The 12 remaining pre-Gameweek 2 manager press conferences take place today – and we’ll be bringing you the key Fantasy Premier League (FPL) team news updates here.
This is a ‘live’ article, so it’ll be updated as and when manager quotes become available. Keep refreshing for the latest news!
For the headlines from the eight pressers held already, read our Thursday round-up here.
And for everything else you may need ahead of Saturday’s deadline, there’s our FPL Gameweek 2 guide.
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KEY TEAM NEWS UPDATES FROM FRIDAY
- Tottenham Hotspur: Solanke ruled out, Porro available
- Liverpool: Slot reveals an injury concern for Quansah
- Manchester City: Rodri + Savinho fitness latest, Pep on Gundogan
- Chelsea: Maresca not sure if Neto + Felix are ready to start, Sanchez boost
- Newcastle United: Schar appeal fails, no new injury news, Howe on Trippier’s future
- Arsenal: Arteta on Timber + Rice, team news in short supply
- Aston Villa: No new injuries, Mings + Kamara latest
- Crystal Palace: Andersen + Ayew on the way out, Hughes sick
- Brentford: Toney trains but Frank non-committal on his involvement
- Bournemouth: Evanilson set to be involved, Jebbison remains at the club for now
- Fulham: No injuries, Berge not ready to start, Andersen deal close
- Wolverhampton Wanderers: No new issues, Semedo still banned
FRIDAY’S PRESS CONFERENCE TIMES
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Dominic Solanke (ankle) has been ruled out of Spurs’ clash with Everton this weekend.
Ange Postecoglou said the striker had picked up a knock in Gameweek 1 that subsequently “flared up”.
“Dom picked up a knock in the last game. He got through the game but it kind of flared up the day after and he’ll miss tomorrow.
“It’s an ankle injury. He copped a knock really early, somebody went across his ankle. He’s definitely out tomorrow and then it just depends on the recovery. Obviously next week, then there’s the international break. But it’s not serious, we know that. Just an ankle injury.” – Ange Postecoglou
In the embargoed section later in the day, Postecoglou said that Solanke had a “chance” of being back for Gameweek 3.
“It’s not serious enough to keep him out for five weeks, he’s still got a chance for the Newcastle game. That’s the extent of it, it’s just about how quickly he recovers.” – Ange Postecoglou on Dominic Solanke
Pedro Porro, however, has been passed fit.
“[Pedro] is fine, he trained.
“Everyone else is all good.” – Ange Postecoglou
Rodrigo Bentancur will miss this game through the concussion protocol, meanwhile.
“Irrespective of concussion protocols, any head injury we’ve always going to be a little bit more conservative from my perspective. The good thing is he’s bounced back really well, he’s done all the tests and feels good but we’ll take our time with Rodrigo to make sure he’s absolutely 100 per cent before we put him out there again.” – Ange Postecoglou
Yves Bissouma is available for selection again after the internal suspension of last week – but Postecoglou did stress that the “bridge building continues” after his off-field indiscretions.
Postecoglou confirmed that Wilson Odobert is in contention to feature, too.
The Spurs boss was also asked if Richarlison was fit enough to start in Solanke’s absence.
“Yeah, Richie’s trained two weeks and yeah, he’s ready to go. Obviously he hasn’t played for quite a while, which you’ve always got to guard against, but he’s available and ready to go.” – Ange Postecoglou
LIVERPOOL
There was plenty of chat about Jarell Quansah in Arne Slot’s press conference.
It wasn’t just more discussion about duel-gate but also the £4.4m FPL defender’s fitness, as Slot revealed Quansah picked up an injury in midweek.
“[He reacted] in the way you would expect the player to react. We spoke to him immediately after the game, I spoke to him the day after on Sunday. At the end of that conversation, he asked if he could train. Normally he should have done a recovery [session], he wanted to train.
“Unfortunately, I think it was Tuesday that he picked up a bit of injury so he couldn’t train on Wednesday. Let’s see if he can train today.
