There are more pre-match press conferences taking place today and we’ve got the key Fantasy Premier League (FPL) team news for Gameweek 6 here.
There are 14 media gatherings being held live plus there’s a possibility that Unai Emery’s presser was staged last night after Aston Villa’s UEFA Europa Conference League match and embargoed until today.
There was no mention of Jurgen Klopp in the press conference list but we do have fresh quotes from him, albeit nothing about injuries.
This is a ‘live’ article and will be updated as and when the pressers are staged on Friday. Make sure to hit refresh for the latest injury updates.
The headline updates from Thursday’s four pressers (Nottingham Forest, Everton, Fulham and Burnley) are also to be found below.
GAMEWEEK 6 TEAM NEWS: INJURY UPDATES
- Manchester City: Grealish could get minutes, Pep on Alvarez
- Arsenal: Martinelli still being assessed
- Brighton and Hove Albion: Four to be assessed, “a lot” of changes coming
- Newcastle United: Willock and Joelinton still out, Howe on rotation
- Chelsea: Broja could be involved, Caicedo to be assessed
- Liverpool: No injury news from Klopp
- Manchester United: Latest on Mount, Varane and Amrabat
- Tottenham Hotspur: Perisic out for the season
- Brentford: Henry to miss the rest of 2023/24
- West Ham United: Bowen to be assessed after a virus
- Crystal Palace: Guehi and Ayew fit, Lerma still out
- Aston Villa: Ramsey returns against Legia
- Everton: Harrison fitness latest
- Nottingham Forest: Updates on four players, quotes on Turner
- Fulham: Robinson should return
- Burnley: Foster starts a three-game ban
- Wolverhampton Wanderers: No fresh concerns
- Bournemouth: No new injuries, no-one returning
- Sheffield United: Egan returns, Baldock still out
- Luton Town: Barkley expected to miss out
FRIDAY’S PRESS CONFERENCE TIMES
MANCHESTER CITY
Jack Grealish (thigh) could make a return against Nottingham Forest this weekend, while Mateo Kovacic (back) isn’t too far away from being involved.
“Jack is coming back, he’s trained well. Maybe he will be ready for some minutes.
“Kova is in the last part of the recovery to coming back.” – Pep Guardiola
Bernardo Silva (unknown) has joined John Stones (hamstring) and Kevin De Bruyne (hamstring) on the injury list this week, however.
“He has a little injury, nothing much. I don’t know, one week, 10 days, one week, two weeks will be out.” – Pep Guardiola on Bernardo Silva
Pep Guardiola lavished praise on Julian Alvarez, while simultaneously reminding us that no player is rotation-proof in this Manchester City side.
“Last season we had Ilkay and Kevin, sharp and in a good moment.
“Right now, with the circumstances of the injuries or for whatever reasons, he’s had minutes. He gave us a lot of good things and that’s why he’s playing, but he has to continue. Many games, there will be games he will not play, be ready for that.
“With a lot of games, hopefully the players will come back from injury and everyone will have to battle and fight for their best positions.” – Pep Guardiola on Julian Alvarez
ARSENAL
Jurrien Timber (knee) and Thomas Partey (groin) remain out for the Gunners, while Gabriel Martinelli may also be unavailable for the north London derby as assessment continues on the injury that forced him off in Gameweek 5.
“With Gabi, we are still assessing him, so let’s see if he can make the game or not. Thomas for sure is out. The rest we hope are available, yes we still have two training sessions, but there were no big issues in midweek.” – Mikel Arteta
The Brazilian winger wasn’t spotted in training ground footage on Friday.
Arteta said he hadn’t yet decided who was going to play in goal against Tottenham Hotspur this weekend, following David Raya‘s promotion to the starting XI in the last two matches in league and cup.
“No, I haven’t decided [who will start in goal].
“It is hard, but with all the players it’s the same. Aaron [Ramsdale] is an exceptional character and he’s got this charisma and aura around him and we all know that and I fully understand that. It happens with many other players. See the reception everybody gave to Emile the other night, it’s sending him a message that we really like him and I really like him and we have to deal with that, but in the end, you have to make the team and the line-up of what you feel and the best way to prepare the game.” – Mikel Arteta
BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION
Lewis Dunk (muscle), Evan Ferguson (illness), Pascal Gross (muscle) and James Milner (muscle) will all have to be assessed having either sat out the defeat to AEK Athens on Thursday or picked up an injury during the game.
