We’ve heard from all 20 Premier League managers ahead of Gameweek 25 but the one injury update many Fantasy bosses would have been hoping for didn’t arrive on Friday.
Jurgen Klopp frustratingly didn’t provide any news on Sadio Mane (hamstring) in his pre-match press conference, although the Liverpool boss had previously said on Tuesday that the Senegalese winger would “probably not” feature against Southampton this weekend.
Klopp was more forthcoming on James Milner (muscle), Divock Origi (cramp), Adam Lallana (virus) and Xherdan Shaqiri (calf), saying:
Adam [Lallana] trained normal. Divock [Origi], was a cramp. I’ve heard nothing else so he should be in training today.
[Milner and Shaqiri] not for this game but then afterwards, hopefully.
Stuart Armstrong (hip) will miss the trip to Anfield, although Ralph Hasenhuttl otherwise had positive news to report from the Southampton camp:
Stuey [Armstrong] is injured, he cannot train at the moment. About two or three weeks I think it will take until he is back in the team. A little bit problems with his hip muscles.
The rest look good. Yan Valery is back in training since the beginning of the week, Jannik Vestergaard is back from his concussion. Everybody is fit.
Brendan Rodgers said that Leicester City would have “virtually” the same squad as the one that lost to Aston Villa in midweek, with Wes Morgan (unspecified) remaining sidelined.
Jamie Vardy made a swift return from a glute injury in the EFL Cup semi-final second leg and Rodgers said of his star striker:
He was okay. Fine, no side effects. Trained today and was good.
Asked by a reporter if Vardy could “potentially” start against Chelsea, Rodgers replied:
Potentially, yeah.
Another well-owned Fantasy asset may also be involved in the clash at the King Power Stadium, although Tammy Abraham (ankle) looks less certain to feature.
Frank Lampard said of his young centre-forward:
He’s trained today and felt ok. We need to see if there’s a reaction because it’s a pain injury, there’s a lot of pain. Even in training he has pain. I’m going to look at that one overnight and test him in the morning but he did get out there today which is a positive in the longer-term.
Lampard didn’t report any other injury news in his brief pre-match presser, although Reece James (knee) is thought to be close to a return.
Bruno Fernandes could make his Manchester United debut against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday, meanwhile.
The Portuguese midfielder, priced up at £8.0m by Fantasy Premier League today, signed for the Red Devils in midweek and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said of his chances of featuring in Gameweek 25:
He’s fit enough to play and he’ll be involved, definitely. He’ll be in the squad. Let’s get the training out of the way today. He’s had, of course, a few hectic days now and even with his little daughter’s three-year birthday yesterday, so I don’t know how much he will be involved, but he’s in the squad.
Scott McTominay (knee), Paul Pogba (ankle), Axel Tuanzebe (unspecified) and Marcus Rashford (back) are all unavailable.
Wolves can now count on Diogo Jota and Willy Boly following their return to the matchday squad in Gameweek 24 and Nuno Espirito Santo said of the pair’s fitness:
Last week they were options and now they are ready [to start]. It’s good to have them back.
Pep Guardiola didn’t provide any update on Benjamin Mendy (muscle fatigue) and Fernandinho (unspecified) but did bring us up to speed on Aymeric Laporte (fatigue), who missed out in both cup matches over the last week, and long-term absentee Leroy Sane (knee).
On Laporte, Guardiola said:
He’s OK, he had still some fatigue. He’s not injured but we didn’t want to take a risk. Maybe can play against Spurs but, just in case could not play this weekend, hopefully against West Ham.
And on Sane, the City boss added:
He started to train with us, good news. He moves surprisingly really well. Nice to see him back.
Harry Kane (hamstring), Moussa Sissoko (knee) and Ben Davies (ankle) are all unavailable for Spurs’ clash against the reigning champions but Jose Mourinho confirmed that Steven Bergwijn will be in the squad on Sunday following his midweek move to north London.
Eddie Howe reported Bournemouth’s squad will be similar to what it was for the Brighton game, although Jack Stacey (hamstring), Josh King (hamstring) and Junior Stanislas (calf) are edging closer to fitness.
Howe also revealed that Diego Rico (shin/knee) and Jefferson Lerma (groin) have had injuries that needed to be managed of late, saying:
Diego’s been carrying a couple of injuries, shin splints and a knee problem, Jefferson had a groin problem. Didn’t want to take a big risk [v Arsenal in the FA Cup] and maybe lose them long-term so hopefully that rest will have done them good.
The Cherries are up against Aston Villa this weekend, with Dean Smith reporting that the Villans’ injury situation remains unchanged and that long-term absentees John McGinn (ankle), Jed Steer (Achilles), Tom Heaton (knee) and Wesley (knee) are the only players unavailable for selection at present.