“But he reacted in a way every player should react. I don’t think there was that much into it. Maybe the language was a problem. What I said was he did not lose every duel but he lost one or two important ones, one of them was just before half-time. We as a team lost too many duels, he lost one or two as well. ” – Arne Slot on Jarell Quansah
The Reds don’t have any other fitness issues that we’re aware of.
Slot meanwhile discussed the competition in the squad and how much of a learning curve he’s on with his new troops.
“I’m learning every day still about these players [and] about the individuals and also how they cooperate with each other. For me, the last week was not only important on Saturday, [but] the Sunday was also really important because I learned and saw there that the ones that didn’t play on Saturday were able to bring a really good training session in on Sunday. I think that’s a real important thing for a team as well because we all know we’re going to need many, many, many of them during the season for a lot of game minutes, and they brought in a really good training session on Sunday. That will help them and us for the rest of the season. Yes, I am still learning new things about the players, which is normal because, like I just said, with some of them I only work for three weeks, so [I’m] still seeing new things from them.” – Arne Slot
MANCHESTER CITY
Savinho has made a quick return to training reporting a “disturbance” in his knee on Sunday.
Pep Guardiola still isn’t sure about the extent of his involvement against Ipswich Town, however.
“He feels better. I don’t think he’s completely, completely top. But he made part of the training and he’s developing really well. We will see today or tomorrow, what we’re going to do with him.” – Pep Guardiola on Savinho
Rodri, who injured his hamstring at the European Championship and then returned late to the club, also remains a big doubt.
“He’s getting better. He’s not with the group. Maybe today he’ll make partial training, maybe. But still he’s not good.
“I don’t think so [for the weekend] but we’ll see today. Now we have training today at 3pm and we’ll see.” – Pep Guardiola on Rodri
As confirmed by Guardiola last Friday, Oscar Bobb will be out for 3-4 months with a leg injury.
The rest of Guardiola’s presser was dominated by talk of Ilkay Gundogan‘s recapture.
“We didn’t have any doubts when the possibility [to re-sign him] was open, and we’re absolutely delighted that he’s back.
“Of course, he’s not a teenager anymore. But the reason why we decided to take the chance to do it is for the level he played last season.
“Even the Euros, playing in the national team with Nagelsmann, he played really, really good as well.
“And he knows what we are going to do, he doesn’t need to adapt. He knows the city, he knows the club, his teammates, the way we want to play. So he will be immediately settled good, I guess, and that’s why we did it.
“I have the feeling he has not come here to retire or remember the good memories that we ha. Now it’s time to [get your] shoes on, and play your best!
“I love midfield players, I love his qualities, he gives an incredible alternative in the way we want to play. He adapts to two or three roles perfectly. He knows everything, he doesn’t need time to settle. Tomorrow, if he has to play, OK, he knows everything.
“Yes, maybe [he will be in the squad this weekend]. We need the international papers. If they arrive then yeah, maybe will be available.” – Pep Guardiola on Ilkay Gundogan
CHELSEA
Enzo Maresca’s Gameweek 2 presser took the form of an embargoed section held over from Thursday’s post-match media duties.
There were interesting quotes to report, however, particuarly on the starting prospects of new boys Joao Felix and Pedro Neto.
“Felix is available and for sure he can get chances to play.
“In terms of knowing the way we’re going to play, he is probably not ready yet. In terms of physicality, he is ready because he was already playing games there, so it’s just to understand if he needs more time to understand the way we’re going to play.
“But, overall, I think he can play.
“The last time Pedro played 90 minutes was in Februay. That is a long time ago. We need with him, and seven or eight more players – Romeo, Axel, Moi, Wes – we need to build a little bit their physical condition.
“To give Pedro another game on Sunday after playing 60, 65 minutes is probably too early, but we will see.” – Enzo Maresca
The Chelsea boss also provided a boost to Robert Sanchez owners – sort of.
Filip Jorgensen started on Thursday against Servette, with Maresca confirming that the current plan was for him to be the cup goalkeeper.
He did, however, warn that ultimately “performance” would dictate his selection.
