It’s the opening Gameweek of the 2021/22 Fantasy Premier League season and we’ve got all the important, last-minute team news in our weekly press conference summary below.
For more detailed information, check out our Predicted Line-ups page and Injuries and Bans feed plus Chris and Neale’s video.
And make sure to dip into our Gameweek 1 tab for those last-minute tips and player recommendations.
BRENTFORD v ARSENAL
Brentford manager Thomas Frank was happy to confirm that striker Ivan Toney, at 30.7% Fantasy Premier League’s most-owned forward, will be facing Arsenal on Friday evening for the season curtain-raiser.
Speaking in his press conference Frank simply stated:
Ivan will start, definitely.
Josh Dasilva (hip) and Mathias Jensen (foot) are longer-term absentees.
The news upfront for the visitors is far more concerning. David Ornstein of The Athletic reports that both Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette are ruled out of the short trip to Brentford as they are “unwell”.
Thomas Partey, Gabriel Magalhaes and Eddie Nketiah have been ruled out for “weeks” and there has been no update on Rob Holding who was recently described by manager Mikel Arteta as “not fit enough”.
MANCHESTER UNITED v LEEDS UNITED
The 10.8% of FPL managers who have selected Jadon Sancho for their squads will be delighted to hear that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has confirmed his availability for Saturday lunchtime’s fixture against Leeds United despite some recent set-backs:
Jadon is going to be involved. He was ill after his holiday and we’ve lost out on a few days of training with him. But he’s gelled really well with the group. Can’t tell you if he’s going to start or not though!”
Edison Cavani, however will not be participating as, like Eric Bailly and Amad Diallo, he is still currently quarantining after returning to the country. The potential transfer of Raphael Varane has been held up for similar reasons. Dean Henderson and Jesse Lingard had already been ruled out with COVID issues.
In his press conference, Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa confirmed that both emerging talent Jamie Shackleton and new first-team left back Junior Firpo have recovered to be available for the club’s visit to Old Trafford, but Spanish international centre-back Diego Llorente, who played little early part in the last campaign because of injuries, is not yet ready and his return may take “one or two more weeks.”
BURNLEY v BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION
The many fans of Chris Wood‘s exploits as a mid-priced FPL forward will be pleased to hear that Burnley manager Sean Dyche has declared him fully available for their opening fixture despite his late return after representing New Zealand in the Olympics:
[Chris Wood is] fine. He’s ready and raring.
Dyche also confirmed that right-back Matt Lowton has returned from isolating because a family member tested positive for coronavirus and will could also play. Back-up options Kevin Long and Dale Stephens will miss the start of 2021/22.
It was already known that Brighton’s Dan Burn (knee), Tariq Lamptey (hamstring) and Danny Welbeck (hamstring) would sit out Gameweek 1, but Seagulls boss Graham Potter was happy to declare that, despite questions about their future at the club, both Yves Bissouma and Percy Tau were very much in his thinking:
Yves Bissouma [is] still here! He’s happy and he’s smiling and he wants to play… There has been interest from overseas [for Percy Tau], but nothing new to report. He is available for the game on Saturday.
CHELSEA v CRYSTAL PALACE
The triumphant return of former striker Romelu Lukaku has been signed and sealed in time for the start of Chelsea’s league season, but, like several other players around the league, the current formalities regarding entering the UK from another country mean that he will not be able to get started on the pitch until at least Gameweek 2.
The Blues were back in Europe themselves on Wednesday night, but their triumph against Villareal in the European Super Cup came at the cost of a 120 minutes’ worth of fatigue for several players, a serious arm injury for in-form midfielder Hakim Ziyech and a new fitness issue that may see N’Gole Kanté also miss the visit of Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Speculation has surrounded the immediate future Tammy Abraham for some time with moves to Arsenal or Roma in particular a feature of speculation, but boss Thomas Tuchel said he will not hold him out as a result:
[Tammy Abraham] is our player. He’s in the squad for tomorrow. He has the chance to play and be decisive for Chelsea.
New Palace manager Patrick Vieira has been busy refreshing his squad with a mixture of young players coming through and new signings, one of which, former Fulham centre-half Joachim Andersen, he confirmed as available for the trip across town to Stamford Bridge.
Midfielder Conor Gallagher, however, has only just travelled on loan in the opposite direction and is ineligible to face his parent club. Eberechi Eze, Nathan Ferguson and summer purchase Michael Olise are all expected to be out for a while, but the absence of Luka Milivojevic (personal) was unforeseen and may place penalty duties firmly at the feet of Wilfried Zaha for the time being.
EVERTON v SOUTHAMPTON
Despite missing a lot of pre-season with a knee complaint, James Ward-Prowse (£6.5m) has rejoined the Southampton squad and is in the mix to play at Goodison Park.
Injury-wise things are apparently quiet for the Saints with only Will Smallbone (knee) definitely sidelined, though a likely transfer to Leicester City means Jannik Vestergaard will not be travelling to Merseyside.
The Toffees themselves are presenting FPL managers with a much more complicated scenario. In his press conference Rafa Benitez insisted that key strikers Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison could both be selected despite Richarlison only just returning from winning an Olympic title in Japan and a Copa America runners-up medal in his native Brazil while Calvert-Lewin hasn’t played a single minute of pre-season thanks to a toe injury.
Rafa became a lot more reticent when asked about James Rodriguez and Moise Keane training apparently training on their own and doubts lingering about André Gomes and Jean-Philippe Gbamin:
We have some players who are in isolation now – with Covid around, we have to be careful and some have to stay at home.[James Rodriguez] is one of them… We have five players that are in isolation; two of them are these players [Gomes, Gbamin, Keane].
