FPL Gameweek 15 early team news: Saka, Son, Kepa + Haaland latest

From Erling Haaland (£12.1m) to Bukayo Saka (£8.0m), we’re rounding up what we know on the team news front ahead of Gameweek 15 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL).

The pre-match press conferences that will take place up and down the country later in the week will supersede this piece and help finalise our predicted line-ups but in the meantime, this article takes an early look at the injury situation across the top flight.

LEEDS UNITED v BOURNEMOUTH

Further news is awaited on Luis Sinisterra (foot) after the winger missed the trip to Liverpool, a game that also came too soon for Leo Hjelde after appendix surgery.

Jesse Marsch did previously express hope that Sinisterra might be back on the grass this week.

“We hope that he will be in training this week. We hope that it’s not too bad. So you’d have to get Rob Price in here to talk through all the details of exactly what the injury is, but it’s a little sprain in his foot. He was still pretty sore yesterday but the swelling has gone down each day and hopefully, we can get him on the pitch. This week.” – Jesse Marsch on Luis Sinisterra, speaking on Saturday

Stuart Dallas (knee) is definitely out, while Adam Forshaw‘s (ankle) absence is dragging on longer than originally anticipated and he now hasn’t featured since August. 

Murara Neto (leg), Lloyd Kelly (ankle) and David Brooks (hamstring) were all absent for Bournemouth’s last-gasp loss to Spurs and none are expected back for the trip to Leeds. 

MANCHESTER CITY V FULHAM

Kalvin Phillips (shoulder) and Kyle Walker (groin) remain out, while Erling Haaland will have to be assessed again after a knock to his foot kept him out of the trip to Leicester.

Pep Guardiola said on Tuesday that the striker “feels better compared to” the weekend and would “hopefully” be back for the Fulham game but acknowledged that he hadn’t trained with his team-mates.

“Tomorrow he is not available.

“He feels better compared to Saturday and Sunday and even Monday, every day he feels better. But still he is not 100% and we don’t want to take a risk, no sense.

“Hopefully we can have him against Fulham. No [he is not training with the team].” – Pep Guardiola on Erling Haaland, speaking on Tuesday

Manor Solomon (knee) and Layvin Kurzawa (calf) were the only Fulham players who missed the draw with Everton but Bobby DeCordova-Reid has joined them on the sidelines ahead of Gameweek 15 after picking up his fifth booking of the season last Saturday.

NOTTINGHAM FOREST V BRENTFORD

Ivan Toney is suspended for the trip to Nottingham Forest, while Mathias Jensen will be assessed after suffering what his manager thinks was a dead leg in the draw with Wolves.

Aaron Hickey (ankle), Thomas Strakosha (ankle) and Pontus Jansson (hamstring) are all set to be out until after the World Cup break but Christian Norgaard (Achilles) could be back after a recent return to the training ground.

Forest’s Omar Richards (leg), Moussa Niakhate (muscle) and Jack Colback (back) have been on the sidelines for months now, while Harry Toffolo has been missing since Gameweek 12 after picking up a hamstring injury.

WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS V BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION

Diego Costa begins a three-match ban and Pedro Neto (ankle), Sasa Kalajdzic (knee), Chiquinho (knee) and Raul Jimenez (groin) remain on the injury list, while Matheus Nunes faces assessment after suffering a shoulder injury in the draw with Brentford last weekend. 

Roberto De Zerbi will hopefully bring us more news on Joel Veltman (calf) after the Dutchman missed out against Chelsea with “some problems”, while Danny Welbeck was another absentee because of illness.

Levi Colwill is back available after his loanee status prevented him from featuring in Gameweek 14, while Tariq Lamptey managed a second-half substitute appearance despite illness last Saturday.

Jakub Moder (knee) is out long term.

EVERTON V LEICESTER CITY

Long-term absentees Andros Townsend (knee), Ben Godfrey (leg) and Yerry Mina (calf) were the only Everton players sidelined for last weekend’s game after Nathan Patterson returned to the matchday squad after injury.

Ryan Bertrand (knee) and Ricardo Pereira (Achilles) remain out for the foreseeable future for Leicester while Jonny Evans – who had reportedly been back on the grass ahead of Gameweek 14 – will again be assessed as his recovery from a calf injury drags on.

CHELSEA V ARSENAL

Emile Smith Rowe (groin) and Matt Turner (groin) were the only Arsenal players not involved in team training on Wednesday, with Bukayo Saka seemingly passed fit after recovering from a knock picked up at the weekend.

Mohamed Elneny (hamstring) has been training for the last week after two months on the sidelines, while Oleksandr Zinchenko (calf) has also been back on the grass with his team-mates from the beginning of this week.

“They are at different stages obviously. Mo had a long-term injury but he has recovered now in a really good way and has been training with the team for a week or two now. Alex is just very recent and he’s had two training sessions. Bukayo just missed one or two sessions and was fine today. Yes [Saka could play on Thursday].” – Mikel Arteta on injured players returning to training, speaking on Wednesday

N’Golo Kante (hamstring), Wesley Fofana (knee) and Reece James (knee) are medium-term absentees, while Kepa Arrizabalaga looks set to miss out with the minor foot issue he picked up in Gameweek 14.

