We’ve got the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) team news information in our second press conference summary ahead of Gameweek 18.
You can catch the headline updates from Thursday’s pressers – featuring Brentford, Burnley, Leeds United and Southampton – via this link here, although Southampton vs Brentford was subsequently postponed in a Thursday night announcement.
For much more detailed information, check out our Predicted Line-ups page (which is being refreshed on Friday evening) and Injuries and Bans feed plus Az and Neale’s video here:
And for other help and advice, from our weekly Scout Picks to team reveals, head to our complete Gameweek 16 guide below:
LIVERPOOL
Jurgen Klopp has said that it’s highly likely that Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho and Curtis Jones have all returned positive Covid tests, explaining their absence from Thursday’s 3-1 win over Newcastle United.
“We know now, in this moment, three players [Van Dijk/Fabinho/Jones] are probably not available. If they are false positive, and we realise that, we will say that.
“If in two hours, when the players arrive, we then have six, seven, eight more cases, then of course we cannot play. But in the situation like we have now, we can play and we would like to play.” – Jurgen Klopp
The match did see a return to action for Roberto Firmino (hamstring), given a 16-minute cameo for his first action since Gameweek 10.
Divock Origi (knee) may not be available for the trip to Spurs, joining Nathaniel Phillips (cheekbone), Adrian (calf) and Harvey Elliott (ankle) on the sidelines.
CHELSEA
Ben Chilwell, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Timo Werner and Romelu Lukaku all tested positive for coronavirus ahead of the Everton game on Thursday and missed out but the outbreak at the club, for now, seems to have been contained.
Kai Havertz also fell ill ahead of Gameweek 17 but has since returned negative tests.
“No more positive [Covid] results at the moment. The lottery starts again tomorrow afternoon! We are happy in the moment that Kai [Havertz] has negative results, so he was back in training. Let’s see.” – Thomas Tuchel
Jorginho (back) and Ruben Loftus-Cheek (ankle) are doubts through injury, so the newly fit-again Mateo Kovacic and N’Golo Kante may be fast-tracked back into the starting XI at Wolves.
“We have Jorginho a doubt for Sunday because he’s in pain. We have Ruben Loftus-Cheek a doubt because he’s in pain. Do we know that they can travel with us tomorrow? No. I don’t know if it’s possible they play on Sunday. Maybe we start with N’Golo [Kante] and Mateo [Kovacic]. Would that be fair? No. Would that be possible? I don’t know, but maybe we do because… who else?” – Thomas Tuchel
MANCHESTER CITY
Pep Guardiola’s press conference was cancelled because of an “inconclusive” Covid test and the City boss is waiting for a second PCR test to confirm the results.
From what we already know, Ferran Torres (foot) continues to be injured and there is a minor concern over highly-selected midfielder Bernardo Silva, who was withdrawn as a precaution due to their 3-0 half-time advantage over Leeds United.
“He had muscular niggles. Nothing injured but he was a little bit uncomfortable.” – Pep Guardiola on Tuesday
Kyle Walker missed his third game in four, this time being short on fitness after a recent illness.
Joao Cancelo returns from suspension for the trip to Newcastle, however.
ARSENAL
Serving an internal suspension, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is “not available for selection” according to Mikel Arteta.
Arsenal’s only main injury belongs to Sead Kolasinac (ankle), although Gabriel Martinelli seemed to leave Wednesday’s win over West Ham United in some discomfort; Arteta putting this down to “cramp” immediately after full-time.
“We are good [re Covid]. We are waiting on more tests, which we’ll have this afternoon. We had a couple of [injury] issues in the week, we will train today and see how everyone is feeling.” – Mikel Arteta
Back-up goalkeeper Bernd Leno (groin) is still out.
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Antonio Conte says that Sergio Reguilon is “feeling good” and will rejoin team training tomorrow, having previously trained alone following injury.
“Sergio until today trained apart but he’s ready tomorrow to have the training session with us and the player is comfortable to be back in training with us. I hope that tomorrow he’s totally recovered but today Sergio was happy. His feeling was good.” – Antonio Conte
We’ve still got no names as to which Spurs players have been affected by coronavirus (we do know that Emerson Royal, Son Heung-min, Lucas Moura, Bryan Gil, Ben Davies and Oliver Skipp weren’t spotted at the last training session before Spurs’ training ground was closed, however), but some of those who returned positive tests are now back on the grass.
That doesn’t mean that these individuals will start on Sunday, as Antonio Conte warned in his pre-match presser.
“When the players are back from Covid, for sure you have to pay great attention. You can’t give them the same charge of work as other players. You have to pay attention. If you want everything very soon, you risk injuries. In this situation you have to take the risk and at the same time pay great attention. They need time to be fit.
“Also, before picking the starting XI you have to take into consideration all of this. For instance, to start with one player and after 60 or 70 minutes change him with one player who had Covid. In this situation, it’s important to have patience and take the right risk. Every one of us would like to pick the best players, the best starting XI, but they need a bit of time to have good form, to be fit and not risk an injury. Otherwise, it would be a disaster.” – Antonio Conte
ASTON VILLA
Steven Gerrard says that Ashley Young is “50/50” for tomorrow’s game against Burnley with an unspecified issue.
Leon Bailey (thigh), Bertrand Traore (thigh) and Marvelous Nakamba (knee) are all still on the injury list, with Nakamba ruled out for 12-16 weeks after undergoing surgery.
Keinan Davis, Morgan Sanson and Anwar El Ghazi all missed out on Tuesday night and won’t involved this weekend, either. While it hasn’t been officially announced that the trio have coronavirus, Gerrard has confirmed that he has some players missing with the illness.
“We’re having to use more players for more games and more minutes because we’ve got some players missing with COVID. That puts more strain and stress on the players individually and you pick up more injuries on the back of that.
“We’re at the time of year where, naturally, there are more colds and bugs, and there’s that paranoia that while they maybe haven’t had a positive test yet, are they going to have a positive test in a few days. Do you then take them out of the environment to protect others?
“There’s all kinds of concerns and situations going on at the moment. I just hope the Premier League and the powers that be take player welfare into consideration.” – Steven Gerrard
NEWCASTLE UNITED
Thursday’s defeat to Liverpool brought a “bad” hamstring injury for left-back Jamal Lewis and a knock for Allan Saint-Maximin.
“He took a really nasty tackle. I don’t know if the injury is related to that tackle or more muscular. I’ve got no idea. I did try and speak to him when he came off but didn’t manage to get a clear communication.” – Eddie Howe on Allan Saint-Maximin
Federico Fernandez (thigh) will miss the festive period for the Magpies, alongside Paul Dummett (calf).
Callum Wilson was merely rested on Thursday night and a few others could get similar treatment this weekend.
“We felt today was the moment where we could give Callum a rest and protect him. I know the player very well, I know his history. I know important he is for the team and the club. It was just a case of trying to manage his minutes.
“A lot of the players that we had on the pitch [v Liverpool] were suffering with fatigue due to the fact that we were without the ball for long periods. We’re going to need to potentially rotate and make sure the team… is as fresh as it can be.” – Eddie Howe
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS
Raul Jimenez is back from suspension, following his red card at Manchester City.
Since Wednesday night, Bruno Lage has added Rayan Ait-Nouri (groin) and Hwang Hee-chan (hamstring) to an injury list of Jonny (knee), Yerson Mosquera (muscle) and Pedro Neto (knee).
Mosquera has also tested positive Covid, just like Fabio Silva, although the pair are awaiting the results of a PCR test to confirm the result.
