The vast majority of the pre-match press conferences for Gameweek 38 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) were held on Friday.
There are 17 in all to bring you, while there are also some embargoed quotes from Roberto De Zerbi, Erik ten Hag and Frank Lampard; those three managers fulfilled their media obligations in the aftermath of their midweek fixtures.
We’ll be bringing you the key quotes and injury updates that you need on this page.
KEY UPDATES FROM FRIDAY
- Liverpool: Robertson and Konate doubts, Darwin trains, rotation beckons
- Manchester City: No-one ruled out, Pep wants “rhythm”
- Manchester United: Ten Hag unsure on Shaw
- Arsenal: “Little issues” with Saka and Trossard
- Aston Villa: Moreno out
- Tottenham Hotspur: Romero + Dier out, Hojbjerg could return
- Newcastle United: Injuries piling up for Magpies
- Brighton and Hove Albion: No fresh team news from De Zerbi yet
- Leeds United: Rodrigo trains, Bamford to be assessed
- Everton: Calvert-Lewin + Patterson out
- Leicester City: Soyuncu out, Dewsbury-Hall + Ricardo back
- Chelsea: James out, Mount a doubt
- Crystal Palace: Zaha fails to recover
- West Ham United: Aguerd fit, Emerson knock
- Nottingham Forest: Navas ruled out
- Brentford: No new concerns
- Fulham: “Nothing different”
- Southampton: No start for Livramento
- Bournemouth: Billing should return
- Wolverhampton Wanderers: No team news updates so far
FRIDAY’S PRESS CONFERENCE TIMES
LIVERPOOL
Thiago Alcantara (hip), Calvin Ramsay (knee) and Stefan Bajcetic (thigh) are out and it doesn’t look like Naby Keita (muscle) will be fit enough for a farewell appearance but Darwin Nunez (toe) has been back in training this week and could come into contention.
There are two fresh concerns, too, with Andrew Robertson (groin) and Ibrahima Konate (illness) namechecked by their manager.
“[Darwin] trained yesterday, fully. Ibou was ill yesterday. Robbo felt something in his groin yesterday, we scanned it, it was fine, but we have to see how we can deal with that. The long-term ones still out, the rest should be alright.” – Jurgen Klopp
With Newcastle United and Manchester United sealing UEFA Champions League qualification in the last few days, Liverpool’s clash with Southampton is now a dead rubber.
Jurgen Klopp hinted that starting XI changes could be in the offing as a result.
“I am not used to games on the last matchday where everything is sorted before. I can’t remember when last time that was the case, usually we play until the last matchday and everything is at stake, pretty much. But football, we only play this game to win the game.
“We have to make sure I find a line-up with good legs, a lot of desire and we have to see… I will not take any risks with players, that makes no sense, but we have a big group together and the training week looked really good. The boys were really into it, it was cool. But I didn’t make any kind of decisions because that’s now pretty early and I didn’t see the doc yet, so we will have a brief conversation with him and then we will see who is in contention. When we have that, I have to make sure we find players who are really, in all departments, ready for the game.
“I think it makes sense that we make changes, to be honest, to get fresh players on the pitch, and players who want to show something.” – Jurgen Klopp
Klopp was later asked if “sentiment” would influence his team selection.
“I will see. I don’t know. That was not actually in my thoughts yet, I want to line up the right team. But that could lead to the outside world [thinking that]… that’s unlikely. I will try to line up a team who is ready for this game for the 110, 112 kilometres in the game, whatever we have to run… for all these kind of things, for all the challenges, for all these kind of things, there are different things, honestly this is completely new to me. It’s really new to me. So, last night, we are fifth. They are relegated, OK, what does that mean now? Usually we play Sunday, we have to win and if not everything breaks down, and stuff like this. It’s the final, or whatever. So, that’s really different, but I want to do the right thing and didn’t decide yet finally because for that I need the information from the medical department. Then I will start thinking in more detail. You will see, and whatever you make of it, because it’s sentimental or whatever, that’s fine, because maybe it is influenced by both. But in the moment, I don’t know.” – Jurgen Klopp
MANCHESTER CITY
Pep Guardiola said on Friday that none of his players were ruled out of Gameweek 38 for definite just yet, adding that he wanted to “keep our rhythm” ahead of two upcoming cup finals.
“It’s getting better, some of them. We’ll see tomorrow, training in the afternoon, we’ll decide, how they feel for the last game because we need to keep our rhythm as best as possible before the long weeks to prepare the finals.
“Today, no [nobody is out for definite], but some of them they are still half-half, we will see tomorrow.
“I’m going to play the game as real as possible, we’ll see how the players feel in terms of condition – because of course, we don’t want to take a risk.
“But if the players are available, we take a team to win the game.” – Pep Guardiola
Jack Grealish, Aymeric Laporte, Manuel Akanji and Ruben Dias were all declared as “not fit” and “injured” on Wednesday night, that quartet and Nathan Ake (hamstring) sitting out the trip to Brighton.