LEICESTER CITY v WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS
Brendan Rodgers’s final press appearance before the start of the season didn’t raise any new issues nor resolve the doubts about Timothy Castagne’s availability.
Wesley Fofana (£4.5m) has been ruled out until 2022 after fracturing his leg, while Jonny Evans (£5.5m) is seemingly targeting a Gameweek 4 comeback based on Brendan Rodgers’ recent comments.
James Justin (£5.0m) is a long-term absentee and Nampalys Mendy (£4.5m) looks set to miss the start of the season.
Things were equally quiet at the Wolves end of things. New boss Bruno Lage confirmed that talismanic striker Raúl Jiménez is definitely fully available for selection while attacking full-back Nelson Semedo is presumed to also be back in the squad after his isolation period, triggered by a COVID contact alert, came to an end.
Willy Boly (£5.0m) and Yerson Mosquera (£4.5m) look set to miss the start of 2021/22 with hamstring problems while Pedro Neto (£6.5m), Daniel Podence (£5.5m) and Jonny (£4.5m) are longer-term absentees.
WATFORD v ASTON VILLA
Ollie Watkins (£7.5m) hobbled off just after half-time of Aston Villa’s weekend win over Salernitana, appearing to hold his thigh muscle in some discomfort and manager Dean Smith has now confirmed that the former Brentford striker is a genuine doubt for the visit to promoted Watford:
We are not too sure about Ollie [Watkins] at the moment, if he’s pain-free today [Friday] then he will train. If not, then he won’t be involved.
On a brighter note, Emiliano Buendía is fit to play after a minor hip injury and fellow new signing Leon Bailey may also make his Villa debut. However, Douglas Luiz will be enjoying a post-Olympic rest unlike his compatriot, Richarlison.
Trezeguet (£5.5m) is a long-term absentee, with Morgan Sanson and Bertrand Traoré only just back in training after significant layoffs. Keinan Davis (£4.5m) and Frederic Guilbert (£4.5m) have picked up problems in recent warm-up games and are unlikely to feature.
On their return to the Premier League the home side will definitely be missing Joshua King (groin), Nathaniel Chalobah (illness) and Richarlison’s ‘heir apparent’, João Pedro (knee).
On the plus side, Troy Deeney, Ben Foster, Adam Masina and Domingos Quina are all available for selection.
NORWICH CITY v LIVERPOOL
Andrew Robertson‘s ankle injury sent the FPL world into a pre-season frenzy as many managers scrambled to pick up his bargain-basement back-up, Konstantinos Tsimikas, who should be the incumbent at left-back for both this fixture and the home game against Burnley at the very least.
Curtis Jones seems likely to miss out as he recovers from a concussion while the start of the season looks to have come too soon for Jordan Henderson or Thiago Alcantara to have more than cameo minutes.
There was better news for Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp as his captain, Virgil van Dijk, signed a new contract and looked set to join the matchday squad for the first time since his serious injury early last season:
Virgil [van Dijk] was out for a long time, is now training with the team for 3.5 weeks… I am pretty sure he could have played 90 minutes, we just didn’t try to do it.
Klopp’s counterpart at Norwich, Daniel Farke, is facing a much bleaker situation. An outbreak of coronavirus has seriously affected Norwich’s pre-season preparations and its effects are now calling into question the level of opening-match participation for attacking spearhead Teemu Pukki:
Our problem was the Covid-19 outbreak two weeks ago. Teemu missed a major part of pre-season and has had 10 days training.
Farke confirmed that Norwich will definitely be without midfielder Przemysław Placheta, who is struggling with the effects of COVID, and defender Andrew Omobamidele is a doubt after missing a few days of training with tonsilitis.
NEWCASTLE UNITED v WEST HAM UNITED
Interest in Newcastle’s third-choice goalkeeper Freddie Woodman evaporated within seconds of his FPL price being announced as £4.5m. He is deputising for both Martin Dubravka, who is recovering from an operation, and Karl Darlow who is only just back in training following hospitalisation with coronavirus:
[Karl Darlow] has been in hospital for over a week [with COVID], dropped a stone in weight and it’s knocked him around
Newcastle United manager, Steve Bruce
Callum Wilson and Allan Saint-Maximin recovered from injury and illness respectively to play a part in Newcastle United’s final pre-season friendly last Saturday, leaving Paul Dummett – who has a calf problem – as the only senior outfielder definitely out in Gameweek 1.
At the time of writing it is still unknown whether Joe Willock’s transfer went through in time (or indeed at all) for him to play against West Ham.
For the Hammers, Arthur Masuaku (£4.5m) has yet to feature as he builds fitness following a knee injury, but manager David Moyes revealed they only have two other doubts:
[Angelo] Ogbonna had a hamstring injury he suffered against Celtic. He’s back in some sort of training. [Manuel] Lanzini‘s had a little bit of a groin problem so we’re hoping that he’ll be OK.”
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR v MANCHESTER CITY
The biggest unresolved question in FPL is not going to be answered in time for the season’s first deadline. When asked about the status of club captain, and apparent Manchester City transfer target, Harry Kane, Tottenham Hotspur manager Nuno Espirito Santo replied:
He joined the group today, he trained, we had a talk… He is preparing himself. We still have the session of tomorrow to decide.
The odds are that his future can only really be resolved after the game between the main rivals for his ongoing services.
Away from that saga, Spurs midfielder Tanguy Ndombele appears definitively out of favour with his new manager while Bryan Gil, Japhet Tanganga and Cristian Romero are struggling against various combinations of niggles and rustiness to be ready for kick-off.
Manchester City will definitely be waiting a few weeks to see Kevin De Bruyne or Phil Foden on the field and several other squad members are still working their way through their personal pre-seasons, so the starting line-up at Spurs is likely to be somewhat unfamiliar.
