Despite the earlier-than-usual Gameweek 8 deadline of 19:00 BST tonight, ten Premier League bosses showed a flagrant disregard for the concerns of fretting Fantasy managers by holding their pre-match press conferences on Friday afternoon.
There is only one place to start our team news round-up.
Pep Guardiola confirmed that Benjamin Mendy has trained today and is in contention to face Liverpool on Sunday, before delivering another bombshell by hinting that Kevin De Bruyne could feature.
Mendy’s return comes at the perfect time for Guardiola, who will be without Fabian Delph for the trip to Anfield. With Aymeric Laporte flattering to deceive at left-back in the UEFA Champions League tie against Hoffenheim in midweek, Mendy might be pressed into an immediate return.
The concern, of course, is that the City manager tends to not start Mendy and Leroy Sane in the same team when both are available: that combination was used only once in an admittedly injury-ravaged season in 2017/18 when the Citizens entertained bottom-of-the-table Crystal Palace.
Whether Guardiola would be so bold as to pit two attack-minded options in Mendy and Sane against Mohamed Salah and Andrew Robertson on Liverpool’s right flank is another question but given the dearth of alternatives available to the City boss at left-back (Oleksandr Zinchenko being the only other real option, with Danilo yet to feature this season), that eventuality might occur.
Guardiola could, of course, drop Sane to the bench and play Raheem Sterling as an inverted winger on the left flank as in Gameweeks 1, 3 and 4, though that would be very harsh on the German wide-man given his performances in recent weeks.
Ilkay Gundogan (hamstring) is a considerable doubt, meanwhile, which helps lessen the competition for David Silva and Bernardo Silva, but just as one City midfielder runs into injury problems another one returns to fitness to complicate the picture: whether De Bruyne would be deemed ready to start in a game of this magnitude, however, is open to debate.
Liverpool, meanwhile, are only sweating on Naby Keita‘s availability. The Guinean midfielder was stretchered off after 19 minutes of the Reds’ defeat to Napoli in midweek but Jurgen Klopp has revealed the problem (a back spasm) is not too serious and he will be assessed over the coming 48 hours.
Klopp confirmed that the rest of his squad were in “full training”.
Chelsea are also injury-free, with Pedro making his comeback in the Europa League match against Vidi on Thursday evening.
Also in action last night were Arsenal, who will check on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (illness) and Aaron Ramsey (attending the birth of his child) ahead of the trip to Fulham.
Their north London rivals have problems of their own, with Christian Eriksen (abdomen), Jan Vertonghen (hamstring), Dele Alli (hamstring), Mousa Dembele (thigh) and Serge Aurier (thigh) unavailable for the visit of Cardiff City.
Manchester United will be without Jesse Lingard, Marcos Rojo and Ander Herrera, though welcome back Ashley Young into contention for the match against Newcastle United on Saturday evening.
The Magpies, meanwhile, will again be without Salomon Rondon (thigh), but Paul Dummett and Federico Fernandez (both hamstring) are back in contention and will face a fitness test before the game.
In tonight’s encounter at the Amex, Pascal Gross once again misses out for the hosts, while West Ham might have Javier Hernandez available after illness. Manuel Pellegrini acknowledged that Marko Arnautovic has an underlying knee problem in Thursday’s presser, but the Austrian striker is expected to feature regardless.
Leicester will only be without Demarai Gray and Matty James for the visit of Everton, who will again be starved of Seamus Coleman, Andre Gomes and Yerry Mina‘s services; the sidelined trio are expected to return after the international break, however.
Fulham lost Joe Bryan (hamstring) and Timothy Fosu-Mensah (shoulder) to injury at Goodison Park last weekend and the two full-backs will be unavailable for Sunday’s fixture against Arsenal. Slavisa Jokanovic was coy on Tom Cairney‘s chances of starting, meanwhile.
Charlie Daniels is Bournemouth’s only injury doubt for their meeting with Watford. The Hornets have further problems at right-back with Marc Navarro now a major doubt and Daryl Janmaat already a medium-term absentee, so Kiko Femenia might deputise. Winger Gerald Deulofeu is back in contention, however.
Nuno Espirito Santo reported a clean bill of health in Friday’s press conference, while his opposite number in the home dugout on Saturday, Roy Hodgson, has only long-term absentees Christian Benteke, Scott Dann and Connor Wickham unavailable.
James Tarkowski faces a late fitness test for Burnley, while Huddersfield Town are sweating on Christopher Schindler‘s availability after losing Terence Kongolo to a hamstring problem.
Cardiff look set to be without Aron Gunnarsson again, while Southampton Mark Hughes has no injury concerns for the visit of Chelsea on Sunday.
Our weekly press conference round-up on YouTube is available to view here or in the embedded video below, while our predicted line-ups and more in-depth team news can be read here.
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