After the doubts surrounding premium midfielders in Gameweek 11, this week it’s the turn of their mid-price alternatives to cause Fantasy managers some headaches in their preparations for the coming weekend.
James Maddison is a definite absentee for Leicester City, with the summer signing from Norwich and team-mate Harry Maguire being ruled out of Gameweek 12 and England’s fixtures over the international break with knee problems.
Their manager, Claude Puel, had this to say in Thursday’s press conference:
We will see after the international break if they can come back or not in the team. I think Maguire is a little more serious than Maddison, we will see.
Richarlison added to the Fantasy community’s worries on Friday when his manager, Marco Silva, revealed that the player was struggling with the knock he picked up in the win over Brighton last weekend.
The Brazilian only took a small part in Everton’s training session today and Silva said:
He didn’t do the whole session today, we’ll see tomorrow, we have one more session. Still a doubt for the match [on Sunday].
The news was more positive at Liverpool and Manchester City, with Jurgen Klopp reporting that Joe Gomez, Naby Keita and Jordan Henderson were fit to feature against Fulham and Pep Guardiola revealing that his City side would be missing only Kevin De Bruyne for the Manchester derby.
Dejan Lovren and Nathaniel Clyne have also returned to training after illness for the Reds.
Manchester United, meanwhile, could welcome back Romelu Lukaku from injury after the Belgian returned to training.
Mourinho said of the under-fire striker:
Lukaku is training with the team this morning. We have one more session tomorrow – if the answer is positive, he is ready.
With Chelsea in action on Thursday night, there was no press conference from Maurizio Sarri on Friday – though Eden Hazard seemingly came through an hour of the win over BATE unscathed ahead of Sunday’s clash with Everton.
Newcastle United look set to be without Jamaal Lascelles, Jonjo Shelvey and Yoshinori Muto for their match against Bournemouth, who welcome Joshua King back into the first-team fold after an ankle knock.
Spurs have lost Mousa Dembele until the New Year, though at least have Eric Dier and Victor Wanyama close to full fitness to bolster their midfield options.
Across north London, Danny Welbeck looks set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines after injuring his ankle in the draw with Sporting CP on Thursday.
Stephan Lichtsteiner picked up a muscle injury in that match and will be assessed ahead of the weekend along with Nacho Monreal (hamstring).
Arsenal face Wolves on Sunday and Nuno Espirito Santo welcomes back Diogo Jota from injury for that clash.
Troy Deeney returns for Watford to put pressure on Isaac Success, while the Hornets will be without Etienne Capoue after the midfielder collected his fifth yellow card of the season in the defeat to Newcastle.
Southampton have slight concerns over Wesley Hoedt and Mario Lemina, meanwhile.
Alireza Jahanbakhsh is a major doubt for Brighton, who may hand a recall to Anthony Knockaert in his absence. Pascal Gross and Davy Propper miss out again.
Joe Ralls has returned from injury and suspension for Cardiff City, who will be without the banned Harry Arter in Gameweek 12.
James Tarkowski is a doubt for Burnley after seeing a specialist about his ongoing groin problem, with Ben Gibson also set to be unavailable yet again.
Roy Hodgson and Manuel Pellegrini reported no new injury concerns for Crystal Palace and West Ham United, while David Wagner has a fully fit Huddersfield Town squad to choose from.
Slavisa Jokanovic’s press conference was dominated by talk of his future rather than injury news, so doubts remain over Joe Bryan and Kevin McDonald.
Make sure to check out our predicted line-ups and detailed team news blurbs here, as well as our weekly Conference Call video below:
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