The GW17 FPL conundrum

If you have been following the progress of our FPL squad, you will know that we have been beset by injuries and suspensions of late. Therefore, the last thing we needed ahead of the FPL Cup qualifying round was further injuries, so it was somewhat disappointing to see İlkay Gündoğan adding to the misery.

He is not our only concern though. Eden Hazard remains questionable and he could easily sit out the Crystal Palace game after missing Chelsea’s win at Sunderland, while it’s anybody’s guess as to whether or not Kelechi Iheanacho will start for Manchester City against Arsenal.

Álvaro Negredo didn’t look too sharp or complete the 90 minutes either in GW16, after recovering from his hamstring niggle, so he remains another worry ahead of GW17.

The knee-jerk reaction would be to make some transfers but we really want to avoid taking a hit this week, even though FPL Cup qualification is on the line so we are just going to bring in Josh King for the unfortunate Gündoğan.

 The importance of automatic substitutions in FPL

With so much uncertainty flying around, prioritising those substitutes takes on added significance. We could easily end up playing a 5-4-1 or 4-4-2 from our regular 3-4-3.

It will be a case of keeping those fingers crossed, in the hope of avoiding too many 10 minute cameo substitute appearances but we’re confident that our back-line have the necessary qualities needed, to help us collect sufficient points.

Harry Kane keeps the arm-band, despite blanking in midweek and if we can get 11 players on the pitch, contributing from the start, that should be enough, to ensure that we secure our place in the hat for the 1st round of the FPL Cup.