Bournemouth await results of Callum Wilson’s knee scan after their top scorer was forced off early against Stoke on Saturday. The Potters have concerns over Xherdan Shaqiri, whilst Man City have worries over a trio of key men after the weekend loss to Tottenham.
Arsenal
The Gunners worries in central midfield were compounded at the weekend after Mathieu Flamini limped off after 21 minutes of Arsenal’s road tie against Leicester City. With Francis Coquelin sitting out the King Power showdown due to a knee problem, Arsene Wenger confirmed that replacement Flamini was forced off early in the 5-2 win due to a hamstring complaint.
Bournemouth
Callum Wilson was stretchered off at the 17-minute mark of Bournemouth’s trip to Stoke City, following a strong challenge from Philipp Wollscheid. Over 150,000 Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers have already sold Wilson since the weekend, with Cherries boss Eddie Howe admitting that the initial signs don’t look good for the 5.9-priced striker:
“It doesn’t look good at this moment in time. He’s in a brace and on crutches. He’s in a bit of pain and there’s a bit of swelling there. We won’t know until we get it scanned and properly looked at, but it’s worrying for us. It looks like it could be another serious knee injury. He wanted to carry on and stay on, such is his nature. The physios were aware of there could be a potential injury there and they relayed their concerns to him. He felt he was strong enough, fit enough and able enough to carry on, which wasn’t the case. It was a real key moment in the game.”
Crystal Palace
James McArthur’s run of six successive starts came to an end yesterday in Palace’s win at Watford yesterday. The midfielder was omitted from the first XI after sustaining a minor knock during the week, but did emerge from the bench at the 77-minute mark.
Manchester City
Vincent Kompany, Joe Hart and Yaya Toure are all doubts for Manchester City’s midweek Champions League clash against Borussia Monchengladbach. The former was replaced on the substitute’s bench by George Evans after he felt a recurrence of his recent calf complaint during the warm-ups:
“I don’t think he will [be available on Wednesday]. At the beginning, he was fit to be on the bench. In the warm-up, he felt some problem in his calf. We will see in the way he develops in the next few days.”
Toure, meanwhile, came off after 56 minutes at White Hart Lane with a hamstring tweak and is now touch-and-go for Wednesday’s match-up:
“Yaya had some problem with his hamstring, and we don’t know [if they will be fit]. We must wait for Sunday or Monday to decide if they are 100 percent.”
As for Hart, the English shot-stopper was only fit enough to be named among the subs against Spurs after suffering a minor back injury earlier in the week:
“Joe had a problem with his back during the week. He could train just one day this week, and that’s why I decided to play [Willy] Caballero. Joe was not 100 percent.”
Stoke City
Xherdan Shaqiri was forced off after 54 minutes of the Potters’ home clash against the Cherries with a suspected hamstring problem. Mark Hughes later revealed that the Swiss international is set to undergo a scan today to determine the severity of the damage:
“Xherdan pulled up, but we don’t know how serious it is at the moment. It’s one that we will have to check, we will settle him down tomorrow and get him scanned and see the extent of it on Monday. Obviously he didn’t stay on the pitch too long afterwards and that usually helps because it doesn’t cause any further damage. We hope it isn’t too serious and we will see how he is first thing on Monday morning.”
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