Snodgrass replaces Mirallas ahead of Gameweek 25

If you are a regular follower of this feature, you will know that we have expressed serious reservations about the amount of playing time 3 of our squad members have been afforded – Kevin Mirallas, Junior Stanislas and Eden Hazard.

Well, the trend continued in Gameweek 24, with Stanislas an unused substitute in Bournemouth’s 6-3 defeat at Goodison Park, while Mirallas only saw 19 minutes in the same fixture and failed to contribute despite Everton’s 6-goal haul. Fortunately, Hazard did fare a bit better, though, getting 84 minutes under his belt and scoring a peach of a goal in the process.

Chelsea’s Belgian winger is expected to be passed fit for the Blues’ trip to Turf Moor and even though it’s highly likely that Antonio Conte will continue his policy of preserving his one real precocious talent, it remains impossible to overlook Hazard, with such a favourable run of games approaching.

Stanislas has only completed the full 90 minutes in 2 of his last 10 appearances but he looks good for a recall on Monday, bearing in mind that the Cherries shipped 6 goals against Everton – he gets yet another stay of execution!

Mirallas is not so lucky. Everton manager Ronald Koeman is expected to stick with the same starting XI that finally found its shooting boots, so we’re not prepared to continue to take a chance on a player that has only played over 80 minutes in 1 of his last 10 appearances.

Finding a suitable replacement was not so easy, especially with a couple of  blank gameweeks on the horizon but West Ham new boy Robert Snodgrass seems to fit the bill. He completed 90 minutes in the 3-1 win at Southampton and was also utilised on corners, a major plus, now that Dimitri Payet has departed the Hammers.

 

Considering our problems in GW24, an 89 point haul was quite a respectable total but much more is needed if we are to really to get competitive in the overall rankings.

Our Gameweek 25 captain will be Zlatan Ibrahimović, who is ticking all the right boxes but the veteran Swedish striker will have a blank fixture in the next round due to the EFL Cup final so that will need to be addressed.

Can Snodders justify his inclusion in our GW25 line-up?