As is often the case when there’s a Friday deadline, the Premier League press conferences for Gameweek 8 are underway early.
Oliver Glasner, whose Nottingham Forest side contests the upcoming round’s curtain-raiser against Ipswich Town, faces the media on Wednesday.
We’ll bring you the key quotes and injury updates from the Tricky Trees’ boss in the article below.
We’ll also round up some bonus European pressers from the managers of Bournemouth, Brighton and Hove Albion, Crystal Palace and Sunderland.
GAMEWEEK 8 PREMIER LEAGUE PRESSER
NOTTINGHAM FOREST
Morgan Gibbs-White (muscle) has trained all week and is available to face Ipswich Town on Friday.
“He’s ready. He trained the entire week and so, no issues.
“When your captain is available again, it’s important. We also know that Morgan is somebody who can create chances, who can score goals himself, and that is always very positive.
“But on the other side, I think we could see that without Morgan Gibbs-White, we had a very competitive team against the champions. This gives us confidence because we lost without Morgan, we lost with Morgan. So, he’s an an important part but he alone can’t win the game. So we need a top team performance.
“But Morgan, yeah, it’s good to have him back.” – Oliver Glasner on Morgan Gibbs-White
Nikola Milenkovic, on the bench last weekend after a bone bruise and hamstring issues, is fit to start, too.
“Milenkovic was already on the bench [last weekend]. He’s also ready to start, ready to play.” – Oliver Glasner
Nicolo Savona (knee) and Igor Jesus (calf) are the only absentees.
“It’s just Igor and Savona who can’t be involved in the matchday squad but all others are fine and fit.” – Oliver Glasner
EUROPA LEAGUE/CONFERENCE LEAGUE PRESSERS
BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION
Pascal Struijk (hamstring) and Femi Azeez (hamstring) are still absent as Brighton prepare to face Jablonec.
“They won’t be available for tomorrow.
“We spoke about Pascal. He has a minor issue, so I think he will be back quite soon.
“With Femi, again we have to be patient with him. It’s not quite clear how long it will take. It seems to be not a big issue but therefore we have to be patient with Femi.” – Fabian Hurzeler on Femi Azeez and Pascal Struijk, via the Argus
Mats Wieffer (knee), Yankuba Minteh (leg), Kaoru Mitoma (hamstring), Zadok Yohanna (unspecified), Evan Ferguson (ankle) and Stefan Tzimas (knee) remain out, too.
BOURNEMOUTH
The Cherries have no new serious worries for Thursday’s clash with AC Milan.
“There are no concerns after the Sunderland game. Nothing special. Some cramps, but really nothing special.” – Marco Rose
And they’re about to be further boosted by the return of Eli Junior Kroupi (foot). While he can’t feature in Europe, there’s a good chance we’ll see him in Gameweek 8.
“Junior is back into the team training, but not on the UEFA list. But maybe we can have him for some minutes in Manchester.” – Marco Rose
Alex Scott (tendon) and Julian Araujo (thigh) remain out, while Veljko Milosavljevic (knee) is getting game-time with the under-21s as he builds match fitness.
“Veljko played with the under-21s. He’s going to play again with the under-21s because he was out for a long, long time, but he’s back as well. So, yeah, we just miss Alex. We have Julian, who is still injured, and the other lads are getting back. It’s good.” – Marco Rose
Scott is back on the grass but it sounds like it’ll be a struggle for him to feature before the November break.
“We have to wait how he responds [to] the load. The first day he did it, the response was not perfect, but some days later it was much better. So, now we can improve his training, but he will be not available for us the next two weeks.” – Marco Rose on Alex Scott
SUNDERLAND
Wilson Isidor (knock), Thomas Meunier (groin), Dan Ballard (hamstring) and Romaine Mundle (knee) remain out but Brian Brobbey (hamstring) is back in training and nearing a return.
Meunier and Isidor are doing individual work on the grass.
“Brian is in a good place. He has trained with the squad the last 10 days, more or less. So, knowing that it was a hamstring injury, it’s always important to take care of him and not rush the process. So, we are on the way. He won’t play tomorrow, that’s obvious, but he should be ready for Leeds.”
“From the last game at Bournemouth, no [new] injuries and we still have Thomas and Wilson [out]. They are in a good place. We’ll see if they can be ready soon.” – Regis Le Bris
Kevin Danso is suspended domestically but can feature in Europe.
CRYSTAL PALACE
Dean Henderson (ankle) and Takehiro Tomiyasu (calf) remain out as Palace prepare to face Besiktas, with the latter set to be sidelined until after the international break.
Henderson, however, is back in training and could potentially return in Gameweek 8.
Chadi Riad (knee) is a long-term absentee.
There’s another fresh concern, too, with Quinten Timber joining the injury list. He’ll miss the UEFA Europa League tie on Thursday but it’s not too clear when he’ll be back.
Ben Chilwell (knee) has recovered and is in the travelling squad, however.
“Ben Chilwell is back.
“Tomiyasu is out until the next international break because he has another injury.
“Dean started to train with the team on Monday, so we will see this weekend if he’s able to play, but he’s not with us for tomorrow.
“We have Quinten Timber, who is out, too.” – Pierre Sage
