We begin our coverage of the pre-Gameweek 24 press conferences with a round-up of Monday’s media gatherings.
Seven Premier League managers are scheduled to face reporters today, with at least another seven set to stage their pre-match pressers on Tuesday.
The top-flight bosses we might not hear from ahead of the upcoming Fantasy Premier League (FPL) deadline are Jurgen Klopp, Brendan Rodgers, Bruno Lage and Mikel Arteta, whose teams are in action on Thursday – and so it could be that those four are all answering questions from journalists on Wednesday.
While we may not hear from his manager again to rubber-stamp his availability, Mohamed Salah (£12.7m) seems keen to get back to playing action in Gameweek 24, at least.
MANCHESTER UNITED
There was nothing from Ralf Rangnick on Bruno Fernandes (back) or Jadon Sancho (fatigue) in the broadcast section of his presser but the Manchester United website says that the pair are “expected [to] be okay” for the trip to Burnley in midweek.
Also set for involvement at Turf Moor are Jesse Lingard, Edinson Cavani and Raphael Varane.
“They’re both available and will both be part of the squad for tomorrow’s game at Burnley. Both are top professionals, both have been training well.” – Ralf Rangnick on Jesse Lingard and Edinson Cavani
“He seems to be physically fit. He has no issues anymore with injuries.
“I’m happy to have him back again for tomorrow’s game. Hopefully, we can have him in the same fitness shape and same form as he was against Middlesbrough for the upcoming games.” – Ralf Rangnick on Raphael Varane
Rangnick also failed to provide an update on Victor Lindelof (illness) and Eric Bailly (swollen ankle), both of whom missed Friday’s FA Cup defeat to Middlesbrough.
Alex Telles and Fred will miss out in Gameweek 24, however, after testing positive for Covid-19.
“Yeah we have two players missing. Alex Telles already missed the cup game because he tested Covid positive last week and, unfortunately, the same thing happened today with Fred. That’s why he will be missing from tomorrow’s game and possibly even the game against Southampton.”
WEST HAM UNITED
David Moyes is “hoping” that Michail Antonio will be available for the visit of Watford after the striker returned to training over the last couple of days.
The leading scorer among FPL forwards started three matches for Jamaica over the international break, lasting 220 minutes in total, and wasn’t involved in the FA Cup victory over Kidderminster Harriers on Saturday after making a late return to the UK.
“Mick has returned and has had a couple of days’ training, so hopefully he’ll be fit.” – David Moyes
Arthur Masuaku (knee) and Manuel Lanzini (Achilles) are struggling with injury but there was no word on Lukasz Fabianski, who has now missed matches either side of the winter break. Moyes hasn’t even confirmed what is wrong with the Pole, previously saying that the Hammers “have got some injuries and some COVID [cases]” when asked about his goalkeeper’s absence.
“We had an injury to Lanzini and an injury to Arthur. They’re both doing okay, but Arthur is going to see a specialist about his knee, and Manu has needed a little bit of time with an Achilles injury. So we’re not quite sure about Manu [for Tuesday].” – David Moyes
EVERTON
Dominic Calvert-Lewin will be in the Everton squad to face Newcastle on Tuesday, as will deadline-day signings Donny van de Beek and Dele Alli, who were cup-tied for the Toffees’ 4-1 win over Brentford on Saturday.
Ben Godfrey faces a month on the sidelines with a hamstring injury, however, while Fabian Delph (thigh) and Abdoulaye Doucoure (groin) are also unlikely to return before early March.
“Dominic [Calvert-Lewin] is in the squad, he’s been training the last few days.
“[Alli/van de Beek] are in the squad. They’ve been great in training, integrated on the training pitch and off it as lads.
“Ben [Godfrey] came back from his scan this morning and will be a four-to-five-week hamstring injury, we hope, without any issues. Doucoure is still probably three to four weeks away. Fabian Delph is four to five weeks away.” – Frank Lampard
LEEDS UNITED
Patrick Bamford (foot) shows no sign of returning for Leeds any time soon, with Marcelo Bielsa saying that the striker “hasn’t improved” since his last pre-match press conference over two weeks ago.
There was better news elsewhere with Adam Forshaw (hamstring), Jamie Shackleton (Achilles) and Charlie Cresswell (shoulder) all passed fit, while Junior Firpo (hamstring) will be back in either Gameweek 25 or 26. Kalvin Phillips (hamstring) and Liam Cooper (hamstring) also aren’t too far away and are pencilled in for a comeback in early March.
“Cooper and Phillips are in the final stages of their recovery from their operations. Firpo is in the final stage of his recovery. He will be available next weekend or the following one. Bamford hasn’t improved. He continues with the problems at the bottom of his foot and he hasn’t started jogging. So his situation continues the same way.
“Shackleton, Forshaw and Cresswell are all healthy now. The four players that we still don’t count on are Firpo, who should be available for this weekend, or probably, because his injury involved his tendon, we may be cautious with his return. Phillips and Cooper who by the beginning of March should be fully recovered. And Bamford who has an injury which we can’t predict when he will return because it depends on the pain going away so he can start jogging again and since the injury started, the pain hasn’t gone away. Of course, he’s going through the necessary treatments for the injury he has.” – Marcelo Bielsa
There was little mention of Raphinha, whose substitution for Brazil last week was variously reported as being down to cramp or a knock on the ankle.
