Week 2 - Update

I get the feeling it's going to be a busy day at work and a busy day of team and injury news, so please bear with me; I'll get things updated as quickly/often as possible. Straight in to it...

- A big blow for Manchester United - Nemanja Vidic has been ruled out for up to 5 weeks with a calf injury. Rafael is already out for a few months but better news is that Rio Ferdinand will probably only miss the Spurs game as his hamstring is not as bad as first feared. Evra is also back, so it looks like it'll be Smalling, Jones, Evans, Evra this weekend, with Fabio on the bench.

- Rafa Van Der Vaart played an hour of Spurs' 5-0 hammering of Hearts last night, scored a goal and looked excellent, so you can add him to the premium midfield options for Week 2 alongside Lampard, Malouda, Young & Nani. Defoe, Bale, Lennon, Kranjcar & Walker all looked sharp and all of sudden I feel less miserable.

- It's always surprised me that despite Chelsea's spending they've never bothered buying a decent back-up keeper and they'll be hoping that doesn't come back to haunt them again after Petr Cech suffered a knee injury in training. He will be missing for for up to 4 weeks which means Hilario or Turnbull will cover and neither has inspired confidence in the past. It devalues the chance of a Chelsea clean-sheet for sure.

- Better news for Chelsea is the return of Ivanovic, although it remains to be seen whether he replaces Bosingwa at right-back or Alex at centre back. I've spoken to a few Blues fans and they seem to think Alex is more at risk. Luiz is still out, Sturridge is still suspended but new signing Lukaku could be on the bench.

- Aston Villa goalkeeper Shay Given has shaken off a groin injury sustained in the season-opener at Fulham last weekend and will be fit to make his home debut against Blackburn.

- Matt Etherington has made a miraculous comeback from his shoulder injury and started in the Europa League for Stoke last night, so he should be fit for Norwich and that of course reduces Pennant's value.

- Kieron Gibbs is definitely out of Arsenal's game against Liverpool so if you need to replace him with a similarly priced defender to avoid changing the rest of your team then look no further than Wes Brown. Djourou and Rosicky are also missing but Nasri is in the squad (however unlikely it is that he'll feature). Gervinho is suspended.

- Mancini has revealed Carlos Tevez is fit and could play some part against Bolton this weekend. I assume it'll be from the bench but it'll be interesting to see how City manage the striker situation.

- Wolves manager Mick McCarthy is poised to name an unchanged team for the visit of Fulham, so that would mean: Hennessey; Stearman, Johnson, Berra, Ward; Jarvis, O'Hara, Henry, Hunt; Doyle, Fletcher.

- Seems Everton have most of their players back to fitness which means Heitinga is no longer certain to start. He was my plan to cover the potential clean sheet at Goodison, so it's back to the drawing board now. I'm actually thinking about taking my own advice and going with Baines.

- Ryan Nelsen and Christopher Samba could be available for Blackburn which puts a bit of a dent in Aston Villa's chances of a home win as they make Kean's men a far more solid outfit.

More to follow...

My own team looks like this:  

De Gea, Brown, Richards, Baines, Moses, Cahill, Silva, N'Zogbia, Sinclair, Torres, Aguero

I've essentially gone Ashley Young to Baines, which has meant a few changes elsewhere. I'm still not sure about that switch, or my choices of Torres, N'Zogbia, Sinclair & Moses, so expect plenty to change before the deadline.

How's your team looking?

Cheers,
AM

p.s. Thanks for the kind comments in the Player Picks post - I felt it was probably the best I've written since the blog started so it was nice to see a few of you agree... your support is hugely appreciated!