Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers may face frustration when trying to get the latest injury news on their flagged players.
That’s because we’ll only get pre-match press conferences from half of the 20 Premier League clubs before Friday’s Gameweek 21 deadline.
The winter break is to blame, with the upcoming Gameweek’s fixtures spread over 11 days.
Here’s when we’re going to hear from the top-flight managers:
| Date | Managers |
| Thursday 11 January | Kompany (Burnley), Edwards (Luton) |
| Friday 12 January | Emery (Aston Villa), Pochettino (Chelsea), Dyche (Everton), Silva (Fulham), Guardiola (Man City), ten Hag (Man Utd), Howe (Newcastle), Postecoglou (Spurs) |
| Thursday 18-Friday 19 January | Arteta (Arsenal), Iraola (Bournemouth), Frank (Brentford), De Zerbi (Brighton), Hodgson (C Palace), Klopp (Liverpool), Nuno (N Forest), Wilder (Sheff Utd), Moyes (West Ham), O’Neil (Wolves) |
In this article, we’ll round up what the managers of Burnley and Luton Town said to reporters on Thursday.
And in the absence of any press conferences on Friday, we’ll also go through everything we know about the 10 clubs that are playing in the second half of Gameweek 21.
Another round-up will follow after tomorrow’s press conferences.
FPL GAMEWEEK 21 TEAM NEWS: THURSDAY’S INJURY UPDATES
- Burnley: Kompany reveals nothing about Taylor, Foster + Beyer
- Luton Town: Brown suspended, Kabore off to AFCON, Morris fine
FPL GAMEWEEK 21 TEAM NEWS: WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE OTHER 10 CLUBS
- Liverpool: Alexander-Arnold expected to miss out
- West Ham United: Different timeframes offered for Bowen + Paqueta
- Arsenal: Jesus + Vieira back in training
- Brentford: Toney returns from suspension
- Bournemouth: Solanke missed cup tie with minor issue
- Crystal Palace: Olise likely unavailable
- Brighton and Hove Albion: Injured Mitoma + Adingra called up by nations
- Wolverhampton Wanderers: Hwang + Ait-Nouri depart for international duty
- Nottingham Forest: Six players exit for Africa
- Sheffield United: Baldock among cup absentees
BURNLEY
Vincent Kompany offered absolutely nothing of worth when it came to team news, so we’re in the dark as to the availability of Jordan Beyer (knock), Charlie Taylor (shoulder) and Lyle Foster (foot).
Taylor was substituted with a shoulder problem in the FA Cup loss to Spurs last Friday, while a hobbling Foster was withdrawn at the interval.
Beyer missed that match altogether, having been forced off in Gameweek 20.
“I’m going to throw Crabbers [Simon Crabtree, head of Burnley media] under the bus here, he advised me and said, ‘Today we say nothing about injuries’.
“I said, ‘Do you know what, for once Crabbers, that’s good advice, I’m going to follow that!’ He talks a lot but every now and then I know when to listen.
“I will say nothing, I follow his advice. I’d rather do that than lie.” – Vincent Kompany
Kompany had said six days ago that Foster was in “a little bit of pain”, while Taylor’s issue was described as “more chronic than acute”.
Prior to that, the Burnley boss said that Beyer would “hopefully” be back for Luton.
Sander Berge returns from the one-game ban he served in the FA Cup but Luca Koleosho (knee) remains a long-term absentee.
Hjalmar Ekdal has also been sidelined in recent weeks with an unspecified injury.
LUTON TOWN
Issa Kabore is off to the Africa Cup of Nations with Burkina Faso and Jacob Brown is suspended for yellow card accumulation, while Marvelous Nakamba (knee) and Tom Lockyer (health) remain out.
Carlton Morris is fine, however, with his fitness struggles in the FA Cup last weekend attributed to cramp.
Edwards went with Morris alongside Elijah Adebayo against Bolton Wanderers, saying that he “played pretty much the team that would have played in the league”.
“Carlton’s in contention, he was just cramping up a little bit against Bolton, so that’s been fine.
“Browny’s suspended anyway for this one, so we’re without Browny. He was feeling his knee for the Bolton game but he’ll be fit for our next one.
