Scout Scribbles – Zouma Blow for Blues

Chelsea’s Kurt Zouma is sidelined for the season with knee ligament damage. Daniel Sturridge, Philippe Coutinho and Divock Origi are set to return for Liverpool tonight. West Ham’s James Tomkins could be out for up to a month, whilst Seydou Doumbia and Phil Jones improve their fitness with run-outs for Newcastle and Man United reserves respectively.

Zouma ruled out for season

Kurt Zouma suffered damage to his anterior cruciate ligament against Man United on Sunday afternoon and faces around six months in the treatment room, according to a statement released on Chelsea’s website.

The Scout Says: Zouma’s long-term injury affords Gary Cahill the security of starts alongside John Terry. However, it’s hard to see him challenging Cesar Azpilicueta (two goals and assists) and Branislav Ivanovic (one goal, three assists) for investment on the Fantasy market, considering he’s priced 0.4 above the former and has fashioned shots at nearly half the frequency (one every 188 minutes compared to 95.5) of the latter. In terms of the Blues’ defensive prospects as a whole, they’ve recorded four clean sheets in their previous seven outings and will fancy their chances of further shut-outs as they prepare to embark on an agreeable quartet of match-ups (NEW, sou, nor, STO).

Klopp optimistic on trio

Daniel Sturridge, Philippe Coutinho and Divock Origi returned to training last week and are now in contention for Liverpool’s FA Cup Fourth Round replay against West Ham United later tonight. Jurgen Klopp is unwilling to start all three from the offset and is yet to determine how he’ll afford them all pitch time:

“We haven’t decided about the starting line-up. We now have a very important session. [Sturridge] was fit enough to be on the bench. He was impressive in the last session on Friday night, so we thought ‘come on, if there’s a chance for 10 or 15 minutes, we should try it’. We spoke to him and he said he would like to. But then the game had a different story and there was no possibility with the two early changes. Divock and Phil will be in training today too and are in the squad, hopefully, for tomorrow. It’s a little bit complicated because extra time is possible. We have to look at who will start – they can’t all start together, that’s not possible because we know we would have to change three times because the whole game would be too much in this moment. So we have to figure out how we do it best but we will find a solution, for sure.”

The Scout Says: In light of Sturridge and Origi nearing a return to action in the league, Roberto Firmino’s spell as an out-of-position prospect could be coming to an end. Although the Brazil international has amassed five goals in as many starts in the false-nine berth, one would imagine that Klopp will shift him further back to facilitate Sturridge, or even Origi’s deployment as a lone frontman. In such an event, it will be interesting to observe whether Coutinho shoots back onto our radar as a viable mid-priced pick-up. Now pitched 0.2 below Firmino (8.0 to 8.2), the ex-Inter Milan recruit has accrued similar minutes to his compatriot but lays claim to one fewer goal. Although a weekend trip to Villa affords us promise, the Merseysiders’ blank in Gameweek 27 and visit from Manchester City the following Gameweek may well prove enough of a deterrent for most Fantasy managers in the meantime.

Tomkins ruled out for Hammers

Slaven Bilic revealed that James Tomkins is expected to be sidelined for two to four weeks with the calf injury he sustained against Southampton:

“James Tomkins got injured in the Southampton game, he felt it before during the warm up but he said he was OK. At half-time he said he was OK but shortly after that it went, it’s a calf injury. He has a scan this morning, so after that we’ll know more. It’s probably a few weeks if we are lucky, maybe more. It’ll be two to four weeks.”

The Scout Says: In the absence of Tomkins, Bilic has two options at his disposal: a fit-again Joey O’Brien or January signing, Sam Byram. Having already produced two impressive substitute appearances since his switch from Leeds United, Byram is the obvious replacement at right-back ahead of a trip to Norwich City, though O’Brien is likely to get the nod against Liverpool tonight as the former is cup-tied. By virtue of his capacity for attacking returns (one goal, three assists), Aaron Cresswell (5.6) – who ranks third among defenders for key passes (eight) over the last six Gameweeks – represents the choice route into the Hammers’ rearguard before their favourable pair of match-ups against Norwich and Sunderland in the next two, while Winston Reid (4.8) furnishes us with a cheaper alternative.

Doumbia steps up fitness drive

Yet to feature in the league since arriving on loan from Roma, Seydou Doumbia clocked 45 minutes for Newcastle’s U21 outfit in a 2-1 defeat to Stoke City last night as he looks to improve his match sharpness ahead of a weekend trip to Chelsea.

The Scout Says: Following Aleksandar Mitrovic’s return to the scoresheet in the 1-0 win over West Brom last weekend, Doumbia may have to showcase his talents off the bench before claiming the role as the spearhead of Steve McClaren’s favoured 4-2-3-1 set-up. On that note, Mitrovic has displayed more promise beyond his five goals across the previous five Gameweeks, charting joint-fourth for attempts (14) and joint-second for shots on target (10) during that time frame. Looking past the Magpies’ challenging trip to Chelsea and blank in Gameweek 27, they enjoy two league clashes – away to Stoke and home to Bournemouth – that could renew our interest in their attackers; indeed, the Potters’ defence has been hugely generous of late, shipping nine goals in three fixtures.

Jones handed reserves run-out

Phil Jones stepped up his rehabilitation from an ankle injury with a 58-minute run-out for Manchester United’s U21 side as they smashed seven past Norwich City. Fringe players Adnan Januzaj and Guillermo Varela were both forced off with injury during the rout.

Scout Scribbles: Despite facing a bevy of defensive injuries through the first two-thirds of the campaign, Man United have fared remarkably well at the back, conceding the joint-second fewest goals (22) of any team. As the Red Devils’ backline was breached on just two occasions in their last four match-ups, Louis van Gaal will be loath to tinker with it too much. The Dutchman does have a tendency to ease players back into the first-team frame following injury but, once up to full fitness, there’s every chance that Jones’ return to the squad could see Daley Blind shifting over to left-back, displacing budget prospect Cameron Borthwick-Jackson (4.0) as a result. The latter has been named in the United XI in each of the last three Gameweeks following an injury to Ashley Young and, as one of the cheapest current starting defenders around, is the fourth most transferred in defender this week, with 13,000 FPL managers clambering on board the bandwagon. Borthwick-Jackson should keep his place this weekend against a Sunderland team that ranks joint-second-bottom for goals in home matches (13) but with Jones close to a recall now, question marks are growing over the youngster’s chances of retaining his place over the long haul.