The pre-match press conferences have started ahead of Gameweek 12 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL).
Five managers are facing reporters on Monday and we’ve got all the key team news updates on this page.
We’re expecting at least nine more top-flight bosses to hold pressers on Tuesday, and we’ll round those up in a separate article tomorrow.
With two Premier League matches taking place on Thursday, however, there’s a good chance that we won’t hear from Messrs Gerrard, Silva, Rodgers and Marsch before Tuesday’s FPL deadline.
KEY UPDATES
- Tottenham Hotspur: Richarlison out, Kulusevski still a doubt
- Brighton and Hove Albion: Mitoma ruled out
- Nottingham Forest: Aurier (muscle) to be assessed
- Wolverhampton Wanderers: Collins back from a ban
- Crystal Palace: No new concerns
PRESS CONFERENCE TIMES
TEAM BY TEAM
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Dejan Kulusevski’s (hamstring) involvement in the clash with Manchester United is still in some doubt, while Emerson Royal serves the last game of a three-match ban and Richarlison will miss Gameweek 12 as a result of the calf injury he picked up in Saturday’s win over Everton.
The winger should be back before the World Cup, however.
“Tomorrow we have another training session and we’ll see. It will be very difficult to have some returning for the game against Manchester United.
“You know the injury about Richarlison. He is doing a scan, an MRI, and then we’ll see how long he needs to recover. But for sure against United, he is not available.
“The player is not risking to miss the World Cup. Absolutely not.
“Kulusevski is working. We’ll see. We have to go day by day with him. The medical department are working a lot to try to recover him but we don’t know about the game against Manchester United.” – Antonio Conte
With Richarlison and potentially Kulusevski out, the thinking was that Antonio Conte might start with the 3-5-2 formation that worked so well in the second half of Saturday’s win.
But Conte again reiterated that 3-4-3 was his preferred set-up, listing Ivan Perisic as one option who could deputise in the front three.
“Lucas Moura can, yeah, be a possibility, Gil can be a possibility, Perisic like in a three like a striker is a possibility. I have another training session to make the best decision. You know we like to play with a 3-4-3 with the three strikers and if we can’t change, I prefer to continue to play with the 3-4-3 otherwise we find a solution. I think we have the possibility to continue to play with the 3-4-3.
“Yes [I would like to stick with 3-4-3], because in my idea we’ve worked a lot with this system. Lucas Moura is recovering from his injury, Gil is making progress and then I have Ivan Perisic who can play like a striker.” – Antonio Conte
Matt Doherty was handed some words of praise by his boss, meanwhile.
“About Matthew, he needed time, time to recover well. On the physical aspect and I think also with the mental aspect, because last season Matthew started the season struggling a lot and then when he started to play he played very well and he had an amazing season in my opinion.
“He took a lot of confidence in his potentiality. What happened for sure if your feeling is good, you feel yourself strong. Then it happened a serious injury and he struggled a lot to recover from this injury. During the training sessions, the player didn’t feel the same confidence of the past and in my opinion, for this reason, he needed more time to be fit and to be good, to have good form.
“Now he came back and I’m really pleased for him. It was really important also for him to go with the international team and play two games in a row. Then he played against Brighton, he played a good game. Then in the last game he played really well.
“I’m really happy for him because we are talking about a really good guy and especially also a player who needs to feel confidence in himself.” – Antonio Conte
BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION
Just when he was threatening to break into the Brighton XI, Kauro Mitoma will miss Gameweek 12 and potentially Gameweek 13
Roberto De Zerbi added that back-up centre-halves Jan Paul van Hecke and Levi Colwill have “some problems” but that the rest of the team are in good condition for the visit of Steve Cooper’s troops.
De Zerbi also confirmed that Adam Lallana will start tomorrow.
“We have Colwill with some problems, JP van Hecke the same, but the others are in good condition.
“Mitoma [is out] too for this game for sure, and maybe for Manchester City.
“Tomorrow, Lallana plays for the first XI.” – Roberto De Zerbi
In his post-match interview on Friday, the Brighton boss said that he doesn’t believe the Seagulls “need to make changes [for Gameweek 12] because the [Brentford] game was good” but did add that fatigue could be a factor.
Jakub Moder (knee) remains out until spring 2023.
NOTTINGHAM FOREST
We finally got confirmation from Steve Cooper that Neco Williams‘ positional rival at Nottingham Forest, Serge Aurier, missed Gameweek 11 through injury.
The Forest boss was typically non-committal on Aurier’s prospects of recovering for Tuesday’s match against Brighton, offering similar updates on Lewis O’Brien (illness) and Renan Lodi (ankle).
“We picked up some injuries last week, and we’re still not ready to make a final decision on whether those lads are back yet. But it’s a three-game week, so that’s sometimes a chance to use more players than normal.
“Serge has had a bit of an accelerated programme since he came in without really having a pre-season, doing a few days, then going on international duty and playing minutes there, which was important. He played in the Leicester and Villa games. But it has all happened a bit quick, and when you do that you do tend to pick up some niggles, which is what he has. It’s a muscle injury, so we will see what today and tomorrow bring.
“Renan is more of a contact injury than a muscle injury. That is just trying to give him every chance for the kick and the swelling to come down. When that happens, you tend to progress quickly.
“Lewis was different. He was ill with a bug, which really knocked him back. Hopefully he can recover quickly by getting the right nutrition into him and getting the right training programme, because he is a really fit lad.
“With it being Saturday-Tuesday, it’s definitely a possibility [that we could look at making some changes]. I haven’t made a final decision on that yet, because there’s still quite a bit of preparation to go before the game.
“But, for sure, we have options, even though we have picked up a few knocks in the last couple of weeks. Some players are getting a bit fitter and stronger as well – people like Orel Mangala. He’s had a couple of weeks without any disruption, which has been important because he’s had a frustrating six weeks or so since he got injured.
“All of these are things you always have to manage – injuries and availability – especially when they are games in quick succession. At the same time, we will try to do our work wisely and see where we are at come kick-off. We’ll look at what we think it takes to do well in the game, and try to pick the right team.” – Steve Cooper, transcribed in the Nottingham Post
Omar Richards (leg), Moussa Niakhate (muscle) and Jack Colback (back) are again set to miss out.
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS
Pedro Neto (ankle), Sasa Kalajdzic (knee), Chiquinho (knee) and Raul Jimenez (groin) remain on the injury list but Nathan Collins returns from a three-match ban for the trip to Selhurst Park.
Caretaker boss Steve Davis said that Wolves don’t have a return date yet for Jimenez, while the other absentees are long-term in nature.
CRYSTAL PALACE
Patrick Vieira confirmed that Crystal Palace have no new injuries heading into Gameweek 12.
Will Hughes (illness) isn’t quite ready to return, while Chris Richards (hamstring) is still a couple of weeks away and the fit-again Nathan Ferguson (match fitness) is likely to get game-time with the under-21s first before he comes into contention.
James McArthur (groin) remains out but we’ve not had an update on Nathaniel Clyne for a while; the defender had been sidelined with a laceration but should be nearing a return based on Vieira’s previous prognosis.
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