Phil Foden and John Stones were both taken off against the Seagulls as precautions in midweek, meanwhile.
MANCHESTER UNITED
Antony (ankle) looks to have joined Lisandro Martinez (fractured metatarsal), Marcel Sabitzer (knee) and Donny van de Beek (knee) on the sidelines, while Luke Shaw (back) is a doubt.
Erik ten Hag’s Gameweek 38 presser unfortunately took the form of an embargoed section of his post-Chelsea press conference, so there was little new insight on Shaw.
“In this moment, I can’t say if he is available or not for Sunday.” – Erik ten Hag
ARSENAL
Mohamed Elneny (knee), Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee), William Saliba (back), Oleksandr Zinchenko (calf) and Gabriel Martinelli (ankle) remain out, while Reiss Nelson is hoping to return after illness.
Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard were also namechecked as concerns by Mikel Arteta in his pre-match presser.
“We had some issues this week… well, to be fair, in the last few weeks.
“As you know, some players were unable to play and to participate in the games – with Reiss, we’ve had a little issue as well with Bukayo, which has been for a few weeks going on, with Leo.
“The rest I think, I they are going to be fine.”
ASTON VILLA
Unai Emery confirmed that Alex Moreno had hamstring surgery last week and will be out for two to three months.
Philippe Coutinho (unspecified minor injury) and Jed Steer (Achilles) are also out but Diego Carlos and Calum Chambers have recovered from injury and illness respectively.
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Ryan Mason confirmed that Cristian Romero will not be fit for the match against Leeds United but is “hopeful” Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg will be available after training today.
Both players missed out in Gameweek 37 with unspecified issues.
Eric Dier (groin) has undergone surgery this week, while Ryan Sessegnon (hamstring), Hugo Lloris (muscle) and Rodrigo Bentancur (knee) remain sidelined.
NEWCASTLE UNITED
Nick Pope (hand) has undergone surgery this week to rule him out of Gameweek 38, while Joelinton and Javier Manquillo (with unspecified injuries) have also joined Matt Ritchie (knee), Emil Krafth (knee) and Jamaal Lascelles (calf) on the sidelines for the trip to Stamford Bridge.
Joe Willock (hamstring) looks unlikely to feature given that Eddie Howe hinted below that he wasn’t expecting anyone else back.
“I don’t think we’ve got anyone left to rest! We’ve got a few issues, I think the end of the season has come at a good time for us because we would have been really stretched.
“Players like Joelinton will miss the game, Manquillo will miss the game, then we’ve got the others who had been injured going into the Leicester game. So yeah, we’re stretched, but it will give us the chance to have a look maybe at one or two other things.” – Eddie Howe
BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION
Roberto De Zerbi opted to take care of his Gameweek 38 media duties straight after the draw with Manchester City, meaning the latest team news is thin on the ground.
Solly March (hamstring), Adam Lallana (thigh), Jakub Moder (knee), Tariq Lamptey (knee) and Jeremy Sarmiento (ankle) aren’t expected back for the final day based on their manager’s previous quotes, while Robert Sanchez isn’t being considered for selection at present.
LEEDS UNITED
Junior Firpo returns from suspension but Luis Sinisterra (ankle), Tyler Adams (hamstring) and Stuart Dallas (leg) remain out and Darko Gyabi, Archie Gray and Mateo Joseph are all away with England youth sides.
Patrick Bamford (hamstring) and Rodrigo Moreno (foot) were fresh concerns from Gameweek 37 but the latter at least finished the match and has since trained.
Bamford, meanwhile, will be given more time to prove his fitness.
“Rodrigo trained today.
“Patrick, we’re going to give him as long as we can – certainly until tomorrow, see where we’re at before we make our final selection for Sunday.
“In the striking area, we are not overwhelmed with strikers. It will be what it will be when we find out tomorrow morning.” – Sam Allardyce
EVERTON
Nathan Patterson (hamstring) and Dominic Calvert-Lewin (hamstring) were fresh casualties of the draw with Wolves and neither of them will be fit for the final weekend.
Seamus Coleman (ACL), Ruben Vinagre (Achilles), Ben Godfrey (groin) and Andros Townsend (match fitness) are still out but Vitalli Mykolenko (thigh) is “better” and could come into contention.
“[Calvert-Lewin and Patterson] won’t be fit.
“[Mykolenko] is a bit better, we’ll see how he reacts tomorrow to training today.” – Sean Dyche
In the absence of an update on Friday, Tom Davies (hamstring) is in the ‘major doubt’ camp.
LEICESTER CITY
Caglar Soyuncu (hamstring), Jannik Vestergaard (calf) and James Justin (ineligible) remain out and Wilfred Ndidi (hamstring) is a doubt but Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (ankle), Ricardo Pereira (hamstring) and Jonny Evans (cramp) have all recovered.
“Çağs tried to get back himself into training yesterday but felt it. It was too close. The fact that he wanted to push himself to be contention shows a lot about his character.”
“[Dewsbury-Hall’s] good. He’s been training the last few days now. He’s available for selection.
