It was another busy afternoon of press conferences on Friday, with Fantasy managers having little time to react to today’s developments ahead of the earlier-than-usual deadline of 18:30 BST this evening.
Our pre-Gameweek 7 press conference summary rounds up the headline injury news and stand-out manager quotes from the conference calls that were held over the last two days.
NEWCASTLE UNITED V EVERTON
After making a swift recovery from a knock ahead of Gameweek 6, James Rodriguez has been ruled out with a fresh problem this weekend.
Carlo Ancelotti said of the Colombian:
He had a little problem. He needs to rest for this game, I think he will be available for the next game.
Seamus Coleman (hamstring), Richarlison (suspended), Lucas Digne (suspended), Mason Holgate (toe), Cenk Tosun (ACL) and Jean-Philippe Gbamin (Achilles) are also out but Jonjoe Kenny (ankle) and Jarrad Branthwaite (ankle) have recovered.
Jamaal Lascelles (knock) is a “major concern” for the Magpies, with the club captain set to be assessed in the 48 hours before kick-off at St James’ Park.
Medium-to-long-term absentees Martin Dubravka (heel), Dwight Gayle (knee), Matt Ritchie (shoulder) and Jonjo Shelvey (groin) remain out.
LIVERPOOL V WEST HAM UNITED
David Moyes will be forced into his first change since before the October international break, with Michail Antonio sidelined with a hamstring problem.
The West Ham boss on Friday:
He came off against Spurs and just felt something. He played against Manchester City and he just felt it again. We don’t think it’s too bad but it’s enough to keep him out of this game, that’s for sure.
Fabinho (muscle) and Virgil van Dijk (knee) miss out for Liverpool, with Jurgen Klopp again failing to rule Joel Matip (unspecified), Thiago (knock), Naby Keita (muscle) in or out:
Fabinho got a little injury so he will be out for the weekend and probably slightly longer.
You saw the incident with Thiago, so that obviously needs a little time to settle. Nobody can tell exactly how long because nothing is ruptured or broken. If he will be ready for tomorrow, we will see. Same for Naby, just a different kind of injury.
SHEFFIELD UNITED V MANCHESTER CITY
Benjamin Mendy (muscle), Fernandinho (muscle) and Sergio Aguero (muscle) will all miss the trip to Sheffield United but Pep Guardiola reported that Nathan Ake (groin) and Gabriel Jesus (thigh) were “getting better”, so those two players could come into contention at Bramall Lane on Saturday.
Jack O’Connell (knee), Lys Mousset (toe) and John Fleck (back) remain unavailable ahead of the visit of Manchester City but Max Lowe, who Chris Wilder revealed only missed out against Liverpool by “one day” because of the concussion protocol, is available again for the Blades.
MANCHESTER UNITED V ARSENAL
Rob Holding (hamstring), Pablo Mari (ankle) and Gabriel Martinelli (knee) will all miss Sunday’s clash with Manchester United, while David Luiz (hamstring) was described as a “big doubt” on Wednesday after coming off early in the defeat to Leicester City.
Alex Telles will miss out after testing positive for COVID-19, so the left-back will join the suspended Anthony Martial and the injured Eric Bailly and Jesse Lingard on the sidelines for Sunday’s clash.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer reported no fresh fitness concerns following the midweek thrashing of RB Leipzig,
LEEDS UNITED V LEICESTER CITY
Brendan Rodgers won’t deliver his pre-Leeds press conference before the Gameweek 7 deadline but he did drop a bombshell ahead of Thursday’s win over AEK Athens, ruling Timothy Castagne (hamstring) out until after the November international break.
Jonny Evans is also a concern after taking a knock to his back in the win over Arsenal.
Rodgers said:
Timothy has tweaked his hamstring, so will probably be out until after the international break. It’s not too bad but it’ll keep him out for this next period.
Jonny landed really awkwardly against Arsenal, obviously he played on and the back stiffened up a bit. He came out to train and do the warm-up last night but had to go in, he was suffering with his back.
