Week 1 - Update

This post is usually an update on injuries, general team news and my own latest team, but I have an additional update for you today - and it's a big announcement regarding the future of this blog. You may have already read this news over on Jeremy & Neal's site but in case you haven't, please head over to FantasyEPL to read their 'Never Manage Alone Edition' of 'The Week Ahead'.

Now I'd alluded to a partnership when we released our Season Previews and I'm delighted to confirm that within the next few weeks myself, Jeremy & Neal at Fantasy EPL and Ibracadabra at Never Captain Nicky Butt (who focuses on the Official Premier League game) will be joining forces. From this point Neal has explained things in perfect details, so I will quote him and then explain how this will affect readers of this blog.

Relocating

The four of us are brining our three sites together to create what we hope is a bigger, better one. We are joining forces with SBNation.com and will be hosted on their cutting-edge platform. The SB stands for Sports Blog and SBNation aggregates sports blogs across many sports. They are concentrating heavily on developing their coverage of soccer and we are excited to be part of that growth.

Our association with SBNation will give us the opportunity to collaborate with people who write dedicated blogs on Premier League teams, MLS teams, and over time on other topics specific to the beautiful game. Over time we hope to find ways to give our readers a progressively better experience as we all figure out how to work together. We are in the closing stages of moving onto the SBNation.com platform and getting ourselves oriented to the new publishing tools. We will certainly let you know when the switchover becomes official.

The Name

A new site requires a new name. The common theme that unites all of the things we love about the blog and all the big changes that are happening is again, that the experience is more fun together and that the more people and resources we can bring to you, the better. For those of you who have been with us for a while, we thank you for helping us get where we’ve gotten and hope you continue to participate and enjoy. For those who are finding us for the first time, we hope you like what you see. For all of you, we hope that now you know this community is here, you’ll Never Manage Alone.

So yes, within the next few weeks the YFF! Assistant Manager Blog will no longer be updated and a new blog will be formed named Never Manage Alone. There is no doubt I feel sadness that this chapter is closing, but the sadness is massively outweighed by the excitement I feel about what lies ahead over at SBNation.

Truth be told, the amount of effort it was taking to run things myself had gone beyond what I have time for (you will have noticed the weekly 'Player Picks' towards the end of last season often came without any analysis) and with my day-job becoming more demanding and wedding plans on the horizon, there was a realistic possibility of shutting down this blog at the end of last season.

It was only when discussions began earlier this year about a potential collaboration that everything started to make sense; I realised a partnership would enable me to continue blogging and that a new site with the combined efforts of myself and three knowledgeable, talented football writers would enable us to cover a far broader spectrum of the football world and enable us to delivery a better quality experience for our readers.

To everyone who has read and contributed to the Assistant Manager Blog over the past 2 seasons, I cannot thank you enough for helping me build this incredible community. Without your loyalty I would never have made it past the first month, so I hope you will come with me to 'Never Manager Alone' over at SBNation when the switch occurs later this month - and help us build something even greater!

Now lets got on with the football - and it's update time. I'll add to this throughout the day...

Injury Update/Team News

- First off, it has been confirmed that the only game postponed due to the riots is Tottenham vs Everton, so you can ignore players from these two sides. The remaining nine Premier League fixtures will go ahead as planned.

- On to team news, and we start at Arsenal. As expected Cesc Fabregas & Samir Nasri have been excluded from the squad to face Newcastle as they're set to seal their moves to Barca & Man City within the next 48 hours.

- Better news for Gunners fans is it appears Thomas Vermaelen, Robin van Persie and Kieran Gibbs have all been passed fit. Wenger confirmed this on Arsenal.com yesterday evening and it will probably mean a serious reshuffle of fantasy teams around the globe. Arshavin is also ready despite a knock picked up for Russia, and Walcott is in the squad after recovering earlier than expected.

- Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez are both lacking match fitness and Mancini has stated they are "not ready for 90 minutes" so you'd imagine Dzeko & Balotelli start against Swansea. Richards should start at right-back.

- Kenny Dalglish had suggested Luis Suarez will be involved but would not confirm whether he'll start, so Andy Carroll seems the safer bet if you want a Liverpool striker in your team. Gerrard & Skrtel are out, Glen Johnson faces a late fitness tests, otherwise expect a back four of Kelly, Carragher, Agger, Aurelio (I'm assuming Enrique was signed too late to feature?).

- Ferguson has confirmed Patric Evra is a big doubt but didn't let on who would replace the Frenchman if he doesn't make it. One would guess Fabio at left-back, but Evans could also play there. No word on whether it's Smalling or Rafael at right-back, so probably best to avoid. Young & Nani are both set to start, Rooney will lead the line, Hernandez is out.

- Fernando Torres is in the Chelsea squad after recovering from a mild concussion but Drogba is being tipped to start ahead of him in Andres Villas-Boas' 4-3-3 formation. David Luiz is a doubt, Bosingwa should take the right-back spot with Ivanovic out and Daniel Sturridge is suspended after his sending off at the end of last season.

- Further Arsenal Update - Wenger has revealed in his press conference that Van Persie and Gibbs will have late fitness tests. They'll probably make it but it is a concern.

More news and analysis on team news injuries here:
ESPN Update

and here:
Fantasy EPL Injuries & Suspensions

Finally, I've decided not to list my current team in Week 1 as everyone is paying the same price for players and therefore there's a chance of lazy people directly copying me. To be honest I'm still deciding; first week is always a tough one.

Good luck!

Cheers,
AM

p.s. If you play the Official Fantasy Premier League game then we have a private league set up from last season which has renewed - the code is 16242-231725.