Fantasy managers would have been alarmed to see a yellow flag appear on Ashley Barnes this afternoon but there doesn’t seem to be any serious fitness concerns about the Burnley striker going into Gameweek 5.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference today, manager Sean Dyche told reporters:
Barnesy had a tight groin, but should be fine, for a couple of days last week.
The “should” in that sentence is enough to warrant a flag in FPL these days but the fact that the in-form forward had only been affected last week, and not in the last few days, would seem to boost his chances of featuring at Brighton on Saturday.
Elsewhere on the injury front, Dyche had updates on his two first-choice wingers:
Johann has got a niggly calf, he might make it – we’ve got to make a judgement call on that one. Nothing too serious and he’s done some work on the grass but whether he’ll be ready or not we’ll make a decision on.
Dwight’s in good shape, thanks to the real good lines of communication from England. Tight hamstring and back. Rather than sit him on a plane for hours, they made a call. He came back, which helped. He’s managed to get back on the grass this week.
He’s trained for a number of days now, since Tuesday. You’d expect him to come through it, obviously, he did today. So, therefore, I’m expecting him to be right tomorrow.
Dyche also confirmed that Robbie Brady (ribs) was “back in the pack” but Danny Drinkwater (ankle) faces a spell on the sidelines, with the on-loan Chelsea midfielder not returning to training for a “couple of weeks” and needing match practise beyond that.
Burnley’s opponents this weekend, Brighton, will be without winger Leandro Trossard (groin).
The Belgian picked up an injury ahead of his country’s Euro 2020 qualifiers and has since been ruled out of action, with manager Graham Potter saying on Thursday that the mid-price FPL midfielder would “probably” be out until after the October international break.
Tottenham Hotspur released an injury update ahead of Mauricio Pochettino’s press conference, confirming that Tanguy Ndombele (thigh), Ryan Sessegnon (hamstring), Kyle Walker-Peters (hamstring) and Eric Dier (hip) have all returned to training and are being “assessed for selection”.
Davinson Sanchez (ankle) has reported ankle irritation since returning from international duty, however, while Giovani Lo Celso (hip) and Juan Foyth (ankle) are unavailable.
Lo Celso will be sidelined until the end of October but Foyth is concluding the late stages of conditioning before returning to training.
Pochettino said of his full-back options and his returning contingent:
We have plenty of options for Saturday. Of course, we played Davinson Sanchez [at right-back v Arsenal]. Kyle, after his injury, is with the group and Serge Aurier and on the other side we have Ben Davies, Danny Rose and Ryan Sessegnon.
We need to assess tomorrow in the case of Tanguy Ndombele, Ryan [Sessegnon] and Kyle Walker-Peters tomorrow what condition they are in. We are going to have seven games in 21 days. It’s going to be tough and we need all at their best.
Ahead of Southampton’s trip to Bramall Lane, Ralph Hasenhuttl again ruled out Nathan Redmond (ankle).
The news was more positive on his other injured players, however, with the Southampton boss saying:
With Moussa [Djenepo] it looks better; if it’s enough for playing at the weekend we’ll have to look. Michael [Obafemi] is in training sessions and also Ryan [Bertrand], they are options. The rest are fit.
The chances are not that big [of Djenepo’s recovery], but let’s have a look. We don’t have to decide it now, it’s still two days to go. I don’t want to take too much risk because it’s a very busy September.
You know that Kevin Danso is suspended, so he’s not available. Everybody is back from their international games without injuries.
Chris Wilder said of Callum Robinson (hamstring) and David McGoldrick (shoulder), meanwhile:
A couple of the Irish boys came back early. It gave the likes of Callum [Robinson] and David McGoldrick an opportunity to come back and have treatment, to give them the best possible chance to be available for the game on Saturday.
There was no update on John Fleck (hamstring) but the Scottish midfielder was sighted in training, so could come into contention.
Wilder again hinted at rotation up front, saying:
I’ve got a really good group of forwards. I’ve said to them they have to be patient at times. I feel it’s possibly the one area where we will mix it up, looking at different teams to give ourselves the best opportunity of a result.
One thing is certain: goals breed confidence. For David [McGoldrick] to score a late equaliser was brilliant for him, brilliant for the Republic and really good for us, as well.
Following on from his manager, budget FPL midfielder John Lundstram spoke of his own role at Sheffield United and said:
Just box to box, really. You’ve got to defend a lot ‘cos the teams are a bit better in this league. Try and get in the box when I can and obviously, keep my shape and defend well as a three.
Brendan Rodgers has confirmed that Matty James has had an operation on his Achilles but that there are no other injury issues in the Leicester squad.
Wes Morgan has recovered from a back problem.
We’ll have updates on the remaining 14 press conferences in our regular Friday round-up plus a video summary of all the injury updates in our weekly team news video tomorrow afternoon.
(edited)
