With the ten matches in Gameweek 21 already played out, we take a look at the new additions to the treatment rooms up and down the country.
Arsenal
Arsene Wenger has a number of worries in defence ahead of the Gunners’ weekend trip to City. Kieran Gibbs missed Sunday’s win over Stoke with an ankle problem, Calum Chambers was sidelined due to illness, whilst Mathieu Debuchy was stretchered off with a shoulder injury, following a challenge by Marko Arnautovic. After the match, the Gunners boss revealed:
“He (Debuchy) has a dislocated shoulder. It’s difficult – you need a diagnosis from a specialist. We don’t know yet but he will certainly not play next week. Kieran Gibbs still has an inflamed ankle. The test yesterday told us it didn’t work. Chambers was sick. I took him with the team but I decided at the last minute to leave him out of the squad because he’s been sick in the last two days.”
Chelsea
Cesar Azpilicueta lasted just 38 minutes of the weekend win over Newcastle before succumbing to injury. After the match, assistant boss Steve Holland confirmed the Spaniard is set to be assessed:
“He has a slight groin issue, we don’t think it’s a major problem but we’ll know more when they do the scans in the next few days.”
Holland also explained why Thibaut Courtois was only fit enough for the bench, as Petr Cech was handed a rare top-flight start between the posts:
“Thibaut had an injury to his finger which he sustained in the Tottenham game; he could have played but he had some pain. We’re so fortunate to have two goalkeepers at the highest level and it was an easy decision to make in the end, why take the risk?”
Hull
Steve Bruce faces a crisis up front after both his first-choice strikers were forced off before half-time in Saturday’s loss at West Brom. The Tigers boss confirmed Abel Hernandez could be out for a month with a groin injury before rolling out an update on the Uruguayan’s strike partner, Nikica Jelavic:
“Jelavic hurt the knee that was operated on two months ago. It is not like him to come off, so there’s something wrong. He felt it a bit yesterday, but wanted to play. We do fear it is something niggling away. We just hope it’s not a recurrence of the previous injury.”
Liverpool
Steven Gerrard was subbed off at the break during the Reds’ narrow win at Sunderland. Post-match, Brendan Rodgers played down any concerns over a potential injury:
“It was just precautionary. He’ll have a scan on his hamstring. It just felt a little bit tight, so we’ll just need to manage that and see how it is.”
Man United
Robin van Persie is set for ankle scans after being forced off during yesterday’s home loss to Southampton. After the match, Louis van Gaal explained the reasons behind the withdrawal of Luke Shaw and Angel Di Maria:
“Shaw was not injured but he needs match rhythm. Also Di Maria, he is not injured but he needs match rhythm. That is why I had to change. Of course, we have players who are coming back but then we also need match rhythm. It is not so simple to play in the Premier League, so I have to adapt to the circumstances.”
Newcastle
Young keeper Jak Alnwick dropped out of the squad for Saturday’s trip to Chelsea due to a shoulder problem. The stopper took to Twitter to reveal he underwent physio work at the weekend “to get my shoulder right”. Adam Armstrong was initially amongst the subs for the Stamford Bridge clash but picked up an injury during the warm-up.
Southampton
The Saints face an anxious wait over Toby Alderweireld, with Ronald Koeman fearing the centre-half could be out for “some weeks” with the hamstring problem that forced him off early against United. The Belgian left Old Trafford on crutches and is set for scans over the next couple of days.
Sunderland
Steven Fletcher missed Saturday lunchtime’s loss to Liverpool due to a groin problem, whilst fellow forward Jozy Altidore missed out due to illness, the club’s official Twitter feed has confirmed.
Stoke
Mark Hughes rolled out an injury update after both Steven Nzonzi and Erik Pieters were replaced at the break in Sunday’s loss at Arsenal. The Potter boss also discussed why be subbed off Bojan midway through the second-half:
“It was nothing tactical it was purely down to the fact that they had both felt a slight strain in the groins, so that was obviously a disappointment. We will have to settle them down over the next day or two and then assess it from there. Towards the end of the game we thought it would be best to protect Bojan and that was the reasoning behind taking him off. He has picked up a few niggles towards the end of matches recently and we didn’t want to allow that to be the case once more.”
West Ham
Alex Song missed the Hammers weekend trip to Swansea due to illness.
