There are ten more pre-match press conferences before tonight’s 18:30 GMT deadline, following on from the six we had yesterday.
As usual, we’ll be bringing you all the key quotes that you need for your Fantasy Premier League (FPL) teams.
For the updates from the press conferences of Marco Silva, Unai Emery, Sean Dyche, Julen Lopetegui, Brendan Rodgers and Steve Cooper, check out our Thursday round-up.
Manchester United aren’t in Premier League action this weekend but there is a notable (albeit vague) update to bring you concerning Marcus Rashford, who appeared to limp out of the Red Devils’ 2-1 win over Barcelona last night.
“I don’t know [if Rashford will be fit for Sunday’s EFL Cup final]. Players are now coming in [to Carrington], we have to do investigations, medical [checks]. Straight after a game you can’t say, you have to wait for medical [checks].” – Erik ten Hag on Marcus Rashford
KEY UPDATES FROM FRIDAY
- Liverpool: Klopp on “knocks” and possible rotation
- Manchester City: De Bruyne a “maybe”
- Arsenal: Arteta hopeful on Partey, Jesus “progressing”
- Chelsea: Rested players to return
- Tottenham Hotspur: Four remain out, no new worries
- Crystal Palace: Zaha in contention
- West Ham United: Trio all back in training
- Leeds United: Gracia tight-lipped on injuries
- Southampton: Adams remains out
- Bournemouth: Tavernier joins injury list
FRIDAY’S PRESS CONFERENCE TIMES
LIVERPOOL
Thiago Alcantara (hip), Luis Diaz (knee) and Calvin Ramsay (knee) remain on the sidelines, while Joe Gomez may have joined them on the injury list after sustaining what looked like a hamstring injury in midweek. There was, however, no word on Gomez in Jurgen Klopp’s pre-match presser.
Ibrahima Konate (muscle) has been back in training this week but Klopp urged caution about the defender given his limited time on the grass after a month out.
“Ibou is near but [only] had two sessions with us after a long injury.” – Jurgen Klopp
Klopp was asked about making changes after the 5-2 defeat to Real Madrid on Wednesday and the Liverpool boss hinted at some rotation this weekend, although did again preach patience with the players who have just returned from injury.
“We are not sure if all of the boys could even play again after Madrid because of some knocks here and there. We are really not 100% clear, so then we have to make changes and we will make changes anyway.
“But it’s not that you come back after a long injury and it’s just clicking again. We have the situation now with Bobby and Diogo. You can see with Virgil as well. Everybody expects Virgil always, much like a robot… he played the most games last year, played the World Cup every game, came back, got injured, comes back, plays, plays, plays, so that’s the situation. It’s not perfect but it’s what we have to go through” – Jurgen Klopp
There was more talk of rotation when Klopp was asked if it was “hard” for the newly fit-again Diogo Jota and Bobby Firmino to break back into the starting XI based on the current front three’s form.
“It’s not hard, we have too many games to make it hard! We cannot play all the time with exactly the same [players]. There were times when Sadio, Mo and Bobby were very young, maybe they played a lot of games but even then we needed [to make changes].
“It’s good. The goals against Newcastle especially were real team goals, where they were playing together, that was helpful. But we have to make changes, we cannot change that. But each minute they can play together, all the boys, is obviously very helpful because that improves the understanding. You could see that with the goals.” – Jurgen Klopp
MANCHESTER CITY
Pep Guardiola was uncharacteristically helpful on the team news front in Friday’s presser, saying that Kevin De Bruyne (illness) was only a “maybe” for the trip to Bournemouth and all but ruling out Aymeric Laporte (illness) and John Stones (hamstring).
“We have training this afternoon, I think Kevin is back today in training. Aymer, I don’t think so. John maybe will do partial [training]. This is the info I had this morning from the doctors but I will know it in the next hours.
“We will see later, Kevin maybe [can be involved at Bournemouth]. The other two, I don’t think so.” – Pep Guardiola
Guardiola also talked of fatigue after the recent busy recent schedule.
“It’s a question to consider because our fatigue is there, definitely. But we have to take energy from, I don’t where, but we have to do it.” – Pep Guardiola
ARSENAL
Thomas Partey (muscle) has missed the last two Premier League matches but Mikel Arteta is optimistic that he’ll be available in Gameweek 25, should today’s training go well.
“Not a lot of changes. The question mark [is] on Thomas. He hasn’t trained much but it looks like he could be available, so let’s see how he trains today.
“He’s a really important player for us, who we missed in the last few games. Hopefully, he can be available.” – Mikel Arteta on team news
Mohamed Elneny (knee) remains out long-term and, although the update on forward Gabriel Jesus‘ is positive, a Gameweek 25 appearance still looks like a tall order.
