Claudio Ranieri and Mauricio Pochettino play down Jamie Vardy and Harry Kane’s weekend withdrawals. Eddie Howe is sweating over the fitness of Junior Stanislas and Josh King, whilst Alan Pardew has concerns over Yohan Cabaye and Connor Wickham.
Bournemouth
Josh King sat out the Cherries’ trip to West Bromwich Albion after suffering a recurrence of the hamstring knock he sustained against Manchester United during the warm-up of Saturday’s win at West Brom.
Post-match, Eddie Howe also confirmed that Junior Stanislas was substituted in the 70th minute at The Hawthorns with a similar complaint:
“Certainly with our current situation, we don’t want any more injuries. We lost Joshua in the warm-up which was a huge blow to our team and the way that we play. He just felt his hamstring. We don’t think it is a pull but he was aware of something that had followed on from last week. We had his hamstring checked so we were surprised to hear he had felt something. We are hopeful it is not long-term. Junior felt a little bit of something in his hamstring so we are hopeful we haven’t picked up two serious injuries.”
Crystal Palace
Yohan Cabaye picked up a heel injury in training and was subsequently ruled out of the Eagles’ trip to the Britannia Stadium. Elsewhere in the Palace camp, Connor Wickham was withdrawn just beyond the hour mark with a hamstring strain.
Everton
Steven Naismith was unavailable for selection this Gameweek by virtue of an ankle knock he suffered in midweek training.
Leicester City
Claudio Ranieri played down the hamstring problem that saw Jamie Vardy subbed off in the 87th minute at Goodison Park:
“Yes he was a little bit hurt and he was a bit tired. But it’s nothing serious, so I put on Ulloa to keep possession and jump on set plays.”
Newcastle United
Papiss Cisse will undergo a scan today for a groin injury he sustained during the first half of Newcastle’s home tie against Aston Villa.
Liverpool
Martin Skrtel was forced off in the first period of the Reds’ road encounter against Watford, and Jurgen Klopp is unsure when the Slovakian centre-back will return to action:
“Martin Skrtel is injured now, that is a problem I don’t know who will come back in this moment. Nobody had a rest, now we have to look who is available for Boxing Day.”
As for the Merseysiders’ goalkeeper situation, Adam Bogdan stood in for Simon Mignolet, who sustained a minor hamstring injury:
“It is not a big thing with Simon, he tried everything, but if you have someone like Adam on the bench you have to use this opportunity.”
Swansea City
Wayne Routledge was sidelined for Swansea’s home tie against West Ham United with a knee injury, while Angel Rangel left the field at the 69-minute mark after twisting his ankle.
Tottenham Hotspur
Mauricio Pochettino confirmed that Harry Kane’s substitution in stoppage time at St Mary’s Stadium was just a “precaution”.
Meanwhile, Danny Rose was ruled out through illness. In a more serious development on the injury front, Clinton N’Jie faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines after undergoing surgery to knee ligaments he damaged in Spurs’ Europa League win over Monaco.
West Bromwich Albion
Claudio Yacob was absent for West Brom’s home defeat to Bournemouth as he’s currently in Argentina on compassionate leave. Tony Pulis admitted there’s no time scale on the midfielder’s return:
“No, he’s still out there. Obviously that’s a very very sad thing that’s happened with Claudio and his family. We’ll give him as much time as he wants. He knows that he has the support of the football club and whatever time he needs to be with his family were quite happy to accommodate that.”
