There are 16 more pre-match press conferences taking place on Friday as the countdown to Gameweek 9 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) continues.
All of the key quotes from the day’s pressers will be compiled in this article, while you can catch up on the main team news headlines from Thursday’s four media gatherings here.
KEY UPDATES
- Arsenal: Arteta on Zinchenko, Tierney and Partey
- Chelsea: Cucurella ill
- Manchester City: Stones out
- Liverpool: Robertson sidelined
- Newcastle United: Wilson and Bruno fit, Isak latest
- Manchester United: Rashford and Martial back in training
- Fulham: Silva reports some “knocks”
- Aston Villa: Digne and Cash out
- Leeds United: All fit bar Forshaw, Dallas and Gray
- Leicester City: Ndidi fit
- West Ham United: No new concerns
- Wolverhampton Wanderers: Costa training well
- Crystal Palace: Trio still out
- Southampton: Lavia a “few weeks away”
- Brighton and Hove Albion: Mwepu out
- Nottingham Forest: McKenna a doubt
PRESS CONFERENCE TIMES:
CLUB-BY-CLUB GUIDE
ARSENAL
Never one to give too much away on the team news front, Mikel Arteta was keeping his cards fairly close to his chest in Friday’s pre-match press conference.
Asked if Oleksandr Zinchenko (calf), Kieran Tierney (head) and Thomas Partey (knee) would be fit for the north London derby, the Arsenal boss said only:
“They are part of the team.” – Mikel Arteta
The Gunners’ head coach had earlier said that “the boys are looking in good condition” when asked about his returning internationals.
“We just finished the last training session. We had many players arriving yesterday, so we had a short period to prepare the match, but the boys are looking in good condition.” – Mikel Arteta
Arsenal confirmed on Thursday that Emile Smith Rowe would be out until December after having groin surgery, while Mohamed Elneny (hamstring) is also sidelined for “months”.
CHELSEA
Graham Potter confirmed on Friday that Marc Cucurella was ill ahead of the Crystal Palace game, with the Chelsea website reporting that the Spaniard would miss the trip to Selhurst Park.
N’Golo Kante (hamstring) and Edouard Mendy (knee) have been involved in training this week but their new boss said that they were still not quite ready for a playing return.
“[Mendy and Kante] are not available. They’re absolutely fine in terms of coming through the rehab stages. NG has just been on the grass with the team, but not really full training. Edou is a bit further on but still hasn’t had enough to be involved at the weekend, really. But maybe next week for him.
“We’ve got a bit of illness with Marc Cucurella and Carney – apart from that, everybody is fit.” – Graham Potter
MANCHESTER CITY
John Stones (hamstring) is definitely out of the Manchester derby but Aymeric Laporte is nearing a return after training over the international break.
“Injured. He will be back when he will be ready.
“I think it will not be four, five, six weeks, I think it will be less. I think maybe 10 days to two weeks, hopefully.” – Pep Guardiola on John Stones
“He is training really well. He is training alone these days because everyone was with their national team. But he feels good.” – Pep Guardiola on Aymeric Laporte
Kalvin Phillips (shoulder) is also sidelined after surgery.
LIVERPOOL
Andrew Robertson (knee), Naby Keita (muscle), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (hamstring) and Curtis Jones (leg) are all out of the Brighton game, while Jurgen Klopp had plenty else to round up when asked about Liverpool’s team news latest on Friday.
“Some are still out doing rehab, that’s Robbo, Curtis, Oxlade, Naby. Definitely these four.
“Luis [Diaz] only landed yesterday morning, I didn’t see him yet. I heard he’s good! I’ll see him later.
“Darwin [Nunez], precaution after intense travel and games. Same for Diogo [Jota].
“Calvin [Ramsay] is not ready to play but over the moon that he can train now. He needs now training, training, training and there will be a moment when he probably will play for the under-23s. Caoimhin I think will play this weekend with the under-23s… but looks good in training, completely fine. Ibou [Konate] needs training as well. Back for the weekend? Depends on training today but he’s back and that’s good.” – Jurgen Klopp
NEWCASTLE UNITED
Callum Wilson and Bruno Guimaraes have been passed fit for Newcastle’s trip to Fulham but Allan Saint-Maximin (hamstring) and Chris Wood (rib) face late fitness tests.
Record signing Alexander Isak will almost certainly miss out too but the muscle injury he sustained while on international duty doesn’t “look too bad”, according to Eddie Howe, and the Swede is already out running on the grass.
“Bruno’s trained with us. I had a couple of difficult calls during the international break, to say various things had happened to various players. So we were concerned for Bruno, but he’s come back and the scan was good, so he’s trained and he’s trained well. He’s in the squad.
“[Isak] picked up an injury training with Sweden. He’s come back, the scan doesn’t look too bad. So we’re not overly concerned that it’s a long injury. But with any muscle injury, there’s always a slight period where you have to be careful. But he’s out running on the grass so he’s looking good at the moment.
“[Saint-Maximin is] doing well. He’s had a period away, he’s come back and he’s close, very close. It’s how we view things. There’s a lot of moving parts with us at the moment. I am being vague because there are a lot of players’ situations that are slightly unclear as we go into the game. Allan is one of them and I’ll know more after today.
“Chris Wood came off [playing for New Zealand] with a rib problem. He took a knock in the game. We’ll make a very late decision.
“Callum Wilson has trained for around 10 days with us now. He’s in a good place. Every time he comes back from an injury, he does the work, he doesn’t cut corners. He’s put a real long body of work in with the sports science team and then with us, so he’s looking good.
