Fantasy Premier League managers may be considering late transfers in their Double Gameweek 19 teams after Pep Guardiola talked about the competition for places in his Manchester City squad
Meanwhile, Jurgen Klopp also said one of his centre-halves could make a timely return for their key match with Manchester United.
Find out the latest injury and team news news in this Double Gameweek 19 round-up.
Manchester City
Pep first confirmed Aymeric Laporte (£6.0m), Nathan Aké (£5.4m) and Sergio Aguero (£10.3m) are all ruled out for Man City ahead of Crystal Palace’s visit to the Etihad.
“Today is (a day) off, tomorrow is training session. I’d love to update you. Eric (Garcia) will be back, the guys from the academy will be back. Aymeric (Laporte) and Nathan (Aké) won’t be fit. Sergio Aguero won’t be either.”
Pep Guardiola
Eric Garcia (£4.7m) returns to offer Guardiola another option at centre-half, though the Spaniard will likely have to settle for a place on the bench.
The City manager also had some words of warning for Joao Cancelo (£5.8m) owners.
“Every player has competition with his team-mates. Even the manager, if we’re not playing good I have competition. To get the best out of ourselves, we have to feel our seat is not safe. Even Joao Cancelo.”
Pep Guardiola
And on Raheem Sterling (£11.4m), the City chief added:
“He’s an incredibly important player for us. Without him what we have done in the past wouldn’t be possible. In all departments he can help us. I’m more than delighted he is with us.”
Pep Guardiola
Liverpool
Joel Matip (£5.4m) could return for the top-of-the-table clash with Man United, Jurgen Klopp confirmed.
“Joel Matip is close. Does it make sense now to throw him in after one or two sessions he’s not done yet? I don’t know. We have to see how he looks in training.”
Jurgen Klopp
Asked if Jordan Henderson (£5.4m) could deputise once more at centre-half should Matip not return, Klopp responded:
“We have still different solutions. Hendo is, for us, very important in midfield, as well. We just have to see. It’s not decided yet. Why should I?”
Jurgen Klopp
One player that will definitely not feature at Anfield is Naby Keita (£5.2m).
“Naby is not ready for involvement. Not a big thing. But it’s a bit like when other players have come back from injuries they have to play and little injury again. Now we have to put on the brakes and settle it properly.”
Jurgen Klopp
Manchester United
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was coy as ever in his pre-Liverpool briefing, with Anthony Martial (£8.8m) owners set to sweat ahead of Sunday’s kick-off.
“I will give everyone tomorrow to prove their fitness. There are a couple of knocks we got at Burnley that I’m not sure about. I am going to give everyone a chance. Anthony Martial is not out of it. Only ones certainly out are Brandon Williams and Phil Jones. They are the two who definitely can’t make the game. Others, maybe doubts, but fingers crossed.”
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
Tottenham Hotspur
Steven Bergwijn (£7.0m) should be available for Spurs after illness, while Giovanni Lo Celso (£6.9m) remains out.
“Gio [Lo Celso] is not [available]. We still have two training sessions before the game but I believe no more problems in principle.”
Jose Mourinho
Jose also provided this update on Gareth Bale (£9.3m).
“He arrived injured for the first month and the Europa League group phase is a different intensity, so in the Premier League didn’t play a lot of minutes. Then an injury against Stoke where he was having a good first half. Not an easy process.”
Jose Mourinho
West Ham
David Moyes, frustratingly, did not provide a specific update on Michail Antonio (£6.2m) in his pre-match press conference.
The West Ham boss did offer information on Fabian Balbuena (£4.4m) and Lukasz Fabianski (£5.1m), however.
“We’ve only had two players missing; Fabian Balbuena is isolating – he came in contact with somebody – but basically we’re just about okay. We’re waiting on Lukasz Fabianski to see how he is, we’re not sure yet and Arthur Masuaku’s probably a couple of months away from being involved again.”
David Moyes
Burnley
Charlie Taylor (£4.5m) owners may not get two games out of the Clarets defender in Double Gameweek 19.
“Charlie Taylor is a doubt, he is a maybe. Everyone else is fine. There are a couple searching for true fitness as in high-level Premier League fitness but the squad is coming back together now.”
Sean Dyche
Wolves
Nuno Espirito Santo delivered a surprisingly lengthy team news update ahead of West Brom’s visit to Molineux.
“Let’s see. We have Adama (Traoré) and (Willy) Boly coming and joining (training). Let’s see how they are for tomorrow. We still have Daniel out. We have work to do. Jonny, Podence, Marcal are out.”
Nuno Espirito Santo
On Pedro Neto (£6.0m), he added:
“He’s inside all the players we have to assess, realising we still have a lot in front of us. At the same time, Pedro is doing well, so we’ll decide. He had a big knock but is improving. Better today, and hopefully better tomorrow.”
Nuno Espirito Santo
A reversion to the tried-and-trusted back three could also be on the cards at Wolves.
“We (have) made big mistakes, especially in defence. We must be compact and from there can grow positives. We have to go back to our main foundation; a clean sheet.”
Nuno Espirito Santo
Sheffield United
Chris Wilder has injury issues, though exactly which players remains unclear. The Blades boss said:
“We’ve got a few out. I think we’ve got seven out for the weekend. We’re hopeful we’ll get a couple back but we might lose one and we’ve got a doubt about one.”
Chris Wilder
On striker Oli McBurnie (£5.6m), Wilder added:
“He’s working away – he’s been out on the grass today. Difficult one because of the nature of the injury. “Still got another day to go but he’s a doubt.”
Chris Wilder
Leicester
Jamie Vardy (£10.1m) and James Maddison (£7.1m) are available for the Foxes’ home clash with Southampton on Saturday.
