Dugout Discussion

Fabinho starts at centre-half as injured Gomez and Matip miss Chelsea v Liverpool

The stand-out Premier League fixture of the weekend takes place at Stamford Bridge this afternoon.

Liverpool are Chelsea’s visitors, with kick-off in west London at 16:30 BST.

Both managers have made one change to their starting XIs for this clash.

Joe Gomez (£5.5m) misses out with a knock and with Joel Matip (£5.5m) also unavailable because of a minor muscle injury, it’s Fabinho (£5.5m) who is given the nod to partner Virgil van Dijk (£6.5m) at centre-half.

New signing Thiago Alcantara (£6.0m) is only among the substitutes, while the rest of the Liverpool side is as expected.

Mateo Kovacic (£5.5m) comes into the Chelsea midfield in place of Ruben Loftus-Cheek (£6.0m) in Frank Lampard’s only alteration.

Cesar Azpilicueta (£6.0m) is still only a substitute, so that means another start for Reece James (£5.0m) and Marcos Alonso (£6.0m) at full-back – the latter going up against Mohamed Salah (£12.0m) down the Liverpool right.

Kai Havertz (£8.5m) gets another chance to impress after his quiet debut at Brighton, while Timo Werner (£9.5m) – still the most-owned forward in FPL by some margin – again leads the line.

Despite his overall popularity, Werner was the most-sold player of Gameweek 2, with over half a million Fantasy managers ditching him.

Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.5m) wasn’t far behind him for transfers out and no defender was sold by as many FPL bosses as the Liverpool right-back following his Gameweek 1 blank.

The England international scored home and away against Chelsea last season, with the two league meetings between the two clubs returning 11 goals.

Only Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£12.0m) was captained by more Fantasy managers than Salah this weekend, meanwhile.

The Egyptian, who hit a hat-trick against Leeds United last weekend, was handed the armband by over 560,000 of us ahead of Saturday’s deadline.


Chelsea XI: Kepa, James, Zouma, Christensen, Alonso, Jorginho, Kante, Kovacic, Mount, Havertz, Werner.

Liverpool XI: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, van Dijk, Fabinho, Robertson, Henderson, Keita, Wijnaldum, Mane, Firmino, Salah.

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2,462 Comments Post a Comment
  1. Royal5
    • 12 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    Fair. Terrible by Christensen.

  2. Andy_Social
    • 11 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    No no no. Mane put his body in such a position as to draw the foul. Christensen couldn't avoid it.

    1. ivantys
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Lucky break by pool again same as last year.

      1. Begbie.
        • 10 Years
        3 years, 6 months ago

        Lucky the defender has rugby tackled him when he's through on goal lmao?

        1. Andy_Social
          • 11 Years
          3 years, 6 months ago

          Christensen is guilty of naivety and being caught out of position. It's a foul and a yellow, but Mane bought that.

    2. elchilangles
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      you are you for real?!

    3. The Train Driver
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      This, so obvious Mane makes him lose his balance and fall over him. VAR has been criminal this season as well...

    4. Cymro
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Haha if you believe that then you have no clue what you're watching.

      1. Heiro
        • 14 Years
        3 years, 6 months ago

        Has to be a joke. It's 100% a red card...

  3. HARLEY
    • 6 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    CAN SOMEONE HELP ME

    McCarthy
    TAA Doherty Egan Justin
    Auba Salah Son ASM
    Werner Adams
    (Nyland KWP Stephens Brewster)

    2FT 1.0 ITB

    Auba ASM -> KDB Zaha
    Worth -4 Adams -> Bamford?

    1. Jeremy Corbyn
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      No hits required

    2. Bobby Digital
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Auba ASM to KDB Zaha looks good. Don't take a hit.

    3. tsm
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 13 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      The fixture turn for Leeds not sure Bamford worth it

      Stephens is flagged am trying to find a replacement, would deal with that and save ft for next time.

  4. fr3d
    • 6 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    TAA free-kick goal soon?

  5. Chucky
    • 10 Years
    3 years, 6 months ago

    great... VVD now guaranteed to grab a CS.. typical of my season

    1. Dthinger
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Not really. Chelsea could still grab a goal on a set piece or a counter

  6. Party time
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Alright a Liverpool let us feast on them

    • Malcolm Tucker for England …
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Mane diving again.....

      ...

      1. g40steve
        • 6 Years
        3 years, 6 months ago

        Spec savers appt Mon

    • Danstoke82
      • 9 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Cmon Trent give me some points

    • The Suspended One
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Harsh but can’t do that

    • Ginkapo FPL
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Doesnt feel like justice for not getting my Mane goal

    • RAFA THE GAFFA
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Salah back to back hatricks incoming

    • Pedram
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      You know what to do Salah

    • NULL-X-VOID
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Salah explosion coming pls

    • Hotdogs for Tea
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      yip, mo argument there

    • Cilly Bonnolly
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      That fiver I put on over 2.5 Liverpool goals at 8/1 looks like a better bet now.

