Late Fitness Check: Fantasy EPL Injury Analysis Week 33

The news from Old Trafford isn't extremely comforting. It sounds like Jonny Evans will be ready for the weekend but it isn't guaranteed. Nemanja Vidic is back in training but PhysioRoom.com has him listed as not being ready to return to match action until mid-week. Chris Smalling isn't mentioned in the Team News but PhysioRoom still has him listed as out for both the weekend and mid-week. Depending on your source, we went from United having two CB options (Rio Ferdinand and Phil Jones) to them potentially having 4 or 5 by mid-week. It isn't a very comfortable position to be in as a fantasy manager. I'd still rate the United central defenders in the following order Jones > Rio > Evans > Vidic > Smalling. If you have the money then go with Rafael but there are probably others that you'd prefer to spend on.

Elsewhere, here's the quick rundown of the injury and suspension issues with the other teams with two games and the impact on your selections:

Arsenal: Tomas Rosicky is apparently "50/50" for the weekend. My take is that you should stick with him if you have him at the BD price and having a potentially useful midfielder at about 2.5 is critical to the rest of your roster (and how could it not be?). It seems probable that he'll get at least the mid-week match based on the current prognosis and at his price, that wouldn't be a terrible outcome. If his low price isn't critical to your roster strategy then there will be (far) safer bets for somewhere between 150 and 180 minutes but I'm leaning heavily toward keeping him. Just a reminder that Per Mertesacker is suspended for the weekend but will be eligible again for mid-week against Everton. That probably means that Koscielny will get two matches with Vermaelen and Per each getting one. Make your selections accordingly.

Everton: There isn't much injury news here and the only suspension news is the reminder that Marouane Fellaini and Steven Pienaar are both back for both matches. In my mind, both are very worthy selections depending on what budget you have to work with.

Fulham: Not a lot here of note. Ashkan Dejagah is out for the season which is at least mildly interesting. There is also news that super-cheap enabler Eyong Enoh (presumably starting in the absence of Steve Sidwell and Mahamadou Diarra) is a late fitness check. Essentially that makes him Tomas Rosicky without even the slight chance of getting you some attacking points.

West Ham United: In addition to Mark Noble's continuing injury issues, Joe Cole and Winston Reid (both of whom look like solid two-game enablers if they were healthy) are going to be out for at least the first of the two matches. If you take PhysioRoom.com's word for it they will both end up missing both matches in this match week so I recommend you look elsewhere to fill out your line-up.