Friday looks set to be an important day on the team news front, with press conferences from 13 Premier League managers to come before the early Gameweek 11 deadline.
We’ll also hopefully have updates from Erik ten Hag and Mikel Arteta, who had sections of their Thursday evening post-match pressers embargoed.
All eyes and ears will be on two media gatherings held in west London at 1.30pm BST, with the latest news on Reece James (£6.1m) and Aleksandar Mitrovic (£6.7m) feverishly anticipated.
READ MORE: FPL Gameweek 11 team news: Updates from Thursday’s pressers
KEY UPDATES
- Chelsea: James “due to see a specialist”
- Fulham: Mitrovic back in training, faces assessment
- Liverpool: Klopp on team news: “We have to see”
- Manchester City: Stones, Walker and Phillips out
- Tottenham Hotspur: Kulusevski still unavailable
- Newcastle United: Isak remains sidelined
- Manchester United: Martial could return
- West Ham United: Moyes hopeful on Antonio, Kehrer and Zouma
- Crystal Palace: No new injuries, Hughes ill
- Aston Villa: Bailey fit
- Leeds United: Sinisterra returns from suspension
- Wolverhampton Wanderers: Neves back from a ban
- Southampton: Djenepo out ill
- Bournemouth: Brooks and Kelly still out
PRESS CONFERENCE TIMES
CHELSEA
Media reports on Friday suggested that Reece James could miss the World Cup with the knee injury he picked up in midweek but Graham Potter refused to ratify that in Friday’s pre-match presser, only saying that he’s due to be further assessed this weekend.
“He’s due to see a specialist over the weekend, so until we get that information there’s not too much else I can add unfortunately. The rest would just be speculation from my perspective. We’ll wait and see.
“There’s discomfort, we need to just check and see a specialist. That’s the only thing I know.
“We spoke yesterday, he felt not too bad but again until you get these things checked, you never know.” – Graham Potter on Reece James
N’Golo Kante (hamstring) is also due to see a consultant at the weekend after his own setback and will remain sidelined for some time.
Potter added that he wasn’t expecting to see Wesley Fofana before the World Cup.
FULHAM
Aleksandar Mitrovic returned to team training on Friday for the first time in two weeks, with Marco Silva saying in his pre-match press conference that the Serbian striker would have to be assessed before the visit of Bournemouth.
“He’s getting better. He did the warm-up with the team but it was more strategy for the match. It was the first day that he has been involved with the team after two weeks.
“Now we’re checking and assessing him. We will do the same later this evening to make a decision if he will be involved in the squad or not. It’s still soon. But let’s see what will happen in the next few hours.
“Let’s see. It’s a decision that I have to take later. I will meet with the medical staff and technical staff as well and then take the decision.” – Marco Silva
LIVERPOOL
Jurgen Klopp offered us very little in terms of team news in Friday’s presser, although we do know that Trent Alexander-Arnold (ankle), Luis Diaz (knee), Joel Matip (calf) and Arthur Melo (muscle) are out of the Manchester City game.
Curtis Jones (leg) and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (hamstring) are both back in training but weren’t match-fit enough for the Rangers match in midweek, while Naby Keita (muscle) is thought to be also nearing a return to training.
Andrew Robertson is at least back fit and was in the Champions League squad on Wednesday.
“We still have to figure out who’s available for the City game.
“We have to see. No final decisions yet.” – Jurgen Klopp on team news
Starting formation is the next question for Klopp, who has opted for a 4-4-2/4-2-3-1 in the last few matches over his usual 4-3-3.
“In the last few years, we were always pretty brave against City. So now we realised before we changed systems that this bravery in defending led to a little bit to a few gaps which we couldn’t close in the moment. We have to see who we can line up for Sunday.
“We have to make sure that we are the best defending unit we can be in the moments when they’re in possession, and that means everything: that means defending, that means high press, that means midfield press, that means all the different areas where you have to defend them and where you cause them problems.” – Jurgen Klopp
Mohamed Salah’s midweek hat-trick and deployment in a centre-forward role were also discussed at length by Klopp.
“In this game, it was the change we made because Mo came on and Harvey stayed on the pitch and we didn’t change system.
“He can play the position, no doubt about that, but he can play a wider position as well. In the moments when he finished the situations off he was more central, that makes sense, but it was still his space, especially for two goals.
“When he set up the goal for Harvey, which Diogo might have finished off already, then he was more flexible and that’s the flexibility we need in our offensive moments. But it’s not so different. Whichever system we play, for finishing you need to be in and around the box, that’s how it is. And he was there, definitely.
“I don’t think it had too much to do with the position, there were situations when we were in possession where Mo moved to the right side, to his right wing, and that’s completely normal.
“You need to be flexible, you need to fill up the spaces, you need to force the defensive players to react on different scenarios. It’s quite comfortable when you’re always in the same space as an attacker, the defender knows, ‘OK, when the ball is coming, I’ll be there’ and stuff like this.
