Our team news section – looking ahead to all of Gameweek 22’s matches and offering predicted line-ups – has been updated ahead of this morning’s 11.30 deadline.
Harry Kane’s fitness remains the major conundrum with no apparent update on his situation ahead of Spurs’ fixture with Swansea City on Tuesday. His manager Mauricio Pochettino remarked on Friday that Kane had missed training that day and was at home nursing a cold. While the player himself has since tweeted a New Year’s message, there is no official word on his condition from the club. The recent team news update on the Spurs official site, plus the stories generated from it today, appear to be based on Pochettino’s statements in Thursday’s press conference.
Victor Wanyama is available for the Spurs manager and could come into the equation, perhaps for Tuesday’s fixture but more likely for the derby clash with West Ham United on Thursday. His return could prompt Pochettino to shift formation back to to a 3-4-2-1 with Eric Dier possibly returning to a back three. That, in turn, could put Son Heung-min’s starting role in question for the Hammers meeting, though, in truth, few, if any Spurs and West Ham player will be immune to rotation given the quick turnaround.
The Hammers will go into the two Gameweek 22 matches with doubts surrounding Michail Antonio and Mark Noble, with David Moyes perhaps set to shuffle the pack in attacking areas. He has used both Andy Carroll and Chicharito from the bench in recent matches, though both will be options as starters in one of the two fixtures. Winston Reid could also earn a recall to the starting XI, having returned to the bench at Bournemouth following suspension.
Elsewhere for Gameweek 22, Mohamed Salah is expected to miss out for Burnley at Liverpool, with a recent report claiming that he will be sidelined for two weeks with a knee injury. That single story in the Daily Mirror has spawned others claiming a two-week absence, though it should be noted that only six hours earlier, the Mirror also reported on Liverpool’s own official update made on Saturday evening which only confirmed that he remained a doubt.
However, given the turnaround in matches and Salah’s workload, it would seem likely that the Egyptian will not be risked by Jurgen Klopp. The Liverpool manager has already confirmed that he will make changes for the Clarets clash with reports also suggesting that Philippe Coutinho also missed training on Friday amid further speculation on his future at the club.
Both Ashley Young and Kyle Naughton are ruled out for Manchester United and Swansea City having been charged with violent conduct by the FA. They both miss the next two Gameweeks, serving out one match of their three-match suspensions in the FA Cup.
United’s resources looked stretched for their trip to Goodison Park, with Jose Mourinho acknowledging that he will struggle to rotate his line-up. Romelu Lukaku will surely miss out with the head injury sustained against Southampton, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic is also sidelined for a month. That will likely see Marcus Rashford start up front, while it remains to be seen how Mourinho shuffles his defence with Phil Jones now having started the last five matches, including the Saints clahsh.
On the other side of Manchester, Gabriel Jesus is ruled out of City’s meeting with Watford having suffered a knee injury at Crystal Palace on Sunday. Meanwhile Kevin De Bruyne will be assessed following his own setback in that match – Pep Guardiola may not risk the playmaker, though much could depend on David Silva’s availability. His situation remains unclear, though with Guardiola quoted on Sunday as stating that “he’ll come back when he’s ready to return”.
Finally, despite reports, Brighton pair Lewis Dunk and Anthony Knockeart are not serving suspensions and are available for the visit of Bournemouth today. They received their fifth bookings after the 19 match FA threshold had passed.
6 years, 5 months agoThoughts on this chaps:
Elliot
Vertongen - Gomez - Jones
Salah - Sterling - Eriksen - Pogba - Arnie
Kane (c) - Firmino
Subs: Fab - DCL - Mbemba - Kiko