Next up, we take a scour round the Premier League Treatment Rooms, keeping you up-to-date with the latest injury news after Gameweek 1 came to an end last night. Tottenham’s first-choice stopper is sidelined for a month, whilst Arsenal and West Ham’s midfields are causing concern.
Aaron Ramsey
Arsene Wenger confirmed post-match than Aaron Ramsey had suffered a hamstring injury in Sunday’s defeat to Liverpool.
The Welshman was forced off on 61 minutes to be replaced by Santi Cazorla. The setback marks the fourth time in less than two years that Ramsey has suffered hamstring problems – a known area of weakness for the Welshman which has previously kept his sidelined for over a month at the end of last season.
Ramsey was one of four players making a return following Euro 16 action but the only one to start the match having been fast-tracked for a return, along with Alexis Sanchez following his Copa America exploits. Olivier Giroud, Mesut Ozil and Laurent Koscielny were not risked against Liverpool.
Wenger clearly regrets rushing Ramsey back into action.
“I pushed Ramsey in and he got injured. It’s a very difficult situation to sort out because the players come back late because of the Euros and, on top of that, you play them and they get injured. If you don’t play them you miss them…He [Ramsey] has a hamstring injury but I don’t know how bad it is yet.”
Scans on the injury will tell us more on the prognosis but Ramsey’s previous history would suggest that this will again rule him out for a number of weeks – possibly a full month or more.
Alex Iwobi
Wenger must also check on the availability of Alex Iwobi who started the season on the left of Arsenal’s 4-2-3-1 but was forced off on 59 minutes to be replaced by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
The Gunners’ boss has confirmed a thigh injury for the 20-year-old and, like Ramsey, we have no definitive prognosis.
Wenger suggested that he is preparing to take stock ahead of the demanding trip to Leicester City in Gameweek 2 – assessing his injured parties and the likes of Giroud, Ozil and Koscielny who will all be expected to return to contention.
“We have to be ready next week because we go to Leicester. But we’ll see first what we can do with the players who are preparing at the moment and how many players are injured today. Can they recover for next week? I don’t know.”
Philippe Coutinho
The Brazilian’s quite brilliant display at the Emirates was somewhat tempered when he limped from the field on 70 minutes, raising concerns that he may have suffered damage to his hamstring.
However, as suspected, this has been confirmed as cramp by manager Jurgen Klopp, who dismissed any doubts that Coutinho had suffered an injury.
Marten de Roon
Middlesbrough’s Dutch midfield enforcer was withdrawn after just 22 minutes of his Premier League debut after suffering a muscle injury against Stoke City.
Already without Grant Leadbitter in the engine room, Aitor Karanka seems resigned to be without their new capture from Atalanta for up to a month.
“I think it’s a muscle injury and sometimes it’s three weeks, sometimes four weeks, sometimes two. I need to keep calm with him. It was his first game, he was wanting to show everybody he was ready to play, and sometimes the emotions are wrong. I hope he’s with us as soon as possible, but without him when Adam Forshaw came onto the pitch, we played in the same way.”
As suggested, Karanka looks set to turn to Adam Forshaw (4.5) to fill the void alongside Adam Clayton for their run of three away games in four (sun, wba, CPL, eve).
Jack Butland
A victim of a training ground injury on the eve of the new season, Jack Butland was ruled out of Stoke City’s opener at Middlesbrough with an ankle complaint.
The keeper was initially expected to be sidelined for around three weeks, thus returning in mid-September, but earlier today, the Potters’ assistant boss Mark Bowen surprisingly revealed that Butland has an outside chance of recovering in time for this weekend’s home encounter with Man City:
“Although Jack’s not been training, he has been out there in the sunshine today with a smile on his face, which is a good indication. He tells me he’s feeling fine and depending how the rest of the week goes, there may even be a chance of him being available for Saturday, but I say that cautiously. We’ve got three or four days before then, so if it keeps improving the way it is…He’s of a mind to rest up for the next day or so and then start doing a little bit. The diagnosis he was telling me was there was a bit of scar tissue that’s come away (in the ankle) and caused a hell of a lot of pain. But he’s had a jab and hopefully it’s full steam ahead”
Shay Given (4.5) started in goal on Teesside but now looks set to return to the bench if Butland proves his fitness in time. With clashes against City, Everton and Spurs in the next three, Mark Hughes’ men are off our radars currently anyway but enjoy a significant upturn in fixtures from Gameweek 5 onwards, which could also promote first-choice left-back Erik Pieters (4.5) in our reckoning.
Hugo Lloris
Forced off after 35 minutes of Spurs’ draw at Goodison, Hugo Lloris is set to be sidelined “for around four weeks”, according to the club’s official website earlier today.
This should afford Michel Vorm (5.0) a run of starts against Palace, Liverpool and Stoke, with Lloris also potentially missing the Gameweek 5 home clash against Sunderland on September 18.
Spending on a short-term stopper is something of a sideways move, though and, at a cost of 5.5, Kyle Walker could be worth the extra outlay – he produced more key passes than any defender last week and bagged an assist and single bonus point in the Everton stalemate.
Andre Ayew & Sofiane Feghouli
Slaven Bilic was left reeling after club record signing Andre Ayew was forced off during the first-half of last night’s 2-1 loss to Chelsea. The Hammers boss also went on to explain why another new signing, Sofiane Feghouli, failed to take part:
“Ayew has a thigh injury. He told me it is not a big one, but you never know and he will have a scan on Tuesday and we have to wait for the result of the scan to know how long he will be out. Feghouli picked up something against Juventus which we didn’t think was an injury and he trained for a week, but he missed tonight because he is injured.”
Regardless of the pair’s availability, it seems likely that Bilic will unleash Dimitri Payet from the start against Bournemouth on Sunday as he looks to recover from the Stamford Bridge defeat.
West Ham are already without the injured Manuel Lanzini and should one or both of Ayew and Feghouli fail to make it, Bilic may even consider moving Michail Antonio to the right wing berth after he endured a torrid time against Eden Hazard as a right-back last night.
Replaced by Sam Byram before the hour-mark, Antonio continues to struggle with defensive duties and a return to attack would resurrect his Fantasy potential after last term’s eight goals and seven assists.
