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Mourinho v Guardiola
Mourinho v Guardiola

Fantasy Football tips: Premier League team news and statistics

Football
Sun December 10, 2017 · 8y ago

Team news and key Opta statistics to help with Fantasy Football picks and bets for Sunday's Premier League action.

Sunday December 10

Southampton v Arsenal

Team news:

Arsenal are sweating over the fitness of Shkodran Mustafi ahead of Sunday's Premier League trip to Southampton.

The defender was forced off early on in last weekend's defeat to Manchester United and could be out of the St Mary's clash with a thigh problem.

Santi Cazorla (ankle) is the only other absentee with manager Arsene Wenger set to recall a host of first-team players rested for Thursday's 6-0 Europa League win over BATE Borisov.

For Southampton, Cedric Soares is out. The full-back will miss the visit of the Gunners due to a hamstring injury suffered in the recent 2-1 loss at Manchester City.

Saints boss Mauricio Pelligrino has no other injury concerns and must decide which of his strikers will be given the nod to lead the line against Arsenal.

Southampton (from): Forster, McCarthy, Taylor, Hoedt, Stephens, Yoshida, Van Dijk, Bertrand, Gardos, Pied, McQueen, Romeu, Lemina, Hojbjerg, Ward-Prowse, Davis, Boufal, Tadic, Redmond, Austin, Long, Gabbiadini.

Arsenal (from): Cech, Ospina, Mertesacker, Holding, Koscielny, Chambers, Monreal, Debuchy, Bellerin, Nelson, Kolasinac, Maitland-Niles, Ramsey, Coquelin, Xhaka, Elneny, Ozil, Wilshere, Iwobi, Walcott, Sanchez, Welbeck, Giroud.

Opta stats:

  • Southampton have only lost one of their last six home Premier League games against Arsenal (W2 D3), though it was in the last such meeting back in May (0-2).
  • Arsenal haven’t won successive away league games against Southampton since August 1997.
  • However, Arsenal did win twice at St Mary’s last season, earning a 5-0 victory in an FA Cup fourth round match thanks to a Theo Walcott hat-trick, and a 2-0 win in the Premier League.
  • Southampton have never lost three home games in all competitions against a single opponent in a calendar year, while Arsenal last won three away matches against an opponent in a calendar year in 1987 against Spurs (four wins).
  • Only two Arsenal players have scored more goals in their first 15 Premier League appearances for the club than Alexandre Lacazette (8) – Alexis Sanchez (9) and Ian Wright (10).
  • The Gunners have lost 11 league matches in 2017, their worst tally in a calendar year since 1995 (14).
  • No Premier League player has made more Premier League appearances without starting a game than Olivier Giroud this season (12, level with Diafra Sakho) – at a single club, only Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Man Utd (17) has more Premier League substitute goals than Giroud does for Arsenal (16), including three this season.
  • Arsenal have already recovered as many points from losing positions this season as they managed in the entirety of last season (9) and won more matches from behind this season (3) than last season (2).
  • Fraser Forster has conceded just five goals in his five Premier League games against Arsenal, despite the Gunners having 30 shots on target against the England keeper.
  • Charlie Austin has scored seven goals in his last 10 Premier League starts for Southampton, including three in his last two.
  • Austin has scored in both of his previous two Premier League appearances against Arsenal, but he ended up on the losing side for QPR (both 1-2) on both occasions.

Liverpool v Everton

Team news:

Liverpool left-back Alberto Moreno is ruled out and could be sidelined for up to six weeks with an ankle injury.

The defender will be assessed by a second specialist over the weekend but the fear is the problem, sustained in Wednesday's 7-0 win over Spartak Moscow, could keep him out until the new year.

Liverpool's Alberto Moreno is facing a spell on the sidelines

James Milner is likely to fill the vacancy for Sunday's Merseyside derby at home to Everton while captain Jordan Henderson is set to start in midfield after sitting out in midweek.

Phil Jagielka is set to return to the Everton squad. The defender missed the Premier League victories over West Ham and Huddersfield but is fit again, although he and Michael Keane may have to settle for spots on the bench after back-to-back clean sheets.

James McCarthy and Yannick Bolasie are back in training and nearing returns but both will be given run-outs for the under-23 side before being considered for the first team.

Liverpool (from): Mignolet, Alexander-Arnold, Lovren, Klavan, Milner, Henderson, Wijnaldum, Coutinho, Salah, Firmino, Mane, Karius, Robertson, Can, Grujic, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Sturridge, Solanke.

Everton (from): Pickford, Robles, Williams, Jagielka, Kenny, Martina, Keane, Gueye, Davies, Baningime, Besic, Schneiderlin, Mirallas, Lennon, Lookman, Vlasic, Sigurdsson, Klaassen, Rooney, Niasse, Calvert-Lewin, Sandro.

