With the press publishing their predicted lineups days before today’s Premier League team-sheets are revealed, I’ve switched focus for today’s preamble. Luckily, two Dutchman have given us plenty to chew over…
While Robin Van Persie has continued to be our Fantasy darling for several months, Arsene Wenger has strongly suggested that we’ll have to deal with the absence of the prolific goalscorer very soon. With Van Persie closing on Alan Shearer’s Premier League record of 36 goals in a calendar year, the Gunners boss has made it clear that Van Persie may have to sacrifice his chances of acquiring the two more goals he needs, for the good of the team. In other words, Van Persie could still be rested over the busy Christmas schedule.
Arsenal face Wolves tomorrow, QPR on New Year’s Eve and then a tricky trip to Fulham on January 2. The theory that Van Persie could be lined up for a break against QPR, put forward by the Daily Telegraph, would certainly seem the most likely scenario in Wenger’s mind. That would give Van Persie just the Wolves encounter to grab the two goals he needs – perhaps giving us greater confidence in terms of the armband for gameweek 18.
When questioned on the prospect of Van Persie’ being rested, Wenger was certainly cagey…
“We will see — it will be a big demand for him [to play all three matches] but I don’t know yet…I am very happy if he does it but if he can combine the record with staying fit… What is important for me now is he stays fit. I know that if he is fit he will score goals.”
Interestingly, even with Van Persie on the pitch and going for goals, Wenger has stated that his side have been forced to change their style in recent weeks, as a result of injuries to their full-backs. With centre-halves filling in, the Gunners boss has admitted that they have curtailed their attacking instincts…
“We are a bit more cautious going forward because a centre back is not a full back…Maybe we are a little bit more resilient defensively and a bit stronger in the air but overall it doesn’t change a lot and we still try to play out from the back with our passing game. It’s changed it a little bit.”
All those desperately seeking a reason to skipper Nani or Wayne Rooney over the Arsenal man then, have something to go on here. Could Van Persie’s return suffer with the Gunners adopting a more cautious approach over the festive fixtures? Certainly, beyond gameweek 18, there’s a risk of finding Van Persie preserved by the Arsenal boss – the team-sheet for Saturday’s clash with QPR will be eagerly anticipated.
The last 24-hours has also seen Rafael Van der Vaart turn from an injury stricken Fantasy cast-off, to a player who looks likely to be backed to deal some damage to the Norwich City defence tomorrow evening. Having been hauled off in the 1-1 draw with Chelsea with further hamstring problems, the Dutchman now appears to be lined up to feature at Carrow Road.
First we had the Tweets from Van der Vaart himself, revealing that he was due to return to training over the weekend.
“…will be training again and if that goes well I will be back next game!”
That was followed by Harry Redknapp confirming Van der Vaart’s progress to Sky Sports News…
“He looks okay…He looks like he could be fit…We thought he had a hamstring. He went for a scan and it didn’t show a tear…we think he probably had a bit of cramp in there where he’s had a problem before, a bit of tightness he felt maybe might go, so he took the precaution of not playing on with it.”
The situation with Van der Vaart looks very similar to Sir Alex Ferguson’s dilemma with Phil Jones. Redknapp may not want to take a risk with his Dutch playmaker, but, with injuries to Aaron Lennon and Jermain Defoe, he looks likely to throw Van der Vaart back in. Ferguson meanwhile, will surely start Jones and his bruised jaw against Wigan, as he continues to struggle for centre-backs and cover in central midfield.
Jones and Van der Vaart combined, have seen close to 150,000 “transfers out” this week, as the doubt over their starts in gameweek 18 surfaced. It’s looking increasingly likely that both will feature and, given their fixtures, they could well punish those who took evasive transfer action, when perhaps caution was better placed.
At least in Van der Vaart’s case, his replacement in many squads would have been Nani – the United man looks well placed to continue his recent form and outscore Van der Vaart once again and the winger, along with Rooney, will be the obvious candidate for the armband for gameweek 19, with the threat of rest hanging over Van Persie. We will also be looking for Van der Vaart to be rested for Tottenham’s trip to Swansea on New Years Eve – that would surely make him more likely to figure in both of the double gameweek fixtures – the first of which is the home clash with West Brom, just three days later.
There’s clearly a lot to consider, with gameweek 19 looking every inch the pivotal gameweek that seems set to see many Fantasy squads bear the brunt of rest and rotation policies. Amongst that, and the frenzy of the congested fixture list of the next six days, Fantasy managers will also need to hatch plans for the double fixtures in gameweek 20.