“No, he won’t be okay for Sunday. [The crutches are] only precautionary in terms of keeping the weight off it, it’s the bottom of his foot. He is progressing well but won’t be available for Sunday.” – Graham Potter on Kepa Arrizabalaga, speaking on Wednesday

Kalidou Koulibaly (knee) returned to fitness for that Champions League tie but Mateo Kovacic wasn’t risked because of an ongoing calf issue.

Further problems ensued against Zagreb, with Ben Chilwell having to be helped from the field of play with a hamstring injury.

“Yes it is [a hamstring injury]. I don’t know the severity of it but it’s not positive, I would say.” – Graham Potter on Ben Chilwell, speaking on Wednesday

ASTON VILLA V MANCHESTER UNITED

Diego Carlos (Achilles) is the only Aston Villa player definitely out of the Manchester United clash but the match may come too soon for Boubacar Kamara (knee), who was back on the grass but not in team training ahead of Gameweek 14.

There has been no recent update on Ludwig Augustinsson (hamstring) despite his three-week recovery timeline passing but Emi Martinez (head) should be fine as any concussion protocol would have been served by the time we get to Sunday’s game.

Raphael Varane (hamstring) and Bruno Fernandes (suspended) are definitely out of Sunday’s game but Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Victor Lindelof are both now back available, recovering from injury and illness to join the travelling United party to Spain in midweek.

Anthony Martial (back) and Antony (unspecified) stayed at home to concentrate on individual training programmes, while Jadon Sancho missed out because of illness.

“Jadon Sancho, he was ill. And Anthony Martial is still in recovery, in the rehab, and has to finish that. He did train this morning so we are going in the right direction.” – Erik ten Hag, speaking on Wednesday

SOUTHAMPTON V NEWCASTLE UNITED

Joelinton will miss the trip to Southampton after collecting his fifth booking of the season, while Fabian Schar will be assessed for hamstring tightness following last weekend’s thrashing of Aston Villa.

“Fabian was just feeling his hamstring, I hope he’s OK. There’s a number of players today just feeling the effects of the busy period, so hopefully, we’ve got nothing too serious.” – Eddie Howe, speaking on Saturday

Paul Dummett (calf), Alexander Isak (ankle), Karl Darlow (ankle), Emil Krafth (knee) and Matt Ritchie (calf) have been on the sidelines of late, with Isak, Krafth and Ritchie all set to be out until after the World Cup at the earliest. 

Kyle Walker-Peters (hamstring) and Tino Livramento (knee) remain out for Saints but Armel Bella-Kotchap (shoulder) and Romeo Lavia (muscle) could return, the latter having already been in training before the Crystal Palace game.

Stuart Armstrong appeared to limp off when being substituted against the Eagles, meanwhile, so Ralph Hasenhuttl may provide us with an update on the Scot in his upcoming presser

WEST HAM UNITED V CRYSTAL PALACE

Lucas Paqueta (shoulder) could be back this week based on David Moyes’ previous comments, while further news is awaited on Maxwel Cornet (calf) and Lukasz Fabianski (knee): the former recently had a setback in his recovery, while the latter was substituted as a precaution in Gameweek 14 after jarring his knee.

Cheikhou Doucoure couldn’t recover from an unspecified issue in time to face Southampton last weekend, so further news is awaited on the defensive midfielder in Patrick Vieira’s pre-match press conference.

The Palace boss will also hopefully provide us with news on Odsonne Edouard, who seemed to pick up a knock before being substituted in Gameweek 14.

Chris Richards (hamstring), James McArthur (groin), Jack Butland (hand) and Nathan Ferguson (match fitness) were all on the sidelines for that victory but Ferguson has since gained minutes with the academy team. 

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR V LIVERPOOL

Richarlison (calf) and Dejan Kulusevski (hamstring) have been joined on the sidelines by Son Heung-min, who suffered a fracture to his left eye in Tuesday’s win over Marseille and has since undergone surgery.

“We can confirm that Heung-Min Son will undergo surgery to stabilise a fracture around his left eye.

“The South Korea international suffered the injury during the first half of Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League victory at Olympique Marseille.

“Following surgery, Son will commence rehabilitation with our medical staff and we shall update supporters further in due course.” – Spurs club statement, Wednesday

Cristian Romero (muscle) is also a doubt for the weekend having missed that midweek victory, with unconfirmed reports suggesting he may be out for 10 days.

Diogo Jota (calf), Luis Diaz (knee), Joel Matip (calf) and Arthur Melo (muscle) all remain injured for Liverpool, while Naby Keita (muscle) isn’t match-fit despite a return to training.

James Milner will have to be checked for concussion symptoms after taking a blow to the head in midweek, while Jordan Henderson wasn’t risked for the Champions League victory over Napoli after recent knee issues.