We’ve got the live updates from all 12 Premier League pre-match press conferences that take place on Friday as Gameweek 1 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) draws ever nearer.
For ease of access, this article will remain live in the ‘featured’ box on the home page even when it is no longer at the top of the site.
KEY UPDATES SO FAR
- Man City: No fresh team news; Pep on penalty-takers
- Aston Villa: Buendia and Mings back in training
- Newcastle: Shelvey out; will Botman start?
- Liverpool: Alisson “fine”, six others out
- Chelsea: Tuchel on Cucurella and Chilwell
- Leicester: Pereira out for six months; Barnes injured
- Brighton: Mac Allister passed fit
- Wolves: Jimenez and Traore out
- Man Utd: Martial injured
- Brentford: Ajer latest
- Fulham: Wilson out
- West Ham: Scamacca unlikely to face City
We heard from eight managers yesterday, with the following dozen up today:
For much more detailed information, check out our Predicted Line-ups page and Injuries and Bans feed.
LIVERPOOL
Jurgen Klopp confirmed that Alisson is “fine” ahead of the trip to Fulham, although Curtis Jones, Kostas Tsimikas, Ibrahima Konate, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Diogo Jota and Caoimhin Kelleher all remain on the injury list.
Naby Keita has been ill but returns to training today.
“Ali [is] fine.
“We hope with Curtis we caught it in the right moment, that’s just how it is with young players. They have some kind of stress reactions sometimes and then if they go over it because it’s not massive pain, it could lead to something serious. We caught it early but we still have to be careful. That’s it with him, so he is not in.
“Naby is ill, but I think he will be back today the first day. I underestimated it a little bit when I said he will definitely be fine. He came in yesterday and still showed some little symptoms, no COVID but it is not right. I guess he will be back today.
“Then Kostas [was] unlucky in a training situation. I saw him now, he was out on the pitch and he might be – in his opinion, anyway – ready to train next week, which is helpful. Ibou, in a challenge in the game against Strasbourg, what happened there we have to see how long it will take but he is out for a while. Oxlade [is also out], of course.
“[Kelleher] is still a few weeks away. We have too many injuries, that’s true, but in the moment nothing changed. There were a lot of unlucky situations; started with Caoimhin, started with Diogo pretty much. One was injured, the other one got a re-injury, it was not 100 per cent clear.” – Jurgen Klopp
Asked about Darwin Nunez, Klopp said:
“Darwin is ready, that doesn’t mean he has to start. We have obviously still different options and that’s what we’ll use and Darwin needs time to get used to lots of things but he is already a real help.” – Jurgen Klopp
MANCHESTER CITY
There were precisely zero questions asked about the Manchester City team news in the broadcast section of Pep Guardiola’s press conference.
With Gameweek 1 getting underway tonight, we won’t hear any embargoed quotes until well after the deadline has passed.
We do know that Aymeric Laporte (knee) will miss out, at least, with the Spaniard set to be sidelined until September at the earliest.
“I like to work with not many players and have everyone involved.” – Pep Guardiola on having a small squad for 2022/23
Guardiola was asked about the penalty-taking pecking order at City and Erling Haaland‘s potential position within it but effectively told us that there isn’t one.
“Last season we improve. We rise a lot the quality of our penalties in terms of goals, in the past we missed a lot. Last season Riyad [Mahrez] was exceptional under incredible pressure to do it, of course he missed the last one but in general the penalties he took were really good.
“They will decide. As much the taker when you walk up to the penalty, look at the goalkeeper, in your mind: ‘One decision, I’m going to score.’ So much as they think like that, the rest is not important.” – Pep Guardiola
CHELSEA
Thomas Tuchel confirmed on Friday that Marc Cucurella‘s arrival was imminent and discussed the Spaniard’s impact on Ben Chilwell, who is still building up match fitness after a lengthy lay-off.
“It helps Ben [Chilwell] escape the pressure of ‘I have to deliver’ and ‘we absolutely need you now’. We have also in this position Marcos Alonso, Kenedy and Emerson. But, hopefully when things go through, Marc is the option in this position and he can play, I think, very well in the back three. He gives us many options.
