Gameweek Who Can Keep Track? (Jan 14-18)

DJnVa

Dorito Dawg
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Dec 16, 2010
53,837
Arsenal wants the NLD postponed--COVID, injuries, and a red card.

I gotta be honest, the red card thing should not factor in. Call up some 20 year old.
 

Time to Mo Vaughn

RIP Dernell
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Mar 24, 2008
7,202
Arsenal wants the NLD postponed--COVID, injuries, and a red card.

I gotta be honest, the red card thing should not factor in. Call up some 20 year old.
As an Arsenal fan, I agree with you on the red card, but one more factor in this is also the AFCON, which Arsenal has 4 first team players at (3 if you don't count Aubameyang).
 

Kliq

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Mar 31, 2013
22,667
Hope they don't come down with that horrible Klopp variant after having played Liverpool.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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Jul 2, 2006
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The whole postponement thing is a shambles. Telegraph story today on Burnley notes that the league decided to postpone because they only have 12 first team field players available due to the combination of Covid, injuries, and the sale of Chris Wood. The PL has postponed a number of other matches where it was clear that injuries and other factors were the predominant causes of players being unavailable, not the number of Covid cases. Liverpool just got our cup match postponed last week (different body making the call and lots of other complications with false positives that we don't need to rehash of course) when it turns out they only had one Covid case. We seem to have somewhere between 11-13 first team field players available right now, most of them defenders, but with only one Covid case. I have no idea what the PL will decide, as there really is no standard.

Spurs will be a bit undermanned themselves and key players seem to be running on fumes right now so I can see why a postponement might suit them as well. Playing against an Arsenal that potentially has to field PL debutants is clearly an advantage in that particular match, but resting would help Spurs in the following games next week against Leicester and Chelsea and also arguably decreases the chance that a key player picks up a significant injury due to overuse.
 
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DJnVa

Dorito Dawg
SoSH Member
Dec 16, 2010
53,837
As an Arsenal fan, I agree with you on the red card, but one more factor in this is also the AFCON, which Arsenal has 4 first team players at (3 if you don't count Aubameyang).
Sure, I get that. But the main the driver should be the COVID numbers, with AFCON as secondary based on what COVID does. The red card should not matter in the slightest. Not to mention that Xhaka then might miss the Burnley match or something and not the NLD.


but resting would help Spurs in the following games next week against Leicester and Chelsea and also arguably decreases the chance that a key player picks up a significant injury due to overuse.
They'll have to pay the piper eventually. They already have 3 games in hand in relation to some teams.
 

the1andonly3003

New Member
Jul 15, 2005
4,371
Chicago
Hope they don't come down with that horrible Klopp variant after having played Liverpool.
remember last season when Klopp took a dig at City's outbreak? maybe Pep should return the dig if Liverpool wins the Mourinho Carabao Cup

The whole postponement thing is a shambles. Telegraph story today on Burnley notes that the league decided to postpone because they only have 12 first team field players available due to the combination of Covid, injuries, and the sale of Chris Wood. The PL has postponed a number of other matches where it was clear that injuries and other factors were the predominant causes of players being unavailable, not the number of Covid cases. Liverpool just got our cup match postponed last week (different body making the call and lots of other complications with false positives that we don't need to rehash of course) when it turns out they only had one Covid case. We seem to have somewhere between 11-13 first team field players available right now, most of them defenders, but with only one Covid case. I have no idea what the PL will decide, as there really is no standard.

Spurs will be a bit undermanned themselves and key players seem to be running on fumes right now so I can see why a postponement might suit them as well. Playing against an Arsenal that potentially has to field PL debutants is clearly an advantage in that particular match, but resting would help Spurs in the following games next week against Leicester and Chelsea and also arguably decreases the chance that a key player picks up a significant injury due to overuse.
if Newcastle buys Josh King and Emmanuel Dennis off Watford, maybe they will lead to even more postponements! /s
 

PedroSpecialK

Comes at you like a tornado of hair and the NHL sa
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Dec 12, 2004
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Cambridge, MA
The amount of times that's happened in other matches without VAR taking a peek... what are we doing here
 

candylandriots

unkempt
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Mar 30, 2004
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I just said to my brother, “watch them score on the corner”.

but if this holds up I’m going to be redass
 

PedroSpecialK

Comes at you like a tornado of hair and the NHL sa
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Dec 12, 2004
27,164
Cambridge, MA
Should be disallowed - Butland's got it in both hands

Yep. Hey, 1/2 is better than VAR in most matches this year right?
 

the1andonly3003

New Member
Jul 15, 2005
4,371
Chicago
VAR working appropriately on the important matches, like *checks notes* the M23 Derby....lots on the line in *checks notes again* the midtable
 

candylandriots

unkempt
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Why is Schlupp not in AfCon? Surely Ghana could use him.
I seriously don’t know. I was surprised and happy to see him on the field tonight. He may have had an injury leading up to selection, but he seems healthy today.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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Should be denied. They only have 1 COVID positive test.
Feels like the decision will be bad either way.

On the one hand, with only 1 covid positive test (that we know of at least) there's no reasonable claim that Arsenal's squad situation is primarily due to Covid.

On the other hand, the PL has granted a bunch of other postponements to teams when it was blatantly obvious that they only had a few Covid cases at most as well and were primarily requesting relief due to injuries, Afcon, fatigue, etc. Most recently, Leicester were forced to fulfill an FA cup fixture last weekend with only 8 senior outfield players available almost entirely due to injuries and Afcon. I'm not actually sure they had any Covid cases. They then requested their midweek fixture against Everton be postponed and the request was granted, with no hint at all of a Covid outbreak at play. So its not clear to me why Leicester gets to have their fixture postponed with 8-9 senior outfield players available and no real Covid situation but Arsenal shouldn't with 9-10 senior outfield players available and no real Covid situation.
 

SocrManiac

Tommy Seebach’s mustache
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Apr 15, 2006
8,634
Somers, CT
I thought Liverpool had it bad with Salah out in Afcon, but Chelsea using Kepa in a competitive match… Woof.
 

HowBoutDemSox

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Aug 12, 2009
10,103
Wouldn’t be surprised to see Mount in for Ziyech and Jorginho in for Kovacic, either at the half or at some point in the second half.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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Very nicely done by KDB but also awful from Kepa. He takes a step the other way right before the shot then gets beat from 25 yards on a shot that isn’t that powerful and lands a yard or so in from the corner.
 

the1andonly3003

New Member
Jul 15, 2005
4,371
Chicago
Newcastle-Watford is like Jets-Jaguars, but marketing that game as "who gets the #1 overall pick" has a different ring to "who stays in the PL"
 

teddykgb

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Jul 16, 2005
11,016
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It’s a shame Chelsea refuse to commit to really play against City. It’s won them every match that truly mattered but the matches are so much more entertaining when they aren’t just sitting deep and trying to sucker punch a counter goal