Injuries are one of the key perils of heavy double gameweek investment. Along with rest and rotation, the risk of players missing out on the second scheduled fixture due to injury is always a concerning factor. And so it’s proved for gameweek 31 with several key and popular fantasy signings all picking up worrying knocks going into the midweek programme…
Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic is perhaps the biggest concern. The Serbian full-back suffered a knee injury in the 1-1 draw with Blackburn and failed to reappear for the second-half. His absence was felt with stand-in right-back Ferreira outmuscled by Diouf for the crucial equaliser. Sadly for Carlo Ancelotti and owners of Invanovic, it seems likely that Ferreira or Belletti will line up at Portsmouth on Wednesday. Given Ancelotti’s description of the injury to Ivanovic I’m not optimistic that we will see him risked with Villa and United lying in wait for Chelsea after the trip to Fratton Park…
“It is a traumatic injury on his knee, so for this we have to wait until the next day for a clear situation of his injury. When you speak about a knee you have to be worried but I hope he can recover quickly.”
Aston Villa’s Richard Dunne is another major concern. Owned by over 40% of Fantasy Premier League managers, they will be sweating on his chances of taking the field against Sunderland in midweek after picking up an Achilles problem in the draw with Wolves. While Dunne is described as being “sore” in the area, given that Martin O’Neill has options at the back, the Villa boss could look to preserve Dunne with the trip to Chelsea next weekend in mind.
Villa’s opponents on Wednesday also have a concern going into the game regarding leading scorer Darren Bent. The striker is owned by almost 30% of FPL managers and will go into the midweek encounter full of confidence following his brace against Birmingham at the weekend. While he completed the 90 minutes in that game, he acknowledged that he’d picked up an injury which would need to be assessed early this week…
“It’s a little bit sore. I’ll ice it tonight and have it assessed tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll be ready for the next game.”
Steve Bruce could have hip-injury victim Kenwyne Jones back available to him for the Villa trip, which could give the Black Cats boss the option to rest Bent should his injury remain a concern.
Former fantasy favourite Joleon Lescott was also an injury victim this weekend, making him a major doubt for the visit of Everton to Eastlands on Wednesday. He suffered a hamstring injury in the warm-up for the victory at Fulham and will be assessed this week. Roberto Mancini certainly wasn’t confident on his chances…
“I think he can’t play against Everton. At the moment I don’t know how long he’ll be out. He’ll have a scan.”
Lescott is owned by just under 4% of FPL managers however. His absence is likely to Kompany alongside Toure in central defence on Wednesday.
We will of course update you on these and any other knocks and scrapes that materialise over the next 24-hours.