Opta stats:

  • Liverpool are unbeaten in their last 14 games in all competitions against Everton – just one game short of their longest-ever such run against their Merseyside rivals (15, set between March 1972 and April 1978).
  • Everton are winless in 17 successive Premier League visits to Anfield (D8 L9), since a 1-0 win in September 1999 thanks to a Kevin Campbell strike.
  • Indeed, Everton have won just one of their last 21 top-flight games against Liverpool (W1 D9 L11), a 2-0 victory in October 2010.
  • Liverpool have scored four 90th minute winning goals against Everton in the Premier League – no side has scored more against a specific opponent in the competition (also Chelsea vs Wigan, Newcastle vs Tottenham and Tottenham vs West Ham).
  • This fixture has seen a record 21 red cards issued across the 50 Premier League meetings, with 14 for Everton and seven for Liverpool.
  • Sam Allardyce orchestrated Crystal Palace’s 2-1 win at Anfield back in April 2017 – this was his first Premier League victory at the stadium, having won just three points in his previous 13 trips there (W0 D3 L10).
  • Should Everton win this match, Sam Allardyce would have defeated Liverpool in the Premier League as a manager with four different clubs (previously with Crystal Palace, West Ham and Bolton) – the only manager to have done this so far is Harry Redknapp (Spurs, Portsmouth, Southampton & West Ham).
  • Mohamed Salah has had a hand in 15 goals in his first 15 Premier League games for Liverpool - more than any other player for the club. (12 goals, three assists).
  • Wayne Rooney has scored just two Premier League goals at Anfield in the Premier League, but both were winners in 1-0 victories for Manchester United (January 2005 and January 2016).
  • Sadio Mané scored in both Premier League Merseyside derbies last season – he could be the first player to score in three successive Merseyside derbies in the competition since Robbie Fowler in November 1996.

Manchester United v Manchester City

Team news:

Manchester City playmaker David Silva is fit for Sunday's Manchester derby but captain Vincent Kompany is doubtful.

Silva has overcome the knock which forced him to miss the midweek loss at Shakhtar Donetsk but Kompany will be assessed over an unspecified problem.

Makeshift left-back Fabian Delph has recovered from a sickness bug but defenders John Stones (hamstring) and Benjamin Mendy (knee) are still out.

United midfielder Paul Pogba starts a three-match ban. The France international was sent off in last weekend's win at Arsenal and begins his domestic ban on Sunday, joining captain Michael Carrick and defender Eric Bailly on the sidelines.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Phil Jones and Nemanja Matic are available for the derby, while midfielder Marouane Fellaini will be assessed ahead of the game.

Man Utd (from): De Gea, Romero, Pereira, Valencia, Darmian, Tuanzebe, Young, Shaw, Blind, Rojo, Smalling, Lindelof, Jones, Matic, Herrera, McTominay, Fellaini, Lingard, Mata, Mkhitaryan, Martial, Rashford, Lukaku, Ibrahimovic

Man City (from): Ederson, Bravo, Walker, Danilo, Otamendi, Mangala, Kompany, Delph, Zinchenko, Toure, Gundogan, Fernandinho, D Silva, B Silva, De Bruyne, Sterling, Sane, Aguero, Jesus.

Opta stats:

  • After losing four Premier League games in a row against Manchester City, Manchester United have lost just one of their last five derbies against them (W2 D2 L1).
  • No away side has scored more Premier League goals at Old Trafford than Manchester City (27 - level with Chelsea) while only Chelsea (6) have won more games there as the visiting side in the competition than City (5).
  • Manchester United have lost seven of their last 12 league games against their local rivals (W3 D2 L7) – as many as they had lost in their previous 45 in league competition against them (W22 D16 L7).
  • Jose Mourinho’s side are on the longest current unbeaten home run in the Premier League (24 games - W14 D10 L0), with their last such defeat at Old Trafford coming against Manchester City in September 2016 (1-2).
  • Manchester City have now won 13 successive league matches – a joint-record within a single top-flight season, alongside Chelsea (2016-17), Arsenal (2001-02), Preston and Sunderland (both 1891-92).
  • If Pep Guardiola’s side win this match then they will equal the all-time English top-flight league record of 14 consecutive victories; set by Arsenal between February and August 2002.
  • Jose Mourinho has won just four of his 19 managerial meetings with Pep Guardiola in all competitions (W4 D7 L8), with just one of those wins coming in league competition (2-1 with Real Madrid at Barcelona in April 2012).
  • These are the two tightest defences in the Premier League this season, with Manchester United (9) having conceded one goal fewer than Manchester City (10); this despite facing more than double the tally of shots on target (64 v 27).
  • Manchester United's cumulative xG conceded total in the Premier League this season is 18.79 (8th best), meaning that from the quality of chances they have allowed their opponents, the average side would have conceded 10 goals more than they have done (19 instead of nine).
  • Romelu Lukaku scored in both of Everton’s league matches against Manchester City last season – the only player to have scored in three successive league appearances against a side managed by Pep Guardiola is Diego Forlan (Atletico Madrid v Barcelona between March 2009 & February 2010).
  • Gabriel Jesus has been directly involved in 21 goals in his 24 Premier League appearances so far in his career (15 goals, six assists).
  • Ederson has only made 20 saves in 15 Premier League appearances this season for Manchester City – his rival goalkeeper at Manchester United; David de Gea has saved 21 shots in his last four Premier League appearances, including 14 in his last game against Arsenal.

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