    • Flair
      • 3 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      This is going to be very interesting now

    • Pukki Blinders
      • 4 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Surely game ends 4-3 now

    • Scholes Out For Summer
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 10 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Trent and Salah against Alonso and 10 men.... surely a haul? SURELY?

    • Ha.
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Hold Ings and do Werner > Martial for next week.

      It was really that simple.

    • Nimby
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      How could there be only 1 minute of added time? Ridiculous.

    • jdp219
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 7 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Christensen needs to drink some more water.

    • Manani
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      thoughts on doubling up Robertson + TAA?

      1. Salah’s Sonnet
        • 12 Years
        3 years, 6 months ago

        No chance

      2. Stupendous
        • 11 Years
        3 years, 6 months ago

        45 mins to go with them here for me. Interesting prospect now!

    • Stupendous
      • 11 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      "Play out the situation even if you know somebody is offside"

      Right so don't fooking put your flag up and stop play for..

      Off fookin side.

      Let the game go on and maybe someone breaks their leg unnecessarily after another person (or even the same person) is literally breaking the rules of the game.

      Footballs gone I'm telling ya.

    • TheDragon
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      This season clearly there are loads and loads of great options , hard to see that a clear template will form and different ‘premiums’ will haul each week - exciting!

      With that said, what strike force for the long term?

      Are Werner & Martial worth it??

      1. Brosstan
        • 9 Years
        3 years, 6 months ago

        If Kane had blanked again you would have said the same thing about him. The thing to remember is that all of these scores are unsustainable. It was the same early on last seaon with the likes of Pukki and Abraham posting ridiculous numbers, being on for more than 1 GPG etc. It will normalize and players like Maupay, Mitro and Bamford will be very frustrating to own for long stretches.

      2. Bobby Digital
        • 6 Years
        3 years, 6 months ago

        I'm sticking to Ings Werner and Mitro.

    • Brosstan
      • 9 Years
      3 years, 6 months ago

      Fair play to the ref. Its hard for him to see with all players running and the ball in motion how close Kepa was when the foul started. He looked at the screen and changed it to the correct decision. VAR used correctly.

    • @persecuted_by_mods
        3 years, 6 months ago

        Werner looks scared to go near the box after his shocking miss

      • Atimis
        • 7 Years
        3 years, 6 months ago

        What would you do with Bissouma? Just let him rot on the bench?

        1. Ha.
          • 8 Years
          3 years, 6 months ago

          Yep

        2. TheDragon
          • 5 Years
          3 years, 6 months ago

          Yes surely unless you are wildcarding

        3. Strchld
          • 7 Years
          3 years, 6 months ago

          Probably activating WC, Bissoumas red make it even easier decide

        4. Wild Card this!
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 14 Years
          3 years, 6 months ago

          We all have more pressing issues

        5. _Ninja_
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 13 Years
          3 years, 6 months ago

          Best 4.5m mid

        6. Limbo
          • 13 Years
          3 years, 6 months ago

          5th spot.

      • LewanGOALski
        • 12 Years
        3 years, 6 months ago

        Team is:

        McCarthy - 4.0
        TAA - Digne - Tierney - C.Taylor - Mitchell
        Salah - Auba - JWP - Soucek - Bissouma
        Werner - Martial - Mitro

        What do you think of this (-8) instead of WC?
        Tierney + Auba + JWP ➡ Saiss + Sterling/KDB + Zaha (-8)

        Or rather WC?
        Thoughts..?

        1. g40steve
          • 6 Years
          3 years, 6 months ago

          Better than WC, those who have WC’ed will be looking for another the way this year is panning out!

      • g40steve
        • 6 Years
        3 years, 6 months ago

        Werners 9.5 & all the 6-8’s are spanking him?

        1. TheDragon
          • 5 Years
          3 years, 6 months ago

          Sample size: 1.5 games

        2. mattk lfc
          • 8 Years
          3 years, 6 months ago

          Definitely better value elsewhere

        3. Royal5
          • 12 Years
          3 years, 6 months ago

          Yup. Sure he'll score a few goals if you give him time. But at that price he should deliver every game.

        4. Superflymonk
          • 9 Years
          3 years, 6 months ago

          Yeah, hard to swallow but Werner will justify that price tag, in the long run, these cheapies can never sustain that stream of goals

      • ivantys
        • 3 Years
        3 years, 6 months ago

        Stupid VAR ruining another game

        1. Malcolm Tucker for England …
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 12 Years
          3 years, 6 months ago

          i know. i mean who cares if the decisions are right, we want spectacle

        2. Stupendous
          • 11 Years
          3 years, 6 months ago

          Shut up. It did it's job well in that situation. Shakes head.