Injury updates on Jota, Kane, Raphinha and Lingard and ahead of Gameweek 33

We’ve got injury updates on the 16 Premier League teams who are in Gameweek 33 action in our weekly press conference summary below.

There are also a couple of notable quotes from Ryan Mason and Pep Guardiola to bring you ahead of Sunday’s EFL Cup final.

For more team news information, check out our Predicted Line-ups page and Injuries and Bans feed.

A video recap with Neale and Andy can be viewed below.

LIVERPOOL V NEWCASTLE UNITED

The rumours surrounding an injury to Diogo Jota turned out to be a false alarm, with Jurgen Klopp keeping it short and sweet on Friday:

Diogo is fine, Diogo is fine.

Nat Phillips (hamstring) is out but Curtis Jones (muscle) returns.

Jamaal Lascelles (foot), Isaac Hayden (knee), Karl Darlow (knee) and Ryan Fraser (groin) are sidelined for the Magpies, while the game may come too soon for Fabian Schar (knee) despite his recent return to training following a two-month lay-off.

There was better news elsewhere on the fitness front, however, with Callum Wilson confirmed as available despite not being seen in training ground photos and Allan Saint-Maximin passed fit following his ankle knock in Gameweek 32. 

EFL CUP FINAL: TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR V MANCHESTER CITY

We had an update on Harry Kane (ankle) in Ryan Mason’s pre-EFL Cup final presser but uncertainty still surrounds the striker’s availability for this weekend and beyond.

Mason said:

We’re not sure yet. He didn’t train with the team today but we’ll have more of an idea tomorrow to see if we can get him back on the pitch.

As for City, they have a clean bill of health after Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero returned to training on Friday.

WEST HAM UNITED V CHELSEA

Jesse Lingard is “fine” according to his manager, with David Moyes confirming that it was only cramp that forced him off last weekend:

Jesse had a bit of cramp at Newcastle, which at the time we didn’t see as being too big a problem and he’s fine.

I’m hoping that somewhere along the line we can get Micky, Declan, Aaron Cresswell and Arthur back in amongst it because they’ve been important players for us throughout the year. We’re aware that if we can get them back it would help us.

Aaron is getting closer, we’ll monitor it, see how he feels tomorrow and see how we think.

Mateo Kovacic (hamstring) is Chelsea’s only absentee, with Thomas Tuchel confirming that Edouard Mendy would start between the posts following his Gameweek 32 benching:

Mendy is in goal. The change was made for Kepa for the FA Cup game and even before then, the goalkeeper coach and me decided that Kepa would stay one more game after Man City to have it as a reward and feel a bit the rhythm of playing every three days. 

We wanted to reward what he is doing in training and in the dressing room which is simply outstanding in terms of quality and personality so I’m very happy he could show it on the pitch.

He had two clean sheets in two difficult matches for us so it’s a very good feeling that we can absolutely can rely on two goalkeepers and they can produce clean sheets. They earn our trust but the situation in general has not changed so Edou will be in goal tomorrow.

LEEDS UNITED V MANCHESTER UNITED

Liam Cooper (suspended) and Rodrigo (muscle) will miss out on the visit of Manchester United, while Raphinha is a major concern.

Marcelo Bielsa said ahead of the game:

With Raphinha, we’re controlling his evolution on a daily basis. Up until now, he’s not recovered sufficiently to be able to train again. Rodrigo is in the last stages of his recovery but not well enough to feature this weekend.

The ongoing saga of Marcus Rashford‘s (foot) fitness rolls on, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer saying:

Marcus [Rashford] hasn’t trained but I hope that he will join us tomorrow. Eric [Bailly] is back and has been training this week.

ARSENAL V EVERTON

Dominic Calvert-Lewin was among five players who were all passed fit by Carlo Ancelotti on Thursday, leaving just Jean-Philippe Gbamin (knee) and Abdoulaye Doucoure (foot) on the treatment table.

Yerry Mina, Andre Gomes, Bernard and Fabian Delph have all been given the all-clear too.

