The pre-match press conferences for Gameweek 8 continue on Thursday, with four Premier League managers facing the media and set to provide us with some all-important team news.
We’ll bring you the key quotes and injury updates from all these pressers in the article below.
You can read what Oliver Glasner had to say in his press conference, held on Wednesday, here.
KEY GAMEWEEK 8 TEAM NEWS FROM THURSDAY
- Manchester City: Haaland “100% available”, Semenyo out, Nunes, O’Reilly + Kovacic doubts
- Brentford: Schuster returns, Yarmolyuk + Janelt banned, no fresh concerns
- Coventry City: Four still out
- Ipswich Town: Lukic won’t be risked
THURSDAY’S PRESS CONFERENCE TIMES
🚨 Thursday’s FPL Press Conferences!
🔵 10.30am – Maresca
🩵 1.30pm – Lampard
🚜 1.30pm – O’Neil
🐝 2pm – Andrews https://t.co/UrpQcBlKrw— Fantasy Football Scout (@FFScout) October 22, 2026
MANCHESTER CITY
Erling Haaland is “100% available” for Man City’s clash with Aston Villa this weekend.
The Norwegian limped off after the Gameweek 7 win over Ipswich Town but made a swift recovery to make the bench in Tuesday’s thumping of AEK Athens.
Enzo Maresca said after full-time in that match that Haaland was fit for Gameweek 8, and he reiterated that positive prognosis on Thursday.
The City boss couldn’t, however, say for sure whether Matheus Nunes (unspecified), Mateo Kovacic (unspecified) and Nico O’Reilly (back) would be fit.
That trio had been forced off in Gameweek 7, subsequently missing training on Monday. Maresca had seemingly given them the all-clear in his pre-match presser before AEK, but they failed to show in midweek.
“We have a session this afternoon. They can be all of them available or not.
“Yesterday they were all improving, and we’ll see this afternoon. Still a doubt.
“For sure, Erling is the only one 100% available, and the other three we need to wait for today’s session.” – Enzo Maresca on Messrs Nunes, Kovacic, O’Reilly and Haaland
In case you missed the news, Antoine Semenyo (knee) will be out until mid-December.
As you’d expect, Maresca wasn’t giving anything away when it came to team selection. There was praise for Rayan Cherki and Phil Foden, but you wouldn’t exactly expect many head coaches to come out and say much different about their players.
“Yeah, it depends a little bit on the gameplan. I think they can play all together, yeah.” – Enzo Maresca on whether Phil Foden, Rayan Cherki and Erling Haaland can all play in the same team
“Since we started, I sat down with Phil two, three times, especially at the beginning, just to show him… I don’t know if ‘love’ is the right word to use but just to show him how important he is. I said many times that I know Phil from years ago, so I know how good he is. For different reasons, the last few years, it was not good enough. But again, I think when you have more players like Phil available, you are a better team, because at the end, it’s a matter of improving players. If you improve the players, you improve the team. So, for me, I think it’s my duty to try to help Phil to be again one of the best players in England.” – Enzo Maresca on Phil Foden
“Yeah, but it’s not a matter of just about one game. The season is very long, many games. The important thing is that again, when we decide to use Phil or to use another player, the important thing is that they are ready. Again, I think for the players, also it’s important that they are happy and they enjoy football.” – Enzo Maresca on Phil Foden’s performance on Tuesday
“I always said the same. I think football, at the end, is a team sport. So, it’s not about one player. They are all special, and not one of them is special. So, in the moment that I think you just consider one player special, I think from my point of view, it’s the wrong thing. So for me, Rayan is a top player, but we have another 20 top players. So, they are all different, but at the end it’s a matter of trying to find the right balance between what do we want to do when we have the ball and what do we want to do when we don’t have the ball.
“I think Rayan, in this moment, is one of the best players in Europe when he’s in the right position. That means when we are able to find him between the lines, it’s always dangerous.” – Enzo Maresca on Rayan Cherki
“I like it when the players they are happy. For sure, 100%. But I also like simple things. I think the most difficult thing in football is to do the easy things. Don’t complicate it. But sometimes you have players who are so, so good, like Rayan, that they need to do that. So, I’m very happy when he is doing that also because I know that he’s happy. If you are able to do that and to allow the team to create chances, it is top, it is even better.
“In terms of numbers, goals and assists, he is doing fantastic. That’s why I said before that when he’s in the right position, he’s creating chances for the team and he also scores goals for the team and for himself. That’s why it is so, so important that we are able to find him in the right position.” – Enzo Maresca on Rayan Cherki pulling out the tricks on Tuesday night
BRENTFORD
Jannik Schuster (ankle/illness) returns to the Brentford squad this weekend, meaning that Keith Andrews has a full complement of centre-halves to choose from.
“Jannik just had a bit of a troubled week going into the Liverpool game, really. A bit of a knock from international duty crept up on him during the Villa game, and then he wasn’t particularly well for a few days, so it was just a very disruptive week. But he’s been back training the last few days, so he’s back to himself, more or less.” – Keith Andrews
There are no fresh injuries to report but two Bees do have to serve bans after Gameweek 7 red cards.
Vitaly Janelt has a one-match suspension, while Yehor Yarmolyuk begins a three-match ban.
Antoni Milambo (knee), Josh Dasilva (hamstring) and Kaye Furo (knee) all remain out.
“There’s nothing major to note; we’re pretty much as we were last weekend.
“Some players have taken the next step of their journey back with really good weeks of training. Nathan [Collins], in particular, and Mathias Jensen made another really good step with training, considering that he’s only been back a week or two.” – Keith Andrews
COVENTRY CITY
Luke Woolfenden (knee), Aurele Amenda (calf), Josh Eccles (ankle) and Haji Wright (quad) will miss out one again for the Sky Blues.
“He’s progressing. The ankle has been an annoyance, really, for all of us because Josh’s calf injury has cleared up and now the ankle’s a bit of a problem, so it’s affecting his rehab and his recovery. He’s still not with us out on the grass yet. I know he’ll be frustrated with that.
“We look forward to him being back outside with us.” – Frank Lampard on Josh Eccles
IPSWICH TOWN
Sasa Lukic will again miss out with the groin issue that caused him to sit out Gameweek 7.
The midfielder will instead get some time on the grass this weekend, with a view to him being involved in a potentially crunch clash with Hull City in Gameweek 9.
