There’s no Premier League football this weekend, with the next deadline for Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers not until Saturday 17 January.
Instead, the focus shifts to the FA Cup third round.
All 20 top-flight teams will be in action over the next few days.
While there’ll be more team news to come before the Gameweek 22 deadline, here are some of the key updates from the pre-match press conferences held on Thursday and Friday.
MANCHESTER CITY
Pep Guardiola has confirmed that new arrival Antoine Semenyo will be in the matchday squad to face Exeter City.
“He’ll be selected. I don’t know if he’ll start but he’ll be selected for sure.
“Everyone knows his qualities, right? He played extraordinary at Bournemouth and can play on both sides – right, left – he uses both legs unbelievably. As a striker he can play as well, with his pace, and he knows the Premier League.” – Pep Guardiola on Antoine Semenyo
On the injury front, Josko Gvardiol (leg), Ruben Dias (hamstring), John Stones (thigh), Mateo Kovacic (ankle), Oscar Bobb (hamstring) and Savinho (unspecified) are still unavailable.
Rayan Ait-Nouri and Omar Marmoush remain at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Mohammed Kudus (thigh) is set to be out until after the March international break, having been forced off against Sunderland last weekend.
“Kudus is unfortunately a bigger one to the tendon in the quad, so that’s one where we expect him back after the March international break.” – Thomas Frank on Mohammed Kudus
Thomas Frank also provided updates on Lucas Bergvall (knock) and Rodrigo Bentancur (hamstring), as well as Dejan Kulusevski (knee).
“Lucas is being assessed today – we’ll know more later today with him. Same with Rodri. Rodri has a hamstring injury, looks like a bigger one unfortunately. We don’t know the time frame, that we also will know later.” – Thomas Frank on Lucas Bergvall and Rodrigo Bentancur
“We know it’s a complicated injury. If there’s one person who can accelerate that, it’s Dejan. He’s a top pro and has got a top mentality. The most important thing is to remove the pain in the knee. He got an injection to help that 10 days ago. We know in three to four weeks if it’s settled and when it’s settled, hopefully, he’ll be on the grass and from there, we’ll see what’s happening.” – Thomas Frank on Dejan Kulusevski
James Maddison (knee) is still out, while Pape Matar Sarr and Yves Bissouma remain at AFCON.
Destiny Udogie (hamstring) and Dominic Solanke (ankle) are both closing in on returns, however.
“Yeah, both of them are trained. Both of them are getting closer, definitely. Destiny is a bit closer than Dom, obviously, because he’s only been out for five weeks-ish. So that’s, of course, less than six months. But both of them are positive and improving.” – Thomas Frank on Destiny Udogie and Dominic Solanke
Furthermore, Cristian Romero has been given an additional one-match ban for his behaviour during his side’s defeat to Liverpool last month, which he’ll serve in the FA Cup.
BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION
Yankuba Minteh (dead leg) will be assessed ahead of Sunday’s trip to Old Trafford.
Adam Webster (knee), Mats Wieffer (toe), Solly March (knee) and Stefanos Tzimas (knee) remain out, but Joel Veltman and Babis Kostoulas should be available.
“Yankuba will be assessed. We need to see how far along he is today [Friday] in the training session. It’s a dead leg, so there could be a chance but we have to see how he is. But dead legs sometimes need time, sometimes they heal quicker.
“Babis Kostoulas and Joel Veltman should be available.
“It’s too soon for Solly, he won’t be in the squad. It’s still too early for Mats to get involved, so he’s ruled out.” – Fabian Hurzeler
Carlos Baleba remains on international duty with Cameroon.
NEWCASTLE UNITED
Eddie Howe is hopeful that Fabian Schar will play again this season, having been taken off on a stretcher in the second half of Newcastle United’s 4-3 win over Leeds United on Wednesday.
“Hopefully not too bad, or maybe not as bad as it first looked. That’s the initial sort of assessment. He’s got an injury there, but no break – we think it’s just ligament damage. He’s seeing a specialist in the next few days to get some definitive answers, but [it’s] maybe more positive than the initial assessment.” – Eddie Howe on Fabian Schar
Howe also provided an update on Dan Burn (rib).
“Dan was given a timeframe that I think will roughly ended up being the timeframe – I’m not sure how much we can shave off that with the type of injury he’s got. But he’s making good progress – he’s running, he’s out on the grass, he’s here every day, and Dan will be very keen to push himself back, but it’s one we have to be careful with.” – Eddie Howe on Dan Burn
Elsewhere, Anthony Elanga (knock) will be assessed, while Emil Krafth (knee) and Will Osula (ankle) remain out.
