There were plenty of headline-making reports to emerge from the Premier League managers’ press conferences and beyond on Thursday and Friday, with the developing stories adding further complication to Fantasy bosses’ preparations for the Gameweek 1 deadline this evening.
Pep Guardiola’s announcement that Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne are fit and available for selection against Arsenal on Sunday will have set hearts aflutter, particularly among Fantasy Premier League managers who have lumped on the likes of Bernardo Silva and Riyad Mahrez for their opening-day squads.
Reports circulating in the press, meanwhile, suggest that Matteo Darmian was not with the Manchester United squad ahead of their evening kick-off against Leicester City.
James Maddison has been passed fit by Claude Puel for Leicester City’s trip to Old Trafford tonight, with Jonny Evans set to be assessed after recovering from a knock.
Fabinho (illness) and James Milner (head injury) will be monitored by Jurgen Klopp ahead of their match with West Ham United on Sunday, while the German ruled Dejan Lovren out of action. Joel Matip, Ragnar Klavan and Joe Gomez all face their own fitness battles ahead of the visit of the Hammers, with Gomez perhaps the likeliest to line up alongside Virgil van Dijk in Gameweek 1.
Unai Emery revealed that Nacho Monreal only returned to training today, so Ainsley Maitland-Niles will be on stand-by to deputise at left-back in the prolonged absence of Sead Kolasinac.
Mauricio Pochettino revealed at Thursday’s press conference that some of his returning World Cup contingent will be fit to start on Saturday lunch-time, with some others only capable of bench duty and one or two missing out altogether – though didn’t elaborate on which players fell into the respective categories. The likes of Harry Kane, Hugo Lloris, Jan Vertonghen and Dele Alli must, then, all have question marks over their Gameweek 1 involvement.
Maurizio Sarri says he is “unsure” about whether Kepa Arrizabalaga will be handed his debut against Huddersfield, so Willy Caballero will be on stand-by to play in goal.
Eden Hazard, Olivier Giroud, Gary Cahill and N’Golo Kante only made brief cameos in Tuesday night’s friendly and may not be risked from the start, while new signing Mateo Kovacic has admitted that he lacks match sharpness:
I haven’t trained a lot at Real Madrid because I badly wanted to come to Chelsea so I didn’t do much training. I will give my best to be ready [as soon as possible]
New signing Jefferson Lerma won’t be considered by Eddie Howe for the visit of Cardiff City this weekend, while left-back Diego Rico is suspended for the visit of the Bluebirds.
Marco Silva revealed at today’s press conference that deadline day signings Bernard, Yerry Mina and Andre Gomes will not feature at Molineux, while the weekend’s fixtures will also come too soon for Federico Fernandez at Newcastle United.
Slavisa Jokanovic faces a selection headache in defence, with Alfie Mawson missing for several weeks through injury, Denis Odoi suspended and now Tim Ream struggling for fitness. Maxime Le Marchand and Calum Chambers could be Fulham’s centre-back pairing for the visit of Crystal Palace, then, with Joe Bryan handed his debut at left-back – though Fantasy owners of Ryan Sessegnon ought to be braced for the prospect of their £6.5m midfielder being pushed back into defence.
Jose Izquierdo looks set to miss out for Brighton this weekend, with Florin Andone another big doubt.
The Burnley goalkeeper situation is as complicated as ever, with Joe Hart braced for his Clarets league debut if Tom Heaton fails to recover from a calf complaint. Nick Pope is sidelined long-term through a dislocated shoulder. Robbie Brady and Stephen Defour remain doubts, while the availability of Chris Wood (infected bite) and Matej Vydra (lack of fitness) could determine Sean Dyche’s formation for the trip to Southampton.
Mark Hughes revealed that he has a virtually fully-fit squad to choose from going into Sunday’s meeting with Burnley, though there are still doubts as to whether Cedric Soares will be able to start after a bout of illness – Matt Targett will deputise in that position if the Portuguese international is still struggling. Danny Ings is in contention for his Saints debut.
Winston Reid, Manuel Lanzini and Andy Carroll are the only players who Manuel Pellegrini will definitely be without for the trip to Anfield on Sunday, though Edmilson Fernandes has a “small problem” and Pellegrini intimated that he too would be unavailable for selection. That means Andriy Yarmolenko has recovered from a hip injury and could make his league debut in attack with Marko Arnautovic and fellow Hammers’ new boy Felipe Anderson.
Loan signing Harry Arter is ineligible to face his parent club as Cardiff travel to Bournemouth, but Victor Camarasa is in contention to make his Bluebirds debut.
Scott Dann, Connor Wickham and Jonny Williams are ruled out of Crystal Palace’s match with Fulham this weekend, while Hodgson said that recent signing Max Meyer needs more fitness work before he is ready to play. Wilfried Zaha and Christian Benteke look set to lead the line at Craven Cottage.
Danny Williams and Erik Durm were ruled out by David Wagner at Friday’s press conference, meanwhile, with the Huddersfield manager set to make a late decision on Isaac Mbenza following his arrival on transfer deadline day. The Terriers could roll out a 3-5-2 for the visit of Chelsea after the success of that formation’s use against the big clubs last season.
Ryan Bennett, Romain Saiss and perhaps even deadline day signing Leander Dendoncker could be competing for the same central defensive spot as Wolves welcome Everton to Molineux on Saturday night.
Gerard Deulofeu and Nathaniel Chalobah look unlikely to feature for the Hornets this weekend after struggling with injury in pre-season, though Abdoulaye Doucoure could be thrown straight into the midfield alongside Etienne Capoue despite his own lack of minutes in Watford’s summer friendlies. Jose Holebas and Daryl Janmaat got the nod in Watford’s final pre-season fixture against Sampdoria last weekend and may have seen off the challenges of Adam Masina, Marc Navarro and Kiko Femenia at full-back.
Check out the Team News tab for our predictions of the 20 Premier League clubs’ line-ups this weekend.
