It’s an important day on the Premier League press conference front, with the latest news on Erling Haaland (£12.0m) delivered by Pep Guardiola on Friday.
You’ll find all the key quotes from the Manchester City boss, and other Premier League managers, in this article.
There were 10 top-flight head coaches holding press conferences on Good Friday, while Eddie Howe did his in the aftermath of Newcastle United’s midweek win over West Ham United. You can read his comments in the article below, too.
Nine other Premier League managers faced reporters on Thursday and you can hear what they had to say in this round-up here.
KEY UPDATES FROM FRIDAY
- Manchester City: Haaland fit
- Manchester United: Shaw out, Eriksen back
- Arsenal: One player could return, Saka fine
- Brighton and Hove Albion: Mac Allister available
- Newcastle United: Howe’s Isak v Wilson call
- Liverpool: Van Dijk fit, likely too early for Diaz
- Crystal Palace: Guaita and Zaha out
- Aston Villa: Cash, Kamara + Coutinho still out for 10-14 days
- Fulham: Mitrovic banned till GW36
- West Ham United: Moyes yet to assess squad’s fitness
- Bournemouth: Late check on Senesi
FRIDAY’S PRESS CONFERENCE TIMES
Fantasy Football Scout user Arteta has beaten the usual Premier League contact to the punch for the press conference times today!
MANCHESTER CITY
Erling Haaland has been passed fit for the trip to Southampton, having recovered from the groin injury that has kept him out since mid-March.
Haaland had already been pictured training with his teammates this week.
“He trained the last two days, really good, so he will be ready.” – Pep Guardiola on Erling Haaland
Guardiola said getting Haaland minutes before the Bayern Munich game wasn’t a consideration, whether we believe that or not.
“Bayern Munich is the last thought. It’s Southampton. The Premier League is every day, every week. It does not depend on that.” – Pep Guardiola
Phil Foden (appendicitis) remains out, however.
MANCHESTER UNITED
Erik ten Hag confirmed that Luke Shaw (hamstring) will not be available for Manchester United’s game against Everton tomorrow.
Christian Eriksen (ankle) is back in the squad for the first time since January, however.
“Luke Shaw is not available for tomorrow. We have to see how it progresses in the coming week.
“I don’t think at this moment (he will be out for weeks), but we have to see how he progresses. I think he can be quite quickly back.
”The good news is Christian Eriksen is back in training and he will be back tomorrow in the squad.” – Erik ten Hag
Casemiro (suspended), Tom Heaton (ankle), Donny van de Beek (knee) and Alejandro Garnacho (ankle) remain on the sidelines.
ARSENAL
Mikel Arteta indulged in some mind games in Friday’s presser, saying that one of his injured players may return to training tomorrow and potentially be able to face Liverpool on Sunday – but wouldn’t say who it was.
Mohamed Elneny (knee) and Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) are long-term absentees, so the identity of the returning mystery man will be either Eddie Nketiah (ankle) or William Saliba (back).
“We have some hope with one of them, tomorrow maybe he’s able to train but we’ll have to see. I’m not going to tell you [who]!” – Mikel Arteta
Arteta at least confirmed that Bukayo Saka is completely over the illness that led to his benching last weekend.
“Yeah, he’s fine, yeah.” – Mikel Arteta when asked if Bukayo Saka had fully recovered and was available to start
If Saka does return to the starting XI, of course, one of Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli or Leandro Trossard will likely have to miss out.
“It depends on the moment, what we want to do, the quality we are seeking and the relationships that we want on certain days. Then obviously you can make five changes [in the game], so you have the ability to change the game with those players, which is great for us.” – Mikel Arteta on how he will choose his attackers
BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION
Moises Caicedo and Alexis Mac Allister were passed fit by Roberto De Zerbi in Friday’s presser, with the midfield pair having very briefly been concerns after picking up issues during the midweek win over Bournemouth.
“Mac Allister and Caicedo can play tomorrow without problem. I am really happy, it’s good news for us.” – Roberto De Zerbi
Jeremy Sarmiento (metatarsal), Adam Lallana (hamstring) and Jakub Moder (ACL) are still out long-term, while Tariq Lamptey hasn’t recovered from what Roberto De Zerbi previously called a “difficult” situation with his knee.
