Double Gameweek 22 is just around the corner and the pre-match press conferences have started taking place on Thursday.
As usual, we’ll be bringing you all the key quotes that you need for your Fantasy Premier League (FPL) teams over the coming 24 hours.
Four Premier League bosses took questions today, with the 16 other managers (or their deputies, in Antonio Conte’s case) hopefully set to face reporters on Friday.
One of those head coaches will be Jesse Marsch, whose Leeds United side put out an injury update on Thursday afternoon to confirm that Rodrigo Moreno (£6.4m) would be out for two months with an ankle injury.
KEY UPDATES FROM THURSDAY
- Chelsea: James, Chilwell and Sterling return
- Fulham: No new injuries
- Leicester City: Vardy to be assessed
- Everton: Dyche’s first presser
THURSDAY’S PRESS CONFERENCE TIMES
CHELSEA
Denis Zakaria (thigh), Armando Broja (ACL), Christian Pulisic (knee), Edouard Mendy (finger), N’Golo Kante (hamstring), Joao Felix (suspended) and Wesley Fofana (knee) remain out but Reece James (knee), Raheem Sterling (hamstring) and Ben Chilwell (hamstring) are back in the Chelsea squad for the visit of Fulham.
“So we’ve got Ben Chilwell, Reece James, Raheem and Ruben [Loftus-Cheek] back in the squad, not 90 minutes, but certainly in the squad.
“Wesley has been training partly with the team, he’ll be stepping that up nect werk,.
“We’re still without Denis, Pulisic, Kovacic, Kante and Broja.” – Graham Potter
Hakim Ziyech is available for selection after his deadline-day move to Paris Saint-Germain fell through.
FULHAM
Marco Silva reported nothing new on the team news front, so it’s only Neeskens Kebano (Achilles) on the sidelines as far as we’re aware.
Aleksandar Mitrovic recovered from a foot injury to make the matchday squad in the FA Cup last weekend.
New signings Cedric Soares and Sasa Lukic are technically available for selection but the latter only arrives tonight and a late decision will be taken on his involvement against Chelsea.
LEICESTER CITY
Jamie Vardy could make a swifter-than-anticipated return from a glute injury this weekend, having originally been ruled out for a fortnight ahead of last weekend’s FA Cup tie against Walsall.
New signing Harry Souttar (hip) is a doubt, however.
“The team’s looking well, they have trained well. We obviously have one or two to look at tomorrow after training to see on availability.
“Jamie hasn’t done so much over this last period of time but he’s out on the field, so we’ll see what his reaction is like to that.”
“We just have to see on [Souttar]. He had a little bit of a hip issue coming in. He’s trained with the squad today, but he’s one of the players I need to assess. If it wasn’t for this weekend, he’d certainly be ready to go for the following weekend.” – Brendan Rodgers
Jonny Evans (calf), Boubakary Soumaré (hamstring) and Ricardo Pereira (Achilles) are progressing well with their recoveries but Wilfred Ndidi won’t feature because of a personal issue.
James Justin (Achilles) and Sammy Braybrooke (knee) are out long term.
“The likes of Bouba Soumaré and Jonny Evans will train next week. Ricardo Pereira is doing very well. He’ll play in a [youth] game next week. He’s looked great over these last few weeks and it’s just about stepping that up.
“Apart from that it’ll be pretty much the same.” – Brendan Rodgers
EVERTON
Sean Dyche gave his first press conference as Everton manager on Thursday, providing a brief update on injured players Ben Godfrey (knee), Michael Keane (knee) and James Garner (back).
“Ben Godfrey is closer, Michael Keane is getting fitter and has trained. Garns is going to be a little bit yet.” – Sean Dyche
Andros Townsend has also been back in training after 10 months out with a knee issue.
There was no word on Nathan Patterson (knee) but he will have another fortnight on the sidelines if the original six-week timeframe for his recovery was accurate.
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