By
PaulT
Hello everyone and welcome to the latest preview of the weekends fixtures ahead of your FPL choices for the weekend. Last weekend saw good point hauls again if you had City and Liverpool players, Sane in particular. There was also big points for Mooy of Huddersfield who may have snuck onto a few folks benches. There is a massive Super Sunday of derbies ahead, so lets see what GW 14 is going to bring us….
Cardiff City v Wolverhampton Wanderers
Friday night football comes to the Welsh capital as Wolves come visiting. Both teams suffered defeat last weekend so will be hoping to right that wrong this week. Only goal difference separates Cardiff and the foot of the table and they'll be keen to get back to winning ways here. Their two wins this season have come in two of their last three home league matches, so they will go into the game with confidence. They were poor despite only losing1-0 to Everton, but they will be buoyed by the fact that Wolves also appear to be in poor form. The Midlands side come into this having failed to win their last five league matches, and have picked up just one point from 15 available. Zohore misses out for Cardiff and Mendez-Laing is a doubt as well. Murphy may come back in for Ralls as they look for goals at home. Jonny is still missing for the visitors, so expect Ruben Vinagre to continue in his place.
Prediction � CAR 1-2 WOL
Crystal Palace v Burnley
The Eagles welcome Burnley to Selhurst Park on the back of a creditable 0-0 draw at Old Trafford that saw Hodgson's men actually have chances to nick all 3 points. The fact that they came away from the game disappointed gives an indication of how well they players, and we could see the same XI named here. Despite that good performance, the fact remains that the stalemate leaves the Eagles without a win in eight and one point above the drop zone. The injury problems are clearing up for Palace, but they are still without Benteke and Whickham up top. Dyche saw his troops defeated by Newcastle on Monday night and they now sit below Palace in the table on account of their inferior goal difference record. The Clarets have now failed to win in six and will need to perform better here if that is to change. Gudmundsson missed the Newcastle game through illness but should come back here. Tarkowski and Ward are still missing.
Prediction CRY 2-1 BUR
Huddersfield Town v Brighton & Hove Albion
Huddersfield managed to grab a vital 3 points away to Wolves last time out. The win was enough to see them climb out of the drop zone and up to 15th in the table and they will see this as another opportunity at home to a Brighton side who only managed to pick up 1 point in the month of November. The Seagulls are well clear of trouble at the bottom, but will have to soon return to winning way if they are to avoid being puled into the fight. For the home side, Zanka should return after suspension and his replacing of Smith at the back could be the only change. Hughton's visitors are sweating over the fitness of top scorer Murray and keeper Ryan, whilst Stephens is suspended.
Prediction HUD 1-1 BHA
Leicester City v Watford
At the King Power, Leicester will be confident after winning through to the League Cup Quarters this week vs Southampton. That means they are unbeaten in 5 games in all competitions. They will have Maddison missing after his 2nd yellow for diving, the England man apologising for his poor judgement. Vardy and Ndidi should return to the side after missing the cup tie. Watford were soundly beaten by Liverpool on the weekend, and they are quickly slipping down to mid table after being one of the teams setting the pace in the opening weeks. Holebas and Janmaat look set to miss out with injury, and the game should come too soon for Cleverley.
Prediction LEI 2-0 WAT
Manchester City v AFC Bournemouth
City march on both at home and in Europe, with a convincing win at West Ham followed by the draw needed to qualify from their Champions League group in Lyon in midweek. The focus for many FPL players will be which player of City's to Captain after Sterling continuing the form shown before the International break, Aguero always dangerous, and David Silva having a wonderful start to the season. Bernardo Silva could return here too. The challenge for Bournemouth will b to stop the free flowing Champions getting their own way and the Cherries have shown resilience in recent weeks against big sides. Crucially, they have come out of those with praise but no points and things don't look like getting any easier here. Lerma is suspended after breaching the bookings threshold so expect Cook to partner Gosling at the back.
