Our Gameweek 10 team news summary rounds up the headline updates and quotes from Thursday and Friday’s pre-match press conferences.
We’ve heard from 18 Premier League managers ahead of tonight’s Fantasy Premier League deadline, with Brendan Rodgers and Dean Smith not scheduled to face the media until tomorrow.
Our YouTube and podcast team news summary is available towards the bottom of this piece, while our Team News tab provides even more detail on what we offer here.
EVERTON v LEEDS UNITED
Jean-Philippe Gbamin (Achilles) and Seamus Coleman (hamstring) have been joined on the sidelines by Lucas Digne (ankle), who is set to miss up to three months of action after damaging ligaments earlier this week.
Carlo Ancelotti said of Digne and his possible replacement:
Lucas Digne had an injury, he is a big loss. I think we will be able to adapt the loss of Digne for two or three months.
Seamus Coleman is doing his individual rehab and will not be able for this game. We have to check him week by week.
Three centre-backs can be an option, still. We have Niels Nkounkou, who is young but has a lot of quality. I think Iwobi can play on the left without problem as a wing-back, like he played well on the right wing [last week].
[Kenny] is available to play, I think he is not at his best in this moment because he was out for three weeks. But now he is training with the team and soon he will be at 100%.
Adam Forshaw (hip), Jamie Shackleton (hamstring), Pablo Hernandez (muscle) and Diego Llorente (hamstring) all remain sidelined but Marcelo Bielsa said Leeds otherwise have a clean bill of health.
SOUTHAMPTON V MANCHESTER UNITED
Luke Shaw (hamstring) will miss the trip to Southampton, while Paul Pogba (ankle) and Scott McTominay (unspecified) were rated “unlikely” to feature by their manager on Friday.
Marcus Rashford (knock), Victor Lindelof (back) and Aaron Wan-Bissaka (ankle) are also fresh concerns following Tuesday’s win over Istanbul Basaksehir but their manager appeared less worried by their injuries, saying that they “should be okay” after coming through training on Friday.
Danny Ings (knee) and Nathan Redmond (hamstring) will miss the visit of Manchester United but Ralph Hasenhuttl didn’t discuss any other injury news heading into this weekend’s game.
The Southampton said on a return date for Ings:
Danny [Ings] is back in individual training on the pitch. I think he can be an option for the Brighton game, but this weekend not.
MANCHESTER CITY V BURNLEY
Nathan Ake (hamstring) is the only known possible absentee for the visit of Burnley but even the Dutch defender has returned to training and could feature at St Mary’s.
Pep Guardiola did warn that Sergio Aguero was “still not in his best condition”, however, saying that the Argentine needs time to rediscover his sharpness following his disjointed start to 2020/21.
Nick Pope is a big doubt for the trip to Manchester City after suffering a knock to the head in Monday’s win over Crystal Palace.
Pope had stitches after that incident and Dyche confirmed in his pre-match press conference that the shot-stopper was being “checked out” for any after-effects, saying somewhat confusedly:
Popey unfortunately won’t play… at this stage. We’re waiting on some clearance so there’s a chance ‘cos of the knock that he received to his head. He’s kind of more touch and go but I might have to make a call on that, rather than the doctor.
Dale Stephens (hamstring) and Robbie Brady (hamstring) are rated “unlikely” to feature, while long-term absentee Jack Cork (ankle) remains sidelined.
BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION V LIVERPOOL
Jurgen Klopp gave little away on the team news front on Friday, not mentioning Xherdan Shaqiri (muscle), Naby Keita (hamstring), Trent Alexander-Arnold (calf), Thiago Alcantara (knee) and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (knee) by name in the broadcast section of his pre-match press conference.
There was an update on Jordan Henderson (muscle), at least, with Klopp saying:
Hendo trained yesterday, parts of team training and had his individual session, so we’ll have to see what we do with that.
All the other players who played [v Atalanta] are in recovery, that’s how it is when you only have a few days in between.
So we have to make late decisions. If you were to ask me for the line-up now and I was in a mood to tell you – I couldn’t. I make this decision as late as possible because I have to wait for the medical department telling me who looks ready.
Tariq Lamptey will miss the visit of Liverpool through suspension, while Alexis Mac Allister isn’t ready to return after his recent positive coronavirus test. There is also a question mark over Adam Lallana (groin), who Graham Potter said needs “a bit more time” in his pre-match press conference.
Davy Propper (stomach bug) and Leandro Trossard (thigh) are back, at least, while Potter expects Solly March to recover from a minor ankle issue to feature at the Amex.
CHELSEA V TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Chelsea have a clean bill of health heading into the game against Spurs, with Christian Pulisic (hamstring) declared fit by his manager – although Frank Lampard did say that there was a “question mark” over whether the American was ready to start:
He’s fit. Ready to start is a question mark, it’s hard to gauge match-fitness. In the training times as they are with COVID, it’s very hard to recreate match-playing training. We don’t have any academy games that we can mix bubbles.
