Gameweek 5 is upon us and we’ve got all the important team news information in our second press conference summary of the week.
You can catch the headline updates from Thursday’s pressers in the link below:
For much more detailed information, check out our Predicted Line-ups page and Injuries and Bans feed plus Joe and Neale’s video:
LIVERPOOL
Roberto Firmino (hamstring) and Harvey Elliott (ankle) will be unavailable for the visit of Crystal Palace, with the former set to return to training next week but the latter poised for a long period on the sidelines.
“He’s not ready. Bobby [Firmino] didn’t even start training with the team, it will happen sometime next week. Then we will have to see.” – Jurgen Klopp
Divock Origi will be assessed, meanwhile, after suffering cramps in the win over AC Milan.
“Sadio looks really good, really sharp. We talk about these kinds of things when strikers miss some chances. The amount of chances he had, that’s actually the important stuff. Sadio’s in a good moment.” – Jurgen Klopp
MANCHESTER CITY
Aymeric Laporte and John Stones will both miss the visit of Southampton because of muscle problems, so Nathan Ake looks set to line up alongside Ruben Dias providing a midweek family bereavement doesn’t affect his availability.
“They are] injured. [It’s] muscular. John Stones didn’t play with us and then played 90 mins with national team and came back injured and Laporte came back with a little disturbance, some niggles.
“He wanted to play against Leicester, where he made an extraordinary game, but after that game his niggles were worse and we did not want to take a risk.
“Both are not able to play. I don’t know [if they will play] against Wycombe or Chelsea but hopefully, they can be ready after. Right now, I don’t know.” – Pep Guardiola
ASTON VILLA
Carney Chukwuemeka (groin), Jaden Philogene-Bidace (ankle), Trezeguet (knee) and Keinan Davis (knee) will all miss the visit of Everton, while Emiliano Martinez and Emiliano Buendia will return from their spells in quarantine on the day of the game and be assessed.
“We’re expecting them to join us tomorrow morning. I’ll assess it then and see whether they’re involved or not.
“We’ve got the numbers of what they’ve been doing each day, that gets sent straight to our performance department and passed onto our coaches. They’re in a good place physically.” – Dean Smith on Emiliano Martinez and Emiliano Buendia
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Nuno Espirito Santo has a selection crisis on his hands ahead of the visit of Chelsea, with Japhet Tanganga‘s suspension the tip of the iceberg.
Nuno’s tight-lipped nature plus the lack of a dedicated pre-Gameweek 5 press conference thanks to Thursday night’s involvement in the Europa Conference League means that we are in the dark over many of the walking wounded, with the Spurs boss saying he didn’t know if Lucas Moura and Steven Bergwijn would be fit for Sunday after their midweek fitness issues.
“I cannot tell you. They are being taken care of by the medical department. But it’s been tough.” – Nuno Espirito Santo on Lucas Moura and Steven Bergwijn
With the conditions of Eric Dier (dead leg), Son Heung-min (calf) and Ryan Sessegnon (knock) unknown, plus the previously quarantining trio of Cristian Romero, Giovani Lo Celso and Davinson Sanchez only set to return to training on Saturday, there is a great deal of uncertainty over who will get the nod against the Blues.
CHELSEA
Christian Pulisic (ankle) will miss the trip to Spurs but N’Golo Kante has been passed fit and should come back into contention.
“No fresh injury concerns, Christian [Pulisic] is in individual training and trying to come back as fast as possible to team training. He will not be in the squad. N’Golo [Kante] is back in full shape and ready to play.” – Thomas Tuchel
LEICESTER CITY
Ayoze Perez (suspended), James Justin (knee) and Wesley Fofana (leg) remain out, while Brendan Rodgers said after Thursday’s Europa League clash with Napoli that Jonny Evans would “probably” miss the trip to Brighton with a recurrence of his foot problem.
“We just need to wait and see. He’ll probably struggle for the weekend, I would say. He’s felt his foot again, so we’ll see medically how that looks over the next couple of days.” – Brendan Rodgers
WEST HAM UNITED
David Moyes declared a clean bill of health ahead of Thursday’s Europa League win over Dinamo Zagreb and there doesn’t seem to have been any fresh injuries picked up from that clash, with the Hammers’ only previous absentee, Arthur Masuaku, making his first matchday squad appearance of the campaign.
“I see him playing [numbers] 7, 10 or 11. I think we can use him in all those positions. What I want is his goals, I want his assists. I want all that, whether he plays 7, 10 or 11.
“What I’ve seen just now I really like the look of. I think we need to give him a bit of time to settle with us, our speed, the movement, how we play. But he’s a brilliant boy. Fantastic attitude, committed, determined, he’ll be good for us.” – David Moyes on Nikola Vlasic
NORWICH CITY
Christoph Zimmermann (ankle) and Przemyslaw Placheta (illness) will miss the visit of Watford, while Daniel Farke said he had doubts over whether Josh Sargent (hamstring), Pierre-Lees Melou (illness) and Jacob Sørensen (dead leg) could last 90 minutes despite declaring them all available for selection. Dimitrios Giannoulis (back) is fully fit.
CRYSTAL PALACE
Eberechi Eze (Achilles), Nathan Ferguson (Achilles) and Jeffrey Schlupp (hamstring) will all miss the trip to Liverpool, with Schlupp set to rejoin training next week.
BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION
Tariq Lamptey (hamstring), Adam Webster (hamstring) and Pascal Gross (self-isolating) will all miss the visit of Leicester but Enock Mwepu and Dan Burn have been passed fit, with Graham Potter reporting no other fresh concerns from the Gameweek 4 win over Brentford.
“Pascal Gross and Adam Webster will miss the game, Dan Burn is back in contention, as is Enock Mwepu.
“Tariq Lamptey has made really good progress, he’s looking better and better each day. He’s still on target to be involved in the Carabao Cup next week.
“Adam [Webster] will probably be back the other side of the international break – it’s not the best news, but not the worst news.” – Graham Potter
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS
Long-term injury victims Jonny (knee) and Pedro Neto (knee) remain sidelined for Wolves but there are no other fitness issues ahead of the visit of Brentford.
BRENTFORD
Thomas Frank has also declared no new fitness concerns ahead of the trip to Molineux.
“Everyone that was available for Brighton is available for Wolves.” – Thomas Frank
