It was another busy day of press conferences on Friday, with Fantasy managers having little time to react to today’s developments ahead of the earlier-than-usual deadline of 18:30 BST this evening.
Our second and final pre-Gameweek 6 press conference summary rounds up the headline injury news and stand-out manager quotes from the conference calls that were held today.
For a recap of the virtual media gatherings held on Wednesday and Thursday, click here.
MANCHESTER CITY
Gabriel Jesus (thigh), Benjamin Mendy (muscle) and Fernandinho (muscle) will all miss the trip to West Ham but Aymeric Laporte (muscle) and Kevin De Bruyne (muscle) could be fit to feature, having returned to the training ground on Thursday.
Sadly we have had no help from Pep Guardiola, who, when asked about Laporte, De Bruyne and Nathan Ake (minor groin niggle), would only cryptically reply:
Some of them will be involved, some of them no. You will know tomorrow.
EVERTON
Seamus Coleman (hamstring) has joined Jonjoe Kenny (ankle), Mason Holgate (toe), Jarrad Branthwaite (ankle), Cenk Tosun (ACL) and Jean-Philippe Gbamin (Achilles) on the treatment table ahead of the trip to Southampton, while Richarlison is suspended.
Having said he was a huge doubt just days earlier, Carlo Ancelotti revealed on Friday that he was “confident” that James Rodriguez (bruise) would be involved after a partial return to training.
The Everton boss said:
No he’s not definitely out, fortunately, I think his recovery was really good. He trained today, just a partial training session. I hope that he’s going to train tomorrow and we will see if he is in condition to play on Sunday. It’s really better now and we are confident that maybe he can play. He had a big hematoma and was not able to train until today.
LIVERPOOL
Virgil van Dijk (knee) faces a long spell on the sidelines following his injury in the Merseyside derby and the Dutchman joins Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (knee) and Kostas Tsimikas (thigh) in being unavailable for the Sheffield United game.
There is plenty of uncertainty elsewhere, however, with Jurgen Klopp failing to rule Joel Matip (unspecified), Thiago (knock), Naby Keita (illness) and Alisson (shoulder) either in or out until he had seen his players in training.
Klopp told the media:
My last information was that the boys who played the other night [in the Champions League], they are all fine. The rest, we will see.
Apart from Ox and Virg obviously – and maybe Kostas, who gets closer and closer but who is not at all in contention for this game or the next one – all the others we have to see day by day pretty much. A lot of conversations with the medical dept.
We have training after the press conference, so we will see who is out there. You can only be in contention if you are training. I don’t want to rule anyone out until someone tells me.
MANCHESTER UNITED
Eric Bailly and Jesse Lingard will be sidelined for a “few weeks” with unknown fitness issues but Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said on Friday that he expects Harry Maguire and Mason Greenwood to recover from undisclosed injuries in time for the Chelsea match and added that he was confident of Edinson Cavani‘s involvement as the Uruguayan edges closer to full match fitness.
Solskjaer said:
I hope and expect all three of them to be available for selection. Edinson wants to tick all the boxes that he’s gone through in his programme. It seemed positive yesterday with both Mason and Harry.
LEICESTER CITY
Caglar Söyüncü (abductor), Daniel Amartey (hamstring), Wilfred Ndidi (adductor) and Ricardo Pereira (ACL) remain out but Brendan Rodgers said after Thursday night’s win over Zorya that he things that Jamie Vardy (calf) will be available, with a final assessment to be made in training before the clash with Arsenal.
Rodgers said:
We’re thinking that he will be available, but we just need to confirm that over the next couple of days. He’s responded really well this week to treatment and he’s been out on the grass, so we just need to see how he is.
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS
Jonny (knee) remains out but Nuno Espirito Santo was typically non-committal with the rest of Wolves’ team news, saying only that the club were “assessing a few things” ahead of the visit of Newcastle.
CRYSTAL PALACE
Roy Hodgson said on Friday that Gary Cahill (knock), Jack Butland (illness) and Jordan Ayew (illness) will miss the trip to Fulham, with that trio joining James McCarthy (hamstring), Connor Wickham (muscle) and Wayne Hennessey (muscle) on the sidelines this weekend.
NEWCASTLE UNITED
A scan on Karl Darlow (knock) hasn’t revealed any serious damage to the Newcastle United goalkeeper but Steve Bruce said on Friday that his stand-in shot-stopper was still “sore” and that a decision on his involvement against Wolves would go “down to the wire”.
Mark Gillespie will be on standby to deputise if Darlow does miss out, with Martin Dubravka (heel) a longer-term absentee.
Isaac Hayden is a slight concern after his withdrawal against the Red Devils and, although a scan revealed nothing but cramp, Bruce said care would need to be taken whenever hamstring injuries are involved
SOUTHAMPTON
Theo Walcott will be ineligible to face his parent club but Stuart Armstrong is back in training following his period of self-isolation and Ralph Hasenhuttl confirmed on Friday that the Scotland international “was an option” for the visit of Everton.
Injuries to Will Smallbone (thigh) and Moussa Djenepo (hamstring) keep those two midfielders out.
WEST HAM UNITED
David Moyes said that “everyone is in pretty good order” heading into the weekend’s game against Manchester City, which presumably means that the precautionary withdrawal of Michail Antonio (hamstring) in the six-goal thriller against Spurs has helped the striker avoid any significant damage.
Moyes also confirmed that Sebastien Haller (knock) is expected to be available after his no-show in Gameweek 5
ARSENAL
Rob Holding (hamstring) is out for three weeks and joins Calum Chambers (match fitness), Pablo Mari (ankle) and Gabriel Martinelli (knee) on the sidelines for the clash with Leicester.
Willian (calf) and Dani Ceballos (ankle) will also need to be assessed after missing the win over Rapid Vienna but Shkodran Mustafi returned to full training this week and is available for selection
CHELSEA
Kepa Arrizabalaga (shoulder) and Billy Gilmour (knee) will miss the trip to Manchester United but Chelsea otherwise have a clean bill of health heading into Saturday’s game.
Frank Lampard told reporters:
[Pulisic and Thiago] are both fine. We’ve got a pretty clean bill of health other than Kepa, who has a shoulder issue so won’t travel to Manchester. The only other player out is Billy Gilmour, who is long term, but he’ll be back soon.
More detailed information and predicted line-ups can be found in the Team News tab.
Keep an eye on our Twitter feed, too, for any late-breaking updates.
A video round-up with Andy and Neale can be viewed below:
3 years, 11 months ago
who scores more this week Bamford or March?