Toby Alderweireld (groin) will definitely miss the trip to Chelsea on Sunday, while Erik Lamela (unspecified) is also expected to remain out after Jose Mourinho said he would be “very, very surprised” if the Argentine was declared available for selection.
Steven Bergwijn, Hugo Lloris and Giovani Lo Celso all missed out on the win over Ludogorets with minor issues, meanwhile, although Mourinho was confident about their returns for the Chelsea match and even said that trio could have featured in Europe had he “wanted to risk a little bit”.
WEST HAM UNITED V ASTON VILLA
Dean Smith won’t face the media until after Friday’s FPL deadline has passed, so official word is still awaited on the severity of Ross Barkley‘s hamstring injury and the scan he had earlier in the week. Smith had said after the defeat to Brighton that Barkley was confident the issue wasn’t too serious but media reports suggest that the on-loan midfielder will miss the Villans’ next two matches at the very least.
The fitness of Wesley (knee), Bjorn Engels (thigh) and Frederic Guilbert (hip) is still to be determined, while Tom Heaton (match fitness) will be edging ever closer to a place in the matchday squad after recent run-outs for the under-23s.
Michail Antonio is making progress in his recovery from a hamstring injury and back in training in the run-up to the Aston Villa game, although David Moyes again stopped short of declaring him available for selection in his pre-match press conference.
ARSENAL V WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS
Arsenal have yet to issue a medical bulletin following their win over Molde so we are in the dark over the injury situation at the Emirates.
An update in midweek did reveal that Bukayo Saka (dead leg) would be fit for the visit of Wolves, at least, and added that Willian (calf) was “aiming to be available”. Mohamed Elneny and Sead Kolasinac were both still self-isolating as of Wednesday and their availability remains uncertain, as does that of Thomas Partey (thigh), who was described as “progressing rehabilitation” ahead of the Gunners’ trip to Norway.
David Luiz is also a fresh concern, having been taken off as a precaution in that Europa League win, while Nicolas Pepe begins a three-match ban following his sending off against Leeds.
Nuno Espirito Santo confirmed on Friday that Conor Coady was available after a spell in isolation and the long-serving defender looks set to return to the heart of the backline following a rare no-show on Monday.
Romain Saiss (illness) remains out, however.
LEICESTER CITY V FULHAM
Brendan Rodgers won’t face the media until Saturday, so we are unlikely to find out anything more about Timothy Castagne‘s availability ahead of Friday’s FPL deadline. The Belgian had initially been declared available for selection by his manager ahead of the trip to Liverpool but suffered a slight recurrence of his hamstring injury and wasn’t risked.
Speaking ahead of the Europa League game against Braga, Rodgers said the Foxes would be “monitoring him over the course of this week to see where he’s at before the game on Monday” – so it is far from certain that Castagne will be in the matchday squad, let alone risked from the start.
Caglar Söyüncü (abductor), Wilfred Ndidi (adductor) and Ricardo Pereira (ACL) are also expected to remain out based on Rodgers’ comments in Wednesday’s presser, with Ndidi targeting a return against Zorya next week and Pereira building up match-fitness with the under-23s over the next fortnight or so
There wasn’t much in the way of injury news from Scott Parker in his pre-match briefing on Thursday, with Kenny Tete (calf) and Terence Kongolo (foot) still some way from a playing return and the Fulham boss confirming that his squad were otherwise well.
CRYSTAL PALACE V NEWCASTLE UNITED
Roy Hodgson confirmed that the Crystal Palace injury situation remains unchanged, so Wilfried Zaha (illness) will miss out along with Luka Milivojevic (suspended), Nathan Ferguson (knee), Connor Wickham (muscle) and Wayne Hennessey (muscle).
On Zaha, Hodgson:
No, he wont be in contention for this [Friday], he has still got to serve out the period of isolation. That would take him to Saturday, when he’ll be tested again. He’s been feeling OK.
Unconfirmed reports from the press suggest that both Allan Saint-Maximin (muscle) and Andy Carroll (calf) have joined Ryan Fraser (hamstring), Paul Dummett (hamstring) and Martin Dubravka (heel) on the sidelines but Callum Wilson (hamstring) was declared available for selection by Steve Bruce on Thursday and Jamaal Lascelles (thigh) appears to be winning his race to be fit for the match at Crystal Palace, having trained in midweek.
Dwight Gayle (knee) has also been back in training in the run-up to Friday’s match following a lengthy lay-off.
WEST BROMWICH ALBION V SHEFFIELD UNITED
Slaven Bilic declared his West Bromwich Albion squad free of injury in Thursday’s pre-match press conference, although Sam Field (match fitness) isn’t quite ready to return after overcoming a knee problem and then coronavirus.
Jake Livermore and Kieran Gibbs have both returned negative COVID-19 tests after missing out in Gameweek 9, meanwhile, although Bilic did say that “one of them still feels a bit rough” and didn’t elaborate on which player it was.
Chris Wilder confirme that Enda Stevens (knee) remains a doubt and said that another Sheffield United player is “touch and go” – but wouldn’t reveal who it is.
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 found below, with the podcast version available via this link:
3 years, 11 months agoMahrez to play this weekend?