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After an international break full of the usual knocks, withdrawals and scares, it’s time for our early Gameweek 32 team news article to cut through the noise.
We’ve not just had internationals since our last Premier League action but also FA Cup quarter-finals and European club ties.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s Gameweek 32 presser took place on Wednesday, and you can read the headline quotes from that here. Four more managers then followed suit on Thursday, with the key updates here.
But for the 15 other clubs, this initial round-up provides an overview before Friday’s pressers.
ARSENAL
Gabriel Magalhaes, who hobbled out of Saturday’s cup defeat to Southampton with a knee issue, recovered to play 90 minutes in Tuesday’s last-gasp win over Sporting.
Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard, who had previously pulled out of their respective national team squads and failed to feature at St Mary’s, started in Portugal, too.
Bukayo Saka (unspecified), Jurrien Timber (ankle), Eberechi Eze (calf), Piero Hincapie (muscle) were still absent, though. So too was longer-term absentee Mikel Merino (foot).
Saka, like Rice, had withdrawn from the England squad over the international break with “discomfort”. Hincapie suffered a potentially serious muscle issue while representing Ecuador, while Timber and Eze are carrying injuries that saw them miss the EFL Cup final in mid-March. They’ve not featured since.
Mikel Arteta discussed Saka and Timber on Monday.
“No, they’re having trouble, they’re not ready yet. Let’s see, hopefully they’re going to be ready for the weekend, if everything goes well, and that’s a massive boost because in recent days we’ve lost so many important players and that’s something that we need to change immediately.” – Mikel Arteta on Bukayo Saka and Jurrien Timber, speaking on Monday
As for Tuesday’s game, Martin Odegaard seemed to be limping when he came off.
Indeed, Odegaard, Saka and Timber weren’t seen in training on Thursday. Eze was, however.
ASTON VILLA
Jadon Sancho is a new addition to the injury list after picking up a shoulder problem in a mid-season friendly. He’ll miss Thursday’s clash with Bologna.
“Sancho is not going to be out for a long time, but he’s still being out. Hopefully, in a few days, maybe one or two weeks, he’s coming back, but he’s progressing well. He’s not available for tomorrow.” – Unai Emery on Jadon Sancho, speaking on Wednesday
Boubacar Kamara (knee) remains a long-term injury absentee.
BOURNEMOUTH
We await further word on Eli Junior Kroupi, who pulled out of the France under-21 squad over the March international break due to “physical discomfort”. The player himself said that further examinations were “reassuring”, however.
Lewis Cook (hamstring) could be back. He was already running ahead of Gameweek 31, with Andoni Iraola saying the Cherries wanted to use the three-week break between games to get him fully fit.
Tyler Adams (quad) could also be available, if reports are correct.
Justin Kluivert (knee) and Julio Soler (hamstring) are longer-term absentees, although the former is nearing the end of his 3-4 month timeline.
BRENTFORD
Mikkel Damsgaard (knock) missed out in Gameweek 31 but has since returned to action with Denmark. Kristoffer Ajer sat out the goalless draw with Leeds to attend the birth of his child, meanwhile.
Dango Ouattara only featured as a substitute in that game due to a knock but has since logged 180 minutes for Burkina Faso.
As for returnees, Rico Henry (hamstring), Aaron Hickey (hamstring) and Vitaly Janelt (foot) were earmarked for comebacks some time after the international break. Keith Andrews will hopefully bring us up to speed on those three.
Antoni Milambo and Fábio Carvalho (both knee) are out for the season.
Another (very!) long-term absentee, Josh Dasilva (knee), has been back in training for a while. The Bees hope to have him playing again before the end of the campaign.
BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION
Lewis Dunk begins a two-match ban that will rule him out of Gameweek 32 and the first half of Gameweek 33.
Adam Webster (knee) and Stefanos Tzimas (knee) are long-term absentees.
The Argus report that Jack Hinshelwood is fit for the trip to Burnley after withdrawing from the England under-21 squad with a minor knee injury.
“He had a small issue with his knee and therefore we and the English national team, they don’t want to risk anything.
“I think it was a very mature decision and there’s nothing bigger, it’s just minor. We saw him today on the pitch training well, so he will be available for the next game.” – Fabian Hurzeler on Jack Hinshelwood, via the Argus
Other than that, we’re not aware of any major issues affecting the Seagulls at present.
