We’ve heard from most Premier League managers ahead of the Gameweek 14 deadline, with David Moyes the only top-flight boss who is scheduled to talk to the media on Saturday.
Our regular team news summary below has all the headline injury updates and stand-out manager quotes from the pre-match pressers so far, including some notable comments from Manchester City’s atypically helpful head coach.
A YouTube and podcast injury recap is available towards the bottom of this piece, while our Team News tab will provide even more detail on what we offer here.
SOUTHAMPTON V MANCHESTER CITY
Owners of Kevin De Bruyne were provided with some encouraging comments by Pep Guardiola this afternoon.
The City boss was asked whether the Belgian would be rested given the number of minutes he has racked up in the Premier League of late and said:
No. Right now, no. He’s so important for us, right now he’s not going to rest. He rested in the Champions League, in other games. The previous weeks, he just played PL games. Right now we need him.
Guardiola also provided the latest on Sergio Aguero:
After the game [on Wednesday] he could not train, yesterday no training, today he trained and trained really well. I don’t know how many minutes [he can play]. It’s important he can make training sessions. Unfortunately, after the game, he could not – nothing about the knee, another position.
Ralph Hasenhuttl didn’t report any fresh injuries but did report some “tired bodies”, saying:
When you have five subs, then you can rotate easier. Now it’s always thinking how good is he, if needs a rest from the beginning or maybe 45 minutes. It’s always difficult to go into a game, knowing that a player doesn’t have the power for 90 mins. It’s a decision we have to take: we have to look carefully at how fit the players are and then find the right XI.
CRYSTAL PALACE V LIVERPOOL
Joel Matip (back) wasn’t mentioned by name in the broadcast section of Jurgen Klopp’s presser but has been pictured in training ahead of the trip to Selhurst Park.
Klopp confirmed that he wasn’t expecting any of his injured contingent back this weekend, saying:
[Thiago] gets closer and closer and is in a good way. But we will not rush it. He was not in team training yet. We will see how this weekend looks with him on the pitch and then next week, can he be in team training? I don’t know. Not only for [Thiago] the case, with Millie it will be similar, with Shaq it will be similar.
Roy Hodgson reported that Crystal Palace don’t have any significant injuries, other than their long-term lay-offs and Mamadou Sakho (calf).
Christian Benteke serves a one-match ban, however.
Gary Cahill, Jeffrey Schlupp and Nathaniel Clyne could all return, with Hodgson saying:
All three players who didn’t play the other night [Schlupp/Cahill/Clyne] are back in the reckoning. All three were rested rather than dropped.
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR V LEICESTER CITY
Jose Mourinho confirmed that Japhet Tanganga (shoulder) and Erik Lamela (unspecified) are still out, with the latter partly involved in training but still “not close” to a first-team return.
Gareth Bale “looks OK” after illness, according to Jose Mourinho:
He’s fine. Trained yesterday and today with the team, looks OK. If tomorrow he does it normally like he did in the past two days, he’s fine.
Timothy Castagne and Daniel Amartey could finally return from long-term hamstring issues, with Brendan Rodgers reporting:
Everyone (from Wednesday) is available.We will hopefully have Timothy Castagne as well, which will be great news to get him back.
Apart from that, the squad will be the same. Daniel Amartey may well be available as well, so both those players [returning] will be great news for us.
We’ll look over that at over the next 24 hours. He’s (Castagne) come through training very well. He was close for the Everton game, but we felt it would be best to keep him out and get him ready for the weekend.
CHELSEA V WEST HAM UNITED
Frank Lampard reported that Hakim Ziyech and Callum Hudson-Odoi (both hamstring) are back in team training for the first time today and a late decision on their involvement in the West Ham game on Monday will be made.
The Blues have no other injury concerns.
Asked about playing Timo Werner out wide, Lampard said:
Timo, for Leipzig and Germany, he has played as a no. 9, on the side and slightly behind sometimes. So he has played in all those roles everywhere he has been so I don’t think it is a problem for him to play there for us. He can be used in various roles across that front three.
As mentioned, David Moyes won’t face the media until Saturday, so it may be that we won’t hear about the fitness latest at West Ham until after the Gameweek 14 deadline has passed.
Fabian Balbuena (groin) missed the match against Crystal Palace with a minor issue but could return in west London, while Michail Antonio (hamstring) was reportedly targeting the trip to Chelsea as a return from his latest lay-off.
Moyes revealed after Wednesday’s clash with Palace that Jarrod Bowen and Aaron Cresswell had picked up ankle injuries either before or during the game. Bowen suffered a “twist” in the warm-up but went on to start and last 79 minutes, while Cresswell – who had previously missed a few days of training with a hip/groin issue – featured for the entirety of the match.
