disrupted by the aforementioned injuries. Brentford themselves are in the midst of an injury crisis and of course have significantly fewer resources to draw upon than their opponents. One thing that everyside now knows is that you've got to hit the ground running against this Brentford side!
Newcastle v Brighton has the makings of an entertaining fixture. Neither side are blessed with an out and out goal scorer in their ranks, partly due to injury, but there will certainly be a whole host of attacking players who could offer up very good points returns from this one.
Ipswich will need to bounce back from a couple of very costly errors in their match at West Ham before the break. After a shocking start, Sean Dyche has managed to steady the ship with 5 points from the last 3 games and a result here against what is likely to be a relegation rival would really but some day light between them and the basement clubs.
Of those basement clubs, Southampton have an absolutely crucial match at home to fellow promoted side Leicester. Cast your minds back 5 years and you'll remember that Leicester won 9-0 at this ground in the Premier League. While it seems unlikely that we'll get that much excitement today, Leicester have scored in every Premier League match so far this season despite having had the fewest number of shots of any side. For their part, Southampton have conceded in every game this season suggesting that we could be in for a roller-coaster ride in this one.
The final 3pm kick-off sees Villa travel to Fulham. Fulham have been very impressive so far this season and if Traore (MID) could finish they would surely have got something from their trip to the Ethiad. Unai Emery has rightly received a lot of praise for the job he is doing at Villa but Marco Silva is also doing fantastic work in West London on a small budget and with key players leaving every summer.
Emery give a very glass half-full assessment of the fitness of many of Villa's players for this one with Konsa (DEF), Bailey (MID) and Ramsey (MID) all said to be available. Even Mings (DEF) is available for selection in this one and at £4.4 mil could be a player to watch if he can work his way back into the first team.
The evening kick-off on Saturday sees Arsenal travel to Bournemouth. It'll certainly be a test of the Gunners fitness against a side full of running. Whether they come out and try and match that intensity or sit a bit deeper and let the Cherries play themselves out remains to be seen. With the aforementioned injuries to Arsenal players, this feels like a game that Arteta might want to rest and rotate given the big home games against Shaktar and Liverpool in the next 7 days but Bournemouth are certainly not an opponent to be underestimated.
Sunday sees Man City travel to a Wolves side who just can't stop conceeding goals at the moment. For their part, City haven't looked particularly fluid in recent weeks but you would fancy them to bang a few away against this opposition. Haaland (FWD) becomes the obvious choice for captain in that regard.
The stellar match of the round sees Liverpool take on Chelsea with the Blues suddenly looking like a team worth watching. Where they do have issues this season is in defence and their task of keeping Liverpool at bay is not helped by the suspensions of Fofana (DEF) and Cucurella (DEF) for this one. Arne Slot has made a fast start on Merseyside but critics would point to the fact that their opening run of fixtures has probably been the easiest in the league. Wins in these kinds of games not to mention the away match at Arsenal next time out is what will really get the Kop believing that they have a genuine title chance this season.
Monday nights game is possibily not such a glamour tie with Forest hosting Palace. The home side have performed well so far this season and will fancy a victory against a Palace side that is really struggling. A lot of FPL managers were banking on the more reasonably priced Eagles players having a good season but to date the likes of Eze (MID) and Mateta (FWD) have blanked in 6 out of 7 games this season. In fact, if you're looking for good value picks it's Forest's Wood (FWD), Sels (GK) and Milenkovic (DEF) who could well prove the better options.
