We’re summarising what we know on the team news front ahead of Gameweek 26 in Fantasy Premier League (FPL).
Round-ups of the pre-match press conferences on Thursday and Friday 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.
MANCHESTER CITY V NEWCASTLE UNITED
John Stones (hamstring) and Aymeric Laporte (illness) have been back in training this week, so City could have a clean bill of health bar back-up goalkeeper Stefan Ortega (hand) for the visit of Newcastle.
Word is awaited on Bruno Guimaraes after he limped out of the EFL Cup final with an ankle injury, while Emil Krafth (knee) remains on the sidelines. Nick Pope is available again after a ban, however.
“Bruno twisted his ankle. I think he did similar, I can’t remember the game, but not too long ago in a match.
“He was in a bit of pain. We don’t think it’s serious at the moment, but let’s wait and see.” – Eddie Howe on Bruno Guimaraes, speaking on Sunday
ARSENAL v BOURNEMOUTH
Mohamed Elneny (knee) remains out long-term and, although recent training ground updates on Gabriel Jesus (knee) have been positive, he’s not expected back in Gameweek 26. Jorginho had to be substituted at half-time of Wednesday’s win over Everton after “not feeling good”, while Eddie Nketiah was spotted limping at full-time and Mikel Arteta said afterwards that his striker had been “carrying a little thing”. The Arsenal boss was hopeful, however, of Nketiah’s involvement against Bournemouth this weekend.
“Hopefully he is fine, he ended the game well but he has been carrying a little thing.” – Mikel Arteta on Eddie Nketiah limping off post-match on Wednesday
“We started the game with some frustration and not really understanding what we had to do and allowed them to run in certain transitions. But after 25 minutes we started to get much better and the timing of the two goals was key. We needed a magic moment there. And Alex (Zinchenko) produced that. And then the team grew especially with Thomas (Partey) as Jorg(inho) was not feeling good today.” – Mikel Arteta
Lewis Cook (knee), David Brooks (hamstring), Lloyd Kelly (calf), Illia Zabarnyi (ankle), Marcus Tavernier (hamstring), Matias Vina (knee) and Junior Stanislas (knock) all missed the defeat to Manchester City, with further word awaited on their availability.
ASTON VILLA v CRYSTAL PALACE
Diego Carlos (Achilles) has been back in training for Villa following his lengthy lay-off but lacks match fitness, while Philippe Coutinho is now out for a month because of a hamstring injury.
Palace’s Sam Johnstone (calf) remains absent but Wilfried Zaha (hamstring) should be back this weekend, after over a week in team training.
“When there are hamstring issues, you want to be 100% sure, you don’t want to take any risks.
“The best decision was to give him another week of training with the team and then he should be OK for the week after.” – Patrick Vieira on Wilfried Zaha, last Saturday
BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION v WEST HAM UNITED
Adam Lallana (muscle) and Jakub Moder (knee) will miss the visit of West Ham United but Danny Welbeck (calf) is now available and Levi Colwill (muscle) and Billy Gilmour (knock) have been back in training this week. Solly March missed out on the midweek cup win at Stoke with a minor issue that his manager said “was not a big problem”, while Roberto De Zerbi also said on Monday that he expected Pervis Estupinan (muscle) to be back for the West Ham match.
“Muscular problem but against West Ham I think there aren’t problems.” – Roberto De Zerbi on Pervis Estupinan, speaking before Tuesday’s cup tie
De Zerbi did send out a bit of a mixed message after that game at Stoke although may have been talking of hypothetical future alternatives at left-back, rather than something he might need to address in Gameweek 26.
“We are working to have the possibility to change the position. At left-back we have only Estupinan who is natural in that position. We have to be ready to play without him and in the [training] session we worked to find a different solution.” – Roberto De Zerbi
It remains to be seen if West Ham’s Kurt Zouma (hip) and Maxwel Cornet (calf) are deemed match-ready after their recent returns to training, while last Saturday saw Lukasz Fabianski (eye) and Vladimir Coufal (heel) substituted early. The pair missed the midweek cup tie at Manchester United, too.
CHELSEA V LEEDS UNITED
Armando Broja (ACL), Edouard Mendy (finger) and Cesar Azpilicueta (head) remain out but Mateo Kovacic (illness), Christian Pulisic (knee) and N’Golo Kante (hamstring) have all been back in training this week, albeit after contrasting periods on the sidelines. Thiago Silva is the latest addition to the Chelsea injury list after damaging knee ligaments last weekend.
“Having sustained a knee injury during the first half of Sunday’s match against Tottenham Hotspur, Thiago underwent further assessment and a scan on his return to the training centre on Monday.