CHELSEA
If Liam Rosenior sticks to his guns, then Enzo Fernandez will not be available this weekend. The midfielder was suspended by the Chelsea boss for two matches, following public comments about his future at Chelsea. The first of those games was the FA Cup quarter-final win over Port Vale.
Jamie Gittens (hamstring) had yet another setback ahead of the meeting with the League One side and looks set to remain on the sidelines.
Reece James (hamstring), Trevoh Chalobah (ankle) and Levi Colwill (knee) all missed out on the cup clash with the Valiants, too.
Colwill has been back in training for a while, with the Blues proceeding with caution after so long out. Rosenior said last week that it’d be a “few more weeks” before he’d be ready to play.
As for James and Chalobah, the latest we’ve heard is that the pair are “progressing” but that there’s no return date as yet. Chalobah had originally been earmarked for a comeback in early May.
Filip Jorgensen had a minor groin operation in mid-March, with Rosenior saying then that he’d be out for “a matter of weeks”.
CRYSTAL PALACE
Facing the media on Wednesday ahead of Palace’s UEFA Europa Conference League tie against Fiorentina, Oliver Glasner reported that, except for Cheick Doucoure (knee/muscle/match fitness) and Eddie Nketiah (hamstring), Palace have a fully fit squad.
That includes Adam Wharton (adductor), who returned early from England duty.
“He had a minor adductor issue with England but it’s all sorted. He trained the full week and is available tomorrow.” – Oliver Glasner on Adam Wharton
“It’s how football is because it looked like everybody was available for tomorrow’s game until two minutes before the end of the session. Eddie unfortunately injured his hamstring again and had to leave the pitch two minutes before the end of the [training] game. So, he won’t make tomorrow’s squad. We will have a scan again, but it doesn’t really look good for him.
“All the others are available. On Sunday, we trained with 23 on-field players, I think, for the first time this season – but it is how it is.
“Like always, he will have all our support to come back hopefully before the end of the season but again, we will know more tomorrow.” – Oliver Glasner on Eddie Nketiah
“Cheicky had a few disrupted weeks. First of all, he had a daughter – that means he was two or three days not in! Then, he started training, then he felt a little bit, in his muscle, not really a heavy injury, but after two or three days training, he was out for two or three days.
“Then, he was again in. We had a scan, he’s fine, so I’m hoping he’ll be back by the end of the week. I think the most important thing for him is, as he’s missed almost the last two years, he gets now back to where he’s stable, into a training rhythm and then a playing rhythm. He trained with a few sessions but we still have to manage and be very cautious.” – Oliver Glasner on Cheick Doucoure
Jorgen Strand Larsen is suspended in Europe, so won’t feature on Thursday. Glasner said that Jean-Philippe Mateta is “ready to start”, although didn’t know “if he can play the full 90 minutes”.
EVERTON
Jack Grealish (foot) is definitely unavailable but Charly Alcaraz should be nearing the end of his recovery from an unspecified issue, having been ruled out for 3-4 weeks in late February.
Concerns about Iliman Ndiaye have been assuaged, meanwhile. He dropped out of the Senegal squad with “discomfort” in his foot but took part in an opening training session this week.
Tyrique George is available again, having been ineligible to face his parent club in Gameweek 31.
LIVERPOOL
The big development on the Liverpool team news front this week is that Alexander Isak (ankle) is finally fit to feature.
The Swede has been in full team training for around a week now, and came close to making the squad in Saturday’s FA Cup quarter-final against Manchester City.
While he was held back from that game, he was involved in last night’s Champions League tie against Paris Saint-Germain as a substitute.
“[He’s] finished close to a week of team training sessions now. So, he can play a part. Otherwise, I wouldn’t take him.
“I decided not to take him to the Etihad because we felt, in talks with the player and medical performance staff, that [we weren’t] able to get a performance out of him yet. Since he’s with us now, we do think that we can get a performance out of him now – but not to start. That’d be clear.” – Arne Slot on Alexander Isak, speaking on Tuesday
Elsewhere, Alisson (muscle) is unsurprisingly still out. Slot said last week that the Brazilian ‘keeper would be back “towards the end of the season”.
Wataru Endo (foot), Stefan Bajcetic (hamstring), Conor Bradley (knee) and Giovanni Leoni (knee) remain on the sidelines, too.