Julio Enciso (knee) is a long-term absentee, meanwhile.
“I don’t know the situation of James [Milner], Lewis Dunk and Pascal Gross. Pascal has a muscular problem. We have to analyse the situation and take the best decision.
“There is a chance [Ferguson] can play.” – Roberto De Zerbi
Roberto De Zerbi went on to say Albion wouldn’t take risks with Dunk, reeling off potential candidates who could take his place as captain.
“We can’t take a risk [on Dunk], especially in this part of the season.
“We have to find another leader. Pascal Gross is a big leader for us, Welbeck is another big leader. I think Adam Webster is a leader, one of the best leaders inside of the dressing room. He’s not at a very good moment in terms of physical condition but when Adam Webster played, he played every game in a good way.
“And then we have a lot of young players and they have to progress in leadership. I’m speaking about Billy Gilmour, Dahoud, Pervis Estupinan. Pervis is young but has the right experience to become another leader.” – Roberto De Zerbi
De Zerbi, ominously, said that he would also have to make “a lot” of changes with the Thursday-Sunday turnaround in mind.
“We have to change, we have to put in everyone because we have a great squad.” – Roberto De Zerbi
Youngsters Facundo Buonanotte and Carlos Baleba are among those who may get a chance.
“If we want to find Baleba and Facundo ready in the future, we have to put them on the pitch. Young players can [only] improve playing, not sitting on the bench. We can accept mistakes if we want to get them ready to show their best.” – Roberto De Zerbi
NEWCASTLE UNITED
Joelinton (knee) and Joe Willock (Achilles) remain out ahead of the trip to Sheffield United, along with long-term absentee Emil Krafth (knee).
“We are still missing the two Joes in midfield. Apart from that, we are pretty good.
“We hope with Joelinton that he could possibly be back sooner, but we’ll wait and see. With Willock, he will definitely be after the international break.” – Eddie Howe
Howe promised a spot rotation after the midweek clash with AC Milan but added that he does not want to be making wholesale changes to disrupt his side’s “rhythm”.
“We are going to have to rotate the squad. If we can help it, we don’t want to make wholesale changes to the team in any one game. I don’t think that will do our rhythm any good.
“There will be tweaks as we’re going along, hopefully then the team will be unaffected but we manage to keep everyone fresh.” – Eddie Howe
The Newcastle boss also provided an update on Callum Wilson, who started in Gameweek 5 before moving to the bench in the San Siro.
“With Callum, we always have to manage his load. That doesn’t change. Whether it’s a single-game week or a three-game week, we have to monitor his training and make sure we give ourselves the best chance of Callum staying fit through the season. So, that’s what we will do.” – Eddie Howe
CHELSEA
Moises Caicedo (knee) will be assessed after missing out last weekend but fellow Gameweek 6 absentees Marc Cucurella (illness) and Noni Madueke (muscle) should be ready for a return.
Romeo Lavia (ankle), Reece James (hamstring), Christopher Nkunku (knee), Wesley Fofana (knee), Marcus Bettinelli (knee), Trevoh Chalobah (hamstring) and Carney Chukwuemeka (knee) remain out, while Benoit Badiashile (hamstring) has suffered a minor setback in his recovery after a recent return to training.
Armando Broja (knee) could be back involved against Aston Villa, however, after his own return to the training ground.
“We need to assess Moi [Caicedo] tomorrow, he was training in an individual way, not with the team, until today. We need to assess tomorrow.
“Marc [Cucurella] suffered a fever but he is back.
“Noni [Madueke] was involved also during the week in training. I think yes. And maybe, maybe, Broja – Armando can be involved maybe on Sunday but he’s not sure, we need to assess him tomorrow.” – Mauricio Pochettino
Pochettino was keen not to put too much pressure on Broja to solve the Blues’ goalscoring woes.
“Broja arrives and maybe will be involved at the weekend but it’s after nine months of not competing. We cannot put responsibility on him. The responsibility must be on the team and the collective effort, not only the offensive player need to score. We cannot expect Broja, if he has the possibility to play, will score with every single touch, he needs time to feel the competition and to start to perform in the way that we expect.” – Mauricio Pochettino
The Chelsea boss also had something to say about Nicolas Jackson‘s disciplinary issues, as he sits just one booking away from a one-match ban. All of his cautions have been for dissent.
