Scout Scribbles – Van Persie Inspires Dutch Demolition

Robin van Persie recovers from a knock to spearhead Holland’s win over Latvia. Daley Blind is forced off for the Dutch as fears of knee ligament damage escalate, Asmir Begovic turns out for Bosnia after overcoming a groin complaint, whilst Sunderland and Newcastle have injury concerns over Steven Fletcher and Mehdi Abeid respectively as we edge towards the weekend deadline.

VAN PERSIE ON TARGET IN HOLLAND ROUT

Robin Van Persie recovered from a knock to start for the Netherlands in their Euro Qualifier thrashing of Latvia last night. The Man United forward opened the scoring before providing two assists as the home team ran out 6-0 winners.

The Scout Says: Whilst he’s only scored once in his last five outings with United, Van Persie will be buoyed by yesterday’s display and, despite the potential return of Radamel Falcao from injury, the 12.4-valued Dutchman now looks poised to retain his starting role for the trip to Arsenal’s porous defence this weekend. Two promising home fixtures follow the Gunners clash (HUL, STO) and Van Persie will be hoping to prove worthy of selection over the Colombian to Louis van Gaal, though unless he steps up his output significantly, there’s still no chance the Dutchman will persuade Fantasy managers to overlook Diego Costa and/or Sergio Aguero in the premium bracket. Encouragingly for United, Van Persie sits third amongst forwards for shots inside the box in the last four Gameweeks – only Aguero and Graziano Pelle have managed more – underlining the fact that his team-mates are still handing him chances aplenty to get amongst the goals.

Blind Panic for Van Gaal

Van Persie’s club team-mate Daley Blind was withdrawn after 20 minutes of the Latvia encounter with a knee injury. Post-match, Netherlands’ coach Guus Hiddink was rather pessimistic over the United midfielder’s prospects:

“It doesn’t look good. I think it’s his medial ligament. It could be a strain, but it could also be a tear.”

Later, Blind took to Twitter to celebrate the victory, though remained vague over the extent of his injury:

“I’m proud of my 25 games for the Dutch national team, but I’m so gutted with my injury… I’ll stay positive and will come back stronger! Nevertheless a great win, 6-0!”

The Scout Says: With Michael Carrick also a doubt for the weekend trip to Arsenal after suffering a groin problem in training with England, Van Gaal’s issues in central midfield continue to build. The United boss has recently deployed a 4-1-4-1 set up with Blind in front of the back-four but the suspension of Chris Smalling saw the Dutchman partner Paddy McNair in central defence last time out, with Carrick taking on the screening role. If both miss out, Van Gaal could turn to Ander Herrera for the first time since he was replaced at half-time by Marouane Fellaini against Everton in Gameweek 8, though Darren Fletcher is perhaps a more industrious option. Van Gaal could, yet again, change tactics to deal with the situation but, having admitted he’s tinkered with his system “too much”, he may be reluctant to restructure yet again. With the likes of Phil Jones, Jonny Evans and Marcos Rojo all still sidelined, Blind’s likely absence could see Smalling and McNair face up to Alexis Sanchez at the Emirates, then – a situation which will raise hopes of a profitable Gameweek 12 amongst the Chilean’s growing band of owners.

TOON FACE ABEID ABSENCE

Mehdi Abeid is likely to be sidelined for two weeks for Newcastle after injuring himself whilst in training with Algeria’s national side ahead of their African Cup of Nations tie with Ethiopia.

The Scout Says: Afforded the full 90 minutes in central midfield in each of the last two Gameweeks, Abeid’s defensive duties in front of the back-four have been pivotal to the Magpies’ recent turnaround in resilience . His ball-winning ability has helped his side chalk up clean sheets in both of those fixtures, and with Cheick Tiote also a doubt for Gameweek 9 clash with QPR with a calf complaint, they may now struggle to maintain their recent defensive showings. One option for Alan Pardew would be to move Moussa Sissoko from his recent role in “the hole” to a deeper position, and this would, of course, seriously diminish the potential of the 5.8-priced Senegal international just when he was beginning to win us over as a feasible differential pick.

BEGOVIC TURNS OUT FOR BOSNIA

Stoke’s Asmir Begovic overcame a groin problem in time to feature for Bosnia yesterday in their 3-0 loss to Israel.

The Scout Says: With the Potters’ backline having only kept two clean sheets all season, it seems quite remarkable that the 4.9-valued Begovic currently boasts a higher ownership than West Brom’s Ben Foster or Swansea’s Lukasz Fabianski, who have managed four and five shutouts respectively. Begovic does, at least, offer his owners a potentially profitable home clash with Burnley in Gameweek 12, though Stoke’s fixtures turn dire thereafter (liv, mun, ARS, cpl, CHE, eve) and Mark Hughes’ men are likely to continue to struggle for further defensive returns. With that schedule in mind, the 7.5%-owned stopper is likely to be sold on by a number of Fantasy managers over the coming weeks.

FLETCHER FORCED OUT OF ENGLAND ENCOUNTER

Sunderland are sweating on the extent of the ankle injury picked up by Steven Fletcher on Friday, after Scotland manager Gordon Strachan confirmed that the forward will miss his side’s friendly against England tomorrow evening.

The Scout Says: With four goals, an assist and six bonus points accrued in his last five appearances for Sunderland, it would be fair to say that Fletcher’s contribution could prove vital for the Black Cats’ ambitions this season, and given his injury history, this recent setback will come as a real concern. The Scot played a part in five of his side’s seven goals across that five-Gameweek period, and without his presence at the spearhead of their attack, Gus Poyet’s side may even struggle to find a way through a Leicester defence next weekend that has conceded in ten of their eleven outings so far this campaign. Connor Wickham will likely be trusted to take up Fletcher’s central position, though Jozy Altidore may also be in contention for what would be his first start of the season. However, with the schedule turning poor from Gameweek 13 onwards (CHE, MCI, liv, WHM, new) few will be considering any of Wearsiders’ attacking assets anyway.