MANCHESTER CITY
Neither Ruben Dias (knock) nor John Stones (calf) recovered for the thumping win over Liverpool last weekend.
Dias picked up a hamstring issue before Man City’s EFL Cup final win in March but had been on the cusp of a return when he suffered a “knock” in training. Stones withdrew from the England squad over the break.
City coach Pep Lijnders doesn’t think either issue is serious.
Josko Gvardiol (leg) is a longer-term absentee.
MANCHESTER UNITED
Benjamin Sesko and Bryan Mbeumo pulled out of their respective national team squads for precautionary reasons. However, there don’t seem to be any lingering concerns, as the pair were both involved in United’s training camp in Dublin over the break.
So too were Lisandro Martinez (calf) and Patrick Dorgu (hamstring), although the latter was only training individually.
Matthijs de Ligt (back) remained at home as his long road to recovery continues.
Diogo Dalot and Tom Heaton also didn’t make the trip to Ireland due to illness.
Harry Maguire is fit but he’ll not be involved in Gameweek 32 as he’s suspended for one match.
“To have Licha in and around it again is good. Obviously, Harry’s going to miss the game so we’ve got Licha back around it, with Leny [Yoro] and Ayden [Heaven], and we just want to get stronger as a group really.” – Michael Carrick to in-house media on Wednesday
NEWCASTLE UNITED
There’s potentially good news for Malick Thiaw owners as Sven Botman has undergone surgery on a facial fracture. While there’s no official timeline yet, he’s expected to be out until May.
However, another positional rival in the shape of Fabian Schar (ankle) is due back imminently. So too are Lewis Miley (dead leg/muscle) and Bruno Guimaraes (hamstring).
Emil Krafth (knee) is out longer term.
Sandro Tonali (groin), who sat out the Tyne-Wear derby, recovered to feature for Italy over the break.
NOTTINGHAM FOREST
Chris Wood (knee) is finally available for selection and is in the squad for Thursday’s UEFA Europa League clash with Porto.
“He has started to train with the team. He is available for the game. He is working with us. We need to manage him a little bit physically but he has travelled. It means he is available to be in the squad tomorrow. He is an experienced player, he scores goals and it is important to be ready to help the team in this moment because we will face a lot of challenges.” – Vitor Pereira on Chris Wood, speaking on Wednesday
Jair Cunha (ankle) has joined Wood on the flight to Portugal but it doesn’t sound like he’ll feature.
“We have almost solved the situation, but not yet for this game.” – Vitor Pereira on Jair Cunha, speaking on Wednesday
John Victor (knee), Willy Boly (knee) and Nicola Savona (knee) are out.
SUNDERLAND
Jocelin Ta Bi (ankle), Nilson Angulo (unknown), Romaine Mundle (hamstring) and Bertrand Traore (knee) are expected to remain on the sidelines for the Black Cats.
We await further news on Robin Roefs (hamstring) and Dan Ballard (hamstring). Regis Le Bris said ahead of the Tyne-Wear derby that there would be a “late assessment” on the pair (and others who were ultimately passed fit), but they failed to appear on Tyneside. It suggests the two were close, but neither subsequently went on international duty, to leave some lingering doubt.
Roefs told Sky Sports on Thursday that he was back on the pitch and hoping to be fit for the weekend.
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Pape Matar Sarr pulled out of the Senegal squad last week with a shoulder problem. He wasn’t seen in the images from Roberto De Zerbi’s first training session.
That came after Mathys Tel (hip) had withdrawn from France under-21 duty, although he was later sighted at Hotspur Way.
Guglielmo Vicario also underwent hernia surgery over the break. He aims to return “within the next month”, so Gameweek 32 will probably be too soon for him.
It may be premature for Rodrigo Bentancur (hamstring), too. Igor Tudor had sounded positive on him ahead of Gameweek 31 but Football London implies that the Sunderland game might be beyond the midfielder.
It sounds even worse for Mohammed Kudus (thigh). Reports on Thursday suggest he has had a setback, just as he was on the verge of returning.
James Maddison (knee) won’t be seen till later in the season, while Yves Bissouma (muscle), Wilson Odobert (knee), Ben Davies (ankle) and Dejan Kulusevski (knee) are also on the injury list.