“I talked to him today. We were talking about that. We had a meeting with him and Enzo (Fernandez). I said ‘come on, for a striker to have four yellow cards, to protest…to talk with the referee. You need to get some yellow cards for different actions not because of that. It’s so easy, so cheap’. I think he could put the team in a really difficult situation [if it continues]. He understood. But Jackson is 22, he is young, he needs to learn, to improve. He is going to be a fantastic player, but he needs time.” – Mauricio Pochettino
LIVERPOOL
Jurgen Klopp didn’t give us any team news in what passed for a pre-match press conference.
Trent Alexander-Arnold (hamstring) and Thiago Alcantara (hip) didn’t train with the rest of the squad on Wednesday or travel to Austria but The Athletic reported in midweek that Alexander-Arnold remained hopeful of facing the Hammers.
Virgil van Dijk returns from suspension this weekend, while Ibrahima Konate (muscle) was deemed fit enough for a place among the substitutes against Wolves last Saturday and started against LASK.
Klopp did speak at length about Darwin Nunez, who played 90 minutes last night.
“He’s good, really good. He’s in a really good moment, enjoys his game a lot in the moment and that is fine. You have only a problem as a striker when you don’t have any chances. He has chances, opportunities, [and] obviously it is not too long ago he scored the two most incredible goals I saw for a long, long time against Newcastle, it was absolutely insane. Played a super game against Aston Villa then it was the international break, had there a little bit of muscle issue – said he is fine but we read, obviously, what [Uruguay coach Marcelo] Bielsa said, then he had as well very intense travelling so we decided not to start him [at Molineux] but he came on and had a massive impact on the game.
“So, he is in a good moment, you see that in training. It’s not important in the moment if he scores already or not: for a striker, it’s important that in these moments where you don’t score but play well, you understand it right and then just keep going and everything will fall in place anyway.” – Jurgen Klopp on Darwin Nunez
MANCHESTER UNITED
Aaron Wan-Bissaka (hamstring) has joined Luke Shaw (muscle), Amad Diallo (knee) and Tyrell Malacia (knee) on the sidelines this week.
Kobbie Mainoo (ankle) is also only training individually so not ready for a return, while Antony and Jadon Sancho won’t feature for well-documented off-the-field reasons.
Erik ten Hag meanwhile was coy on whether Raphael Varane (unspecified), Mason Mount (muscle) and Sofyan Amrabat (back) would feature against Burnley, with the trio back in training this week.
Harry Maguire, who reported “some complaints” in training on Tuesday and sat out the midweek UEFA Champions League defeat in Munich, could be back.
“Maybe, as you say, Harry Maguire. We will see better after training [on Friday afternoon]. But Varane will train and we will see. Amrabat, he will train and we will see. Mount, as well, but they all didn’t play for a short or longer term. Varane, obviously, was the shortest [time] out.” – Erik ten Hag
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Spurs revealed on Wednesday that Ivan Perisic suffered a “complex” ACL injury in his right knee in training, so the veteran Croatian is now set for season-ending surgery.
Other than that, Ange Postecoglou reported no fresh concerns for the north London derby on Sunday.
Ryan Sessegnon (hamstring), Bryan Gil (groin), Rodrigo Bentancur (knee), Alfie Whiteman (ankle) and Giovani Lo Celso (quad) are still absent.
BRENTFORD
Rico Henry (knee) has joined Josh Dasilva (hamstring), Shandon Baptiste (shoulder) and Ivan Toney (suspended) on the long-term absentee list, with Brentford confirming in midweek that he has sustained a serious, possibly season-ending ACL injury.
Loanee Neal Maupay can’t face his parent club, meanwhile.
Ben Mee and Kristoffer Ajer appeared to have recovered from minor issues (the former wasn’t mentioned at all in the injury round-up) but Mikkel Damsgaard (adductor) remains a doubt.
“Kristoffer is fully fit and available for tomorrow. Damsgaard still has a little bit of niggling going on so maybe he’ll be available, maybe not.” – Thomas Frank
WEST HAM UNITED
David Moyes said that Jarrod Bowen will be assessed after missing Thursday’s win over Backa Topola with a virus, while Aaron Cresswell “felt his hamstring” in that same UEFA Europa League tie.