“This is the plan in this moment, but the plan can change. I judge players on their level. If the level continues to be the same, probably Robert will be in goal when we play Premier League, and Filip will be in goal in the Conference League or the cups.“But in the end, it’s just about performance.” – Enzo Maresca
NEWCASTLE UNITED
Eddie Howe said nothing much has changed on the injury front at Newcastle this week.
Kieran Trippier and Matt Targett both got 45 minutes for the under-21s on Monday. Targett has been out for the best part of 10 months with two serious injuries, while Trippier was late back from international duty and was an unused substitute in Gameweek 1.
Jamaal Lascelles (knee), Sven Botman (knee) and Lewis Miley (back) are out long term for the Magpies, with Callum Wilson (back) a shorter-term absence.
This is the last league match that Sandro Tonali will miss before his 10-month ban is over.
Joining Tonali on the suspension list is Fabian Schar, sent off for violent conduct last weekend. An appeal has failed, so he’ll miss two league fixtures and next week’s EFL Cup tie.
Emil Krafth is probably the favourite to get the nod in Schar’s place, with Lloyd Kelly more of a left-sided option. Nevertheless, Howe said that Kelly was pushing for a start.
“I think he’s in good condition. He didn’t have a lot of match action in pre-season, which is always difficult. He trained roughly for around three weeks towards the end of pre-season and trained really well. He’s made a really positive impact with the group. I’ve been really impressed with his performances, I thought he did really well when he came on at the weekend in a difficult situation for us. I thought he defended really well. I think he would say he’s ready and he’s certainly pushing for a starting place.” – Eddie Howe on Lloyd Kelly
Howe also responded to this week’s speculation about a potential move away from Trippier.
“The situation is business as usual. Tripps has trained really well this week. I’m surprised by a lot of the stories that have come out. A valuable member of the squad. His professionalism has been first class. He’s trained really well since he came back from the Euros, I think he’s only had two weeks training – hence the decision to not start him at the weekend. Also Tino [Livramento] has had a very good pre-season. That’s the situation, he continues to be really valued by all of us.
“He’s just trained as normal and he’s been very good. I’m not really sure where this has come from. He’s preparing as we all are for the game on Sunday.” – Eddie Howe on Kieran Trippier
ARSENAL
There wasn’t much in the way of team news from Mikel Arteta.
We do know that Arsenal will be without Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) and forgotten man Kieran Tierney (hamstring) for weeks yet.
Fabio Vieira sat out the win over Wolves with a slight hip problem, meanwhile, having also missed the friendly against Sevilla a week earlier. He wouldn’t be troubling the starting XI anyway.
Arteta at least gave us a couple of quotes on Jurrien Timber, who came off the bench last weekend.
“He can play in various positions, his versatility is one of his biggest strengths. We missed him for 11 months and it’s great to have him back. He played some quality minutes the other day, like Alex [Zinchenko] did as well, I think Alex was really good as well, especially in the first 60 minutes against Wolves. Having that capacity in the squad to change things around and find other things that the team needs in that moment is something very valuable.
“He had a really good pre-season to a point, then we had to stop him because he had a little issue there and we didn’t believe he was ready. We have to build him up, we have to be cautious, so I’m not sure [if he’s ready to start].” – Mikel Arteta
The Arsenal boss also shared his thoughts on whether he expects Declan Rice to develop as a six or an eight.
“I think [both positions]. At his age, it would be a big mistake not to do that and not to have the capacity to play in different positions. And then, within the game, he will have a different role in relation to the opponents and what they do. Last year he showed he has the ability to shift from one game to the other, sometimes within the same game. To have players like that, with the short squad that we have, that’s really important.” – Mikel Arteta on Declan Rice
ASTON VILLA
Unai Emery said on Friday that Villa have no fresh injuries – which suggests that Matty Cash is fine after he appeared to come off clutching his hamstring in the win over West Ham United.
Emery also provided the latest on long-term absentees Tyrone Mings (knee) and Boubacar Kamara (knee).
“Kamara is progressing a lot, I think now is the sixth month since he was injured and he had surgery. And, more or less, in a few weeks he will start training with us.