“Apart from that, with Marv (Marvelous Nakamba) and Locks (Tom Lockyer), we’ve got a decent complement to go up there.” – Rob Edwards
Daniel Potts (hamstring) and Reece Burke (hamstring) have both been back in training of late and are nearing a first-team return.
LIVERPOOL
Andrew Robertson (shoulder), Kostas Tsimikas (collarbone), Stefan Bajcetic (calf), Thiago Alcantara (hip) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (knee) aren’t expected to be involved against Bournemouth, while Ben Doak (knee) and Joel Matip (knee) are longer-term absentees.
Mohamed Salah and Wataru Endo have departed for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) and the Asian Cup respectively too, of course.
Robertson and Tsimikas are earmarked for returns to training at the end of the month, while Bajcetic and Thiago are a little bit behind the two left-backs in their recoveries.
As for Alexander-Arnold, Jurgen Klopp didn’t offer us anything new after the Fulham game on Wednesday night.
A day earlier, in the pre-match presser, Liverpool assistant boss Pep Lijnders gave the following updates on the right-back:
“First of all, some not-that-good news, Trent hyperextended his knee during the last game.
“So he has a little tear in the lateral ligament of his knee and he will need time to recover. He had a scan and he will be out for a few weeks, so let’s see after that.
“He will get some rest and then hopefully he can come back to where he was. Because this guy was decisive in all the games and was the one who created constantly for us from deep and gave the team a high level of flexibility. We will really miss him.” – Pep Lijnders to Liverpool’s website on Tuesday
“He will be out probably three weeks.
“We will have to find new dynamics without him because he made our game flexible so a big blow. But hopefully three weeks.” – Pep Lijnders on Trent Alexander-Arnold in Tuesday’s press conference
Dominik Szoboszlai (hamstring) had been back running ahead of that midweek win over Fulham, so could very well be available for Gameweek 21.
WEST HAM UNITED
West Ham United’s 1-1 draw against Bristol City on Sunday came at a huge cost.
Jarrod Bowen suffered an ankle injury and had to be assisted off the field by two members of the physio team late on, while Lucas Paqueta went down with a recurrence of the calf injury that ended his game against Arsenal in Gameweek 19.
Defenders Konstantinos Mavropanos and Vladimir Coufal also picked up knocks, with David Moyes offering little of note after full-time.
So, in the absence of any official club update since, we’ve been forced to endure media speculation on the extent of the injuries to Bowen and Paqueta.
The Brazilian’s issue seems to be the more serious, with estimates ranging from 1-2 months out.
A month-long absence had also been mooted for Bowen but the latest media speculation is that the ankle issue is not as serious as first thought and would only rule him out for 2-3 weeks. That would still obviously render him a major doubt for Gameweek 21.
Elsewhere, Mohammed Kudus and Nayef Aguerd are away at the Africa Cup of Nations and Michail Antonio (knee) has reportedly had a setback.
ARSENAL
Gabriel Jesus (knee) and Fabio Vieira (groin) were both spotted in training on Thursday as Arsenal enjoyed some warm-weather work in Dubai as part of their winter break.
But there was no sign of Oleksandr Zinchenko (calf) or Thomas Partey (muscle). Thomas has been unavailable for some time and was not included in Ghana’s AFCON squad, while Zinchenko has been absent since December 28.
The Ukraine international was said to be “progressing well” ahead of Sunday’s cup defeat to Liverpool but missed out.
Jurrien Timber (knee) is a longer-term absentee, while Takehiro Tomiyasu and Mohamed Elneny are now on international duty.
BRENTFORD
Ben Mee is back from a ban, while Ivan Toney will be available for selection from January 17 – so although he’ll miss Brentford’s FA Cup replay against Wolverhampton Wanderers next Tuesday, he’ll be back for Gameweek 21.
Shandon Baptiste (foot) and Josh Dasilva (hamstring) both returned for the initial cup tie with Wolves, while Kristoffer Ajer (foot) had previously been pencilled in for a comeback against Nottingham Forest next weekend.
Bryan Mbeumo (ankle), Aaron Hickey (hamstring), Kevin Schade (muscle) and Rico Henry (knee) remain out injured, while Yoane Wissa, Frank Onyeka, Saman Ghoddos and Kim Ji-soo are now all off on international duty.
