We round up the key Fantasy Premier League (FPL) talking points of the day in FPL Daily, a weekday series that serves non-Premier League matchdays and days when we don’t bring you a team news/press conference round-up.
JOTA/FIRMINO INJURY LATEST
Diogo Jota (£8.4m) and Roberto Firmino (£8.7m) look set to miss out on Liverpool’s second Double Gameweek 26 fixture on Wednesday, as they remain a doubt for the weekend’s EFL Cup final against Chelsea.
The forwards sustained muscle and ankle issues respectively at Inter Milan last week and missed the 3-1 win over Norwich City.
“Yes, it’s too early [to know about Sunday]. I don’t even know if it will be a late decision or not; how I said, it’s too early. I saw them both today, they both look great – but those two always look great. We have to see how the specific issues develop but we obviously will try everything.” – Jurgen Klopp on Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino
Trent Alexander-Arnold (£8.5m), Andrew Robertson (£7.2m), Sadio Mane (£11.7m), Mohamed Salah (£13.1m) and Virgil van Dijk (£6.7m), among others, were all spotted in training ground images released by the Reds on Monday so look set to return to the fray against Leeds.
Klopp confirmed on Saturday that Alexander-Arnold was only rested for the victory over the Canaries.
Neither Jota nor Firmino were spotted in those pictures from Liverpool’s AXA Training Centre.
WEGHORST AND CORNET “SHOULD” BE FIT
Wout Weghorst (£6.5m) and Maxwel Cornet (£5.9m) both picked up knocks on Saturday, the former being pictured with an ice pack on his knee after the game, but look set to recover in time to face Tottenham Hotspur in Burnley’s second Gameweek 26 fixture.
“Them two should be fine [for the Spurs game].” – Sean Dyche on Wout Weghorst and Maxwel Cornet
Dyche told reporters on Monday that the Clarets are still waiting on negative Covid tests for James Tarkowski (£4.9m) and Ashley Westwood (£5.3m), both of whom missed the victory over Brighton.
Charlie Taylor (£4.4m) could be back for Gameweek 27 after rejoining training but Matej Vydra (£5.2m) and Johann Berg Gudmundsson (£5.4m) remain out.
NO INJURY CONCERNS FOR DENNIS
Emmanuel Dennis (£6.1m) walked gingerly from the field of play in Saturday’s win over Aston Villa but there doesn’t seem to have been any injury picked up by the Nigerian, if we are to take the Watford website’s word for it.
In their pre-match medical bulletin, Watford said that they have “emerged with no fresh injury concerns” from the victory at Villa Park – so Dennis is presumably fit after his late substitution.
João Pedro (£5.4m) and Juraj Kucka (£5.5m) will have their fitness assessed ahead of Wednesday’s game, while Samir (£4.5m) was given the all-clear by Roy Hodgson.
“[Samir] is a tough boy. He was fine. He was fine yesterday so he’s trained with us today. It was a knock which luckily didn’t produce any threat of concussion. For me, I think it was one of those knocks which, at the end of a tough game, he probably felt a bit more. Luckily by Sunday morning, he was a lot better and even better still today.”
“With [Pedro and Kucka] their injuries were such that they are still being monitored. Both have made incredibly good progress, much quicker than we expected. But we’ll still have to wait until tomorrow to see if Wednesday is a game too soon, or whether they can make it.” – Roy Hodgson
ERIKSEN ON THE BLANK GAMEWEEK 30 WATCHLIST?
Christian Eriksen (£5.5m) looks set to be involved for Brentford against Newcastle United in some capacity this weekend after he further built up his match fitness with a 78-minute run-out for the Bees in a friendly with Rangers on Monday.
As if to prove that class is permanent, the Dane assisted both of Brentford’s goals from set plays in the behind-closed-doors match – one of which was scored by Zanka (£4.5m), who is also back from a long-term absence.
The west London club are one of just six teams (so far) whose Gameweek 30 fixtures haven’t been affected by the clash with the FA Cup quarter-finals, so the budget midfielder is one to watch for those planning to Free Hit or bring in a short-term punt on that weekend.
MOUNT VERY LIKELY FIT FOR GAMEWEEK 28
Chelsea’s positive fixture swing begins in Gameweek 28, although their appeal is fairly short-lived given that they very likely blank in Gameweek 30.
Mason Mount (£7.5m) missed out on Chelsea’s win over Crystal Palace on Saturday but he, along with Cesar Azpilicueta (£5.6m), are in contention to make the squad for the Blues’ UEFA Champions League tie against Lille on Tuesday evening.
There’s still no Reece James (£6.2m), however, although he is expected to step up his involvement in full training over the coming fortnight.
“Mason did a very good individual session, I think he will try and come back to team training today. He was out a little bit too long to start but perhaps he is involved in the squad. He has not trained with the team yet.
“Azpi looks much better than Callum. Callum did not train yesterday, Azpi trained and has no reaction – if it stays like this, he is available for tomorrow. Reece [James] is still out, Chilly out.” – Thomas Tuchel