Everyone else is fine, including Edson Alvarez after his fatigue-related withdrawal against Manchester City in Gameweek 5.
CRYSTAL PALACE
Marc Guehi (muscle) and Jordan Ayew (dead leg) have recovered for the visit of Fulham but Jefferson Lerma (hamstring) and James Tomkins (“minor injury”) have been joined on the sidelines by Naouirou Ahamada (ankle).
Matheus Franca (back) and Michael Olise (hamstring) remain out, with the latter suffering a setback this week and looking set for even longer on the sidelines.
“He (Ayew) suffered a nasty blow which gave him a dead leg but he has recovered well. We’ve recovered Marc Guehi as well, he’s recovered well during the course of the week.
“The players we have out are long-term, Olise and Franca. In the shorter term, we have Lerma, Tomkins and Ahamada — who sprained his ankle — missing. He caught his foot in the turf. Those three are not serious injuries but are going to keep them out for a period of time.” – Roy Hodgson
ASTON VILLA
We haven’t had any fresh injury news from Unai Emery after Aston Villa’s defeat in Poland.
Tyrone Mings (knee) and Emi Buendia (knee) are long-term absentees and Tim Iroegbunam (back) remains out, while Diego Carlos (hamstring) has been sidelined since picking up an injury at Anfield in Gameweek 4.
Bertrand Traore (muscle) is closing in on a return, while Jacob Ramsey (foot) made his comeback as a substitute in Warsaw on Thursday.
“We worked today with the players who didn’t play in the starting XI yesterday while the other players recover.
“After we came back late yesterday, today was very important to rest and to work a little bit. We are going to wait for tomorrow to prepare the match on Sunday and see which players are 100% ready to play.” – Unai Emery
EVERTON
Sean Dyche said that summer signing Jack Harrison (hip) is “looking fit and sharp” in training but the winger is not ready to start just yet.
“He’s not ready to start. He’s just back on the grass and he’s going very well. His fitness looks good, but, no, he’s not ready to go yet.
“We just have to delay him a little bit. He’s been out for a few months, but he’s looking fit and looking sharp.” – Sean Dyche on Jack Harrison
Dele Alli (hip), Seamus Coleman (knee) and Andre Gomes (calf) remain out, meanwhile.
“He’s not training with us yet. He is out on the grass and making progress, but he’s not yet with us in our group.
“But he’s always around, chatting with the group. He’s a fantastic professional and he’s always around and about, and his opinion is always welcome.” – Sean Dyche on Seamus Coleman
Dyche discussed the possibility of pairing Beto and Dominic Calvert-Lewin as a strike partnership; a two-man attack was something he regularly used at Burnley.
“Yes, possibly. I’ve always liked playing with two strikers when possible but it’s got to suit the rest of the team as well.
“You have got to have the players who can work, particularly in midfield working in a two because in modern football, most people play with a three in [midfield] so you have two [players] who have got to handle three [opposition players], or a version of that. But I do like two strikers when I can.” – Sean Dyche
NOTTINGHAM FOREST
Steve Cooper reported no fresh concerns from Monday’s clash with Burnley and provided the latest on Danilo (hamstring), Serge Aurier (unspecified), Felipe (knee) and Willy Boly (illness), who were all absent in Gameweek 5.
“Danilo is going to be out for a few weeks yet.
“Serge is getting closer, it’s one that we’re trying to push as hard as we can without taking any unnecessary risks. We’ll see how that goes.
“[Willy Boly] is back with us, he took a bit of a hit with the illness which has taken a little bit of recovery time, so it’s another one we’re monitoring daily. But he is back with the group.
“Felipe is still managing a knee situation but is coming back with the group, it’s something that we’re having to constantly monitor and manage.
“Nothing new from the game on Monday night.” – Steve Cooper
There were also quotes from Cooper on Matt Turner, who now faces a challenge from Odysseas Vlachodimos for his place.
“I think everyone knew at the end of last season that we needed to add to the goalkeeping part of the squad. We feel like we are in a really strong place now with Matt, obviously Wayne [Hennesey] and Ethan [Horvath] are still with us from last year. We’ve added Oddy, which we are equally delighted with. It is a really competitive area of our squad and that’s what we want.