“[Chilwell] looks better and better, but at the same time, he needs a little bit more time to adapt to the rhythm and physicality of the match itself, which is absolutely normal.
“It’s a very, very demanding league and we have to take care of him, it’s our responsibilty. We can’t just throw him in.” – Thomas Tuchel
MANCHESTER UNITED
New signings Christian Eriksen and Lisandro Martinez could make their full United debuts this weekend but Anthony Martial will miss out with a minor hamstring injury.
“I think they are fit enough to start” – Erik ten Hag on Christian Eriksen and Lisandro Martinez
“It is always difficult to say with these injuries, but hopefully not too long.” – Erik ten Hag on Anthony Martial
LEICESTER CITY
Brendan Rodgers has said that Ricardo Pereira could be out of action for up to six months after rupturing his Achilles in pre-season.
Harvey Barnes will also be out for a fortnight or so with a knee injury, while Ryan Bertrand (knee) is sidelined for a few more weeks.
WEST HAM UNITED
David Moyes says that he is “not expecting” new striker Gianluca Scamacca to be involved against Manchester City on Sunday due to a lack of pre-season minutes.
Angelo Ogbonna also won’t be called upon as he builds up match sharpness with the under-23s instead.
Aside from that, Moyes added that the Hammers had “quite a lot of concerns” heading into the City game but, true to form, refused to name names.
ASTON VILLA
Emiliano Buendia (quad) and Tyrone Mings (unspecified) had “niggles” ahead of Aston Villa’s Gameweek 1 clash tomorrow but have trained and should be available.
“It’s really positive, we’ve had a positive pre-season. We’ve had a couple of niggles within the last seven days – Tyrone Mings, Emi Buendía to name a couple – but we had a full squad available who trained yesterday. If they get through today’s session, we should have a full squad to pick from. Kortney Hause is still not back with the team, Keinan Davis is back with the team and the plan is for him to get some minutes in the U21 game later on. Outside of those two, we’re fully fit and ready to go.” – Steven Gerrard
NEWCASTLE UNITED
Assessment is continuing on Jonjo Shelvey‘s hamstring injury, with the midfielder heading to London tonight for another opinion.
Jamal Lewis, Federico Fernandez and Javier Manquillo are all nearing a return, with the latter back in training, although all three are peripheral figures in the Newcastle squad now anyway.
“Jonjo is in London tonight for another assessment so we don’t have a clear, defined timeframe for you on his injury. He’s probably the big one to have come out of pre-season.
“We’ve got Jamal Lewis and Fede Fernández who are working their way back to fitness who shouldn’t be too long. (Javier) Manquillo’s back in training with us and looking good, so we’re not too bad, apart from Jonjo.” – Eddie Howe on injuries
“I think he’s ready to play. I’ve seen him during pre-season, as probably you all have, and what a talent he is. I think he’s going to be everything we hoped he would be.
“He’s technically very good, very, very strong physically, very good defensively. But we look at every player individually and try to make the right call for them and the team. What I’ll do with Sven, you’ll find out. But I’ve been so pleased with the signing.” – Eddie Howe on Sven Botman
BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION
Bar long-term absentee Jakub Moder (knee), the whole of Brighton’s squad are fit for Sunday.
Manager Graham Potter confirmed that Alexis Mac Allister has shaken off groin tightness to feature.
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS
Raul Jimenez (knee) and Adama Traore (hamstring) were the two players confirmed as being absent by Bruno Lage this afternoon, although Chiquinho (knee) is also a long-term absentee.
FULHAM
As we expected, Marco Silva has confirmed that Nathaniel Chalobah and Harry Wilson have been ruled out of tomorrow’s match against Liverpool due to injury.
BRENTFORD
Thomas Frank is hopeful that Kristoffer Ajer will return from a hamstring injury towards the end of August. Sergi Canos (hamstring) – who is suspended anyway – is on a similar timeframe but Ethan Pinnock (knee) will be out for longer.
1 year, 8 months agoOpinions please