“It’s a huge boost for the players to have Callum back in the group, with his positive energy as well, the laughter than he brings. He’s a big player for us, there’s no doubt about that, and with Alex picking up his injury as well, it was perfect timing for us.” – Eddie Howe
MANCHESTER UNITED
Erik ten Hag confirmed that Harry Maguire (hamstring) is ruled out of Sunday’s Manchester derby but Anthony Martial (Achilles) and Marcus Rashford (muscle) are back in training, with a late decision to be made on their involvement.
FULHAM
Manor Solomon (knee), Harry Wilson (knee) and Joao Palhinha (suspended) were the only players definitely ruled out of the Newcastle game by boss Marco Silva, who otherwise reported “knocks” when asked about the Fulham team news.
Aleksandar Mitrovic shook off a knock picked up in Serbia’s first match over the international break to feature against Norway on Tuesday. While he was pictured with an ice pack on his ankle after the match, this is not an uncommon post-match procedure and often a precautionary measure.
ASTON VILLA
Full-backs Lucas Digne (ankle) and Matty Cash (hamstring) will be out this weekend, with Steven Gerrard confirming that the former faces a few weeks on the sidelines. Cash will return to full training next week.
Boubacar Kamara (knee) is now sidelined until after the World Cup, while Diego Carlos (knee) also remains out long-term.
Jed Steer is still missing with his Achilles injury, meanwhile, but Cameron Archer (groin) will return to the squad.
“Lucas Digne is a unique situation, he has a heel problem and it’s one we’re going to have to monitor as we go along, so it’s very difficult to put a timescale on Lucas but he’ll certainly be missing in the coming weeks.
“We’re due to assess that situation again in just over two weeks to see whether his heel has healed enough for us to progress, but that’s quite a frustrating one again, another big player missing for us. But it obviously gives opportunities for other people to step forward and step up.
“On the Matty Cash front, it’s positive news, he should join the group on Monday back into full training, he did part of the session today for the first time. So we’ll welcome him back.
“Cameron Archer will come back in the squad as well, he’s had a bit of a niggle in his adductor but we’re on top of that for the time being. He’ll join the squad.” – Steven Gerrard
LEEDS UNITED
Archie Gray (toe), Stuart Dallas (knee) and Adam Forshaw (ankle) will all be sidelined for the Aston Villa game but Jesse Marsch otherwise reported that all of his squad were fit, which means that Rodrigo and Patrick Bamford are both available for selection.
“Archie Gray had an incident at home where he stubbed his toe and he fractured a little bit of his big toe. He’s been out of training for about two weeks and he’ll be out probably for another two weeks.
“Stuart is making really good recovery. He went down to see a specialist and they feel like he is doing really well and on track. Obviously it will still be some time for him.
“Adam Forshaw twisted his ankle this week. It’s not so bad but he won’t be available this weekend.
“Other than that, every single player is available for us so we’re feeling like we’re getting to full strength.” – Jesse Marsch
LEICESTER CITY
Wilfred Ndidi and Dennis Praet were both passed fit by Brendan Rodgers on Friday, while the Leicester manager’s assertion that everyone has returned from international duty OK suggests that Patson Daka‘s illness isn’t too serious.
“We had Wilfred Ndidi come back early. He’s looking really positive and trained this morning so hopefully he will be fine. Dennis Praet had few days where he was struggling, but he came through the last few days well and looked good in training so we’re okay.” – Brendan Rodgers
WEST HAM UNITED
David Moyes reported no serious fitness concerns from those players who had been away on international duty.
Nayef Aguerd (ankle) and Ben Johnson (hamstring) have been involved in some form of training over the two-week break, with the latter the closest to a return.
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS
Sasa Kalajdzic (knee), Chiquinho (knee) and Raul Jimenez (groin) remain out, while Nathan Collins begins a three-match ban after his sending off in Gameweek 8 and Hwang Hee-chan (adductor) has returned from international duty injured.
Wolves do have a new striker to call upon in the absence of Jimenez and Kalajdzic, with Diego Costa working on his match fitness over the international break and set to come into contention this weekend.
Bruno Lage told reporters that he still wasn’t sure whether Costa would start given that he’s spent “a long time without training and playing” but did add that the former Chelsea forward had been “training very well” since his move.
CRYSTAL PALACE
Patrick Vieira confirmed on Friday that Nathan Ferguson (foot), James McArthur (groin) and Jack Butland (hand) all remain out but James Tomkins (calf) is now back involved in the squad after returning to training.
All of Palace’s internationals have returned to south London in “good shape”.
BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION
Adam Lallana (calf) and Tariq Lamptey (muscle) have trained in the last couple of days and could be on the bench this weekend, so Enock Mwepu (illness) and long-term absentee Jakub Moder (knee) are the only Brighton players sidelined for Roberto De Zerbi’s first game in charge.
“Adam Lallana trained today with the squad and the first XI. I think he can’t start but he feels good. Tariq Lamptey trained yesterday (Thursday) for the first time. He feels good but I think Lamptey will not be ready to start.
“Enock Mwepu is unavailable. We are waiting for him because he is a big loss for him. Everybody else is okay.” – Roberto De Zerbi
SOUTHAMPTON
Ralph Hasenhuttl confirmed that Romeo Lavia (muscle) is still a “few weeks away” from recovery, while Tino Livramento (knee) is out until 2023.
NOTTINGHAM FOREST
Steve Cooper revealed that Scott McKenna is an injury doubt ahead of Forest’s trip to Leicester City on Monday night.
“Scott’s a doubt having had to withdraw early from the Scotland camp, so with regards to Monday, we’re still not sure whether he’s going to be available for that.
“But the guys who stayed with us, and those who have come back from international duty are all good to go. We are as we were before, it’s just Scott who is a doubt.” – Steve Cooper
Cooper later added that Morgan Gibbs-White was “integrating” into training after pulling out of the England under-21 squad and was hopeful about the midfielder’s recovery.
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