Before the festive football commences with Gameweek 19, there is a round of midweek EFL Cup quarter-finals involving seven Premier League teams:
- Arsenal vs Sunderland
- Brentford vs Chelsea
- Liverpool vs Leicester City
- Tottenham Hotspur vs West Ham United
Here is a round-up of Tuesday’s press conferences, with Fantasy Premier League (FPL) team information found on our Predicted Line-ups page and Injuries and Bans feed.
LIVERPOOL
Four players are out with Covid – Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho, Thiago Alcantara and Curtis Jones – whilst Andrew Robertson begins his three-match domestic suspension for the red card received at Spurs.
“Health comes first so we have to make sure we don’t rush it, that they come back whenever they are ready. People underestimate when it’s 10 days’ quarantine, they think they can play immediately on day 11, but football doesn’t work like this.” – assistant manager Pepijn Lijnders
Jordan Henderson missed Sunday’s 2-2 draw with a regular cold but is available again, although Divock Origi “is still not training with the team” due to a knee injury. Nathaniel Phillips (cheekbone), Adrian (calf) and Harvey Elliott (ankle) are still on the sidelines.
CHELSEA
Thomas Tuchel was quite open with his injury updates here, seemingly ruling out the likes of Ruben Loftus-Cheek (ankle), Andreas Christensen (knock) and Trevoh Chalobah (knock) as well as their four known Covid victims – Ben Chilwell, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Timo Werner and Romelu Lukaku.
“The players [with COVID] are OK [but] they are out for ten days before they can be released. We don’t really know when they can play. Nobody is back except for Jorginho. Andreas Christensen is very doubtful and the same for Trevoh Chalobah.”
Jorginho (back, plus an inconclusive Covid-test result) is available again but Hakim Ziyech (calf) may not be. Tuchel will not play N’Golo Kante this time, calling himself “close to irresponsible” for handing the Frenchman all 90 minutes against Wolves.
ARSENAL
Takehiro Tomiyasu was removed after 63 minutes of the Gunners’ 4-1 win at Leeds, which Mikel Arteta says was due to muscular discomfort.
“We decided to take him off, he wasn’t 100 per cent confident to continue in the game, and hopefully he’s not injured.”
Pablo Mari and Albert Sambi Lokonga remain out due to Covid, as Sead Kolasinac (ankle) continues his absence.
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
There was good news from Antonio Conte regarding his squad’s Covid situation.
“All the players are now negative, which is good news for us. As you know well, with Covid, you need a bit of time because, for sure, many players at this moment are not so fit because they had to face this situation, but the good news is all the players are available. We have a little bad news in Ryan Sessegnon, he had a problem at the end of the game against Liverpool (on Sunday), he’s the only player with Cristian Romero who is injured.”
A muscular problem is set to keep Ryan Sessegnon out for around two weeks, as Cristian Romero (hamstring) remains out until early 2022.
WEST HAM UNITED
Vladimir Coufal will be suspended for the cup tie, following his Gameweek 17 sending off at Arsenal that couldn’t be served last weekend because of postponement. Centre backs Kurt Zouma (hamstring) and Angelo Ogbonna (knee) are still injured, with Aaron Cresswell pencilled in for a return having missed four matches with a back injury.
“We’re very good. The training ground has been very good and most are okay. We have got one or two with the virus, but most are very good and long may that continue.” – David Moyes
Ben Johnson (hamstring) and Ryan Fredericks (groin) are unlikely to take part at Tottenham.
LEICESTER CITY
With their last two league fixtures postponed due to Covid, it could be a patched-up Foxes squad that faces Liverpool on Wednesday.
James Justin (knee/match fitness) and Wesley Fofana (leg) have been out for a while, with undefined illnesses for Kelechi Iheanacho, Ademola Lookman, Jannik Vestergaard, Ayoze Perez and Hamza Choudhury.
Jonny Evans left the Gameweek 16 win against Newcastle United after five minutes because of a hamstring problem, the same injury as Caglar Soyuncu.
BRENTFORD
After recent Covid problems for Ivan Toney, Ethan Pinnock and many other players and staff, head coach Thomas Frank delivered positive news on the Bees’ current state, having also missed the last pair of matches.
“We have enough. We will have 11 players. We are in a fine place. We had six/seven [positive cases] last Thursday, but after lateral flow and PCR tests, we’ve had zero for the past two days.”
They are still without David Raya (knee), Kristoffer Ajer (hamstring), Mathias ‘Zanka’ Jorgensen (thigh) and Josh Dasilva (hip) but Frank said “let’s see what we will do” in regards to starting forward Marcus Forss.
