THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN SUPERSEDED BY FRIDAY’S PRESS CONFERENCE ROUND-UP – CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST GAMEWEEK 33 TEAM NEWS
Fresh from listening to Jurgen Klopp’s Wednesday lunchtime press conference, we’ve got the early team news for Gameweek 33.
Unai Emery and David Moyes are also facing the media today ahead of their European fixtures on Thursday. The latest Villa news is included, and we’ll update this article when Moyes speaks later.
Plus, we’ve got updates to look back on from Arsenal and Manchester City’s midweek UEFA Champions League ties.
We’ll get more Fantasy Premier League (FPL) injury news on Thursday and Friday when the pre-match press conferences take place.
But before then, this initial rundown gives an overview of all 20 Premier League sides.
NEWCASTLE UNITED V TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Jamaal Lascelles (knee) and Sven Botman (knee) are out for the season, while there’s some doubt about whether Joelinton (quad) and Lewis Miley (back) will feature again.
Sandro Tonali is banned until August, too.
Callum Wilson (tendon), Tino Livramento (ankle), Miguel Almiron (knee) and Nick Pope (shoulder) are on track to return in late April or early May, if the timelines provided by their manager are still accurate. That would see them be in contention for Double Gameweek 37 if there are no setbacks.
Kieran Trippier (calf) might be in a similar boat. Eddie Howe said last week that the full-back would “be a little bit longer than we anticipated he would be”, with media reports suggesting Gameweek 34 as a potential return date. That hasn’t been confirmed officially, however.
Matt Targett (Achilles) might be the first to return: Howe said ahead of Gameweek 31 that he would be “back soon”.
Joe Willock is the new concern from the weekend, having come off with the recurrence of his old Achilles injury. He’ll now be assessed.
The Spurs team news is not quite so complex.
Richarlison may return this weekend: he was given Gameweek 32 off “to get him totally over” a knee niggle.
Manor Solomon (knee), Fraser Forster (foot) and Ryan Sessegnon (hamstring) are unlikely to feature again this season.
BRENTFORD V SHEFFIELD UNITED
Ivan Toney should be fine to feature against Sheffield United this weekend.
Toney was only on the bench in Gameweek 32, with Thomas Frank explaining the striker had been “carrying a small muscle injury in the hip”. The short turnaround between fixtures was also cited, with Frank saying he wanted him “fresh and firing for the last six games”.
Kevin Schade could also be back in the squad for the first time in over six months.
The Germany international lasted 60 minutes of a behind-closed-doors friendly against Leyton Orient last Tuesday, on his return from an adductor injury.
He was a possibility to feature against Aston Villa in Gameweek 32 but missed out.
Frank said last Thursday that Ethan Pinnock (ankle) and Christian Nørgaard (back), “in that order”, are the next to return after Schade.
Rico Henry (knee), Josh Dasilva (knee) and Ben Mee (ankle) are out for the season, while Aaron Hickey (hamstring) is also a long-term absentee.
Chris Wilder was optimistic that Jack Robinson suffered only a knock when limping out of the Chelsea game last Sunday.
George Baldock (calf), Tom Davies (hamstring), Rhian Brewster (hamstring), Max Lowe (ankle), Rhys Norrington-Davies (hamstring), Chris Basham (leg) and John Egan (leg) remain on the medium-to-long-term injury list.
BURNLEY V BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION
Vincent Kompany hinted in the last week that some of his injured players have been back in training.
Ameen Al-Dakhil (unknown), Jordan Beyer (muscle) and Han-Noah Massengo (unknown), who have all been sidelined for some time, could be the individuals in question.
Aaron Ramsey (knee), Nathan Redmond (leg) and Luca Koleosho (knee) are out longer term.
Dara O’Shea will also miss the visit of Brighton after his red card on Saturday. It’s just a one-match ban, however.
The Seagulls will again be without long-term absentees Jack Hinshelwood (foot), Solly March (knee) and Kauro Mitoma (back). Billy Gilmour (knee) may not return until early May, meanwhile.
Adam Webster (muscle) and Evan Ferguson (ankle) joined the injury list before Gameweek 32 but we don’t yet have timelines on those two.
We did have a timeline on James Milner (muscle) but he has sailed past the two-to-three-week estimate set in late February.
MANCHESTER CITY V LUTON TOWN
Pep Guardiola didn’t seem too worried about Phil Foden when asked about the midfielder’s withdrawal on Tuesday night.
The in-form England international hobbled out of the six-goal thriller with Real Madrid after a challenge from Eduardo Camavinga.
“It’s a knock, I think it’s not… he was grumpy with me, why I make a substitution. That means he’s okay!” – Pep Guardiola on Phil Foden
Foden himself was more cautious.
“Yeah I hope so, I’ve got a bit of a bad dead leg. There’s a bit of time now to recover, so hopefully I can.” – Phil Foden, when asked if he was ‘okay’ after full-time
Nathan Ake (calf) and Kyle Walker (hamstring) were again missing in the Bernabeu but Josko Gvardiol shook off Saturday’s “little problem” to feature.
Ederson was again only a substitute after his recent recovery from a muscle injury.