MANCHESTER UNITED V LEEDS UNITED
Marcelo Bielsa has confirmed that Leeds United have no new injury worries going into Sunday’s clash with Manchester United – but the Argentinean declined to name his starting XI, unfortunately.
Edinson Cavani (groin) could be back for the visitors, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer telling the club media:
Edinson will be available, I think, yeah. He trained this morning so he should be available for the Leeds game.
I don’t think we lost anyone [during the win over Sheffield United]. When you win games, the boys never feel the little knocks and bruises too badly.
BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION V SHEFFIELD UNITED
Graham Potter reported that Tariq Lamptey was taken off against Fulham with a knock and muscle tightness but says that the wing-back has “recovered well”, with a decision to be made on his involvement between now and Sunday.
Chris Wilder confirmed that Sander Berge and Oli McBurnie are injury concerns for the weekend.
Berge is “extremely doubtful” with a hamstring injury while Oli McBurnie (shoulder) will be given “the best opportunity” – although he hadn’t trained at all ahead of Gameweek 13.
EVERTON V ARSENAL
Seamus Coleman is fit again but James Rodriguez (calf) isn’t quite ready to feature and Allan (hamstring) has joined Fabian Delph (hamstring) and Lucas Digne (knee) on the sidelines ahead of Everton’s clash with Arsenal.
Carlo Ancelotti said:
Allan had a problem on his hamstring, he had a lesion. We don’t know how long it will be, how many games. For the games in this period, he is not going to play.
Coleman, available. Rodriguez, not yet. For us, it’s too soon, to put him at risk. He’s working and I hope he can be ready for the game against United [in the EFL Cup next Wednesday].
Fabian Delph is the same, he’s doing individual treatment. It’s too soon to talk how long it will be before he comes [back].
Mikel Arteta was coy on Arsenal’s fitness latest, saying:
We have a few doubts. Obviously, I cannot tell you who but we have some doubts for tomorrow, yes.
Thomas Partey (thigh) is still sidelined for the Gunners, while Granit Xhaka and Gabriel will also miss out through suspension.
Gabriel Martinelli will feature for the under-23s on Friday as he bids to build up match fitness.
WEST BROMWICH ALBION V ASTON VILLA
Ross Barkley (hamstring) missed out on Aston Villa’s goalless draw with Burnley on Thursday, with Dean Smith providing an update on the loanee:
He was close, but his injury was in a place where there is risk, and the risk was too high for this game. We don’t want a re-injury, and he could be prone to that. We just didn’t feel that he was 100% for this, and kept him out of it.
Trezeguet (hamstring) is thought to still be unavailable but Matthew Cash and Douglas Luiz are both now free of suspension.
Ezri Konsa missed Gameweek 13 because of illness but no other updates have emerged since then.
Kyle Bartley (calf), Matheus Pereira (suspended) and Conor Townsend (knee) will all miss the visit of Aston Villa but given that Sam Allardyce’s first press conference as West Brom manager was dominated by talk of his return to the Premier League, there was predictably little in the way of other team news coming out of the Hawthorns.
Hal Robson-Kanu‘s (wrist) recovery period of two weeks should almost be up and Sam Field (match fitness) will be edging ever closer to first-team involvement after another full week in first-team training.
BURNLEY V WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS
Nuno Espirito Santo reported that Wolves have “some problems” from the previous game against Chelsea but added that he still has a couple of days to assess the affected players.
Santo had previously said that Leander Dendoncker and Willy Boly had picked up issues in the 2-1 win over Frank Lampard’s side.
Nothing appears to have changed with the Burnley team news, with Sean Dyche saying on Thursday:
Corky is going to be a few weeks yet, he still needs more reserve football. Dale [Stephens] probably needs at least another one as well because he has been out for a bit of time. Bardo played in the week so at least he is a bit fresher.
Johann [Berg Gudmundsson] is not there yet, we are being careful with him. He will get there but he is not quite there yet so we are just layering up his training schedule and then into the game schedule. He is not a million miles away but we have to make sure.
NEWCASTLE UNITED V FULHAM
Steve Bruce reported no new injury concerns at Newcastle but said that he still has “four or five” players unavailable because of illness, with the Magpies slowly recovering from the wave of COVID-19 that swept through the club.
Scott Parker’s only new concern is Bobby Decordova-Reid, who will be assessed for a quad injury that he picked up in the goalless draw against Brighton.
The Fulham boss promised changes, too:
Certainly, from my point of view, it’s something I need to look at. We’ll have to rotate the squad [over Christmas].
More detailed information and predicted line-ups can be found in the Team News tab, which is being updated this evening.
Keep an eye on our Twitter feed, too, for any late-breaking updates.
A video round-up with Andy and Neale can be found below, with the podcast available via this link.