That’s hopefully good news, with Bielsa saying that the Whites would only be without “four players” (Bamford, Cooper, Phillips and Firpo) in the quote above and going on to say that “Raphinha, James and Harrison haven’t been out” this season when discussing the wider injury situation in 2021/22.
Meanwhile, the Leeds boss was again asked if budget FPL forward Joe Gelhardt would be given a chance to impress up top in Bamford’s absence but the Argentinean, after acknowledging some recent ankle problems for the rookie, again reiterated that the young striker remains quite a way down the pecking order:
“The 15 days prior to the game against Newcastle, Gelhardt had an injury in his ankle and the day prior to the game against Newcastle something that is not at all frequent, I organised a small football training session to verify that after 15 days without football activity, whether he could participate in the game the following day.
“But the reason why he was the last one to come on, is because of what I consider the four options I have available: [Dan] James, Tyler Roberts and Rodrigo Moreno, in that moment I positioned those three in front of his presence. James in his national team plays centre-forward with another player alongside him. Rodrigo and Tyler are original centre-forwards, I insist that was the decision I took most [time] to make, of Gelhardt coming on.” – Marcelo Bielsa
NEWCASTLE UNITED
Callum Wilson (calf) is set to be out until late in the season, so Chris Wood‘s place up top in the Newcastle starting XI looks secure for the medium term.
Four of five Newcastle’s January signings are set to feature against Everton but there is a bit of doubt over Dan Burn, who has a minor toe problem.
Elsewhere, Federico Fernandez (thigh) and Matt Ritchie (knee) remain out while Paul Dummett (muscle) hasn’t trained in over a fortnight but Joelinton (groin) has seemingly recovered, having rejoined training ahead of Tuesday’s clash with the Toffees.
“Dan [Burn] has a slight toe problem that has been aggravated in the last few days, which is hopefully nothing too serious. He’s got an infected toenail, so it’s a small thing but sometimes it can be a big thing.
“With Bruno [Guimaraes], we’ll have to assess him and make a decision on how quickly we transition him into the team. But he’s certainly someone we love, and we can’t wait to see him play in a Newcastle shirt. I think he’s going to bring some great qualities to us.
“Joelinton has trained, he’s looking good. Paul Dummett hasn’t trained yet. Matt Ritchie is still out longer term. Fede Fernandez is having his first day with sports science today. He hasn’t trained with the group yet but he’s edging closer.
“There is a time when [Wilson] is due back but I think that time, as always with these types of injuries, is not absolutely clear. I think we go more on how he feels than necessarily a specific time given by the physios or doctors. It’s been slow progress for him since the initial injury – he was recently on crutches. I think he’s come off those crutches now and he’s walking normally, which is a big step.
“But you can see by that update I’m giving you that it’s quite slow. We all wish Callum to come back as quickly as possible, but when he comes back he’s got to be fit and ready to give his best. We’re helping him with that day-to-day, but I don’t think it’s going to be short-term. Hopefully he can make the last few games of the season and really help us in the key moments.” – Eddie Howe
Jamal Lewis, Ciaran Clark and Isaac Hayden, who was injured anyway, have been omitted from Newcastle’s 25-man squad.
BURNLEY
Johann Berg Gudmundsson (appendicitis) and Matej Vydra (hernia) are both out for “weeks” ahead of the visit of Manchester United, while Charlie Taylor (foot) also looks set to miss out in Gameweek 24.
Ashley Barnes (thigh) could be back in the matchday squad for the first time since Gameweek 8, however, after featuring for the under-23s last week in a bid to build up match fitness.
“Johann Gudmundsson’s making a good recovery from appendicitis but he’s still going to be probably a few weeks. Vyds is the same, coming back from his hernia. Barnesy is coming back, he might get around the group. Still needs more game-time but he has been training with us for three to four weeks now so he is up to general speed. Charlie Taylor is probably still going to miss this one, he’s getting closer, but I think he’ll miss this one.” – Sean Dyche
WATFORD
Emmanuel Dennis returns for Watford after serving a one-match suspension at the weekend, while the injury situation looks fairly positive at Vicarage Road, too.
Ismaila Sarr (international duty), Nicolas Nkoulou (hamstring) and Rob Elliot (unspecified) are the only confirmed absentees for the trip to West Ham.
“The injury situation is very good, we have a large complement of players available. The only ones definitely not available are [Nicolas] Nkoulou, Rob Elliot is nursing a small injury and Ismaïla Sarr, who played last night. We don’t know as of yet what time he will be returning. The Sporting Director is in contact with them, I haven’t had a chance to speak to him but I hope it is good news when I do.” – Roy Hodgson
Hodgson also said he was “looking forward” to seeing Dennis take to the pitch and went on to talk a bit about his tactics, having rolled out a 4-4-2 against Burnley.
“We’re not wedded to 4-4-2, we’re not wedded to the way we went about the job against Burnley, we just felt that to get the result against Burnley we needed that type of compact shape.
“We played a lot of 4-3-3 at Crystal Palace, it might well turn out that with the players here 4-3-3 might turn out to be a better formation for us than the 4-4-2 we went with the other day, and we might even find ourselves playing 4-5-1 sometimes.
“The thing I will be least anxious to change is a back four because we have some very good full-backs at the club. It won’t affect our principles; the way I shall be asking people to work defensively in a 4-3-3 won’t change from what I was asking for the other night and the same goes for going forward.
“I’m looking forward to seeing Ismaïla and working with him; I’ve seen Emmanuel in training and I’m looking forward to seeing him in the game.” – Roy Hodgson