Also on the bench was Kevin De Bruyne, who would have started had sickness not hit just before the game.
“When I arrived here in the locker room. In the last meeting in the hotel, he was playing. He didn’t say anything to me.
“But he started to feel bad and bad. Vomiting when he arrived. He didn’t feel good to play.
“One of the secrets at the high level is adapting quickly to the chaos. There’s no time to complain. Kyle is not here, so he’s not here. Nathan is not here, so he’s not here. Kevin cannot play, we play with 11. I would prefer him to be here. Hopefully he can be [back] next Wednesday.” – Pep Guardiola after being asked when he decided Kevin De Bruyne wouldn’t start
Luton loanee Issa Kabore won’t be able to face his parent club Manchester City this weekend.
Rob Edwards has plenty to contend with on the injury front, too.
Albert Sambi Lokonga (hamstring), Chiedozie Ogbene (hamstring), Gabriel Osho (knee), Elijah Adebayo (hamstring), Amari’i Bell (hamstring), Dan Potts (hamstring), Jacob Brown (knee), Mads Andersen (calf), Marvelous Nakamba (knee) and Tom Lockyer (health) were all still unavailable in Gameweek 32.
Edwards doesn’t think any of them will be back on Saturday.
Lokonga has the “best chance” for Gameweek 34, with Adebayo and Ogbene behind him.
NOTTINGHAM FOREST V WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS
Forest’s team news was unchanged going into the weekend, with Nuno Tavares (muscle), Taiwo Awoniyi (muscle) and Willy Boly (muscle) still on the sidelines.
We don’t know when any of those will be available.
Morgan Gibbs-White is also a fresh concern from Sunday’s loss in north London.
The midfielder was sighted with an ice pack after being substituted at Tottenham Hotspur. Boss Nuno Espirito Santo would only say that Gibbs-White would have to be assessed.
Pedro Neto (hamstring) remains out for Wolves.
There is a chance of seeing some more of their recently injured players, however.
Craig Dawson (groin) was back on the bench in Gameweek 32 so could be threatening a start against Forest.
Hwang Hee-chan (hamstring) also returned to training last week, earlier than expected, so we might see him get a cameo at the City Ground.
Gary O’Neil didn’t even rule Jean-Ricner Bellegarde (knee) out of this match but said Gameweek 34 was a more realistic target.
There is a new concern from the loss to West Ham, however.
Rayan Ait-Nouri hobbled off early in the second half of that fixture, with a calf injury to blame.
O’Neil’s post-match comments made it sound like his substitution was more precautionary, however. The Wolves boss added that “hopefully he’ll be OK for next week”.
BOURNEMOUTH V MANCHESTER UNITED
The Bournemouth squad should be over the sniffles that affected availability and minutes in Gameweeks 31 and 32. Chris Mepham missed both.
Andoni Iraola does have fresh injury concerns from the defeat to Luton Town, however.
Marcus Tavernier (hamstring) looks very likely to miss out, while there is also a small question mark over Antoine Semenyo (muscle).
Iraola said after full-time on Saturday that he expects Tavernier to be out for “some time”, adding that Semenyo requested to be taken off. The Bournemouth boss did stress that he thought Semenyo’s issue was “just tightness” and not “a proper injury”.
Also absent from the squad to face Luton was Tyler Adams, who was suffering from back spasms.
Ryan Fredericks (calf) and Luis Sinisterra (hamstring) remain out for the Cherries.
United were without Gameweek 31 injury victims Raphael Varane and Jonny Evans for the draw with Liverpool.
Erik ten Hag said after that match that he didn’t expect the pair to be back in the short term.
The Red Devils also couldn’t call on Scott McTominay but the details haven’t been released about his issue.
Hobbling out of that clash with the ‘other’ Reds was Marcus Rashford. Ten Hag doesn’t think it’s a serious injury, however.
Luke Shaw (muscle), Tyrell Malacia (knee), Victor Lindelof (hamstring) and Lisandro Martinez (calf) and Anthony Martial (groin) are all still out.
LIVERPOOL V CRYSTAL PALACE
Diogo Jota (knee), Trent Alexander-Arnold (knee) and Alisson (hamstring) are all nearing a return.
They, along with long-term absentee Stefan Bajcetic (calf), have rejoined training this week.
The original thinking was that it might require a week or two for them to get back into first-team contention. Jurgen Klopp had previously said that the aforementioned players would only be in “parts of training” this week.
But the Liverpool boss, facing the media on Wednesday lunchtime, didn’t even rule out the prospect of some of them getting minutes against Atalanta on Thursday, let alone Crystal Palace in Gameweek 33.
“We will have to see [if they can be involved against Atalanta]. So, obviously we didn’t rush it with the boys. You can, but we didn’t. That means they did a lot of training by themselves, especially Diogo and Trent. [They] worked as a group since two or three weeks, could do really proper training. So, [they] looked very good yesterday to be honest.
“Stefan is different a little bit because he was out for much longer, but he is now training with us for longer as well. But I think after the long spell he had without playing football it makes sense that we might give him a game with the U21s and then let’s see how he deals with that. That’s not the plan with the other three guys. Alisson is on the way back, as well. So, we have to see that.
