The start of the 2022/23 Premier League season is upon us, with Crystal Palace v Arsenal kicking off Gameweek 1 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) on Friday.
The pre-match press conferences that will take place up and down the country later in the week will help finalise our predicted line-ups but in the meantime, this article takes an early look at the injury situation across the top flight after a busy summer of pre-season football.
Our team news tab and injuries and bans page are the places to go for more information as the week progresses.
CRYSTAL PALACE V ARSENAL
Emile Smith Rowe, Kieran Tierney, Takehiro Tomiyasu and new signing Fabio Vieira have all returned to some form of training after injuries meant that they missed most or even all of pre-season.
Tierney and Smith Rowe’s last involvement for the Gunners came three weeks ago against Nurnberg, while Tomiyasu and Vieira haven’t featured at all.
They will be nearing a return for Gameweek 1 but they are very unlikely to be bothering the starting XI at Selhurst Park, with match fitness needing to be worked on.
“I think that most of them will be, they’ll have to go through what they need to this week and then hopefully we’ll have them available. They are lacking minutes but we’ll have to build that up like any other injury that we get during the season.” – Mikel Arteta
For the hosts, James McArthur has suffered a recurrence of a groin injury to land him with a spell on the sidelines.
Michael Olise (ankle) and Sam Johnstone (thigh) haven’t played any part in pre-season, while Jack Butland broke his finger and was ruled out for up to eight weeks in the warm-up match against Manchester United.
FULHAM V LIVERPOOL
Alisson is expected to be fit for Liverpool’s season opener but Diogo Jota (thigh) almost certainly won’t play a part, with Jurgen Klopp saying only last week that the Portuguese striker would be out for “a while”.
“Ali trained today more than the day before, he will definitely be available for Fulham, but not for the [Community Shield].” – Jurgen Klopp, last Thursday
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (hamstring) and Caoimhin Kelleher (muscle) are also sidelined.
Ibrahima Konate (muscle), Curtis Jones (muscle) and Kostas Tsimikas (knock) require further assessment but Naby Keita should be fine after illness.
Fulham’s Harry Wilson (knee) won’t be reunited with his old club, with the winger and Nathaniel Chalobah picking up injuries in last Friday’s behind-closed-doors kickabout with Aston Villa. Boss Marco Silva said it “doesn’t look good” for Wilson.
Joe Bryan is also currently out with a hand injury.
BOURNEMOUTH V ASTON VILLA
New signing Joe Rothwell (thigh) is definitely out for Bournemouth’s Gameweek 1 clash with Aston Villa, with Ryan Fredericks also a doubt despite returning to training.
David Brooks hasn’t yet featured for the Cherries in pre-season, with the winger announcing in May that he had successfully beaten cancer. Scott Parker previously said that Bournemouth would need to “tread carefully” with the Welshman, with no timeframe placed on a playing comeback.
We’re not aware of any injury issues for Villa at present.
LEEDS V WOLVES
One of the most injury-hit sides of 2021/22 are already off to a bad start before a ball has been kicked.
Leeds will be without Daniel James through suspension in Gameweek 1, while Luke Ayling (knee), Junior Firpo (knee) and Stuart Dallas (thigh) are medium-to-long-term injury absentees.
Luis Sinisterra (hamstring) and Adam Forshaw (knee) were both casualties of the pre-season match against Crystal Palace on July 22, with news awaited of their recoveries.
Liam Cooper is at least on the comeback trail from an Achilles problem but didn’t play one minute of football for Leeds over the summer and match fitness will be an issue.
As for Wolves, they will be without Raul Jimenez (knee/adductor) for a “number of weeks” after a training ground injury.
Chiquinho (knee) is out until 2023, while Adama Traore (hamstring) and Nelson Semedo (hamstring) are expected to sit out Gameweek 1 before a mid-August return.
NEWCASTLE V NOTTM FOREST
Assessment is still ongoing on Jonjo Shelvey‘s hamstring injury, while Federico Fernandez, Javier Manquillo and Jamal Lewis haven’t kicked a ball in pre-season.
