The Treatment Table – Gameweek 8

Alvaro Morata emerges from the Chelsea treatment room, but Ben Davies calls off sick, as Danny Rose prepares for a return to the Spurs bench.

Sergio Aguero was already on the timber at the weekend, as Pep Guardiola delivers the latest coded messages ahead of tonight’s Champions League tie with Napoli.

Here’s our round-up of all the new knocks troubling physios around the Premier League, together with a catch-up on those journeying back to contention.

New Arrivals

Fantasy Premier League (FPL) were left frustrated last weekend after two of the five most popular defenders were both denied clean sheet returns due to unexpected absences.

Ben Davies went into the Gameweek as the top scoring defender in FPL but his 24% owners were left with zero points after he missed Saturday’s 1-0 win over Bournemouth due to illness.

Davies has now skipped Spurs’ previous two home matches, with Mauricio Pochettino’s decision to bench him against Swansea in Gameweek 5 meaning he has missed out on their last two clean sheets at Wembley.

The club have since confirmed that Davies is still unavailable for their clash in Spain tonight, though with their home fixture against Liverpool not taking place until 4pm Sunday, he will surely be expected to recover in time to face the Merseysiders.

However, with Danny Rose now on the verge of a return – perhaps even in Madrid – Davies’ owners may now be considering an exit plan as the fixtures turn sour.

Davies is likely to be retained as the first choice left-back for now, but the frequency of Mauricio Pochettino’s rotation with the fit-again Rose will be vital. As will Rose’s ability to impress and push for a more permanent recall.

Elsewhere, Man United’s Eric Bailly has now missed two successive Gameweeks and clean sheets, with United keeping out Palace and Liverpool across those fixtures.

Jose Mourinho made no mention of an injury in his Friday press conference after the Ivorian returned from duties over the international break. But prior to Saturday’s Anfield stalemate, the Red Devils’ boss confirmed the defender had picked up a problem while away.

Bailly remains sidelined for tomorrow night’s Champions League tie with Benfica and will therefore remain a doubt for Saturday’s trip to Huddersfield.

Despite the centre-back absence at Anfield, the United rearguard once again delivered the points to claim a seventh shut-out in eight Gameweeks as Chris Smalling deputised for the second successive league match.

Although Bailly remains their most owned defender (15%), interest in Phil Jones continues to escalate – over 59,000 have acquired him since the weekend, twice the number of any other backline option.

And Antonio Valencia is the second most acquired defender (29,000) after he soared to the top of the defender standings in light of Davies’ absence for Spurs.

Meanwhile, Arsenal’s options in attack were dented after Alexis Sanchez and Aaron Ramsey missed the weekend loss at Watford with minor problems, according to Arsene Wenger:

“Both had muscular alerts they are not very bad but are too short for today”.

The Gunners boss went on to admit that Sanchez, in particular, has been hit hard by his nation’s failure to clinch a place in next summer’s World Cup:

“He is in a very difficult mindset. Sanchez is 29 at the end of the year, so the next one he will be 33. He expected to go.

It’s certainly a big disappointment for him. You have in every generation a player who carries the pressure of expectation of a nation… on Chile it’s Sanchez.”

Sanchez’ absence was somewhat surprising, given his tendency to play through the pain barrier, and perhaps hints at his impending exit in the winter transfer window after Wenger conceded he may leave the club in January.

Even without Sanchez and Ramsey, the stock of Mesut Ozil continues to decline after Wenger opted for Alex Iwobi and Danny Welbeck in the central support spots behind Alexandre Lacazette at Vicarage Road.

Yet Welbeck and Laurent Koscielny both limped off during the 2-1 loss. The latest today has Koscielny back in contention, along with Sanchez and Ramsey, with the trio now expected to face Everton on Sunday.

Sanchez has to remain in our thoughts, despite doubts over his state of mind and future at the club. Looking ahead to Gameweek 10, with Harry Kane and Romelu Lukaku going head to head at Old Trafford and Man City’s potentially rotating strikers at West Brom, Sanchez could yet emerge as a major captain differential.