“Scan results from those assessments have confirmed damage to Thiago’s knee ligaments and he will now work closely with the club’s medical department during his rehabilitation to return to action as soon as possible.” – Chelsea club statement
Rodrigo Moreno (ankle), Adam Forshaw (hip), Stuart Dallas (knee) and Luis Sinisterra (muscle) are still out for Leeds, while Pascal Struijk was expected back two weeks ago after observing the concussion protocol but complained of “fogginess” in a training session and hasn’t been seen since.
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS V TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Hugo Bueno (hamstring) has joined Chiquinho (knee) and Sasa Kalajdzic (knee) on the Wolves injury list, while the game looks like coming too soon for Hwang Hee-chan (hamstring) and Boubacar Traore (groin). Matheus Cunha, stretchered off last weekend but ultimately avoiding serious injury, will be assessed.
“He has a hamstring [injury], we will see in the future how many times he’s going to be out but of course, we’ve lost him for sure for the next match minimum.” – Julen Lopetegui on Hugo Bueno, speaking on Wednesday
Ryan Sessegnon (hamstring), Rodrigo Bentancur (knee), Hugo Lloris (knee) and Yves Bissouma (ankle) all remain on the medium-to-long-term injury list but Emerson Royal should shake off a knock that kept him out of the midweek cup defeat to Sheffield United.
SOUTHAMPTON V LEICESTER CITY
Tino Livramento (knee) remains out, while word is awaited on Juan Larios (muscle) and Che Adams (unspecified) to see how their respective recoveries are going. Mislav Orsic recovered from a concussion to feature in midweek.
Youri Tielemans (ankle) has joined James Justin (Achilles) and Sammy Braybrooke (knee) on the injury list, while Ryan Bertrand (knee) and Jonny Evans (thigh) may still both be short of match fitness. James Maddison should be back after illness, however.
“Youri [Tielemans] will be out for six weeks. He’s done the ligaments in his ankle and so it’ll not be before the international break that he’s back.
“[Maddison] has virtually done no training for a couple of weeks. The idea was to get a few good days of training into him on Monday and Tuesday. He’ll train for the remainder of the week and he should be fine, fingers crossed.” – Brendan Rodgers
NOTTINGHAM FOREST V EVERTON
Willy Boly (hamstring), Scott McKenna (hamstring), Dean Henderson (thigh), Cheikhou Kouyate (hamstring), Taiwo Awoniyi (groin), Giulian Biancone (ACL), Serge Aurier (calf) and Omar Richards (leg) are thought to remain out for Forest, while Moussa Niakhate (hamstring) may also need more fitness-building time before being considered for a Premier League return. Ryan Yates (illness) ought to be back in contention after a recent return to training.
It looks like Dominic Calvert-Lewin (hamstring) will struggle to play any part in Everton’s trip to Nottingham Forest, while Andros Townsend (ACL) also remains out and a minor knee issue has stalled Nathan Patterson‘s comeback. James Garner (back) could come back into the reckoning after getting minutes with the under-21s on Thursday, however.
“We’ll see but I think it will be a close call because we’ve got to get him properly fit .
“I don’t think he has been for a while now so we’ve got to make sure he’s properly fit because we can’t put him in for one game and lose more.” – Sean Dyche on Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s availability for Gameweek 26, speaking on Wednesday
LIVERPOOL V MANCHESTER UNITED
Thiago Alcantara (hip), Luis Diaz (knee) and Calvin Ramsay (knee) remain on the sidelines, while we await further news on Joe Gomez (muscle) after he missed the last week of football. Naby Keita sat out the midweek win over Wolves with a knock, meanwhile.
Christian Eriksen (ankle) and Donny van de Beek (knee) are still out, while the Liverpool game may come too soon for Anthony Martial (hip). Jadon Sancho (illness) and Luke Shaw (minor injury) missed the midweek cup win over West Ham, with Erik ten Hag saying that he hoped Shaw’s issue was “not too bad” but that United would have to assess the left-back before the trip to Anfield.
“One is ill [Sancho], one has a small injury [Shaw]. We hope not too bad, we have to see how it develops until Sunday [when we play at Liverpool]. He is not available for tonight but we have good players in the squad who can replace that.” – Erik ten Hag ahead of kick-off on Wednesday
BRENTFORD V FULHAM
It’s been a fortnight since Brentford were last in action but, the last we heard, Pontus Jansson (hamstring), Frank Onyeka (hamstring) and Thomas Strakosha (ankle) – the only players on the Bees’ injury list – were all earmarked for a return in Monday’s clash against Fulham.
Layvin Kurzawa (knee) has joined Tom Cairney (shin) and Neeskens Kebano (Achilles) on the sidelines for Fulham, while Joao Palhinha begins a two-match ban after becoming the first Premier League player to reach 10 bookings in 2022/23. Aleksandar Mitrovic (hamstring) returned from injury in Tuesday’s cup win over Leeds United.