CHELSEA
Team news was in short supply in Liam Rosenior’s pre-match press conference, but we do know that Marc Cucurella will serve his one-match ban against Charlton Athletic.
Dario Essugo (thigh), Romeo Lavia (quad), Levi Colwill (knee) and Mykhailo Mudryk (suspended) remain out.
Rosenior took the opportunity to praise Reece James.
“I’ve analysed the recent games we’ve played in and I have to say that Reece, in terms of his impact on the group, in terms of his performances when he’s been on the pitch, he’s growing every day. It’s exciting to be working with Reece at this stage of his career because I think he has levels that he can go even beyond what he’s performing now. I think that’s where a lot of these players are.” – Liam Rosenoir on Reece James
MANCHESTER UNITED
Darren Fletcher expects to have the same players available that he had against Burnley in midweek.
He also discussed the returns of Noussair Mazraoui and Bryan Mbeumo, who face off against each other at AFCON on Friday.
“I don’t think so. I think it’s too close a turnaround. So, we’ll have the same players available for the game, as we had against Burnley, so no new additions. Bryan and Nous will not be available for the game.” – Darren Fletcher
Harry Maguire’s fitness will be monitored.
“Well, he has been out for a while so it would probably be looking at his load and things like that. That decision’s not been made, but you’ve seen the players come back the other night. You’ve seen Mason [Mount], you’ve seen Kobbie [Mainoo], you’ve seen Bruno [Fernandes]. There has to be some understanding of their first minutes, we might have to be careful with that process to build back in, so I think Harry will probably be in that situation for the weekend.” – Darren Fletcher
Amad Diallo is still at AFCON with the Ivory Coast, while Matthijs de Ligt is sidelined due to a back injury.
BRENTFORD
Keith Andrews said Dango Ouattara won’t be involved for Brentford this weekend, having only recently returned from AFCON.
He should, however, be ready to play in Gameweek 22.
“Dango won’t be involved in this one; I’ve given him an extra couple of days off because he’s been pretty full on in his endeavours with Burkina Faso. We’ll get him back in and involved ahead of the Chelsea game.” – Keith Andrews on Dango Ouattara
Andrews also discussed Igor Thiago, who took a knock on Wednesday night.
“[I told him] ‘I need to look after you’. He’s precious to us. This is the first time he’s gone game, game, game, and in a short period of time. We’ve kind of looked after him and nurtured him as the season’s gone on. So, when he took that knock, it was always in my mind to look after him and take the edge off the full game. But when he’s on two goals, he’s obviously looking at back-to-back hat-tricks. And I know what way he’s wired, so that was always a difficult dilemma. So, I had to just make that decision, which obviously wasn’t entirely popular with him. But I think he’s understood it.” – Keith Andrews on Igor Thiago
Josh Dasilva, Antoni Milambo and Fabio Carvalho are all sidelined due to knee injuries, while Frank Onyeka is still away at AFCON.
ASTON VILLA
Emiliano Martinez (calf) has been ruled out of Aston Villa’s trip to Tottenham Hotspur.
Tyrone Mings (hamstring) will be assessed, while Amadou Onana (muscle) and Ross Barkley (knee) remain out.
Evann Guessand is still on duty at AFCON, but new signing Alysson could be involved.
NOTTINGHAM FOREST
John Victor will have a scan after suffering an injury against Aston Villa, which will rule him out of Friday’s FA Cup match against Wrexham.
“He’s had some blood drained from his knee, but it’s not settled as quickly as hoped so he’s having a scan, a more in-depth scan, just to check there’s nothing untoward there.” – Sean Dyche on John Victor
Sean Dyche also discussed Chris Wood, who has been out since Gameweek 8 with a knee issue.
“He’s seeing the specialist for a follow-up scan. I think it might be [on Thursday]. Certainly, by the end of this week or early next week. But that’s only a check-up, it’s all going well so far.” – Sean Dyche on Chris Wood
Ryan Yates (hamstring) is expected to remain out, while Wily Boly and Ibrahim Sangare are still away with the Ivory Coast.
Arnaud Kalimuendo has joined Eintracht Frankfurt on loan for the remainder of the season.
EVERTON
Everton have lost their appeal to overturn Michael Keane’s red card, so the defender will now serve a three-match suspension, which on top of this FA Cup clash, also includes Gameweeks 22/23.
Jack Grealish is also suspended this weekend, after picking up a one-match ban for two yellow card offences in midweek.