“Iheanacho is fine. Jonny Evans had cramp, he is fine. Ricky, we scanned him and he’s fine. Wilf is the only question mark at the moment, we’re still waiting to see if he’ll be good enough to train tomorrow. He hasn’t trained yet since the injury.” – Dean Smith
There has been no further word on Danny Ward, who missed the loss to Liverpool with a dislocated finger and has been sidelined since, but he had been playing second fiddle to Daniel Iversen anyway.
CHELSEA
Frank Lampard didn’t do a stand-alone Gameweek 38 press conference, instead combining post-match duties at Old Trafford with a preview of Sunday’s action.
We did get an update on Reece James (hamstring) and Mason Mount (pelvic) from the interim Chelsea boss.
“Reece won’t be fit and Mason is going to be really tight. Reece came out [at training] on Wednesday and he went back in. He had a little bit of an awareness but we hope the scan says there is no real damage. It is probably just a little reminder that it is a bit too early to be out.” – Frank Lampard
Joao Felix shook off a minor injury to face Manchester United but Ben Chilwell (hamstring), N’Golo Kante (groin), Marc Cucurella (quad), Armando Broja (ACL), Benoit Badiashile (groin), Marcus Bettinelli (unknown) and Mateo Kovacic (unknown) were all still sidelined.
Raheem Sterling missed out with a hamstring problem.
CRYSTAL PALACE
Roy Hodgson confirmed that Wilfried Zaha (hamstring) wouldn’t recover for the visit of Nottingham Forest, while Jeffrey Schlupp remains unavailable due to a personal issue.
Vicente Guaita returns to the matchday squad after sitting out Gameweek 37 but James Tomkins (calf) and Nathan Ferguson (muscle) are definitely out, while Hodgson’s comments about Guaita being the only player that the Eagles have recovered suggest that Luka Milivojevic (unspecified) is also still absent.
“Wilfried’s injury was sufficiently severe to keep him out of the next game. He’ll need a week or two more to recover, so it won’t keep him out of next season. He will be fit for pre-season, but we won’t have the benefit of him on Sunday.” – Roy Hodgson
WEST HAM UNITED
Gianluca Scamacca (knee) remains sidelined but Nayef Aguerd (dead leg) has been passed fit and Flynn Downes should be back after only missing out against Leeds due to illness.
Emerson Palmieri is the only other concern after taking a knock to his knee.
NOTTINGHAM FOREST
Steve Cooper confirmed that Keylor Navas will miss the trip to Selhurst Park because of a groin injury, whilst Felipe and Danilo are both doubtful for the final game of the season after picking up issues against Arsenal.
Jesse Lingard missed that game as a precaution.
Neco Williams (jaw), Scott McKenna (collarbone), Chris Wood (thigh), Dean Henderson (thigh), Giulian Biancone (ACL) and Omar Richards (leg) remain out, while Gustavo Scarpa recently had a setback in his recovery from a calf problem.
BRENTFORD
Thomas Frank confirmed that there are no new injury concerns but Brentford will still be without Ivan Toney (suspended), Keane Lewis-Potter (knee), Pontus Jansson (hamstring), Matt Cox (international duty with England under-20s) and Christian Norgaard (Achilles) for the clash with Manchester City on Sunday.
FULHAM
It’s as you were with the Fulham team news, with Andreas Pereira (ankle) and Tim Ream (arm) still out and no fresh worries.
“Nothing different from the last weeks.” – Marco Silva
Daniel James made a return to training a week ago after a minor hamstring issue so could come into contention.
SOUTHAMPTON
Che Adams (calf), Juan Larios (hamstring), Mohammed Salisu (hip), Romain Perraud (ankle) and Armel Bella-Kotchap (hamstring) are sidelined, while Samuel Edozie is away with the England under-20 team and Paul Onuachu is a doubt because of a back problem.
“Tino will not play from the start due to his time restriction. He can play at least the same amount of minutes as he did against Brighton.
“[Mohammed] Salisu, Juan [Larios], Armel [Bella-Kotchap] and Ché [Adams] are definitley out. Paul [Onuachu] is a doubt with a back problem.”
BOURNEMOUTH
Ryan Fredericks (calf), Junior Stanislas (back), Marcus Tavernier (hamstring) and Antoine Semenyo (shin) are out, while Joe Rothwell (unspecified) and Hamed Traore (foot) remain concerns.
Philip Billing (back) should be back, however.
“Philip Billing should be back involved, hopefully after his back issue last weekend. Junior Traore, we’re hoping, but not sure yet. And Joe Rothwell similar, hoping that he’s involved, but still too early to confirm.
“Another training session to go tomorrow, see how they come through, but hopeful that we’ll be as close to full strength as possible.” – Gary O’Neil
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS
The only quotes being reported from Julen Lopetegui’s press conference so far concern his future and Financial Fair Play, so the latest Wolves team news is still awaited.
Chiquinho (knee) and Sasa Kalajdzic (knee) remain on the absentee list but there were no other known concerns the last we heard.