“But if we are more flexible that makes it immediately much more difficult, and that was really good in these moments. But I think two of the goals he scored from his usual position, so nothing special [about being central].” – Jurgen Klopp
MANCHESTER CITY
John Stones (hamstring) remains 7-10 days away from a comeback, while longer-term absentees Kyle Walker (groin) and Kalvin Phillips (shoulder) are also sidelined for the trip to Liverpool.
“All of them will be out. John I think will be back, I don’t know when, maybe one week, 10 days. Kalvin is getting better and is improving a lot, Kyle still is out.” – Pep Guardiola
Erling Haaland, Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden were all benched for the midweek draw with FC Copenhagen, with Pep Guardiola citing fatigue, but as expected, all three look fine for Sunday:
“They feel good, they are ready for Sunday.” – Pep Guardiola
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Emerson Royal continues to serve a three-match ban and Dejan Kulusevski (hamstring) will remain sidelined despite returning to training this week.
“I think that we need to have a bit of patience with him and don’t take stupid risks because we have to play a lot of games from now until November. It will be very important to recover him very well. At this moment he is not 100% sure to be really fit, to be in perfect physical condition. It’s for this reason that it’s good to respect the opinion of the doctors of the player.” – Antonio Conte on Dejan Kulusevski
Lucas Moura (tendon) was back in the matchday squad in midweek and Antonio Conte’s comments about having the same squad available suggest Richarlison is fine after he took a knock to the knee on Wednesday.
NEWCASTLE UNITED
Alexander Isak (thigh) remains out ahead of Newcastle’s trip to Palace with no immediate comeback on the cards, while Jonjo Shelvey (hamstring) is back on the grass but hasn’t yet trained fully.
“Alex is making progress but he’s not available for this game. I don’t think we’re too different from previously. Not [picked up any new injuries] at the moment.
“Difficult to say at this moment in time [when Isak will return], I’d probably say that the three-game week might be difficult.” – Eddie Howe
Karl Darlow (ankle), Emil Krafth (knee) and Matt Ritchie (calf) are longer-term absentees.
MANCHESTER UNITED
Anthony Martial (back) could return for the visit of Newcastle but Harry Maguire (hamstring) remains out and Scott McTominay is suspended.
“Anthony Martial can be [fit] but we have to wait [to see] how it develops in the coming hours. Harry Maguire will not make this, but it doesn’t take long, I think.
“[Will Harry be another couple of weeks?] No, no, no. I think that next week he will be back in the team training or over the next week.” – Erik ten Hag
WEST HAM UNITED
Nayef Aguerd (ankle) and Maxwel Cornet (calf) remain out, while it’d be a surprise if Angelo Ogbonna is risked after the veteran stopper limped out of Thursday’s win over Anderlecht with hamstring tightness.
David Moyes was more hopeful about four other flagged players: the absence of Thilo Kehrer (knock) and substitution of Craig Dawson (dead leg) in the Europa League match were described as “precautionary” by their manager, while Michail Antonio and Kurt Zouma were only missing because of illness.
CRYSTAL PALACE
Patrick Vieira confirmed that Crystal Palace have no new injury concerns heading into the weekend but Will Hughes won’t be involved because of illness.
ASTON VILLA
Diego Carlos (Achilles), Boubacar Kamara (knee), Lucas Digne (knee) and Ludwig Augustinsson (hamstring) are all out of the clash with Chelsea but Leon Bailey (muscle) has been passed fit and Matthew Cash is available, with his absence from training on Thursday pre-planned.
LEEDS UNITED
Adam Forshaw (ankle), Leo Hjelde (appendix), Archie Gray (toe) and Stuart Dallas (knee) remain out, with all bar Dallas nearing a return.
Luis Sinisterra returns after serving a one-match ban and Junior Firpo is fit after missing the defeat to Crystal Palace as a precaution.
“Leo’s recovered well from his appendectomy and he was on the pitch today but won’t be available for probably another week or so. Adam’s surgery went well, he’s eight days out, feeling better. Archie was on the pitch as well today, feeling better with his broken toe but not available. Stuart’s making good progress.
“Everybody else is healthy, including Junior Firpo.” – Jesse Marsch
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS
Caretaker Wolves boss Steve Davis confirmed that Boubacar Traore is available again after illness, while Goncalo Guedes is also available after he picked up a knock during the defeat to Chelsea.
Pedro Neto (ankle), Sasa Kalajdzic (knee), Chiquinho (knee) and Raul Jimenez (groin) remain on the injury list and Nathan Collins is still suspended but Ruben Neves returns from a one-match ban.
SOUTHAMPTON
Tino Livramento (knee) is out until 2023 and Romeo Lavia (muscle) won’t return to training until next week, while Moussa Djenepo will sit out the West Ham game on Sunday after an illness prevented him from training.
“Only Moussa is out with illness, he was not in the training the whole week. Romeo maybe starts the beginning of next week with the team. Tino needs a little bit longer time. The rest is fit.” – Ralph Hasenhuttl
BOURNEMOUTH
Lloyd Kelly (ankle) and David Brooks (hamstring) remain out but caretaker boss Gary O’Neil confirmed on Friday that Joe Rothwell (thigh) and Ben Pearson (knee) could come into contention, having been back in training recently.
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