We’ve got all the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) injury updates, team news and key manager quotes from the Premier League press conferences being held today.
There are eight of them happening in all, including Pep Guardiola’s.
Six more managers faced journalists on Wednesday and Thursday, and you can read the headline updates from those pressers here.
KEY UPDATES
- Manchester City: Guardiola unsure on Walker
- Arsenal: Arteta offers little on Zinchenko
- Newcastle United: Howe coy over ASM, Bruno and Wilson
- West Ham United: No new concerns
- Everton: Calvert-Lewin “close” to a return
- Wolverhampton Wanderers: Jimenez out
- Brentford: Canos fit again
- Bournemouth: Brooks setback
PRESS CONFERENCE TIMES:
MANCHESTER CITY
Aymeric Laporte is not quite ready to face Wolverhampton Wanderers despite his return to training this week, while Pep Guardiola said he was unsure whether Kyle Walker would be available for Gameweek 8.
“Aymer is back in training but is not ready. Kyle is getting better, I don’t know if tomorrow he will be ready.” – Pep Guardiola
ARSENAL
Mikel Arteta offered us precious little on the latest injury news for Arsenal, saying that a decision on players’ involvement against Brentford would be taken after training tomorrow.
“Unfortunately that day will be tomorrow when we have the last training session, today there is not much to give.” – Mikel Arteta on team news
There are question marks over Emile Smith Rowe (groin), who suffered an injury in the warm-down after Gameweek 6, and also Oleksandr Zinchenko, who has reportedly been ruled out of international duty with Ukraine due to a calf problem.
We don’t know how match-fit Thomas Partey (thigh) is, either, after the midfielder returned to training this week.
Reiss Nelson (muscle) and Mohamed Elneny (hamstring) remain out.
NEWCASTLE UNITED
Eddie Howe also gave nothing away in his pre-match presser regarding the fitness of Callum Wilson, Allan Saint-Maximin and Bruno Guimaraes, all of whom have been absent lately with muscular issues.
Not one of those players was sighted in ‘official’ training ground images on Wednesday but Guimaraes has reportedly been on the grass all this week.
“Everyone has improved. But I will leave my team news to the time we get it. It has been a slightly difficult period for us but hopefully we are coming out of that. They are big players we need them back quickly.” – Eddie Howe
Jonjo Shelvey is still sidelined but ahead of schedule in his recovery from a hamstring issue, while Emil Krafth (knee) won’t be seen until 2023 and Karl Darlow (ankle) is now unavailable for the next 6-8 weeks.
WEST HAM UNITED
David Moyes reported no fresh fitness concerns from the match against Silkeborg last night, with the likes of Aaron Cresswell, Craig Dawson and Tomas Soucek all featuring after recent injuries.
Nayef Aguerd (ankle) and Ben Johnson (hamstring) remain out, however.
EVERTON
Frank Lampard said that Dominic Calvert-Lewin was “close” to a return ahead of Sunday’s meeting with West Ham.
Abdoulaye Doucoure is fit to be involved but Everton are otherwise as they were after Gameweek 6, with Jordan Pickford (thigh) joining Mason Holgate (knee), Andros Townsend (knee), Yerry Mina (ankle) and Ben Godfrey (leg) on the sidelines following that goalless draw with Liverpool.
“Close, we’ll see come Sunday whether he’s ready to start the game or not, to be careful with him obviously because he had a difficult injury. We’ll see for the weekend.” – Frank Lampard on Dominic Calvert-Lewin
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS
Bruno Lage confirmed that summer signing Sasa Kalajdzic will be missing for at least six months after having knee surgery, while Raul Jimenez won’t feature this weekend due to “fatigue”.
The Wolves boss said “we’ll see” when asked if Diego Costa could be involved in the matchday squad against Manchester City.
BRENTFORD
Sergi Canos will be available for Brentford’s match against Arsenal on Sunday, having recovered from the hamstring injury that has kept him out all season.
Ethan Pinnock (knee) and Christian Norgaard (Achilles) remain out, however.
BOURNEMOUTH
Caretaker Bournemouth boss Gary O’Neil revealed that David Brooks has had a setback in his recovery, after the Welsh international picked up a hamstring strain during his comeback game with the development squad.
Brooks has been sidelined for the best part of the year after successfully fighting off cancer.
Ben Pearson (knee) and Joe Rothwell (thigh) are also still unavailable in Gameweek 8 but Junior Stanislas (groin) is back in training and could come into contention.
“The game comes too soon for Joe Rothwell, Ben Pearson, they’ll still be missing.
“David Brooks suffered a slight setback in the development game that he played. Just a slight awareness in his hamstring, some pain in his hamstring, which is obviously initially disappointing for him, but not unusual for any player that’s been off the grass for that long with long-term injury, or whatever it may be.
“So, yeah, not a huge surprise, although disappointing, especially for Brooksy. But, we were never planning to rush him back anyway. It was always David’s best interests, so, we’ll see how he recovers from that.
“Junior’s trained well. He’s been on the grass with us for a good few days now, maybe from late last week. So good to have Junior back, obviously has big quality, that can help us, no doubt.” – Gary O’Neil