“Tyrone Mings is close to start doing something with the team, now he’s working alone but he’s feeling very good.
“Other players, I think they are available. We don’t have more issues with injured players.” – Unai Emery
CRYSTAL PALACE
Oliver Glasner confirmed that Joachim Andersen and Jordan Ayew won’t be involved against West Ham United.
The pair are set for moves to Fulham and Leicester City respectively.
Mateus Franca (rib) is the only injured-related absentee but Will Hughes is struggling with illness.
Marc Guehi remains an Eagles player – for now.
“Talking about tomorrow, Joachim won’t be available. He is in final negotiations. Jordan Ayew is the same.
“França [is unavailable] after his [rib] fracture, and questionable since today is Will Hughes. He got sick yesterday evening. He was here today but after 20 minutes he stopped with the training, so now we have to wait for what happens in the afternoon and especially in the night – then we’ll see if he’s available.
“But all others trained the whole week and they are ready tomorrow.
“Marc [Guehi] will lead the team as captain tomorrow.” – Oliver Glasner
BRENTFORD
Ivan Toney missed out in Gameweek 1 – and there are no guarantees he’ll be back this weekend.
“Who knows! Let’s see Sunday what will happen. Ivan trained the whole week, trained with good arttitude in every aspect. He could be involved, he could not be involved. He could be here after the 30th, he could not be here. Basically, everything’s up in the air.” – Thomas Frank on Ivan Toney
Igor Thiago (knee), Josh Dasilva (knee) and Aaron Hickey (hamstring) remain out but Rico Henry (knee) is almost back available after a lengthy lay-off.
The Bees have swooped to sign £4.0m FPL defender Sepp van den Berg from Liverpool this week.
“I think he’s a great player with an even bigger potential.
“I hope [he can become a week-in, week-out starter], of course. I have a few others that also can play centre-back: Kristoffer Ajer, Ben Mee, Ethan [Pinnock] and Nathan [Collins]. So there is good competition but we need a strong squad.” – Thomas Frank on Sepp van den Berg
BOURNEMOUTH
New signing Evanilson looks set to be involved in Sunday’s match against Newcastle United.
“He has trained well this week, normal with the team. I think he will be, for sure, involved in the game. We expect that he starts well. He gets everything. It’s difficult when someone arrives, especially with the language. We want to give him all the info, probably it’s too much! But at least with the most important things for his specific position, he can survive there outside on the pitch if he has the chance to play.” – Andoni Iraola
Andoni Iraola also said that £4.5m FPL forward Daniel Jebbison is also an option for the squad this weekend – but there was a hint he may yet depart on loan.
“At least this week nothing is going to happen and he will be involved with us in the game.” – Andoni Iraola on Daniel Jebbison
David Brooks (shoulder), Enes Unal (toe) and Tyler Adams (back) are all recovering from medium-to-long-term issues and will miss out again.
Marcos Senesi sat out the Forest game with an illness but is now fit and available.
FULHAM
There are no known fitness concerns in the Fulham camp.
Marco Silva’s presser was dominated by talk of new arrivals, with the Cottagers boss confirming that a deal for Joachim Andersen was close.
Sander Berge has already arrived from Burnley but Silva said he would not be ready to feature in Gameweek 2.
“The players that are going to be available are the same players from last week.
“Sander is with us, we are really pleased to have him. He’s not ready to start to be with the team tomorrow; next week we are going to see involved in both games.” – Marco Silva
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS
Gary O’Neil says Wolves have “no issues” ahead of the visit of Chelsea.
That excludes long-term absentees Leon Chiwome (ankle), Sasa Kalajdzic (knee) and Enso Gonzalez (knee).
This will be the last league game that Nelson Semedo will be banned for: the other fixture of his three-game ban will served in the EFL Cup.
“We’re fine, no issues at all.
“Matheus Cunha is fine, he’ll available for more minutes. Bouba Traore has done an extra week’s training, so he is in a better spot.
“Everybody else is OK, I think, so we’re as we were.” – Gary O’Neil
4 months, 23 days agoWhy no solanke to vardy?