FPL Gameweek 32 live team news: Friday’s injury updates

We’ve seven more Premier League press conferences to wade through before we get to tonight’s Gameweek 32 deadline.

You’ll find all the key quotes and injury news in this article; as it’s a ‘live’ one, you’ll need to hit refresh now and again to get the latest updates.

We’ll also be bringing you anything of note from the pressers of Pep Guardiola, Erik ten Hag and Roberto De Zerbi, whose teams ‘blank’ in Gameweek 32 and are instead in FA Cup semi-final action.

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’S PREMIER LEAGUE PRESSERS

• Liverpool: Firmino set to miss the next three games
• Newcastle United: Saint-Maximin still sidelined
• Tottenham Hotspur: Lenglet fitness boost
• Crystal Palace: Zaha remains out
• Fulham: James ineligible, Kebano returns
• Brentford: Ajer “close” but not quite ready
• West Ham United: “Hopefully all fine” from Thursday

KEY UPDATES FROM FRIDAY’S FA CUP PRESSERS

• Manchester City: Ake out
• Brighton and Hove Albion: Steele uncertainty
• Manchester United: Still to come at 5.30pm BST

FRIDAY’S PREMIER LEAGUE PRESS CONFERENCE TIMES

LIVERPOOL

Jurgen Klopp had all six of his attackers fit and available for the clash with Leeds United last Monday but he’s back down to five after Roberto Firmino sustained a muscle injury that rules him out of Gameweek 32 and very likely the two matches that follow.

“Unfortunately, Bobby picked up a muscle issue, a little bit. We will see how long that takes. It’s not too serious but definitely out for tomorrow. Next week we have two more games, I would say they are impossible as well. Then we will see, then we will take it day by day.” – Jurgen Klopp

Calvin Ramsay (knee), Stefan Bajcetic (thigh) and Naby Keita (muscle) remain on the sidelines.

There were some other interesting quotes from Klopp concerning his attacking options, as well as comments about Darwin Nunez‘s game-time prospects.

“The ticket into this team must be, will be, definitely again, counter-pressing. That’s how everything started.

“If you do it in the game you play, you have a good chance to start again. That’s it. But we have opportunities to change, we will see how we do that, and now we have to change. In the next two weeks, we have five games. There will be changes and that’s good. Hopefully we can have at least these five [players], maybe from a moment on, six again. That would be absolutely great.

“Everybody will play, everybody is super important for us but again, the ticket will be the desire to win the ball back after we lost it because we had so many times where that made a difference in football games, especially against deep defending sides. That’s super important, otherwise you are constantly defending counter-attacks.” – Jurgen Klopp when asked how he will decide which of his attacking options will start

“Darwin is a player with a different skillset to all our other players. That’s good. He’s a real handful, he’s a machine and he’s scored already a decent number of goals. That’s all fine. But yes of course, he’s still adapting. His English is not great, if existing at all, we’re working on that massively. It’s not helpful to go through a difficult debut season for the whole team – how can a striker shine when the whole team is struggling?

“This is a long-term project. I understand he wants to play desperately from the beginning. But we have to find a way that works for us again, then fit in the players thay we really can use their specific strengths as well. I am completely fine with the situation. Darwin is not always fine, it’s not like he smiles in my face when he realises that he will not start.

“When we have 5/6 players available up front, I have to make decisions. That’s good, that’s how it should be. The door is miles open.

“He came on and was exceptional [against Leeds]. Everyone who came on was on fire and that’s what we need. We’ll have five games in two weeks and Darwin will start games, definitely.” – Jurgen Klopp

NEWCASTLE UNITED

Emil Krafth (knee) and Allan Saint-Maximin (hamstring) remain out, with the latter not expected back at the Newcastle training ground until next week.

 “We are not 100 per cent sure yet on Maxi, so we will wait and see.