NEWCASTLE UNITED
Emil Krafth (knee) and Miguel Almiron (thigh) remain out but they were the only Newcastle players on the sidelines for the midweek win over West Ham United, with no obvious fresh concerns emerging from that match.
Howe staging his pre-Gameweek 30 presser on Wednesday evening isn’t ideal, however, as there could well be an injury or two belatedly discovered that now goes unreported.
The Newcastle boss did talk at length about his conundrum in attack, with Callum Wilson and Alexander Isak locked in a tussle for the Magpies’ centre-forward role.
“I think I’ll leave that decision for another day. I don’t think I’ll burn any energy doing that tonight! But they’re the problems you want to have. It’s a great situation for me to be in. I’ve been in other situations where you might not even have a player to fill the role. Now I’ve got two outstanding players, and I’ll try to make the right call for the next game.
“The players have to understand when they’re playing and they’re not playing. Both players have to be honest. Alex was excellent about my decision [not to start him at West Ham], and proved that when he came on and scored. The roles were reversed when Callum didn’t start against Manchester United, Alex played really well, Callum comes on and scores. It’s that competition that will hopefully drive both players on to give more.
“Callum and Alex can play together, as well, so it’s not just a case of one or the other. I do see a time and a place where they’ll be on the pitch at the same time.” – Eddie Howe
Kieran Trippier and the rest of the Newcastle backline look set to go again in west London, however.
“I am a believer in a consistent back four, that is an area of the team that I would not want to rotate much, if possible.” – Eddie Howe
LIVERPOOL
Virgil van Dijk has recovered from illness and will be able to face Arsenal, while Thiago Alcantara (hip) could be involved after returning to training this week.
Luis Diaz (knee) has also been on the training ground but a comeback in Gameweek 31 now looks likelier.
Calvin Ramsay (knee), Stefan Bajcetic (thigh) and Naby Keita (muscle) remain out.
“Virgil was completely normal, back in training.
“Luis and Thiago training completely normal. The plan with Luis is that he will be available 100% for Leeds. It looks good, everything is fine, but it was a long, long injury and so we have to be careful. We will probably not involve him on Sunday. Thiago looks slightly different, he was not out that long, he trained now three or four times with the team and might be available but we have to check how he feels today.” – Jurgen Klopp
Mohamed Salah was among the players not sighted in training on Thursday but there was no mention of any issue from Jurgen Klopp, with the usually reliable Spion Kop reporting that it was a mere recovery day.
Klopp discussed his decision to make six changes in midweek, one of which involved a benching for Salah.
“We had a game against City, which was an influence, physically and performance-wise, then we have a game three days later, so it’s both.” – Jurgen Klopp on whether his changes at Chelsea were down to performance or fitness
CRYSTAL PALACE
Vicente Guaita (calf) and Wilfried Zaha (groin) will not be fit to face Leeds on Sunday, while Chris Richards and Nathan Ferguson also remain out with unspecified issues but are not far from a return.
Zaha and Guaita both picked up injuries in last weekend’s win over Leicester City, although Guaita was able to finish the game. Roy Hodgson said he was hoping Zaha could return “towards the end of the month” but that there wasn’t an official timescale on his recovery just yet.
ASTON VILLA
Matty Cash (calf), Boubacar Kamara (ankle) and Philippe Coutinho (thigh) all remain out for the visit of Nottingham Forest, with Unai Emery saying that the trio would be out for “10 days or two weeks”.
FULHAM
Layvin Kurzawa (knee) is the only player on the Cottagers’ injury list, although Neeskens Kebano (Achilles) isn’t yet match-fit enough despite his recent return to training.
Aleksandar Mitrovic is only one match into an eight-game ban but Willian returns from his own suspension this weekend.
WEST HAM UNITED
With West Ham in action on Wednesday and then doing only a “recovery day” in training the following day, David Moyes hasn’t yet had time to assess his squad’s fitness ahead of the trip to Fulham.
Gianluca Scamacca (knee) was the only Hammer on the sidelines for Gameweek 29, with no fresh injuries reported so far.
BOURNEMOUTH
The Cherries will make a late check on defender Marcos Senesi (hamstring) ahead of the trip to Leicester.
Ryan Fredericks (calf) and Junior Stanislas (knock) were the only players absent for Bournemouth’s Double Gameweek 29.
VIDEO ROUND-UP
1 year, 26 days agoB