“He’s progressing really well. He’s doing more and more on the field and he’s not reacting [negatively], so that’s really positive. We want to have him as quickly as possible but also respect the timeframe we got from the doctors and the specialists. He’s really pushing the boundaries right now.” – Mikel Arteta on Gabriel Jesus
CHELSEA
Cesar Azpilicueta will unsurprisingly miss out on Sunday after suffering a serious head injury in Gameweek 24.
“He won’t be available for the weekend, we need to go through the right protocols but the good news is he’s doing well.” – Graham Potter on Cesar Azpilicueta
Graham Potter confirmed that the players who were rested for the Southampton game will all return this weekend, with Azpilicueta, Christian Pulisic (knee) and N’Golo Kante (hamstring) the only squad members namechecked as being out – although we also know that Armando Broja (ACL) is out for the season and Edouard Mendy (finger) is thought to remain sidelined.
“We’ve had a good week’s training, everyone’s available pretty much apart from N’Golo and Christian Pulisic. They’re making progress, they’re joining in the warm-up at the moment and they’ll be more integrated next week.” – Graham Potter
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Ryan Sessegnon (hamstring), Rodrigo Bentancur (knee), Hugo Lloris (knee) and Yves Bissouma (ankle) are all on the medium-to-long-term injury list but Spurs have no known fresh concerns ahead of the visit of Chelsea.
Cristian Stellini, again in for the recuperating Antonio Conte, revealed that Son Heung-min‘s benching in Gameweek 24 was partly fitness-related.
“The decision was about the condition of the player. Richarlison recovered 100%, Sonny has some problem that he brings with him for a bit of time. Sometimes players that have a problem need time to recover and to be well prepared for the next period. In the next period, we have four games in 10 days. Every game will be tough and we need every player 100%.” – Cristian Stellini
CRYSTAL PALACE
Wilfried Zaha (hamstring) could be back for tomorrow’s game against Liverpool, with the Eagles waiting to assess the winger following today’s last training session to see if there is any reaction to his injury.
Tyrick Mitchell also looks set to make a swift recovery after limping off last weekend, while Nathan Ferguson got game-time with the under-21s this week as he steps us his recovery from a succession of injuries.
Sam Johnstone will be out for a few weeks with a calf problem, however.
“Both of them trained with the team.
“Wilfried is getting better and better. He had the last training session this morning and we have to wait until tomorrow to see the reaction that he will have or not.” – Patrick Vieira on Wilfried Zaha and Tyrick Mitchell
WEST HAM UNITED
The Hammers are nearing a fully fit squad, with David Moyes revealing on Friday that Lucas Paqueta (shoulder), Kurt Zouma (hip) and Maxwel Cornet (calf) have all done at least bits of training this week.
LEEDS UNITED
Javi Gracia gave little away on the team news front in Friday’s presser.
“There are some players injured, you know better than me. I have a lot of information that there are some players injured for a long time and to be honest, in the moment, I prefer not so speak about injuries.” – Javi Gracia
Rodrigo Moreno (ankle), Adam Forshaw (hip) and Stuart Dallas (knee) are still out, while it remains to be seen if Marc Roca (muscle) is any closer to being in contention after being rated as “touch and go” for the trip to Everton – a match he ended up missing.
Archie Gray (ankle) and Luis Sinisterra (muscle) have all been on the sidelines lately but shouldn’t be too far away, while Max Wober (shoulder) will have been assessed after picking up a nasty-looking injury last weekend.
Pascal Struijk was expected back for that clash at Goodison Park after observing the concussion protocol but complained of “fogginess” in a training session on Friday and missed out.
SOUTHAMPTON
Tino Livramento (knee), Juan Larios (muscle) and Che Adams (unspecified) remain out, while Mislav Orsic has joined them on the sidelines after being concussed in midweek.
Mohammed Salisu is back in training and everyone else is fit.
“We have Che Adams, Tino Livramento and Juan Larios out of the squad due to injuries. We have a concussion for Mislav Orsic a couple of days ago, so that’s going to take him out of the squad. That’s mainly it, we had Salisu back in training this week.” – Ruben Selles
BOURNEMOUTH
Lewis Cook (knee), David Brooks (hamstring), Lloyd Kelly (calf) and Illia Zabarnyi (ankle) all remain out, while Marcus Tavernier (hamstring) has been added to the injury list.
Jordan Zemura (knock) and Jefferson Lerma (illness) had to be substituted after struggling during the game against Wolves last weekend but Gary O’Neil didn’t provide an update on the pair.