As for Arsenal, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (illness) and Alexandre Lacazette (hamstring) will join Kieran Tierney (knee) and David Luiz (knee) in sitting out Friday’s match.

Martin Odegaard (ankle) remains a doubt as he has only engaged in “light training” as of Wednesday.

LEICESTER CITY V CRYSTAL PALACE

With Leicester City only in action on Thursday evening, we won’t hear much new on the team news front from Brendan Rodgers ahead of their Gameweek 33 clash with Crystal Palace.

There was no obvious cause for concern in that comfortable victory over the Baggies, with Rodgers confirming that Wesley Fofana‘s early substitution was due to his fasting for Ramadan.

On Ricardo Pereira‘s benching, Rodgers said:

I’m very conscious Ricardo is coming back from a long-term injury and I always felt between when he came back and the end of the season we’re just getting him some minutes. I don’t think he’s ready to play three games in a week.

Harvey Barnes (knee) and James Justin (knee) remain out.

A 16-day gap between league matches has allowed Crystal Palace the chance to recover some of their sidelined players, with Jeffrey Schlupp (unspecified), James Tomkins (eye) and Mamadou Sakho (thigh) all back in training.

James McArthur (calf) is the only confirmed injury-related absentee, although Nathan Ferguson and Connor Wickham have not yet rejoined their teammates despite returns to the training ground and also look poised to miss out on Monday.

Gary Cahill is a fresh doubt with what his manager described as a “minor problem”, although Roy Hodgson was optimistic of his recovery when facing the media on Thursday.

ASTON VILLA V WEST BROMWICH ALBION

Trezeguet (knee), Morgan Sanson (knee) and Jack Grealish (shin) will miss the visit of West Bromwich Albion, while Matthew Cash is also unavailable as he serves a one-game ban for his dismissal in the midweek defeat against Manchester City.

Wesley (match fitness) could be back in the first-team squad after a lengthy absence.

Albion were only in Gameweek 32 action on Thursday, so we’ve yet to hear much on the team news front from Sam Allardyce.

Uncertainty surrounds the availability of Robert Snodgrass, who underwent an epidural a fortnight ago in a bid to address a long-standing issue.

SHEFFIELD UNITED V BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION

Graham Potter said that his Brighton players had come through their goalless draw at Chelsea unscathed, although the Albion boss will be forced into at least one change after Ben White was dismissed in that stalemate at Stamford Bridge.

While Potter gave the all-clear on the fitness front, he did say that Albion would “need to be careful of” Adam Webster and Dan Burn following their recent returns from injury:

Everybody came through the game ok, we’re still in the recovery process. There’s a couple of lads that we need to be careful of, Adam Webster and Dan Burn haven’t played for a while, to a certain extent Danny Welbeck, so we just need to keep monitoring them.

Tariq Lamptey (hamstring) and Solly March (match fitness) are out for the season and Florin Andone has had a setback in his recovery from a long-term knee problem but Percy Tau could be back in contention after hamstring tightness forced his non-involvement at Chelsea.

Oli McBurnie (foot), Billy Sharp (thigh) and Jack O’Connell (knee) remain out for the Blades, while Sander Berge (hamstring) and Jack Robinson (knee) are still some distance from a playing comeback despite their recent returns to training.

WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS V BURNLEY

Robbie Brady (Achilles), Kevin Long (calf) and Ashley Barnes (thigh) will all miss the trip to Molineux, with the first two still some distance from a playing comeback and Barnes working on his fitness in first-team training.

Nick Pope (shoulder) should be back involved, however, with Sean Dyche saying:

Popey has been good. I suggested last week that we felt he was over the biggest hurdle of it and he has come through training this week. He’s trained fully with us today – if there’s no reaction, then he’s back into consideration.

Ruben Neves isn’t ready to return for Wolves, despite serving a 10-day self-isolation period after testing positive for COVID-19.

His manager said ahead on Friday:

Unfortunately, he’s still in isolation, he’s been tested, and he’s not allowed yet to join the group. We try to provide training sessions in their own homes. Some of them have space and the weather is also helping, but it’s not the same.