For Chelsea, Victor Moses is set for a period on the sidelines after limping out of the loss at Palace with a hamstring problem.

Blues boss Antonio Conte was somewhat vague on the wing-back’s likely time of absence as he awaits scans:

“For sure Moses is out because of his injury. I don’t know if it’s serious, I hope not. You know very well the importance of this player in our system… I hope to have him back very soon.

My job is to be focused on my work with my players and try to do our best. Now, for sure, it’s not an easy moment for us, but I think it’s important to find a solution and not look for excuses.”

Reports suggest that the Nigerian international could be out for up to a month, which could see him miss league clashes with Watford, Bournemouth and Man United.

Davide Zappacosta (5.9) looks set to claim a short-term spot on the teamsheet, though with just two clean sheets in five, the Blues defence have been far from convincing. If selected, the Italian looks to have his work cut out the in-form Richarlison down the Hornets’ left flank. The Brazilian has is available for selection after an FA panel cleared him of diving to win the penalty against Arsenal on Saturday.

Brighton are sweating on the fitness of ever-present centre-half Shane Duffy, who was forced off during yesterday’s 1-1 stalemate with Everton.

The defender discussed his withdrawal with the local press, post-match:

“I’m all right, a bit sore at the minute. I’ll get scanned in the morning and see how it is but it feels not too bad. It was my groin. I was running back and I just felt it but hopefully, I am not too bad.”

A possible absence for Duffy would be a bitter blow to the Seagulls ahead of some encouraging fixtures against West Ham, Southampton, Swansea, Stoke and Palace in the upcoming six rounds of fixtures.

The Irishman is joint-top for shots inside the box (eight) among all defenders, while only Burnley’s James Tarkowski has made more clearances, blocks and interceptions (CBI).

However, a stint on the sidelines could potentially bring Uwe Hunemeier into contention as the cheapest starting defender on offer. Priced at a mere 3.9 and owned by 6.2%, he replaced Duffy late on against the Toffees.

Finally, Huddersfield’s Phillip Billing was stretchered off with a
twisted ankle. While Dwight Gayle remained on the pitch despite sustaining a calf problem in the latter stages of Newcastle’s draw with Southampton, according to Rafa Benitez.

In Recovery

For Alvaro Morata, the recovery from injury is complete.

Antonio Conte confirmed today – shortly after Marcos Alonso had broken the news – that the Spaniard is back in contention for tomorrow night’s Champions League tie with Roma.

Conte also stated that the hamstring problem was caused by his workload and that the striker went into the Man City game carrying a problem. However, the Chelsea boss made it clear that he felt forced to gamble with his fitness with his squad struggling with the current schedule.

“The problem is we are playing always the same players. Also we have players in our team who are not used to playing three games in a week. Kante, it’s the first time [in his career]. For Moses, the first time. For Morata, it’s the first time to play regularly for his team. For [Marcos] Alonso it’s the same.

When you have a lot of games, you need to rotate players. If this is not possible, I have to take risks. Then, for example, against Manchester City… Morata was injured after 20 minutes. But if I hadn’t put Morata in the starting XI, you’d have told me I’m crazy. Sometimes the players need to rest instead”

Again, that perhaps hints at a more aggressive rest and rotation policy for this season.

For now, Morata’s return is a timely boost for Conte following two defeats and an abject performance from Michy Batshuayi at Selhurst Park.

And with Eden Hazard yet to claim returns over his five appearances, Morata – with six goals and two assists in seven – will be catapulted back into the reckoning for our forward lines as the champions prepare for an outstanding run of matches.

Between now and Gameweek 21, Chelsea face just two testing encounters – against Man United and Liverpool in Gameweeks 11 and 13 respectively.

Now down to 12% ownership, Morata was sold by 757,000+ managers last week, with a further 50,000 jumping ship since the weekend.

Ahead of tonight’s visit from Napoli, Pep Guardiola gave us a handy update on the fitness of Sergio Aguero.

“Day by day he is much better, yesterday (Sunday) he made an amazing training session. The day before Stoke was good but not perfect – yesterday was really good.”

