Having already brought you up to speed on the first half-dozen pre-Gameweek 1 press conferences that took place on Thursday, we now switch focus to those that were scheduled on Friday.
There were only ten more virtual media gatherings to report on, with Aston Villa, Burnley and the two Manchester clubs not in competitive action this weekend.
We’ll run through the headline injury news and stand-out manager quotes from the outstanding conference calls, with a more detailed discussion to follow in our Team News tab.
At the time of writing, there has been no word on any team news from West Bromwich Albion – but we’ll keep you posted when that does arrive.
LIVERPOOL
Jurgen Klopp didn’t report any fresh major fitness concerns in his pre-match briefing.
Kostas Tsimikas, Jordan Henderson and Xherdan Shaqiri have had a disrupted pre-season thanks to illness or injury but are back in training.
Klopp said of that trio:
Not finally decided. They are all in training, pretty much all of them. So we will make late decisions. So it looks more promising than not.
ARSENAL
Arsenal confirmed that David Luiz will miss the Fulham game with a neck spasm, although he is responding well to treatment.
Emile Smith Rowe (shoulder) and Sokratis (calf) will also miss Gameweek 1 but are aiming to integrate back into training within the next week.
Pablo Mari (ankle) is now running outside and continuing strengthening work, with the target of a return to full training by the end of September.
Gabriel Martinelli (knee) is aiming to return to full training by the end of the calendar year, while Shkodran Mustafi (hamstring) and Calum Chambers (knee) are also longer-term absentees.
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS
There was possible good news for owners of Ruben Vinagre and Romain Saiss in Nuno Espirito Santo’s presser – at least, in the short term.
The Wolves boss urged patience with new recruits Vitinha and Marcal, the latter of whom is capable of playing as a left wing-back or as a left-sided centre-half.
Santo said:
We need to give them time to consolidate, to integrate to how we play and then we support them. They have to adapt to a new city, a new competition.
CRYSTAL PALACE
Crystal Palace’s injury list is a lengthy one, with Nathan Ferguson (knee), Mamadou Sakho (muscle), Gary Cahill (hamstring), James Tomkins (thigh), Patrick van Aanholt (shoulder), Connor Wickham (unknown) and Christian Benteke (foot) all sidelined or in the early stages of recovery.
Sakho and Ferguson have been on the training ground, at least, with manager Roy Hodgson saying:
[Ferguson] made an appearance on the training field but is suffering from the aftermath from the injury he picked up in December I think with West Bromwich Albion.
Mamadou Sakho had his first training session today which is very positive – it’s nice to see him back in the fold. I’m hoping in the coming weeks we’ll get some of the other players back.
Eberechi Eze could feature after recovering from a groin issue but Roy Hodgson issued a warning about the new signing’s match-fitness:
[Eze] trained with us. He is available for selection in theory. He had an injury and only played 45 minutes [v Charlton Athletic]. He’s physically fit but he’s not match fit because he hasn’t played many games… he’s got a week’s training behind him. In terms of match minutes, he’s low this year.
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TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Japhet Tanganga is sidelined for Spurs’ Premier League opener against Everton with a thigh problem.
Jose Mourinho will make a late decision on the fitness of Giovani Lo Celso (hamstring).
The Spurs boss said of his squad’s overall condition:
The players have come back without injury, which is a very positive thing, and we are together for two training session and we start the season.
The majority of the team, apart from three, know each other well for quite a long time, and the fact I’ve been with them for the past 10 months makes it easier for me, because in this moment, I don’t need to adapt and the players don’t need to adapt to me, because we know each other already, so I think we are ready.
LEICESTER CITY
James Maddison (hip), Christian Fuchs (groin) Daniel Amartey (ankle) and Wes Morgan (hamstring) have all been in training this week as part of their recoveries, with Amartey having taken part in last weekend’s final pre-season friendly.
Brendan Rodgers awaits news from the club’s medical staff on that quartet of players but Ricardo Pereira (ACL) and Filip Benković (hip) are definitely out for Sunday’s trip to the Hawthorns.
Rodgers said:
James and Fuchsy have been training this week, so that’s good news. It’ll been brilliant to see them back on the pitch. Dan Amartey has just come back in.
He played 45 minutes of the friendly game last weekend. It’s been nearly two years since his last game, so you always have to be careful when a player’s been out for such a long time, but he’s progressing well.
Wes has rejoined the training group today. We have another 24 hours to asses them all. Ricardo is still a number of weeks away but he’s making good progress.
On Filip, it shouldn’t keep him out for too long, but he certainly won’t be available for this weekend.
NEWCASTLE UNITED
Matt Ritchie is touch and go with a calf problem ahead of Newcastle’s match with West Ham, while Fabian Schär, Matty Longstaff and Martin Dúbravka are definite absentees.
Ciaran Clark and Paul Dummett are “not quite right” but Jonjo Shelvey is expected to be fine.
WEST HAM UNITED
David Moyes said on Friday that Tomas Soucek was “back and all fine” after having to self-isolate while on duty with the Czech Republic, so the midfielder looks set to be involved in some capacity when Newcastle visit east London.
The West Ham boss explained:
Tomas is back and all fine. I think the problem happened over in the Czech Republic.Â
He came back and we had a couple of days where we trained him, but he’s fine. He’s been okay.
There was no update on Manuel Lanzini, however.
BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION
The Seagulls’ team news is nice and simple: Graham Potter revealed on Friday that Brighton have a fully fit squad to choose from ahead of the visit of Chelsea, although that likely doesn’t include the permanently injured Jose Izquierdo (knee).Â
More detailed information and predicted line-ups can be found in the Team News tab, which will be refreshed before the Gameweek 1 deadline at 11:00 BST on Saturday.
Keep an eye on our Twitter feed, too, for any late-breaking updates.
A video round-up with Andy and Neale can be viewed below:
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