Fixture chaos is mounting as Spurs, Chelsea, United and Boro all replay on Monday week. This means an absolute nightmare for Fantasy Managers who face a whole host of players being rested on Saturday. Time to speculate furiously as to what this will mean for team lineups going into next weekend’s games…
Before we even get to the weekend programme, Chelsea play City on Wednesday. I think it’s unlikely that the lineup for this match will be massively affected by today’s result against Spurs. Drogba and Essien appeared to be over their knocks and with Chelsea still chasing for points, I can’t see Jose making major changes for this game. However, it’s liklely to be a different story on Saturday against Sheffield Utd. This match could see starts for Boulahrouz, Kalou, Bridge, Mikel and Wright-Phillips with the likes of Terry, Ashley Cole, Robben, Essien and Drogba dropping out, or to the bench.
For Spurs meanwhile, they have 3 games in 5 days with their UEFA cup tie in midweek. So, it looks highly likely that Berbatov will be rested against Watford now that Mido is fit. Yes, Mido came on against Chelsea and was far from impressive, but Jol was even thinking of resting Berbatov for the Stamford Bridge game following their UEFA cup game in midweek. With this in mind, I’m changing my Scout Picks for this week. Berbatov would certainly be an excellent buy should he play on Saturday but, with little at stake against Watford, I’m pretty certain he’ll be rested with Chelsea in mind. Lennon is another candidate who could be kept in reserve with Malbranque starting. Equally, if Jenas is fit to return, it’s likely that he’ll be kept back for the replay on Monday.
United meanwhile, face Bolton on Saturday. Not such an easy game and I doubt Sir Alex will seek to make such big changes, mainly because injuries prohibit it. However he’s already mentioned that he plans to call on his squad to get him through this busy period [source]. As I mentioned earlier, Vidic is carrying a knock so Brown could come in on Saturday, either for him or for Neville. One or both of Ronaldo or Giggs could also be rested with Park and Richardson coming in. I’d imagine Giggs is the biggest concern of the two for Fantasy Managers but I wouldn’t recommend handing Ronaldo your team’s captaincy or Star Man status just in case.
Boro meanwhile seem certain to make changes. Their game against Man City offers little incentive for them, so Viduka is almost cetain to be replaced by Lee Dong-Gook. Arca and Cattermole are also candidates for being benched with Morrison, Euell and Rochemback coming into contention. Southgate could also call on Xavier and Riggott with the likes of Parnaby and Woodgate given a rest with Monday in mind.
Basically it’s all a bit of nightmare if you own a good few players from these 4 clubs. There’s a lot of uncertainty and this gameweek is looking like a very unpredictable one for Fantasy Managers. To help you out, I’ve updated my Scout Picks for this set of fixtures to give you an iidea of where to turn too for new players. I’ll update this, and the shortlists in your right hand menu as the week goes on, so keep ’em peeled.