Christian Norgaard will have been assessed after the back of his heel/ankle was met by Joao Gomes’ studs in west London last weekend.
BOURNEMOUTH
Dominic Solanke and Adam Smith weren’t risked for Bournemouth’s FA Cup win over QPR as they “were not 100 per cent for the game”, according to boss Andoni Iraola.
Iroala had said ahead of that cup tie that Milos Kerkez (foot), Lloyd Kelly (hamstring) and Tyler Adams (hamstring) were some way off a return, while Hamed Traore faces a long road back to fitness after battling malaria.
Ryan Fredericks (calf) hasn’t featured all season.
Marcos Senesi will be banned in Gameweek 21, while Dango Ouattara and Antoine Semenyo are off on international duty.
CRYSTAL PALACE
The Eagles haven’t offered an official timeline on Michael Olise‘s recovery from a hamstring injury but it has been widely reported in the media that the winger would be out for much, possibly all, of January.
Roy Hodgson would only say ahead of last Thursday’s cup tie against Everton that the winger faced a “period on the sidelines”.
Sam Johnstone (calf), Cheick Doucoure (Achilles), Rob Holding (ankle), Jesurun Rak-Sakyi (hamstring), Nathan Ferguson (hamstring) and Joel Ward (hamstring) were all still unavailable for that clash with the Toffees.
It’s not known if any of them will return for Gameweek 21, with the original timelines for Johnstone and Holding suggesting they should be close by now.
Doucoure is likely out until the summer, while Rak-Sakyi’s absence is expected to last until February.
Jordan Ayew is AFCON-bound, meanwhile.
BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION
Joel Veltman (knee), Tariq Lamptey (muscle), Solly March (knee), Ansu Fati (muscle) and Julio Enciso (knee) aren’t expected back before February, while Simon Adingra (hamstring) and Kaoru Mitoma (ankle) are simultaneously injured and called up by their respective countries for international duty.
Igor Julio has missed both competitive matches this year with the Achilles injury he sustained in Gameweek 19, so it remains to be seen if he’s back available for Gameweek 21.
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS
Dan Bentley (minor surgery), Hugo Bueno (calf) and Craig Dawson (knee wound) all missed the cup tie against Brentford with minor injuries, with Bentley confirmed as being fit for Gameweek 21 and the other two also expected to be fine.
Wolves were otherwise injury-free the last we heard but they nevertheless have at least six players out of first-team contention.
Joao Gomes received a straight red card in the FA Cup tie against Brentford and serves a three-match ban, while Jonny Otto is not being considered for selection for disciplinary reasons.
International duty beckons for Rayan Ait-Nouri, Boubacar Traore, Hwang Hee-chan and Justin Hubner, who are off to either the Africa Cup of Nations or the Asian Cup.
Six could become seven if Mario Lemina is still absent following the death of his father, although the expectation is that he’ll be back after an extended break for Gameweek 21 after missing the last two matches in league and cup.
NOTTINGHAM FOREST
Forest are the worst-hit Premier League side when it comes to players away on international duty as Serge Aurier, Ibrahim Sangaré, Willy Boly, Ola Aina, Moussa Niakhaté and Cheikhou Kouyaté have all jetted off to the Ivory Coast.
Back home, Anthony Elanga missed the draw with Blackpool in the cup with a “knock”; Nuno Espirito Santo couldn’t offer much else on the issue other than to say he would “hopefully” be fine thereafter.
We await the latest on Felipe (hamstring), Taiwo Awoniyi (groin) and Divock Origi (muscle), the other flagged players in Nuno’s squad. Origi required an MRI scan last week after having recurring issues but Awoniyi may be ahead of schedule, having posted a video of himself jogging in December.
SHEFFIELD UNITED
Yasser Larouci and Anis Ben Slimane have now departed for the Africa Cup of Nations.
Longer-term absentees Chris Basham (leg), John Egan (leg) and Daniel Jebbison (illness) remain on the sidelines but Tom Davies (thigh) is “closer” to a return and could be back at some point in January.
Chris Wilder said ahead of last weekend’s cup win over Gillingham that he wouldn’t “risk certain players that are struggling” – so the absences of George Baldock, Jayden Bogle, Anel Ahmedhodzic and Aaron Trusty at the back may have been precautionary.