Prediction MNC 4-0 BOU
Newcastle United v West Ham United
The meeting of 2 United's in the North East see Rafa's Magpies on a high after their 3rd win in a row at Burnley whilst Pellegrini's en were thrashed by City. The recent good form of Newcastle has been down to Benitez being able to wring more out of players who had started the season so poorly. After an abject start, only taking three points from a possible 30 in a winless 10-game run, they come into this one as probable favourites. Matt Ritchie will hope to put that awful miss behind him, and the solid performances from Fernandez and Fabian Schar at the heart of defence will be looked for again. For the Hammers, they will hope to improve on a run of only 1 win out of 7 recently. They will give Arnautovic every last second to prove his fitness, but have options in Hernandez and Carroll to come in if he doesn't make it. Expect Wilshere to miss out too, but Snodgrass returns from suspension.
Prediction NEW 2-1 WHU
Southampton v Manchester United
The Saturday evening fixture sees Jose and his men make the trip to St Marys with their rollercoaster season showing no signs of stopping. United were poor in their games vs Palace and Young Boys but the 1-0 win in the 2nd match did see them through to the Champions League last 16. The water bottle thrashing from the manager on the sidelines was a bit embarrassing but it kept the focus on Jose and not the poor performance on the field. Lukaku and Pogba were rested in midweek and Luke Shaw comes back after suspension to potentially face his old club. Southampton were unlucky to go out on pens to Leicester but will look to this big match to lift their spirits. The harsh reality is that Saints are winless in their last nine Premier League matches and Mark Hughes is running out of time to save his job. The 2 goal performance of Armstrong at Fulham shows the Scotland man's qualities, and Hughes will hope he can do similar here. Bertrand is back after a ban and should come back in too.
Prediction SOU 1-2 MNU
Chelsea v Fulham
The derby day special kicks off at the Bridge where Sarri and his men will be dealing with the unfamiliar feeling of losing a league match this season to overcome as they welcome their former manager and his team. At time of writing, we do not know how Chelsea have dealt with their Eurpoa League tie, but we are certain that Hazard and Moses will be unavailable for that match and will be doubts for the weekend. Giroud netted at Wembley and could be preferred to Morata in attack here. Fulham grabbed a good win over Southampton and they will hope another man returning to the Bridge will have an impact here. Schurrle scored in that game and he seems to be a vital piece of the puzzle as Ranieri looks to take the strain off main man Mitrovic. Sessegnon has 2 assists in that match also, and the talented youngster will need to be n top form here if the points are to go back to Craven Cottage.
Prediction CHE3-1 FUL
Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur
The North London derby is always one that is ringed in the calendar when the fixtures are released and this one should be a cracking game with 2 teams in good form meeting here at the Emirates. Again, as at time of writing, The Europa league matches have not taken place and there is still the possibility that Arsenals game could not go ahead with the issues being seen in Ukraine this past week. If the game does take place, Arsenal have taken a youthful squad to Kiev, so expect many big hitters to be rested ahead of this massive derby match. One man who could see action in Ukraine would be Koscielny, the defender stepping up his fitness each week. Spurs did not have the luxury of wholesale changes vs Inter in the Champions League, but did rest Eriksen and Son from the start, the Dane coming off the bench to score the only goal. Son scored a goal of the season contender vs Chelsea and the importance of the Korean could be seen again in this match.
Prediction ARS1-1 TOT
Liverpool v Everton
The weekend rounds off at Anfield for the Merseyside version of derby day and Liverpool come into the match on the back of defeat in Paris. Their League form continues to impress though and their 3-0 win at Watford shows where Klopp and his men are focussing their efforts this term. Salah notched again at Vicarage Rd to show the mercurial Egyptian is returning to the form of last term. Alexander-Arnold netted a stunning free kick again after scoring for England the other week and the full back may be giving the Reds another option on the flank. Everton come into the match on the back some good recent form giving them only 1 defeat in the last 10 PL games. Sigurdsson was the scorer vs Cardiff and the Icelander is showing the class that we all know he possesses. Their multi-million frontline will need to show their best though to get out of Anfield with any points, whilst Pickford will hope to bring his World Cup form to keep out Liverpool's much vaunted attacking talents.
Prediction LIV 3-1 EVE
That's all from me, but with midweek fixtures coming up next week it won't be that long before I will be back. With some cracking games this weekend, there are many points to be won and lost in the FPL world, so until next time…
PaulT
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