Here’s the fantasy premier league news catch up including Tube strikes, Fellaini, Cahill, Sterling and Allen plus price rises and falls

Tube strikes

Arsenal Fulham and QPR all have home fixtures in GW19 which are under threat because of a proposed tube strike on boxing day.  the daily mail report that Aslef have confirmed the strike but that it needs to be ratified by the authorities (not sure who they are?) before its confirmed

Arsenal are home to West Ham and the Daily Mail report that Arsenal are set to postpone it.  According to the report Arsenal had a similar issue last year but moved the fixture 1 day.  with a game on the 29th only 3 days away, this is reported as not being an option.  Due to the Emirates location travel without the tube is difficult.  THere’s no talk of the GW20 game being moved to the 30th to accomodate it which seems a logical move to me to give the same amount of separation between games.  QPR play their GW on the 30th for example

QPR’s fixture against WBA will go ahead though after the club confirmed this on their official website

‘Supporters are advised to allow extra time for their journeys to and from Loftus Road.
‘Buses will be running on the usual Sunday/Bank Holiday service on the day of the fixture, whilst parking in the borough will be free.

‘Supporters who are unable to attend the fixture owing to the Tube strikes will be entitled to a full refund.’

Fulham are monitoring the situation and will make a decision when the strike is confirmed.  Fulham also play again on the 29th.  Here’s the quote again in the Daily Mail

A club spokesman said: ‘We are monitoring situation and putting contingency in place but remain fully committed to the game going ahead as scheduled.’

So you may want to look at your reserve cover before you rush in to buy any of Arsenal or Fulhams assets.  On the flip side if you’ve been mulling over the sale of Berba this may just be the incentive you need to push the button

Fellaini

• Accepted a 3 match ban (Could have been far worse)
• Will miss GW18-20 games West Ham A  Wigan H and Chelsea H
• Time to sell depending on your sale price vs buy back price
• Beneficiary likely to be Mirallas if fit (currently no return date)  or Naismith.   Either could play in that advanced position. Anichebe has no return date from his hamstring injury.

If you’re interested here’s the clubs statement as quoted in the Telegraph

A statement from Everton said: “Midfielder Marouane Fellaini will miss Everton’s Christmas fixture schedule after being retrospectively charged with violent conduct by the FA following Saturday’s game at Stoke City. The charge is in relation to an incident in the 59th minute involving Fellaini and Stoke City’s Ryan Shawcross, which was not seen by the match officials but caught on video.

“The player and the club have accepted the charge and the 25-year-old will be suspended for three games. Referee Mark Halsey confirmed that he saw two further incidents in the 71st and 91st minutes, also involving Fellaini and Shawcross, neither of which he deemed to be violent conduct.”

Gary Cahill

• Story in the Daily Mail suggests that FIFA could impose further punishment that would sit domestically with the player.
• His red card in the club world challenge has led to a suspension for the Capital One Cup game against Leeds, a positive thing for fantasy premier league but any further suspension would not be good for fantasy premier league owners
• Cahill is the cheapest of the 3 CBs and with Terru out offers reasonable value but expect rotation from Benitez as he is a tinkerer and he has said he will do it.  Ivanovic, Luiz and cahill will rotate the 2 spots

Joe Allen and Serling

• Rodgers would like to rest both but feels he cant due to lack of other options
• Acknowledges hes needs to look at a rest though and used the Villa game as an example of Lethargy resulting
• Good news is no thoughts of resting Suarez who did have his suspension as a week off

Here’s his full quote again from the Daily Mail

‘I think there is an element of (fatigue) but not with (someone like) Luis (Suarez),’ said Rodgers. ‘He’s at his best when he is playing regular. He will tell you himself, if he was playing one game a week he would lose his rhythm – he likes to play lots of games.
‘But I think there are others we need to give a break. There is no doubt Raheem is one who does need that breather. I’ve thought about it over the past couple of weeks. In order to do that you need to have that depth to take him out and put somebody else in.

‘That’s something I’m thinking about – who to put in. He’s a naturally very, very fit boy but he needs that mental rest as well. For the kid as well, it’s about efficiency as well, tactically he’s still very young. That time will come and he will get the breather soon enough.
‘There is no doubt after working with Joe (before at Swansea) and seeing him (now), he’s another one. If we’re honest, there are a few who could do with that breather, especially mentally. It’s something for sure I need to have a wee look at.
‘This was a game where we had to get an early goal and make Villa come out. We had a wee bit of lethargy. I don’t know why because it’s one of the first weeks we’ve had without a midweek game, and we couldn’t have had a better week.’

 Price rises and falls

15 £0.1m rises as I write this. Here they are all fairly predictable. The stoke defence is getting some heady attention and what price can Michu get to?

Begovic STK 5.6 0.1

Shawcross STK 5.8 0.1
Huth STK 5.7 0.1
Johnson LIV 6.4 0.1
O’Brien WHU 4.3 0.1
Bassong NOR 5.1 0.1
Davies SWA 4.1 0.1

Yaya Toure MCI 7.8 0.1
Taarabt QPR 5.6 0.1
Michu SWA 8.1 0.1
Snodgrass NOR 6.0 0.1
Santi Cazorla ARS 9.6 0.1

Defoe TOT 8.5 0.1
Benteke AVL 6.6 0.1
Rooney MUN 12.0 0.1

A multitude of falls including Walcott?  No movement on Fellaini as of yet