All good things come to an end… Or at least a brief respite.
This could well come back to bite me in my ass, the same ass that has, for so long, relied on Jamie Vardy’s high jinks in front of goal.
The Leicester front man has been a shining light for Claudio Ranieri and those with the foresight to make him captain throughout his amazing goalscoring streak.
We’ve decided to drop him for a little bit, bring in a replacement and make some defensive alterations this week.
Three players to sign
Christian Benteke would want to pull his finger out if he’s to salvage his debut Liverpool season.
The big Belgian has been as inconsistent as he is massively intimidating but he should start kicking on now that he’s regained full fitness and he doesn’t have to listen to that fella bang on about “character” anymore.
With Daniel Sturridge picking up his monthly setback from injury, Jurgen Klopp may be forced to play Benteke for the second time in three days but Liverpool are playing Swansea so you’d bet your house on them scoring.
And more often than not this season, it’s been Benteke who’s found the net for the Reds.
He scored a cracker in the Europa League on Thursday night and we’re expecting him to breach Swansea’s defence who conceded six in their last three games which included matches against Bournemouth and Norwich.
This is very much a selection based on “he’s due a bloody goal.”
Kevin de Bruyne hasn’t found the net in his last five Premier League matches, after scoring in three in a row.
Southampton have a pretty solid defence but Manchester City will be baying for blood after their last two games, a 4-1 defeat to Liverpool and a 1-0 defeat to Juventus.
The Saints don’t have a great record against City and have lost the last three fixtures by a margin of more than one goal so expect some goals from City and why wouldn’t Kevin de Bruyne score a flippin’ hat-trick?
Plus the last time that City lost 4-1 in the league, they went on to spank Newcastle 6-1 in the next game. Be warned Southampton!
Bournemouth should have used up all of their goals against Swansea last week as they scored more at the Liberty Stadium than they did in their previous four games combined.
Some would be led to believe that that means that the Cherries have found their goalscoring boots but that’s just silly.
Glenn Murray is the only striker at Eddie Howe’s disposal which simply isn’t good news for the side in 19th place in the table but it’s fantastic news for opposition back fours.
We’ve opted for Seamie Coleman because he’s probably the biggest attacking threat among Everton defenders so his likely clean sheet may benefit from an assist arising from one of his dozen overlapping runs.
Three players to sell
Before you call insanity, hear me out.
Vardy is on a tremendous run, granted. But he’s admitted that he’s not fully fit and he’s up against the meanest defence in the Premier League this week.
Vardy thrives on high lines and slow, indecisive centre-halves and neither of them will be on the cards against Manchester United.
Louis van Gaal has his side set up to sit deep and, in Chris Smalling, he has a speedy defender who can keep pace with Vardy.
This is a massive risk, I’m aware of that, as Vardy will be handed the ball for any potential penalty and will be in a shoot-on-sight mentality.
But I think a 0-0 draw is more likely than Ruud van Nistelrooy’s Premier League goalscoring record being broken at the KP Stadium.
We concede that Chelsea are looking like they’re returning to form but they simply don’t keep clean sheets at White Hart Lane. The last time that happened was in 2005.
When on form, Spurs are nothing short of formidable and Harry Kane is one of the most in-form strikers in Europe, scoring nine in his last six.
Azpilicueta is the most selected Blues defender so he takes the hit this week as we just can’t see Chelsea denying Kane in front of goal.
For all the same reasons that we’re picking Kevin de Bruyne, we’re using the same rationale to remove Dusan Tadic from our team.
Tadic is at his most threatening when he has Graziano Pelle’s hold-up play to help him out but the Italian is suspended for the trip to the Etihad so we don’t see Tadic having a fruitful afternoon.
With Yaya Toure and Fernandinho in the centre of the park, Tadic should easily be overrun and his attacking threat ought to be nullified.
And with City definitely going to score at least five, there’s no point in keeping him around this weekend.
