We’ll have all the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) injury updates, team news and key manager quotes as we cover Friday’s Gameweek 4 press conferences in this live blog.
There are 16 managers in total speaking to the media today, following on from the four we had yesterday.
The major updates from Thursday’s pressers can be found here.
KEY UPDATES
- Liverpool: No injury returnees just yet
- Arsenal: No new injury concerns
- Manchester City: Bernardo set to stay
- Manchester United: Martial injured again
- Tottenham Hotspur: Romero still out
- Chelsea: Kovacic ready for “20 minutes”; Kante out
- Aston Villa: Only Carlos out
- Newcastle United: Wilson out for “a couple of weeks”; Isak deal close
- Everton: Calvert-Lewin set for Gameweek 7 return
- Crystal Palace: No fresh injury worries
- Wolverhampton Wanderers: Everyone bar Chiquinho fit
- Brentford: Ajer builds fitness with reserves
- Brighton and Hove Albion: Moder and Sarmiento the only absentees
- West Ham United: Scamacca “knocking on the door”
- Fulham: Late check for Kebano
- Nottingham Forest: Knock for Gibbs-White
PRESS CONFERENCE TIMES:
LIVERPOOL
Darwin Nunez (suspended), Naby Keita (muscle), Calvin Ramsay (muscle), Thiago Alcantara (hamstring), Diogo Jota (thigh), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (hamstring), Caoimhin Kelleher (muscle), Ibrahima Konate (muscle) and Curtis Jones (muscle) are all out of the clash against Bournemouth, although several of the above are nearing a return.
”This weekend probably not but after that Joel, Curtis, Thiago is not too far away, Diogo is getting closer. Caoimhin will be in training early next week as well. I don’t think anyone will be ready for tomorrow.
“Naby will not be ready for the weekend, we still need to have a look exactly how long it will take. It’s a muscle. It’s not 100% clear but will not be in for the next week.” – Jurgen Klopp
ARSENAL
Mikel Arteta declared a clean bill of health on Friday, with the exception of fringe player Reiss Nelson (muscle).
“Everybody has trained this week and everybody is fine, so hopefully we’ll have a full team to select from, apart from Reiss [Nelson] who has been injured for a few weeks now.” – Mikel Arteta
The Gunners have been unchanged in the first three Gameweeks, with a week’s rest separating each fixture. The schedule is about to get a lot tougher from now until the September international break, however, something Arteta touched on in his pre-match briefing.
“It’s a completely unprecedented season, not only because we are going to be playing a lot of weeks with two or three games, but especially because we have the World Cup coming up. We don’t know how that’s going to affect us, so we have to look at the overall picture. The preparation and the organisation is being done in regards to that.
“That’s what we hope, [that the squad can cope]. Obviously there are a few things that we cannot control – injuries and suspensions, as we’ve had in the past. But we have to maintain the level of performance we are at right now and the demand will be to do it every three days, which is at least what you are hoping for when you are at this club.” – Mikel Arteta
MANCHESTER CITY
Pep Guardiola confirmed that Bernardo Silva is staying with the club this season, drawing to a close the saga around his potential move away from the Etihad.
“He will stay here. Absolutely. We don’t have any phone call from any club regarding Bernardo Silva, so that’s why he’ll stay. I tell you, he will stay.” – Pep Guardiola
Guardiola offered precious little on the team news front, saying only that training has yet to happen today and that assessments would be made after that session.
“We train this afternoon. I will know exactly how the situation is for everyone [then]. Now, I cannot tell you.” – Pep Guardiola
Jack Grealish (knock) and Nathan Ake (groin) sat out the midweek friendly against Barcelona, while Luke Mbete (head) and Kalvin Phillips (shoulder) picked up injuries during that game.
Aymeric Laporte (knee) has been sidelined for months after knee surgery but is back training individually.
MANCHESTER UNITED
New signing Casemiro could come into the reckoning on Saturday but Anthony Martial is back on the treatment table, having suffered another Achilles injury.
“We will see tomorrow. The manager knows but I will first tell the team and we will see tomorrow.
“Casemiro is fit. He did all of the training sessions. He trained first individually and, the last days, he trained with the team.
“Anthony Martial is not fit. He came out with a problem on his Achilles, [coming] out of the game, so we have to wait. I cannot tell a prognosis on how long it takes but, of course, I hope he will be available for the next game [Leicester].” – Erik ten Hag
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Cristian Romero (muscle) and Oliver Skipp (foot) are sidelined for Spurs’ match against Nottingham Forest on Sunday but the pair will resume training with the squad at the start of next week.
Bryan Gil and Lucas Moura are fresh doubts after missing training today but will be further assessed tomorrow.
“About Cuti, Cuti’s recovery is going very well. I think at the start of next week, like Skippy, they start to have the training session with the rest of the team, but for this game, they are not available.
“I have to check a couple of situations about Lucas and Gil because today they didn’t have a training session with us but we have tomorrow to make the right decision for both players.” – Antonio Conte
Conte also gave Son Heung-min his backing, when asked about the South Korean’s goalless start to 2022/23.
