As expected, Gareth Bale has been ruled out of Tottenham’s home clash with Everton on Sunday. Aaron Lennon and William Gallas are also absent for the north London outfit, though all three are expected to return to training “within two weeks” according to the club’s official website. Bale’s weekend absence, allied with a blank next time out, is set to spice up the next couple of Gameweeks as his owners go shopping for midfield replacements – with the double Gameweek 33 just around the corner, plenty of squad restructuring can be anticipated.
David Moyes admits Kevin Mirallas is doubtful for Everton’s trip to Tottenham. The Belgian notched the Toffees winner against Stoke last time out but according to his manager:
“He’s been suffering from a groin strain and he is going to be touch and go. We are hoping that he will make it but it is by no means definite. Unfortunately we don’t have Marouane Fellaini and Steven Pienaar and that would be a blow to anybody’s team. We found a way of getting a result against Stoke City and it’s a bit the same against Tottenham – we’re going to have to find a way to get a result without two really key players.”
Raheem Sterling is a doubt for Liverpool’s home game with West Ham. Brendan Rodgers revealed in this afternoon’s press conference:
“He’s had an ongoing issue with his thigh, so we’re just assessing that and whether he needs to come out for a few weeks to protect that. Apart from that, everyone is fine”.
Sam Allardyce – who is without Andy Carroll due to the conditions of his loan deal – rolled out the following injury update:
“The bad news is obviously George McCartney coming off last weekend, which is something we were really sick about. The good news is that while the injury is quite serious, it doesn’t need an operation, which we’re glad to hear. The specialist thinks that when we rehab him this time he’ll be ok, so there’s an outside chance that he gets fit for a couple of games at the back end of this season. Mark Noble is still recovering from his trapped nerve problem in his shoulder. So he won’t be quite ready and Joe Cole’s still got his hamstring injury.”
Micah Richards and Maicon remain on the sidelines for City ahead of Monday’s Manchester derby. Both returned to action for the Under 21 side in midweek but Roberto Mancini has admitted they are two weeks away from a first-team comeback; good news for Pablo Zabaleta’s owners in the short-term, at least.
Martin Jol has ruled out both Ashkan Dejagah and Mladen Petric ahead of Fulham’s trip to Newcastle on Sunday afternoon. Dejagah has started the last four on the right flank and his absence could, potentially, have a knock-on effect on Dimitar Berbatov – Jol had previously utilised Bryan Ruiz on the flank, with Berbatov dropping into “the hole”. The Cottagers do have alternatives, though, with Damien Duff perhaps favourite to switch flanks, with the likes of Urby Emanuelson or Kieran Richardson offering options on the left.
Finally, we end with an update for Fantasy managers who believe in the “Bib Theory”. In these pictures published on the Arsenal website earlier this afternoon, Kieran Gibbs and Lukas Podolski played on the same side as Andrei Arshavin – an ominous sign if there ever was and perhaps encouraging news for owners of Nacho Monreal. Tomas Rosicky was selected alongside Mikel Arteta; a suggestion that the Czech international could retain his first-team place after starting against Reading last weekend.
As always, this has all been collected for you in our team news section, where you’ll find our current predicted lineups for the weekend matches.
Keep an eye on our Twitter stream as always, for any late breaking news.