“There’s not been a setback, it’s taken a little bit longer than we initially thought. No major setback, no, but with hamstring injuries we have to be careful.” – Eddie Howe

Miguel Almiron (thigh) returned as a substitute last weekend and will be pushing for a recall, although Eddie Howe did point to the length of the Paraguayan winger’s recent absence and his limited training time.

“He’s an option. I’d say he’s in contention, yeah. He’s had minimal training, he’s trained this week and trained well as Miggy usually does. I was pleased to see him back on the pitch. But prior to that, he had a quite a long absence, so we’ll wait and see. I’ll try and make the right call for him and the team.” – Eddie Howe on Miguel Almiron

Sean Longstaff has “trained well”, meanwhile, and should be fit to start after tonsillitis reduced him to a cameo role against Aston Villa.

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR

Emerson Royal (knee), Ryan Sessegnon (hamstring), Rodrigo Bentancur (knee) and Yves Bissouma (ankle) are still out, while Lucas Moura serves the final game of a three-match ban.

Ben Davies (hamstring) is only just back in training, meanwhile, so likely not ready to feature.

Spurs have been handed a big boost by the news that Clement Lenglet has partly trained, despite him picking up a muscular problem in the defeat to Bournemouth.

Cristian Stellini said he was “confident” Lenglet could last a full training session on Saturday and be in contention to face Newcastle United this weekend.

CRYSTAL PALACE

Roy Hodgson said on Friday that there were no changes to Palace’s injury situation, with no fresh concerns or players returning,

Nathaniel Clyne (knee), Vicente Guaita (calf) and Wilfried Zaha (groin) remain out, then, although Zaha has been spotted at the training ground so shouldn’t be too far away.

FULHAM

Layvin Kurzawa (knee) is still weeks from a return, while Aleksandar Mitrovic is only three matches into an eight-game ban and loanee Daniel James can’t face his parent club.

In more positive news, Neeskens Kebano (Achilles) has been back in training of late and could be involved in the squad to face Leeds United.

BRENTFORD

Kristoffer Ajer (calf) is “close” to full training but will not be available for the clash against Aston Villa.

Pontus Jansson (hamstring) and Keane Lewis-Potter (knee) are unlikely to play again this season, however. 

WEST HAM UNITED

David Moyes kept it brief in his pre-match presser, saying that the Hammers were “hopefully all fine” following Thursday’s win over Gent.

Gianluca Scamacca (knee) will be out for some time after knee surgery, while there was no further news on Angelo Ogbonna (back) after a seemingly minor issue kept him out of the draw with Arsenal.

Nayef Aguerd (ankle), who also sat out Gameweek 31, returned in last night’s UEFA Europa Conference League tie. 

MANCHESTER CITY

Nathan Ake will miss this Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against Sheffield United because of a muscle problem he picked up in midweek, with further assessment to come today.

“He’s not ready for tomorrow but I don’t know the damage. I think today they make the final test to know exactly what he has.” – Pep Guardiola on Nathan Ake

City are otherwise injury-free, with Phil Foden returning to squad in Germany on Tuesday.

“He was on the bench [in Munich] after two training sessions and three weeks without training. Each day that passes he will be better.” – Pep Guardiola on Phil Foden

BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION

Having missed Gameweek 31 as a precaution, Jason Steele‘s availability is still in question.

“Yes, but I don’t know if he is 100% or if he can play.” – Roberto De Zerbi when asked if Jason Steele might be fit for the weekend

De Zerbi was also coy with the rest of the team news, saying that the injury situation is “not clear” and that further assessment will come on Saturday morning.

Jeremy Sarmiento (metatarsal) is definitely sidelined, while Joel Veltman (hamstring) and Evan Ferguson (ankle) were ruled out for a “couple of weeks minimum” after Gameweek 31.

Adam Lallana (hamstring) and Jakub Moder (ACL) have been sighted in training recently but it remains to be seen to what extent their involvement has been and how match-fit they are after lengthy lay-offs.