Five Premier League pre-match press conferences were held on Thursday as the countdown to Gameweek 3 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) continues.
We’ll have all the injury updates, team news and key manager quotes as they come in.
As well as the five managers speaking to the media today, 15 more will follow on Friday and we’ll be bringing you a round-up of those pressers in another piece tomorrow.
KEY UPDATES
- Tottenham Hotspur: Conte on whether his new signings could start
- Leicester City: Barnes fit again
- Southampton: Adams available despite missing training
- Bournemouth: Solanke to be assessed
- Nottingham Forest: Colback still ill
Thursday’s presser times are listed below:
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Antonio Conte has confirmed that Sergio Romero will miss the Saturday lunchtime clash with Wolverhampton Wanderers after feeling “a bit of pain in his adductor” following the draw with Chelsea last weekend.
Oliver Skipp (foot) remains out but Conte expects him to start running next week, while Clement Lenglet is available.
Conte was asked whether any of his new signings could start this weekend, with Ivan Perisic the main name of note from an FPL perspective.
“We are playing one game a week and for this reason, I think especially at the start, I am trying to play with the players who know me much better and know our idea of football.
“But we are exploiting this time to bring players like Richie, Lenglet, Bissouma, Perisic and Spence… to understand to go into our idea of football.
“But I am really pleased because we are doing the right steps and we are ready when we have game every three days to make rotations.” – Antonio Conte
LEICESTER CITY
Brendan Rodgers has confirmed that Harvey Barnes is back from injury and should be available for selection this weekend.
Ryan Bertrand (knee) and Ricardo Pereira (Achilles) remain out.
“Harvey Barnes, it’s great news for us, he’s been back in training. That’s really good for us. He’s looked excellent and fit and had a really good pre-season. It was a blow to lose him for the opening few games but he should be available.
“We will decide whether he will be in from the start. He’s looked good in training. He’s had a really good pre-season. He may be available to start, maybe not [play] the full 90 minutes, but we’ll assess that tomorrow after the final session.
“It certainly opens up that possibility [of changing formation to a 4-3-3] when you have at least one winger who gives you that pace and width in the game.
“It’s always important for how we play, that width. We always try to be flexible in how we play. But of course, when you’re limited, when he was out, we had to adjust.” – Brendan Rodgers
SOUTHAMPTON
Romain Perraud (leg), Tino Livramento (knee) and Theo Walcott (match fitness) all remain sidelined for the trip to Leicester City but Che Adams is available for selection despite missing training earlier in the week.
“After the last game we had only a problem with Ché [Adams], he wasn’t training until today. Today he was stepping back in the session. Missed a few sessions this week but is available.
“The longer-term injuries… Romain [Perraud] is still not available because he was also out for the last game, and Tino [Livramento].
“[Theo Walcott] is also not training with the team. He missed the whole of pre-season with injury and is on his way back with the team, every day training.” – Ralph Hasenhuttl
Ralph Hasenhuttl hinted that he would stick with a wing-back system in Gameweek 3, despite switching to his previously favoured 4-2-2-2 in the closing stages of the comeback draw against Leeds United.
“We have invested a lot of energy to play in this [3-5-2] shape. What we played at the end of the last game [a 4-2-2-2] was an ‘all-in’, what is also sometimes working, but you have to be careful when you use it.” – Ralph Hasenhuttl
BOURNEMOUTH
Dominic Solanke (ankle) will be assessed tomorrow after missing out last weekend but Joe Rothwell (thigh), David Brooks (match fitness) and Ryan Fredericks (match fitness) are not available.
“David [Brooks]… is with the team in modified training. I’d like to think that maybe over the next week to 10 days we can start pushing him into full training and then from there, try get him up to a level and speed to participate at Premier League level.
“Team news is probably similar to last week. Dominic Solanke, maybe. We’ll assess that tomorrow. Regarding Joe Rothwell and Ryan Fredericks, it will be too early for them to come back in at the weekend. Other than that, everyone else has come out of last weekend all good. We’re fully fit in that sense.” – Scott Parker
“There’s definitely a chance. Obviously Marcos came in, we didn’t think [the Man City defeat] was the right game for him and certainly he’d barely had any work with us. We feltt it was a good decision to let him watch from afar. He’s had another week of training. He’s in a better place to maybe get a shirt at the weekend. But again, we’ll see exactly where we are tomorrow. I’ll make that call on it.” – Scott Parker on whether Marcos Senesi could start
NOTTINGHAM FOREST
Steve Cooper confirmed on Thursday that Ryan Yates and Steve Cook are back in training after injury; Cook actually made the bench last weekend despite being ruled out of the game by his manager.
Jack Colback is still suffering with illness, however, and Omar Richards (leg) is a longer-term absentee.
“Ryan Yates is back in training, that’s positive. Steve Cook is back in full training. Jack Colback is still suffering with his illness.” – Steve Cooper
Moussa Niakhate, who appeared to come off last weekend with a muscle issue, wasn’t spotted in the midweek collection of training ground images, and Cooper would only say “we’ll see” when asked how long the defender would be out.
“Maybe. We’ll see!” – Steve Cooper on whether his latest new signings could feature this weekend
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