Eddie Howe seemed to suggest that the trio were injured when facing the media before last weekend’s double-header of friendlies but the reality is that they are probably surplus to requirements.
Forest’s Omar Richards (leg) will miss the start of 2022/23, meanwhile.
SPURS V SOUTHAMPTON
Richarlison will be suspended for Tottenham Hotspur’s season-opening match at home to Southampton but Spurs are otherwise in decent shape going into Gameweek 1.
Oliver Skipp did however miss out in the final two pre-season matches after suffering a deep cut to his foot.
The match fitness of Ivan Perisic and Matt Doherty was discussed by Antonio Conte on Saturday, meanwhile.
“It was the same (as Perisic) for Matthew (Doherty). I hope to see him like last season and now he’s working and he’s struggling. We need to have patience. We need to give time for these players to be really fit. In this moment we have two players, Perisic and Doherty, they have to continue to work and reach the peak of fitness because after a long injury they are struggling a lot. We need to have patience, but today it was positive to give them a lot of time to play again for Matthew and Ivan.” – Antonio Conte
Southampton’s Valentino Livramento (knee) will miss all of 2022, while Nathan Tella (knee) is out for a “few weeks” and Theo Walcott‘s recovery from an unspecified injury “will take time”.
EVERTON V CHELSEA
The only notable Chelsea absentee for their trip to Italy last week was Timo Werner, who the Blues would only say was “with the medical department” amid reports of some bad blood between player and manager.
The even more peripheral Ross Barkley has also been sidelined recently with a hamstring problem.
Everton will definitely be without Andros Townsend (knee) and Salomon Rondon (suspended) in Gameweek 1, with Seamus Coleman (groin) and Asmir Begovic (ankle) also big doubts.
Yerry Mina and Tom Davies were left out of Friday’s win over Dynamo Kyiv as a “precaution”.
LEICESTER V BRENTFORD
Ricardo Pereira (Achilles) is a fresh doubt for the opening weekend, with the full-back limping out of Sunday’s win over Sevilla.
“It was a disappointment with Ricky coming off. It doesn’t look good but we’ll see how that is. We had an awful injury here last year which set us back. We’re hoping it might not be so bad but it doesn’t look good.” – Brendan Rodgers
Ryan Bertrand (knee) is a long-term absentee and Danny Ward hasn’t played in pre-season but Harvey Barnes (knee), Ayoze Perez (illness) and Hamza Choudhury (illness) are expected to be fit for the visit of Brentford.
The Bees will be without centre-halves Kristoffer Ajer (thigh) and Ethan Pinnock (knee) for Gameweek 1 and beyond, with Thomas Frank saying on Saturday that Pinnock would be out for “long, long, long”.
Sergi Canos is suspended and also now has a minor hamstring issue that is expected to clear up in 2-3 weeks.
MAN UTD V BRIGHTON
Jadon Sancho and Luke Shaw both missed United’s friendly double-header at the weekend through illness but are expected back this week.
Budget midfielder Alejandro Pellistri twisted his ankle in the closing stages of Saturday’s defeat to Atletico, while bargain-bin defender Brandon Williams hasn’t been sighted all summer.
Long-term absentee Jakub Moder (knee) is the only definite absentee for Brighton at this stage, with Graham Potter hopeful that Alexis Mac Allister will shake off a groin strain to feature at Old Trafford.
WEST HAM V MAN CITY
Aymeric Laporte (knee) is Manchester City’s only notable Gameweek 1 absentee at the time of writing, with the stopper set to be out until September.
“I think August, will be out. Maybe in September, start to be with us. We will see.” – Pep Guardiola
The Hammers are down their own key centre-half in Nayef Aguerd, who underwent knee surgery a week ago.
Aaron Cresswell and Michail Antonio weren’t involved in Saturday’s draw with Lens, with no official reason given for their absence but minor knocks being suggested.
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