Following a Gameweek littered with knocks and niggles, we roll out our usual post-match club-by-club report on the fresh arrivals in the treatment room.
We find Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe with plenty to concern him, whilst Claudio Ranieri plays down the back problem that forced Riyad Mahrez off against the Cherries.
Arsenal
Mesut Ozil missed the Gunners 1-0 win at Newcastle with a minor knee problem. Prior to the match, Arsene Wenger confirmed he expects the German back imminently:
“It’s a slight injury but he is not available to play. He will be out for one week”
Aston Villa
Jack Grealish missed Villa’s home draw with Sunderland after injuring an ankle in training on Friday, while club skipper Gabby Agbonlahor was also ruled out through illness after the club had been hit by a widespread virus.
Post-match, Tim Sherwood brought us this on the Grealish injury….
“Jack twisted his ankle. There was no-one near him. He caught his toe in the turf on Friday. He went over on it. He was sick, gutted. We don’t know how bad it is. We’re hoping it’s just a sprain and the international break might give him an opportunity to be ready for the Leicester game.”
While he also updated us on Agbonlahor’s situation…
“Gabby is not well. He’s had the stomach bug. I think there’s six or seven at the club who have suffered. Gabby was one.”
Adama Traore was also ruled out against the Black Cats having made his debut from the bench at Palace in Gameweek 3. Sherwood was optimistic on his return after the international break…
“Adama is feeling a kick. He got a kick on the back of the calf and obviously rolled his ankle at the same time. The good news is that the ankle is okay. It’s just about the soreness of the kick – and it was too sore for him to take part.”
Bournemouth
The Cherries’ treatment room got a little bit busier this weekend after three of their players sustained weekend injuries. Tyrone Mings lasted just 11 minutes as a sub before being stretchered off, whilst Max Gradel is also a worry for Eddie Howe:
“We need to assess and scan before making a judgement. Tyrone didn’t look good, seeing him in that much pain, it’s not nice to see. Max knew early it was serious. Knee injuries are not good to see. It restricted us tactically. We couldn’t make changes when we needed to to get momentum back.”
Left-back Charlie Daniels was forced off with a knee problem at the break, though is optimistic the problem isn’t serious:
“I had an initial scan and it did not look too bad. Hopefully, it will be nothing long-term but we can’t really tell yet, that was just the first look. Once the swelling has gone down, I will probably have another scan on Tuesday to see how it is.”
The Cherries were also without Joshua King due to a hamstring problem.
Everton
The Toffees are set to be without Tom Cleverley for a period of time after the midfielder was stretchered off in yesterday evening’s goalless draw at Spurs. Post-match, Roberto Martinez admitted the club are uncertain how long Cleverley will be sidelined for:
“The physio is a little bit more positive [than he was at half-time]. I think it is clearly ligament damage – but, straight away, we were fearing it could have been ligament damage and a fracture as well. It shows that Tom is a very, very fit man to be able to get through that collision with a [relatively] minor injury. He will still be out for a while but not as long as we first thought he might be – and we thank the luck that we had there.”
Leicester
Claudio Ranieri confirmed that the Foxes in-form Riyad Mahrez was subbed off at the break after sustaining a back problem during yesterday’s clash with Bournemouth. The Leicester boss eased concerns over a serious injury by revealing:
“We changed Riyad at half-time because he took a kick very early in the game and after that, in the battle, he could not play at full speed. I wanted us to keep pressing forward, so we replaced him as a precaution.”
Southampton
Victor Wanyama – who missed the Saints Europa League exit on Thursday evening with a stomach bug – was again absent for today’s win over Norwich. With rumours of a move to Spurs growing, Ronald Koeman revealed the Kenyan was “not mentally and physically good enough to play” against the Canaries.
Stoke
Mark Hughes has confirmed that Glen Johnson was forced off just after the hour mark against West Brom due to a groin problem.
Swansea
Jefferson Montero missed today’s win over United with a minor thigh problem. After the match, Garry Monk eased fears over the extent of the injury:
“Unfortunately Jeff pulled up in training with a bit of soreness in his quad, but he has had scan and it is nothing clinical.”
Tottenham
Spurs are set to assess Moussa Dembele after the Belgian was stretchered off during the goalless draw with Everton with a foot injury.
The player himself has since posted on Twitter offering reassurance on the scale of the problem.
West Brom
James Chester missed the Baggies 1-0 win at rivals Stoke due to a minor hamstring problem. Callum McManaman also suffered from a similar complaint but was fit enough to make an appearance as a second-half sub.