“You know very well we’re talking about a really really important player for me and for the club. For sure, I think Sonny in the last three games had chances to score but there’s a moment where you’re a bit lucky or a bit unlucky. I think no problem with Sonny’s performance, his attitude & commitment is always up very high. I’m happy with his performance and I don’t see any problems with him.
“For sure, you know very well when you’re a striker you like to score and when you score and win you’re happy. But at the same time we always have to put the club winning before the interests of every single player. But it’s not a problem. I repeat, he’s an important player, last season he scored 23 goals… No problem. No. I’m sure when he goes to score he will gain the right confidence.” – Antonio Conte
CHELSEA
N’Golo Kante (hamstring) and Kalidou Koulibaly (suspended) are the only Chelsea players unavailable for the visit of Leicester City, with Mateo Kovacic ready to feature in Gameweek 4 – but only as a substitute.
“N’Golo is the only one who did not train now through this week. Everybody is back in training. Kova is back in the group and ready to play some 20 minutes.” – Thomas Tuchel
ASTON VILLA
Aston Villa have a near clean bill of health for Sunday’s game against West Ham United, with Ludwig Augustinsson (knee) now back in training.
Diego Carlos (Achilles) is, of course, a long-term absentee.
“We’re [otherwise] fully fit. Ludwig has trained today, he missed midweek with a bit of a tweak in his knee area but he’s fine. So we should be healthy going into the weekend.
“We’ve obviously got tomorrow’s session to go prior to the game, so fingers crossed we should be healthy.” – Steven Gerrard
NEWCASTLE UNITED
Eddie Howe confirms that Callum Wilson (groin) will be out for “a couple of weeks” but is hopeful that the Alexander Isak transfer will be completed in time for the Swede to be eligible to face Wolves.
“It’s not completed, we hope to get it done. Fingers crossed, there’s no guarantee with these things because we’re in other people’s hands but hopefully. With Callum’s injury, which we don’t believe to be serious, we’re hopeful that Callum will only be out for a couple of weeks… but naturally I think we reacted slightly off that.” – Eddie Howe
Elsewhere, Emil Krafth looks set for a spell on the sidelines with a knee injury picked up on Wednesday but Dan Burn (concussion), Ryan Fraser (groin) and Jamaal Lascelles (nose) should be fit.
EVERTON
Ben Davies (groin) is in contention to make a swift recovery after picking up an injury in midweek but Abdoulaye Doucoure (hamstring), Andros Townsend (knee), Dominic Calvert-Lewin (knee), Andre Gomes (muscle), Yerry Mina (ankle) and Ben Godfrey (leg) remain out.
“Tom Davies we hope is in contention, he had a small feeling in his groin in the warm-up before Fleetwood. Pulled out of that game but hopefully is in the squad.
“Doucoure is injured, Dominic Calvert-Lewin will train next week. Other than that I think we’re pretty much as we were.
“I think [Calvert-Lewin] is slightly ahead of schedule but we must be calm because we can’t push him at this stage. If he trains in the middle of next week will it make him available for Liverpool [in GW6]? That’ll be tough. But can we start to look at the games after that? Hopefully, if all goes according to plan.” – Frank Lampard
CRYSTAL PALACE
Nathan Ferguson (foot), James McArthur (groin) and James Tomkins (calf) are still on the injury list, so it’s as you were with the Palace team news going into Gameweek 4.
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS
Chiquinho (knee) is the only player definitely on the sidelines for the visit of Newcastle, with Bruno Lage reporting that “everyone [else] is training”.
BRENTFORD
Kristoffer Ajer plays for Brentford under-21s today as he builds match fitness after sitting out the whole of the summer following hamstring surgery.
Sergi Canos (hamstring) is still a couple of weeks away from full fitness, while Ethan Pinnock (knee) is a longer-term absentee.
Mads Roerslev and Keane Lewis-Potter are both available, despite coming off with knocks in the victory over Colchester United on Tuesday.
BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION
Jakub Moder (knee) and Jeremy Sarmiento (knee) are the only two Brighton players out of the Leeds game, with the latter’s issue much more short-term.
WEST HAM UNITED
David Moyes told reporters that he “doesn’t think” West Ham have picked up any issues from the midweek encounter with Viborg.
Moyes added that Gianluca Scamacca was “knocking on the door” for a first Premier League start but did hint that the Italian was still working on his fitness levels.
FULHAM
Marco Silva reported no “big updates” when asked about the Fulham team news, saying only that the Cottagers will have to make daily checks on Neeskens Kebano (groin) to see if he recovers for the trip to Arsenal.
Manor Soloman and Harry Wilson are long-term absentees with knee issues.
NOTTINGHAM FOREST
Omar Richards (leg) and Moussa Niakhate (muscle) are definitely out of the Spurs game but beyond that the Forest team news is anyone’s guess, as FPL managers are fast discovering Steve Cooper’s predilection for being economical with the truth.
Cooper revealed that Morgan Gibbs-White had picked up a knock early in the week, despite him being pictured in training since, while he failed to tell us anything about Orel Mangala, who wasn’t seen in the training photo gallery and whose Gameweek 3 exit Cooper attributed to “fatigue.
TEAM NEWS ROUND-UP VIDEO
More to follow