Jarrad Branthwaite (hamstring), Seamus Coleman (hamstring), Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (hamstring) and Charly Alcaraz (unspecified) remain out, while Idrissa Gana Gueye and Iliman Ndiaye are still at AFCON.
Branthwaite is at least “back on the grass” and “hopefully not too far away”.
CRYSTAL PALACE
Jean-Philippe Mateta won’t be involved for Crystal Palace on Saturday, mainly due to Macclesfield’s artificial turf.
“No one is coming back. Chris [Richards] is back, but he was in the squad against Aston Villa.
“JP [Mateta] will not travel with us. We’ll give him a rest, not playing on astro. We’ve talked about some issues with his knee. Everything’s under control but we don’t want to risk that he plays on astro and it gets worse, that’s why he stays in London.
“All others are fine.” – Oliver Glasner
Oliver Glasner also confirmed that Marc Guehi will be in the starting lineup.
Nathaniel Clyne (knock), Jefferson Lerma (concussion), Daniel Munoz (knee), Rio Cardines (groin), Daichi Kamada (hamstring), Cheick Doucoure (knee), Caleb Kphora (back), Chadi Riad (knee) and Eddie Nketiah (hamstring) remain out, while Ismaila Sarr is still on international duty.
BOURNEMOUTH
Evanilson and Enes Unal will be assessed for Bournemouth, having finished the midweek game against Tottenham Hotspur with “some issues”.
Justin Kluivert (knee), Tyler Adams (knee), Ben Gannon-Doak (hamstring), Ryan Christie (knee) and Will Dennis (ankle) are unavailable.
LEEDS UNITED
Daniel Farke said “… It will be more or less the same group of players available”.
“If it is risky, I wouldn’t do this so I think it will be more or less the same group of players available like for the last game. So, Joe [Rodon] no setback during the game, of course he was a bit tired in the end of the game anyhow but no injuries. The only one who was struggling today a little bit was Sam Byram with some back problems, perhaps a bit more to do with the travelling lots of travelling anyhow.” – Daniel Farke
The German also confirmed he will rotate in goal, with Karl Darlow set to start in between the sticks.
SUNDERLAND
Wilson Isidor will be assessed in training later today.
“He’s getting better. He trained this morning with the squad and we’ll see if he’s available or not. He’s just on the limit and we don’t want to take unnecessary risks, so that’s it.” – Regis Le Bris on Wilson Isidor
Regis Le Bris is hoping “one or two” of his returning AFCON contingent will be available, too.
Reinildo Mandava, Arthur Masuaka, Noah Sadiki and Bertrand Traore are all back on Wearside after exiting the competition.
Habib Diarra and Chemsdine Talbi remain in Morocco, however.
“It’s a bit early to know because although they have travelled back, they haven’t trained yet. So today will be really important to assess everyone.” – Regis Le Bris
Aji Alese and Ahmed Abdullahi have returned to training.
WEST HAM UNITED
Aaron Wan-Bissaka is back in training after returning from AFCON.
“He [Wan-Bissaka] was here today in the building. He did a light session [as] he was travelling. He’s OK. [We were] a little bit sad that he went away but are happy to [have] him back. No [there’s no further team news]. We have to assess normal situations.” – Nuno Espirito Santo
But El Hadji Malick Diouf is still on duty at AFCON, while Lukasz Fabianski has been sidelined with a back injury lately.
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS
Rob Edwards confirmed that Rodrigo Gomes will be part of the matchday squad.
Other than that, the Wolves boss isn’t expecting anyone else back.
Marshall Munetsi (calf), Dan Bentley (ankle), Jean-Ricner Bellegarde (hamstring) and Toti Gomes (hamstring) remain out, while Emmanuel Agbadou is still at AFCON.
FULHAM
Calvin Bassey, Alex Iwobi and Samuel Chukwueze are away at AFCON.
Rodrigo Muniz (hamstring), Kenny Tete (hamstring) and Josh King (knee) are still injured.
BURNLEY
Scott Parker has said he will freshen up his team for tomorrow’s clash against Millwall.
“We will freshen it up, we need to. The volume of games we have had in this short period, the players need that rest. We want to give other players the opportunity to impress.” – Scott Parker
Mike Tresor, Zian Flemming and Joe Worrall will presumably miss out again with unspecified issues.
Josh Cullen (knee), Jordan Beyer (hamstring), Connor Roberts (Achilles) and Zeki Amdouni (knee) are longer-term absentees.
