Both Liverpool and Stoke City look set to go into Gameweek 6 with a host of defensive concerns.
Meanwhile, Swansea City boss Paul Clement is mulling over a first start for Wilfried Bony for the visit of Watford to the Liberty Stadium.
Dejan Lovren is a major doubt for Liverpool’s trip to Leicester with a back problem, while Joel Matip and Emre Can are also nursing knocks, though the latter was pictured in training on Thursday. Sadio Mane serves the final fixture of his three-match suspension in the visit to the King Power. Jurgen Klopp may now be forced to field a makshift backline, with Joe Gomez retained in a central role following his EFL Cup outing and Trent Alexander-Arnold returning at right-back.
Earlier this morning, Stoke manager Mark Hughes conceded that he has a number of problems in defence ahead of the home meeting against Chelsea. Geoff Cameron and Ryan Shawcross are definitely out due to injury, Kurt Zouma is ineligible to face his parent club, while Kevin Wimmer is rated as “touch and go” after sustaining a hamstring injury. Hughes could now look to both Erik Pieters and Glen Johnson as stand-in centre-backs should he retain a three-man defence.
Swansea City head coach Paul Clement has revealed that Wilfried Bony is in contention to make his first league start of the season against Watford.
But Hornets defenders Sebastian Prodl and Younes Kaboul remain sidelined for the Liberty Stadium visit and Miguel Britos is still suspended.
Pedro Obiang and James Collins will both miss the home clash with Spurs, but Mark Noble is available again. Manuel Lanzini is back in training, but this weekend is too early for the Argentine.
Jonathan Walters is expected to miss Burnley’s home meeting with Huddersfield Town due to a knee problem.
And the Terriers will be without midfielder Danny Williams for the Turf Moor encounter due to a broken bone in his foot. Summer signing Steve Mounie misses out once again due to a heel problem, with Laurent Depoitre expected to shrug off a muscle problem to deputise up front.
Tyrone Mings has been ruled out for around two months with a back injury, but Junior Stanislas returns to contention as Bournemouth make their way to Everton.
Mauricio Pellegrino will decide today what part Virgil van Dijk will play in the home meeting with Manchester United. Matt Targett (ankle) looks set to miss out, though Charlie Austin is fit and available to challenge Shane Long for a start up front.
Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder Izzy Brown has returned to training this week following a hamstring injury and could be named in the squad for the home clash against Newcastle United.
Mesut Ozil looks to have a good chance of being fit for Monday night’s home fixture against West Bromwich Albion following a knee problem, but Calum Chambers and Danny Welbeck are both ruled out until after the international break.
All this and more has now been updated in the Team News section ahead of this tomorrow’s 11.30am deadline. Keep an eye on our official Twitter Stream for breaking news – as the day unfolds, we will issue updates from Friday’s press conferences and refresh our Team News tab accordingly to keep you informed.
