Torres looks to be out of Hammers clash as he heads back to Spain. Rooney back in training and to be assessed prior to City clash. Wenger insists he will start Van Persie if he’s 100% but rules out gambling on Dutchman’s fitness for Wigan trip. Warnock concern for O’Neill ahead of Villa’s double gameweek. Ryan Nelson set to return as Chris Samba misses out for Rovers – Olsson looks to have shaken off his dead leg and is set to start. Moyes states that the trip to Ewood looks to early for Mikel Arteta…

All the latest manager musings and mutterings are being captured and collected for you in our team news section. Keep your browsers set to this page going into the evening and keep one eye on our Scout Tweets for the fresh goods as they arrive.

Today’s catch-up on the Fernando Torres situation brings us further reports stating that the striker will be in contention for a return to action for Liverpool next week. That conclusion comes courtesy of a prognosis from no other than the “renowned” Dr Ramon Cugan, the specialist that helped Torres through a recent hamstring problem and this current struggle with a knee injury..

“The problem is not serious but he needs to stop and rest to avoid more risk because it’s the same knee on which he had surgery in January…But in normal circumstances, he could be ready to play next week, depending on how it settles down…The decision is now up to Liverpool’s medical staff and the manager.”

If Torres has a chance of being in contention then Rafa’s decision will surely be to protect Torres for the first leg of the Europa League semi with Atletico Madrid. It seems likely that Torres’ involvement in the league fixture with West Ham on Monday will be minimal – perhaps an appearance from the bench at best. Given that rest and recuperation is identified as the solution to the injury, owners of Torres will also have to question whether Rafa will include the striker in his eleven for the trip to Burnley the following Sunday, given that Liverpool will be facing Atletico in the second leg four days later. It’s all speculation but right now it appears that Fantasy returns from Torres could well be suspended for at least the next two matches…

So the news on Fernando Torres is at best, a little sketchy. Liverpool released a statement yesterday indicating that initial tests in Barcelona had been carried out on the striker’s knee but it seems either they had proved inconclusive, or the club were not in a position to reveal a prognosis for the injury…

“Fernando Torres was examined by a knee specialist this afternoon in Spain. He received treatment and will continue to do so over the next few days, with the injury being reassessed later this week.”

This has of course left the door open for wild speculation, and typically the Daily Mail have waltzed right through it. The Mail are already stating that Torres is a doubt for the Europa League semi-final with Atletico on April 22 and 29. There’s no mention of an absence from Liverpool’s league programme, presumably with that given a lower profile and priority than their European campaign. There’s clearly concern however, surrounding the likelihood that Torres will line up against West Ham next Monday, particularly with the first leg with Atletico is follow just three days later.

While further news is likely to follow later this week, Torres is already leading the “transfers out” rankings in the Fantasy Premier League game. Over 14,000 have already decided to sell on – almost double that of any other player at this point. The consistent scoring of Carlos Tevez appears to have made him the main beneficiary of these sales – he’s been brought in by over 8000 managers as of this morning. Tevez and other options to the “Trinity” strikers are discussed in Sir Paulos’ excellent recent Technical Area article.

Liverpool are half-an-hour into their home game with Fulham – with Fernando Torres nowhere to be seen. Torres was left out of the 18-man squad by Rafa Benitez, with the official line being that the striker was kept out through injury.

With no more detail than that right now, we can presume that the culprit is a knee injury. That appears to be confirmed by several non-official sources.

Torres was seen applying an ice pack to his knee after being substituted at Birmingham last weekend and on several occasions against Benfica on Thursday, the Spaniard was seen gingerly stretching and feeling the same area. Torres was believed to be receiving treatment on the knee following Thursday’s game.

Today’s absence was still a major surprise. Rafa gave no word leading up to the game that he had any major concern regarding the injury but it appears that, when tested, Torres and his knee were not 100%. We can only speculate whether he would have been risked had Liverpool not progressed to the Europa League semi-finals.

It’s pretty disastrous news for Fantasy Managers – particularly those Fantasy Premier League bosses who handed Torres the armband. They will now be nervously checking their auto-captain criteria and no doubt looking out for the Chelsea team-sheet against Bolton in the week as a result. The question we have to ask ourselves now is whether Torres is a liability for the remainder of the season if this knee problem is going to continue to trouble him and Rafa continues to keep us in the dark.

We can only await Rafa’s post-match comments.

Wayne Rooney ruled out by Ferguson for Ewood trip. Black Cats to check on Turner’s fitness for the visit to Upton Park. Pulis could rest bad-boy Fuller at Wolves. Hodgson likely to rotate his troops for Anfield trip. Mancini forced to shuffle his back four at Sylvinho remains a doubt for home clash with Birmingham. Joe Hart ineligible for the visitors…

It’s a tricky week for team news with half of the gameweek programme taking place in midweek following on from the FA Cup semi-finals this weekend. Speculation and guesswork will come into play then as rest, rotation and the risk of injury become major concerns.

Even so, we will do our upmost to keep you up to date with all the very latest from around the clubs leading right up to tomorrow morning’s deadline. Keep your browsers set to our team news section and leave one eye on our Twitter service for all the fresh stuff.

Carlo Ancelotti’s name was mud only last weekend when we discovered that he’d opted to leave Didier Drogba on the bench, despite the Italian’s assurances that he would start at Old Trafford. Today Ancelotti has reclaimed a few brownie points by opening up his physio room and giving us some welcome updates on two key players.

Branislav Ivanovic is the first name of significance. The Serbian defender has been sidelined for three weeks having sustained a knee injury against Blackburn. He is apparently back in contention now though and likely to feature on the bench against Villa in the weekend Cup semi. Ivanovic can now come back into our thinking for Chelsea’s remaining league matches. Ancelotti’s defence have three Stamford Bridge dates to come – against Bolton, Stoke and Wigan; all three look decent clean sheet candidates. Ivanovic has recently seen his Fantasy Premier League value drop from a peak of 6.1 to a current price of 5.8.

Ashley Cole is further away from the starting eleven but today’s latest on Chelsea’s official site pencils him in for the home game with Stoke on April 25. That gives Yuri Zhirkov just another couple of games as an assured starter, denting his fantasy potential rather considerably.

Carlo was also kind enough to confirm that he would go with an unchanged defence and midfield against Villa, presumably with Drogba coming back into his attack. Ancelotti’s new habit of announcing his lineup is a nice little late season development, providing he doesn’t pull another Drogba incident on us.