Spurs, Liverpool and Man City face stiff European tests post-GW27

The resumption of the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League means that fantasy football managers have another element to factor into their line-up building thinking ahead of Gameweek 27.

The knockout stage of European club football’s premier competition gets under next week, with ties scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday. Spurs travel to Turin on Tuesday, while Manchester City are in action in Basel on the same evening, with Liverpool  visiting Porto a day later.

When it comes to ringing the changes, Jürgen Klopp never needs a second invitation, so the Sunday evening clash at Southampton is sure to set the alarm bells ringing, while Fantasy Premier League managers with Man City coverage will also face an anxious wait to see what sort of line-up Pep Guardiola puts out against Leicester City on Saturday evening.

The small matter of a North London derby should be sufficient to ensure that Mauricio Pochettino fields his strongest available eleven and it’s this clash at Wembley that gets the GW27 action under way.

In terms of fixture planning it’s definitely advantage Arsenal who will be looking to build on their 5-1 win over Everton. The Gunners have had a full week to prepare for this one whereas Spurs had to finish off Newport County in a FA Cup replay on Wednesday, hot on the back of a quite dramatic finale to their game at Anfield on Sunday.

A win for the Gunners would put Arsene Wenger’s side right back in the hunt for one of those Champions League spots, so Poch will need to make sure his players avoid being distracted by any Juventus talk.

The GW27 action is concluded with Chelsea taking on bottom side West Bromwich Albion in the Monday Night Football. Heavy defeats to Bournemouth and Watford will not have gone down too well at the Bridge, so this might not be as straightforward as it appears on paper for a Blues’ side that has only scored 12 goals in the 10 matches they have played during 2018.

Will the Champions League prove to be too much of a distraction or will it be business as usual for Spurs, Man City and Liverpool?