Mason Mount has been passed fit to play for Chelsea this weekend, although Frank Lampard will be without N’Golo Kante (ankle) and Pedro (hamstring) for the visit of Sheffield United.
Speaking in his press conference on Friday, Lampard said:
Mason is OK. It was more of a dead leg, like a kick. He’s fine, in training.
N’Golo Kante is not fit. It’s the continuation of his ankle problem so he won’t be travelling with the French squad. Let’s try and get him fit over the break.
Pedro is not fit, hopefully should be fit the other side of the international break as well.
Rudiger is going play in the under-23s tonight, hopefully for the final time in terms of getting his proper match fitness and then he’s in serious contention to play after the international break.
Yesterday we were brought news that Anthony Martial (thigh) and Luke Shaw (hamstring) will miss the trip to Southampton and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer provided us with more information in his press conference on Friday morning.
The Norwegian said:
They’ve got slight injuries that they picked up in the game against Palace, and in one respect, it’s a positive time to get it, because it’s the international break for them, and they won’t miss many games.
After the international break, hopefully Anthony will be ready for the Leicester game and Luke maybe another week or two after that.
Asked about his forward options after Alexis Sanchez‘s departure, Solskjaer added:
I’m trusting Anthony, Marcus and Mason to be our centre-forwards. We’ve got wingers in Chongy, Dan James and Pereira, we’ve got loads of options.
Mason is not used to playing as little as he is at the moment. He’s used to playing every week for the reserves or under-18s. He won’t be expected to play five games on the bounce, he’s a covering option behind Anthony and Marcus.
Jurgen Klopp confirmed that Alisson (calf) is still unavailable for the trip to Burnley and suggested that there wouldn’t widespread rotation at Turf Moor – unlike in the previous two seasons.
Asked first about his defensive options, the Liverpool boss said:
We need them all, we need them all 100%. It is the very first part of the season, the first four Premier League games, and we had a busier schedule than other teams but still not that busy during the week.
That will all come afterwards, so no reason for resting players at the moment. It is about finding rhythm, finding the mood again, that we do the right things in the right moment. It is not the moment for a lot of changes.
After this international break, that will change completely. In the moment, the defensive set-up or whatever, as always, it is about who is in the best shape.
We have had a full week to train and when the boys won the last game and showed me then that they are still in their best possible shape, then we will only think about a couple of really small changes.
Pep Guardiola may have Gabriel Jesus (hamstring) back sooner than expected.
The Brazilian had originally been ruled out until after the international break but the City boss said of Jesus and John Stones (thigh) on Friday:
They are much better. I don’t know if they will be available tomorrow but they are much, much better. If they are not ready for tomorrow, the Norwich game they will be ready.
Asked again if Joao Cancelo could start, Guardiola replied:
When we come back from the international break, we have Norwich, after three days, we have to travel to Ukraine, after three days we have a game here, then Carabao Cup. Start the real season in terms of a lot of games.
Joao, we’re delighted what we have seen but arrived late so was not in pre-season. Joao started to understand what to do. And now, maybe tomorrow, maybe after the international break, he start to play. He has to be ready.
Ahead of the north London derby, Spurs reported that Kyle Walker-Peters (hamstring), Ryan Sessegnon (hamstring), Juan Foyth (ankle) and Tanguy Ndombele (thigh) remain out, while Eric Dier (hip) is being assessed.
Brendan Rodgers had positive updates on Ben Chilwell (hip) and Wilfred Ndidi (hamstring), saying first of Chilwell:
He’s back into the squad, so he’ll be fit and available. There’s been consultation between the FA and the club. If he wasn’t ready to go, we wouldn’t send him. But if he’s fit and available for tomorrow, then he’ll be fine to go.
I’m very fortunate, we’ve got two outstanding left-backs. Ben’s the real up-and-coming big talent and it’s clear for all to see that when he’s playing at that level, then he’s our number one left-back.
Wilf is back in the squad. We could have maybe taken him in the midweek, but we wanted to give him a good week’s training. So he’ll come back into the squad.
Marco Silva confirmed that Jean-Philippe Gbamin (thigh) is his only absentee for the visit of Wolves and was asked again about whether his other summer signings could start on Sunday, replying:
We gave them the first start [v Lincoln in the EFL Cup]. I like what I saw. Because he started the middle of the pre-season with us, Fabian [Delph] knows more things than the others about our model and philosophy.
For Fabian and Alex [Iwobi] it’s easier because they know Premier League, they know some of their teammates. For the other two it’s a little bit different but it is up to me to give more minutes to them when I can, to give the games for them to start if I decide.
Now they are coming to the same level as the others and it is up to me to decide.
Daniel Farke confirmed that Timm Klose has ruptured his PCL and may need surgery, with the best-case scenario being a four-month absence – although he could be sidelined for anything up to a year.
Grant Hanley (groin) will also miss the trip to West Ham but Christoph Zimmermann, Alex Tettey and Josip Drmic are available.
Newcastle have multiple injury problems, with Matt Ritchie ruled out for around two months after sustaining ankle ligament damage and Allan Saint-Maximin set to be sidelined for between three and five weeks with a hamstring problem.
Andy Carroll (match fitness), Florian Lejeune (knee), DeAndre Yedlin (groin) and Dwight Gayle (calf) remain out, while Emil Krafth (thigh), Jetro Willems (hamstring), Miguel Almiron (ankle) and Joelinton (groin) are doubts – although the latter two are expected to recover and all bar Krafth of that quartet trained on Friday.
Speaking of Kraft and Willems earlier in the day, Bruce said:
Hopefully, hopefully they’re both OK – I just can’t see it, that’s all. They’re muscle injuries on the two of them. We’ll see.
Roy Hodgson gave the following update ahead of Crystal Palace’s match with Aston Villa, saying:
James Tomkins is just on the brink of recovery but he still isn’t training with the team fully as we would like. Scott Dann had his hand trampled on in the game on Tuesday. He’s got a cast over that and we’ll decide in the morning if he’s fit.
We’ve been waiting on the recovery of Tomkins and Sakho. I’m fully expecting them to be fully recovered by the end of this international break.
Lewis Cook (knee), Arnaut Danjuma (foot), David Brooks (ankle), Lloyd Kelly (ankle), Dan Gosling (hip), Junior Stanislas (knee) and Simon Francis (knee) remain out for Bournemouth while Charlie Daniels (knee) has joined them on the sidelines, with his season reportedly over after medical assessment confirmed that the defender has suffered a dislocated patella.
Wolves played last night in the Europa League and we await any news on Leander Dendoncker, who finished the tie despite picking up a knock.
For a round-up of yesterday’s eight press conferences, click here.
Predicted line-ups and more detailed information can be found in the Team News tab, which is being refreshed this afternoon.
You can view a video round-up or listen to the podcast summary of Gameweek 4’s press conferences below.
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