“Matt has definitely settled into the group, he’s a really good lad, very good work ethic in training. He’s really bought into the objectives and values of the club and is interested. He is really good to work with every day and we are really happy with him. I don’t want to say too much because you want your goalkeeper to play well in the next game, of course, and let’s hope we can support him to do that.” – Steve Cooper
FULHAM
Tosin Adarabioyo (groin), Sasa Lukic (knee) and Adama Traore (hamstring) remain unavailable for the trip to Crystal Palace.
Antonee Robinson missed out in Gameweek 5 with a muscle problem, meanwhile, but should be back.
“We have another session tomorrow, but [Robinson] has been training with the team since the beginning of the week and he will probably be ready.
“[Lukic] has a groin issue that he felt during the match against Arsenal. Adama is a muscle injury. These type of things can happen. Almost all of his pre-season was playing alone. He was training with a personal physio but it is completely different if you are in a team doing a proper pre-season. He started to be involved in games, and we had a behind-closed-doors game during the international break here and he felt his hamstring.
“Tosin’s injury came from the last few games of the last season. He had a problem with his groin. During pre-season he had a small surgery there, and he’s going to be a bit longer — probably six or seven weeks.” – Marco Silva
Carlos Vinicius is pushing for a start, having scored off the bench last weekend.
“We have to wait until the game. We have three players that can play there – Carlos, Raúl [Jimenez] and Rodrigo [Muniz].
“And it’s up to me to decide regarding what we want for the match, the strategy, the opposition, and it’s up to me to decide.
“It’s always important for a striker to score, to have an impact, to be decisive. They can have this impact from the beginning, [or] coming from the bench ready to help the team, which is what Vini did last game.
“Three minutes after he came in, he scored. But, even without scoring, that’s what Raúl did as well for the team, trying to help the team in the minutes that he played.” – Marco Silva on his striking options
BURNLEY
Darko Churlinov (blood poisoning), Michael Obafemi (hamstring) and Hjalmar Ekdal (knee) remain out for Burnley, while Lyle Foster begins a three-match ban after his dismissal in Gameweek 5.
Jordan Beyer limped out of Monday’s draw with Nottingham Forest but cramp was reported as the reason for that.
“Other than Lyle being suspended, and we will have to manage that situation, but everyone is healthy and is ready to have a go on Saturday.
“We’ve built a decent squad. There are a few players I would have liked to have seen anyway, so it’s for somebody else now to step into those shoes and give it its own flavour. Hopefully, it’s something that pays off on the day.” – Vincent Kompany
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS
Wolves boss Gary O’Neil said he has no new injury worries ahead of the trip to Luton Town, suggesting that the injury that forced Rayan Ait-Nouri off against Liverpool was indeed just muscle fatigue as previously suggested.
Joe Hodge (hamstring) has returned to training this week.
BOURNEMOUTH
Andoni Iraola reported no fresh concerns in his Friday presser, adding that he is not expecting any returnees for Sunday’s trip to Brighton.
Tyler Adams (hamstring), Ryan Fredericks (calf), Emiliano Marcondes (foot) and Alex Scott (knee) remain out for the Cherries.
“I think everyone that was involved last week is ready to play. I don’t think we will recover anyone.
“I think the only one that is not so far is Tyler, who will not be for Brighton game, but he has started this week at least to train partially with the group So probably we can have a chance of having him next week, something like this.” – Andoni Iraola
SHEFFIELD UNITED
Ben Osborn (groin), Max Lowe (ankle), John Fleck (leg), Rhian Brewster (hamstring), Rhys Norrington-Davies (hamstring) and Daniel Jebbison (illness) are still sidelined for the Blades, while George Baldock (calf) and Will Osula (unspecified) haven’t recovered after missing Gameweek 5 with injuries picked up over the international break.
Oli McBurnie also serves a one-match ban after his dismissal for two bookings against Spurs last weekend.
John Egan (knee) is fit, however.
LUTON TOWN
Ross Barkley (hamstring) is expected to miss out despite returning to training today, while Daniel Potts (ankle), Jordan Clark (ankle) and Gabriel Osho (knee) remain sidelined.
“Ross trained today. It will probably be a bit soon for tomorrow, we’ll build him up towards the Everton game, but he trained fully today which is good.”
“Everyone else came through the week and got through the Fulham game. There’s just a couple of the long-term ones which we were aware of, so it’s how we were really.” – Rob Edwards
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