February
17

“It’s like a new signing” is the age old cliché trotted out by managers after a player, out injured for a long time, returns to a team. Quite often, if the injuries are bad, the players never quite reach the peak that they had once attained but sometimes a player can return and it seems as if they’d never left (think Bullard – before he got injured again). It remains to be seen what happens with Everton’s Mikel Arteta after a massive period of nearly a year out with a cruciate knee ligament problem. One things for certain though – Moyes will treat his return like a new signing…

Moyes, for once, has an Everton team which is something resembling a squad. Often in the past the Scot was the charge of a mismatch of gifted players and hardworking grafters filling in various positions. However these days he’s got more options with Arteta’s previous position out wide being contended for alongside Steven Pienaar, Leon Osman and Dmitrie Bila… Bilya.. er Billy.

The perverse blessing for the Spaniard has been Marouine Fellaini’s injury which has seen Arteta return to fill the central position in Everton’s midfield. Unfortunately for Fellaini this replacement looks like being for the remainder of the season after it was confirmed that the Belgian will be out for 6 months.  With Pienaar and Billy/Osman on the wings and Tim Cahill (when fit) and now Arteta in the centre, Everton’s midfield is looking incredibly attacking. Whether Moyes remains playing this system, or relocates Neville or Heitinga into midfield remains to be seen. It’ll certainly be interesting to see how Moyes shuffles the pack.

From a fantasy football perspective Arteta was always one of those great differentials in the mid-priced midfield bracket. A rival to Tim Cahill, Ashley Young and once upon a time, Cesc Fabregas, he was a consistent point scorer offering returns from set piece taking and penalties. At 8.1 million, after a long injury lay off, I personally am struggling to see value in investing in him. It was always a headscratcher than FPL valued him so highly when, even at the start of the season, everyone knew he’d be out for half the season.

The wise move would then look to be holding back on investing on him this campaign, unless he has a late season resurgence to coincide with Everton’s kind run of fixtures from gameweek 29 onwards. We can however hope that he gets revalued to a more manageable amount for the start of next season. With a pre-season behind him and a slightly lower price, if Mikel Arteta can get back to playing like he was before his injury, he looks a cert for my team.

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Scout Picks

For Gameweek Twenty Four

  • Krul
  • Vermaelen
  • Kompany
  • Huth
  • Silva
  • Morrison
  • Bale
  • Valencia
  • Ba
  • van Persie
  • Agüero
  • Taiwo
  • Donovan
  • Zamora

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The Watchlist

Goalkeepers

Player Club Factors
No Change Krul NEW A, Vs
No Change Hart MCI B, Vs
No Change Kenny QPR C, Vs, Rest, £
Up Al-Habsi WIG B, Vs, £
Up Schwarzer FUL C, Vs, Inj
No Change Mignolet SUN B, £
Up Vorm SWA B, £
No Change Foster WBA B
Up Robinson BLA C, Vs
Down Hennessey WOL B, Vs
No Change Sørensen STO B, Vs, Rest, £
No Change Bogdan BOL C, Rest, £

Defenders

Player Club Factors
No Change Richards MCI B, Vs, Inj
No Change Simpson NEW B, Vs, £
Up Senderos FUL B, Vs, Rest, £
Up Evans MUN B, VsX, £
Up Rangel SWA B, VsX, £
No Change Bardsley SUN B, £
Up Taiwo QPR C, Vs, £
Up Cole CHE C, Vs
No Change Vermaelen ARS C
Down Assou-Ekotto TOT A, VsX
No Change Clark AVL B, Vs, OoP, £
Down Riise FUL C, Vs, Rest
No Change McAuley WBA C, £
Down Johnson WOL C, £
Up Figueroa WIG C, Vs, £

Midfielders

Player Club Factors
No Change Bale TOT A, VsX
No Change Dempsey FUL A, Vs, OoP
No Change Silva MCI B, Vs
No Change Sessegnon SUN A, £
Up McClean SUN A, £
No Change Valencia MUN A, VsX
Up Sigurdsson SWA B, VsX, £
No Change Mata CHE B
Up Taarabt QPR C, Vs
Up Sinclair SWA B, VsX, £
Up Moses WIG C, Vs, OoP, £
Down Ben Arfa NEW C, Vs, Rest, OoP
Down Walters STO C, Vs, OoP, £
Up Barton QPR C, Vs
No Change Ireland AVL C, Vs, Rest, £

Forwards

Player Club Factors
No Change van Persie ARS A
No Change Agüero MCI B, Vs
Up Ba NEW B, Vs
No Change Zamora QPR B, Vs
Up Dzeko MCI B, Vs, Rest
Up Bent AVL A, Vs
Up Yakubu BLA C, Vs
Up Cisse NEW B, Vs
No Change Rooney MUN B, VsX, Inj
No Change Sturridge CHE C
Down Fletcher WOL B, £
Up Graham SWA B, VsX, £

Selection Factors

A, B, C Current Form
Vs Favourable Fixtures
VsX Unfavourable Fixtures
Rest Rotation Risk
Inj Injured/Returning from Injury
OoP Out of Position
£ Potential Bargain
Sus Suspended/Near Suspension

Suspension Tightrope

Player Team YC
Lowe BLA 9
Terry CHE 8
Barton QPR 8
Cattermole SUN 8
Song ARS 7
N'Zonzi BLA 7
Meireles CHE 7
Fellaini EVE 7
Huth STO 7
Shawcross STO 7
Caldwell WIG 7
Henry WOL 7

“Robert hasn't touched him. The player tries to get him sent off. It's a disease that's creeping into the game.”

Tony Pulis laments the referee's decision to send off Robert Huth against Sunderland