Sead Kolasinac (thigh) and Shkodran Mustafi (ankle) will be assessed ahead of Arsenal’s trip to Turf Moor, with Kolasinac having made a sooner-than-expected recovery after initially being ruled out until after the winter break.
Calum Chambers (knee), Reiss Nelson (hamstring) and Kieran Tierney (shoulder) remain out but Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and David Luiz are available after suspension.
Sean Dyche confirmed that Johann Berg Gudmundsson (hamstring) and Ashley Barnes (hernia) will not be available for the game against Arsenal but Phil Bardsley (back) is back in contention and new signing Josh Brownhill could be involved as a substitute.
Ismaila Sarr (muscle), Kiko Femenia (hamstring), Sebastien Prodl (knee) and Daryl Janmaat (knee) remain unavailable ahead of Watford’s game against Everton, while Tom Cleverley (heel) is not match-fit enough to feature despite a return to full training.
Nigel Pearson did confirm that Danny Welbeck (hamstring) and Will Hughes (hip) would return, however, saying:
Sarr won’t be available this week. It’s disappointing to lose Ismaïla. He is making progress but he won’t be available for Saturday.
Welbeck is in the squad. Cleverley has trained today with the squad, looks really good. He won’t be included this weekend but he has made really good progress. Will [Hughes] is back in the squad.
Richarlison (knee), Gylfi Sigurdsson (groin) and Alex Iwobi (hamstring) were all passed fit by Carlo Ancelotti on Thursday, leaving only Andre Gomes (ankle) and Jean-Philippe Gbamin (thigh) on the injury list for Saturday’s match at Vicarage Road.
On Gomes, Ancelotti said:
Andre Gomes did a fantastic recovery because he’s almost fit. Of course, we have to take care of him. After the Crystal Palace game we have a break, so in that period we have a possibility to prepare him well for the game against Arsenal.
Jetro Willems (ACL), Jonjo Shelvey (hamstring), Paul Dummett (tendon), Dwight Gayle (hamstring), Javier Manquillo (hamstring), Yoshinori Muto (hip), Emil Krafth (ankle) and Andy Carroll (hip) remain sidelined ahead of Newcastle United’s match against Norwich City, although Florian Lejeune (groin) was sighted in full training this week.
New signings Valentino Lazaro, Nabil Bentaleb and Danny Rose look set to be involved against the Canaries, with Steve Bruce saying of Rose:
He’ll be involved. We’ll have to wait and see [to what extent], he walked through the door yesterday.
Emiliano Buendia (thigh), Todd Cantwell (hamstring) and Ibrahim Amadou (knee) were all passed fit by Daniel Farke on Friday but the Norwich City boss did provide a disclaimer to that news, saying:
We will have some late decisions. One thing’s for sure, I won’t play all three of them because it’s an important game and it will be an intense game. I think you can’t start a game at this level with three players who were injured recently.
Ben Godfrey (suspended) and Timm Klose (knee) remain unavailable.
Mamadou Sakho (hamstring) and Jeffrey Schlupp (muscle) have been joined on the sidelines by Cenk Tosun (hamstring) for Crystal Palace’s match against Sheffield United on Saturday but Roy Hodgson otherwise had positive news to report from Selhurst Park:
Andros [Townsend] is back, recovered from his injury, as has Joel Ward and Patrick van Aanholt, as has Christian Benteke, and Luka [Milivojevic] is no longer suspended. It’s a very different group to what we’ve had in the last few weeks.
On Tosun, Hodgson added:
He got a hamstring injury in the last game against Southampton. He’s been having treatment all week and won’t recover. The good news is he can’t play v Everton anyway so he’s got plenty of time to recover for our next game after that one.
David McGoldrick (foot) is the Blades’ only injury concern, with Chris Wilder saying:
David McGoldrick, we’re assessing this week. That took a little bit of a setback in the week. We’ll assess that today. Hopefully, he’ll be OK for the weekend. If not, we’ll go with what we’ve got.
There were no clues from Wilder as to whether John Lundstram would regain his place following a benching in Gameweek 24, with the club-record capture of central midfielder Sander Berge only adding to the worries of the out-of-position FPL defender’s owners.
Graham Potter confirmed that Shane Duffy (shin) will miss Brighton’s game against West Ham this weekend but could return against Watford in Gameweek 26.
Dan Burn (shoulder) and Jose Izquierdo (knee) remain sidelined.
David Moyes said of the Hammers’ injury situation:
We still have a few injuries but we’re beginning to get one or two back. We were lucky to get Lukasz Fabianski back. The likes of Felipe Anderson etc are on the grass at the moment but not quite ready at this moment in time.
More detailed information and predicted line-ups can be found in the Team News tab.
A video round-up with Neale and Andy can be viewed below.
