EPL GW-33 Pre-Deadline Chat

After a brief reprieve in GW-32 in which each club featured exactly once, it’s now back to the chaos generated by COVID postponements and tournament commitments. GW-33 features doubles for Arsenal, Burnley, Brighton, Leicester, Man United, Newcastle, and Southampton, but blanks for Aston Villa, Leeds, and Wolves.

Moreover, Leicester, Liverpool, Man City, and Chelsea are all fresh (or fatigued) off the heels of mid-week European tournament matches, plus Liverpool, Man City, Chelsea, and Crystal Palace have FA Cup semifinal games this weekend.

The threat of rest and rotation is going to confound your DGW-33 transfer decisions then, so at least be sure to eliminate the players who we already know are unlikely to feature. I’ve compiled a club-by-club list of those names for you below.

Fantrax managers should keep in mind that Spurs vs Brighton is the week’s first match; we should have confirmed lineups ahead of the transfer deadline. To help with GW-33 player selection, see Olakunle’s FPL Player Picks article, Paul’s Fantrax Player Picks article, and PPQ’s Rate My Teams piece. And as the countdown hour approaches, look for Ali’s Live Chat post so you can join us for the play-by-play!

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Arsenal

Thomas Partey (thigh), Kieran Tierney (calf), and Tomiyasu Takahiro (knee) are all sidelined. Alexandre Lacazette has been absent from training for reasons that are “private”, and Mikel Arteta was cagey on whether the Frenchman would be available to play tomorrow.

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Aston Villa

Blank gameweek.

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Brighton

Shane Duffy is dealing with a thigh injury, and Steven Alzate is ill.

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Brentford

Josh Da Silva’s hamstring is healing well, sohe could be fit to play this weekend. Similarly, Pontus Jansson missed the West Ham game through illness but could recover in time for the Watford game.

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Burnley

Ben Mee, Johan Gudmundsson, and Erik Pieters all remain unavailable. Burnley’s only fresh casualty is Sean Dyche himself, who was sacked today after almost a decade at the helm.

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Chelsea

Romelu Lukaku has returned to training, but Ben Chilwell and Callum Hudson-Odoi will miss out.

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Crystal Palace

Will Hughes, Tyrick Mitchell, and Michael Olise are doubts, while Nathan Ferguson will miss.

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Everton

Yerry Mina, Andros Townsend, and Nathan Patterson are all unavailable.

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Leeds

Blank gameweek.

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Leicester

Danny Ward, Jamie Vardy, Ryan Bertrand and Wilfred Ndidi are sidelined with knee injuries, while Boubakary Soumare is a doubt with a groin issue.

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Liverpool

Diogo Jota picked up a knock against Benfica on Wednesday but is expected to be available in time to face United on Tuesday. Jurgen Klopp has no other injury worries.

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Manchester City

Kyle Walker and Kevin De Bruyne picked up knocks in the mid-week Champions League fixture and have not trained since (Pep said in his presser today that KDB required stitches in his foot). They are now serious doubts for the FA Cup showdown with Liverpool tomorrow, and perhaps even for the league tie with Brighton on Wednesday.

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Manchester United

Raphael Varane, Edinson Cavani, Scott McTominay, Fred, and Luke Shaw will all miss out. Ralf Rangnick says Shaw may not feature again this season.

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Newcastle

Callum Wilson, Ryan Fraser, and Kieran Trippier are unavailable, but Joseph Willock is back in training.

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Norwich

Andrew Omobamidele, Adam Idah, Josh Sargent, and Ozan Kabak are sidelined, but Przemyslaw Placheta and Billy Gilmour are back in contention. Brandon Williams is ineligible to face his parent club.

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Southampton

The Saints are injury-free.

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Tottenham

Matt Doherty’s season was ended by an MCL injury sustained during the Aston Villa game. Japhet Tanganga and Oliver Skipp remain unavailable as well.

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Watford

Cucho Hernandez picked up a muscle problem against Leeds that could end his season. That is Roy Hodgson’s only injury concern among his first-string players.

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West Ham

Angelo Ogbonna remains unavailable and Kurt Zouma’s ankle injury renders him a serious doubt.

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Wolves

Blank gameweek.

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Do you plan to pile into double-gamers this week? Or are you afraid of rest and rotation? Are you ditching Fantrax discounts at this point, or will you continue to carry some bargains? Whom will you choose for your FPL captain’s armband? Playing any chips? Please join us in the comments and tell us your plans!

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