“They are now back in training and now we have to see how we involve them, how we use them. That we need them is clear but we need them in the best possible shape, and we want to give them kind of rhythm.
“It’s always a challenge to reintegrate the guys. With the quality they have obviously it should a bit be easier. We will use them in the next days and weeks; what it means for tomorrow, I didn’t make a decision yet.” – Jurgen Klopp
Klopp did later say, however, that Alisson was not back in full training yet.
“I don’t know exactly how long they were out now but I think Ali so far, seven or eight weeks. He is not back in full training yet but seven or eight weeks. I think Jots was 10 weeks or something, it was really long, and Trent was the longest since I have known him, I think. So, they all need to get back step by step.
“So, if they are now ready to go [for] minutes and more, it’s perfect timing because we play Thursday, Sunday, Thursday, Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday. So, we will need the boys.
“It’s not about who can then play all the games because the young boys or whoever stepped in and played the role. They shouldn’t, and couldn’t, play all the games so we need really all the players. We need always quality on the pitch because we have to win pretty much all the games. That’s the good news. I cannot see anything negative in it, it’s just they need time and hopefully we can give them that time.” – Jurgen Klopp
Ben Doak (knee), Thiago Alcantara (muscle) and Joel Matip (knee) will be out longer term.
As for the Eagles, they look set to again be without Sam Johnstone (elbow), Matheus Franca (groin), Marc Guehi (knee), Cheick Doucoure (Achilles), Rob Holding (ankle) and Chris Richards (knee).
Jesurun Rak-Sakyi (hamstring) and Jairo Riedewald (unknown) could be back, however.
Michael Olise (hamstring) returned to the matchday squad last weekend and got minutes off the bench.
WEST HAM UNITED V FULHAM
Jarrod Bowen has been ruled out of West Ham’s UEFA Europa League tie with Bayer Leverkusen.
The winger hobbled out of the draw with Wolves after taking a knock to his hip/rib. David Moyes, however, said the Bowen suffered more of a “twist” as a result of the impact.
“Jarrod’s not with us. He’s got an injury and is not available to play tomorrow night. We’re not sure and I probably wouldn’t be giving any dates or any thoughts of when we’re going to get him back. I couldn’t give that at the moment.
“We think that when he got the knee, he’s twisted and he’s probably damaged a little bit of something… I don’t know, they were trying to use the word what the fast bowlers get when they bowl the ball fast. The rotation of one of his… whatever you want to call it, we think that’s where the damage has come.” – David Moyes
Alphonse Areola, who has been sidelined since Gameweek 30 with what Moyes called a “slight” groin tweak, is also still out.
And Kalvin Phillips has joined his two teammates on the sidelines after sustaining a hamstring injury in training. As is the case with Bowen, there’s no return date for the Man City loanee but Moyes doesn’t think it’s long term.
The Fulham team news has been easy over the last two weeks: we’re not aware of a single injury affecting their squad.
ARSENAL V ASTON VILLA
Almost as injury-free as Fulham are Arsenal.
They’ve only got Jurrien Timber (knee) on the sidelines, and even he’s on the grass and working his way back to fitness.
Bukayo Saka was in the wars during Tuesday’s draw with Bayern Munich but there was no mention of any injury after full-time. He completed 90 minutes against the Bavarian giants, although did seem to be limping after the game.
Douglas Luiz begins a two-match ban for Villa and will miss the Arsenal game. So too will longer-term injury victims Jacob Ramsey (foot), Tyrone Mings (knee), Boubacar Kamara (knee) and Emi Buendia (knee).
The game may also come too quickly for Matty Cash (hamstring). He’s back on the grass but not yet in team training and won’t feature in Thursday’s Europa Conference League clash with Lille.
Neither will Clement Lenglet, who Unai Emery says has a “small problem”.
CHELSEA V EVERTON
Malo Gusto‘s omission from the squad to face Sheffield United was described as a “rest” by Mauricio Pochettino.
Cole Palmer‘s withdrawal in the same game was also said to be fatigue-related.
Ben Chilwell may be back to bolster the numbers on Monday. Fluid on the knee and then illness has kept him out of action since the March international break.
Robert Sanchez has also been back in training since last week following a brief lay-off with an unspecified issue.
Romeo Lavia (thigh), Lesley Ugochukwu (hamstring), Levi Colwill (toe), Reece James (hamstring), Wesley Fofana (knee) and Christopher Nkunku (hamstring) are the names still on the Chelsea injury list. We’ve not got return dates on any of those but Lavia and Fofana are out for the season.
Finally, Everton. Arnaut Danjuma (ankle) has been back in training for a week or two now but it remains to be seen if his fitness is good enough for him to be considered for a playing return.
There is also a question mark over Amadou Onana, who was described as being “too sore” in training before the Burnley game.
Idrissa Gana Gueye should be back, however, as he was only absent due to the birth of his child.
Lewis Dobbin (ankle) and Dele Alli (groin) remained sidelined for the win over the Clarets.
1 year, 2 months agoGreat article thanks