Aguero was sold by over 1.1m FPL managers over Gameweek 7-8 but returned to the bench as an unused sub in the weekend rout over Stoke.

It’s a sign of his start to the season that, despite missing the last two fixtures, Aguero is still the leading points scorer in the City squad. And no forward has bettered his total of 52 points.

Guardiola’s teamsheet against the Italians this evening will surely give us an idea of his thinking ahead of the weekend home match against Burnley. If Aguero’s minutes are managed, the bandwagon looks likely to pick up speed, with over 40,000 already on board since the weekend.

As mentioned, Danny Rose was a surprise inclusion in the Spurs squad to face Real Madrid tonight. Just days after indicating that the left-back was still out “for a few weeks”, Mauricio Pochettino had an about-turn and revealed.

“Danny Rose will be on the bench – that’s important, maybe he’s not fit to play from the beginning but to help the team.”

Given that he’s been stuck on the sidelines since January with a serious knee injury, it remains to be seen just how quickly Rose will be handed a start. Nonetheless, even if he’s only handed initial minutes off the bench to build up his match sharpness, that’s enough of an issue for Davies’ owners.

Spurs face a tough domestic schedule, with showdowns against Liverpool, Man United and Arsenal in the next four Gameweeks, which perhaps suggests that Pochettino is unlikely to take any chances.

A Gameweek 11 home clash with Crystal Palace before the north London derby could be earmarked as a return to first-team for Rose, just the kind of fixture that Davies owners will bank on.

Paul Pogba took to social media to post a clip of himself in light training before then removing the item.

Two goals and three assists in the first four Gameweeks saw the Frenchman soar to the top of the midfield standings. Having climbed to 8.3 in price, Pogba is back to his original cost of 8.0 as United prepare to face Spurs and Chelsea in the next three Gameweeks.

With the schedule then picking up in Gameweek 12, though, interest in a fully-fit Pogba looks set to escalate at a time when our faith in Henrikh Mkhitaryan is in steep decline.

The Armenian is the most sold midfielder in the Gameweek on the back of one goal and an assist in the last six league fixtures.

Roy Hodgson is optimistic on Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s fitness as he steps up his recovery from a groin problem.

Speaking to the press last Friday, the Palace manager was hopeful that the Chelsea loanee could be back in contention for this weekend’s trip to St James’ Park.

“He [Loftus Cheek], like Wilf, didn’t train immediately but from the last six or seven days has been allowed to come back into full training, in the beginning it was modified because we were still worried about the injury, but he is showing signs that it’s behind him and he’s got another week’s work with us. I’m hoping by Newcastle he will be fit and ready.”

As witnessed on Saturday, when he opted for Zaha and Andros Townsend up front in the win over Chelsea, Hodgson’s teamsheets could hand us a surprise or two.

If back in contention, Loftus-Cheek could even be shifted into an advanced central area, allowing Townsend to occupy his right wing berth at the expense of James McArthur.

Now down to 5.8% ownership, Loftus-Cheek’s place in Hodgson’s plans is clearly worth monitoring at a time when Christian Benteke is still in a leg brace and far from a return.

The Belgian offered a new update on his recovery only today.

“The rehab is going really well and I am really happy with the way that my ligament is healing. I hope, and I feel like I can be back in a few weeks.”

Despite his recovery being on track, Zaha – with Loftus Cheek in support – have the opportunity to hand Hodgson a selection headache. Benteke’s form was hardly convincing before his injury, and with the Eagles embarking on a kind set of fixtures, the goals could now come. Palace face just two of last term’s top eight (Spurs and out-of-sorts Everton) between now and Gameweek 19.

Finally, Marcos Rojo has been included in Man United’s squad to face Benfica on Wednesday night with Mourinho predicting a return in two weeks.

The United boss had previously ruled the Argentine out until January. It remains to be seen how soon Rojo can be brought into the first-team frame, although Bailly – when fit – and Jones are surely established as the first choice centre-back pairing, restricting him to likely cameo roles and action in cup competitions.