Leicester play at the King Power again on Tuesday, hosting Chelsea in their second tie of Double Gameweek 19. On the pair, Brendan Rodgers said:
“Both those players are available. It wasn’t so much a rest [for the FA Cup]. They couldn’t play or if they did play, there was going to be a huge risk for them. They’ve had ongoing issues throughout the season unfortunately and [Stoke] was a game where we saw a window to get some medical work done with them knowing we’ve got other players who can play. That’s worked well for us. They’ve re-joined the group so they’ll be available this weekend.”
Brendan Rodgers
Ricardo Pereira (£5.9m) will not be rushed back into action again, having returned to team training.
“Cengiz Under should be back this weekend, Ricardo Pereira too. A bit like (Caglar) Söyüncü, it will be step by step. We don’t need to rush (Pereira), especially having him broken down before. He’s worked very hard and has gone through all of the tests. We are able to get him close to the squad now, and step by step (we are) getting him back.”
Brendan Rodgers
Dennis Praet (£5.2m), meanwhile, is set for an extended spell on the sidelines. Rodgers explained:
“Dennis will be out for up to three months, which is a huge blow for us. It was an awkward one, he overstretched. It was a tendon in the hamstring.”
Brendan Rodgers
Southampton
For the Saints, Ralph Hassenhuttl confirmed the news that Danny Ings (£8.3m) had tested positive for COVID-19 last week and will miss the trip to Leicester.
“We’ve had one positive test since the Liverpool game; Danny Ings. So he’s been out for the past 10 days. When you stick to the protocols, you minimise the risks and that’s what we’re continuing to do. I don’t know if Danny can come back [to training] tomorrow but it looks like he’s out for the weekend.”
Alex McCarthy (£4.7m) and Che Adams (£6.0m) are back in the Southampton fold, while Hasenhuttl has a mix of short and long-term injuries to deal with.
“Alex McCarthy and Che Adams have come back in, so they will both be available. [Nathan] Redmond, [Jannik] Vestergaard and [Moussa] Djenepo are all longer-term injuries. [Michael] Obafemi has had surgery and [Nathan] Tella has problems with his muscle. We have a few problems in the moment which gives me a bit of a headache.”
Ralph Hassenhuttl
Leeds
Marcelo Bielsa has suddenly got some strength in depth at centre-half, with Liam Cooper (£4.3m) and Diego Llorente (£4.4m) both passed fit by the Leeds boss.
“Diego Llorente, Tyler Roberts and Liam Cooper are all available. No (other players are unavailable), just Kalvin Phillips (suspended).”
Marcelo Bielsa
Owners of defenders Luke Ayling (£4.5m), Stuart Dallas (£4.8m) and Ezjgan Alioski (£4.5m) will be scanning the Leeds teamsheet on Saturday to see how Bielsa decides to set up his defence and midfield.
Brighton
Brighton boss Graham Potter has not faced the press but the club’s medical update ruled out Tariq Lamptey (£4.7m), Danny Welbeck (£5.5m), Adam Lallana (£6.2m), Alireza Jahanbakhsh (£5.4m), Aaron Connolly (£5.2m) and new signing Jakub Moder (£5.0m).
Fulham
Aleksandar Mitrovic (£5.5m) could return for Fulham after missing the midweek 1-1 draw at Spurs. Scott Parker said on Thursday:
“Aleksandar Mitrovic is possible to return for the weekend. He trained lightly today. Mario Lemina and Tom Cairney are not available at the moment. We’ll see where we are in the coming days. Tom has an issue with his knee.”
Scott Parker
Ruben Loftus-Cheek (£5.9m) is ineligible to face his parent club.
Chelsea
Chelsea should be set to welcome Reece James (£5.1m) back to action, after the right-back missed the club’s last two Premier League games.
Frank Lampard declined to name specific players in his team news update on Thursday, saying:
“We’re all good. N’Golo Kante is suspended but he’s back in training tomorrow. So we’re all good.”
Frank Lampard
Arsenal
Following the Gunners’ 0-0 draw at home to Crystal Palace on Thursday, Mikel Arteta said of the missing Kieran Tierney (£5.4m):
“I don’t know (if I’ll have him back for the next game). It depends on how he evolves. He’s going to have an MRI scan tomorrow and we’ll see how he is.”
Mikel Arteta
On further injury news, Arteta added:
“[Pablo Mari] had a calf injury in training [on Wednesday]. I think he will miss a few matches. He’s another one we will lose but we’ve got Gabriel [Magalhaes] back after Cocid, which is good news, we’ve got Thomas [Partey] back as well. Let’s focus on the positives.”
Mikel Arteta
Newcastle
On team news, Steve Bruce told the media:
“Jamal Lewis could come back in. Jamaal Lascelles too. We’ve got a problem with Federico Fernandez. Allan Saint-Maximin is maybe training today or tomorrow, which is good news. But he’s been out for around seven weeks so we’ll have to monitor him. Fatigue is the biggest thing.”
Steve Bruce
Crystal Palace
Roy Hodgson used his press conference to praise his team’s latest defensive performances
On Palace’s trip to Arsenal, the manager stated:
“We were playing a team in excellent form and we go away with a deserved 0-0. I thought the game was end-to-end and we are happy we took something away from the game. Two clean sheets in a row now. If you don’t defend well, it is going to be hard to win games.”
Roy Hodgson
And Hodgson added on the visit to the Etihad:
“If they [Man City] are not conceding goals, they’re always likely to score with the quality of players they have to choose from. It’s going to be a very, very tough ask for us. Am I looking forward to going there? Well, not really, because I know it’s going to be a very hard ask for us. You have to show every bit as much discipline, energy and effort that we put into tonight’s game.”
Roy Hodgson
West Brom
Sam Allardyce did not provide anything in the way of team news during his press conference on Thursday.