Caglar Söyüncü (abductor), Daniel Amartey (hamstring), Wilfred Ndidi (adductor) and Ricardo Pereira (ACL) are still sidelined.
Kalvin Phillips (shoulder), Adam Forshaw (hip) and Diego Llorente (hamstring) remain unavailable for Leeds but Liam Cooper is back in contention, having rejoined training following his recent muscle injury
BURNLEY V CHELSEA
Erik Pieters (calf) and Jack Cork (ankle) won’t recover for the visit of Chelsea, while Ben Mee (thigh) is still working on his match fitness and will get more minutes in a behind-closed-doors game before he is considered for a first-team return.
Johann Berg Gudmundsson is “touch and go” with a calf issue, meanwhile, and Phil Bardsley looks set to miss out despite recovering physically from COVID-19; Dyche reporting in his pre-match presser that the veteran full-back still needs to be cleared by testing before he is given the green light to return.
Kepa Arrizabalaga (shoulder) is back in training but Billy Gilmour (knee) remains out.
Frank Lampard did warn of tiredness, saying:
In terms of the rest, we don’t have any clear injuries but we do have a tired group that arrived back quite late in the early hours of this morning. I’ll have to assess everyone today, probably more tomorrow, to see how they settle down.
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR V BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION
Jose Mourinho expects both Eric Dier and Tanguy Ndombele to be fit for Sunday’s match against Brighton, with the pair not risked in the defeat to Antwerp on Thursday.
Jose Mourinho cited Dier’s recent return from a hamstring injury as the reason not to play him twice in the space of 72 hours, while Ndombele reportedly complained of “slight muscle fatigue” but was anticipated to train as normal on Friday.
Alireza Jahanbakhsh (hamstring) is expected to miss the trip to Spurs, with Davy Propper (Achilles) only having an “outside chance” of featuring in the matchday squad according to his manager.
Graham Potter said in his pre-Gameweek 6 presser that the Seagulls had otherwise not picked up any new injuries, although Lewis Dunk is still unavailable as he serves the second game of a three-game ban.
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS V CRYSTAL PALACE
Joel Ward (groin) has joined Nathan Ferguson (knee), Connor Wickham (muscle) and Wayne Hennessey (muscle) on the sidelines for Friday’s match at Wolves but Roy Hodgson has been handed a big boost with Gary Cahill (shin), Jack Butland (illness), Jordan Ayew (illness) and James McCarthy (hamstring) all returning to training this week.
James McArthur has also reportedly shaken off the calf injury that led to his non-involvement last weekend but Tyrick Mitchell is a fresh concern, having picked up a knock in training on Wednesday. Hodgson said that the young defender would be assessed ahead of tonight’s game.
Nuno Espirito Santo offered few clues as to Wolves’ injury situation or his line-up for the Crystal Palace match.
Jonny (knee) is the only absentee we know about, with Santo – as he does most weeks – adding that Wolves had “issues from the previous games” and “some knocks and some problems”.
ASTON VILLA V SOUTHAMPTON
Dean Smith said on Friday that Aston Villa didn’t have any fresh injury concerns for the visit of Southampton, with Wesley (knee) and Tom Heaton (knee) remaining on the sidelines and Kortney Hause‘s (muscle) availability unconfirmed.
Will Smallbone (thigh), Mohamed Salisu (match fitness) and Moussa Djenepo (hamstring) are out but loanee Theo Walcott is available again after being ineligible to face his parent club last weekend.
FULHAM V WEST BROMWICH ALBION
Kenny Tete (calf), Neeskens Kebano (unspecified) and Terence Kongolo (foot) remain sidelined, while Aboubakar Kamara begins a three-match ban following his dismissal in the defeat against Crystal Palace last weekend.
Joachim Andersen (ankle) has made a swifter-than-anticipated return to training, at least, with the summer signing taking part in a “modified” session on Thursday and a possibility to feature against West Brom on Monday
Hal Robson-Kanu (arm) and Sam Field (knee) are the only known absentees for West Brom, with Dara O’Shea (knock) back in full training and expected to be available.
More detailed information and predicted line-ups can be found in the Team News tab.
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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