Kevin de Bruyne could change the landscape of Fantasy Premier League very soon after Pep Guardiola confirmed he is once again in contention for Manchester City.
The Belgian midfielder has been on the sidelines since August but has recovered from his injury in time to be considered for the side set to face Burnley.
However, Guardiola admitted that he did not know whether or not he would start the match or simply be involved from the bench. At the very least, he should be watched by Fantasy managers in the coming weeks now that he has fallen to £9.7m.
Meanwhile, the Man City manager revealed that Ilkay Gundogan would be out for two to three weeks with an unspecified injury.
In the same breath, he announced that Fabian Delph was available again, which could cause some concern for Benjamin Mendy owners, or anyone tempted to purchase him.
While the Frenchman has had more game-time in recent weeks, Guardiola is always prone to rotation, especially in favourable home fixtures.
There was some frustration for owners of Liverpool assets as Jurgen Klopp was typically non-committal when referring to the ongoing injury saga at Anfield.
Naby Keita was the only player he was prepared to rule out claiming that some of Mohamed Salah (muscle), Sadio Mané (thumb), Virgil van Dijk (rib) and James Milner (hamstring injury) had trained and that they were all facing late fitness tests.
Reports in the media this week have been positive as far as Salah and van Dijk are concerned with less certainty expressed over Mané and Milner.
It was a similar story at Bournemouth where Fantasy managers were hoping for a clearcut statement on Ryan Fraser from manager Eddie Howe.
Instead, they got the following:
“We’ll have to see with Ryan. He’s been carrying a hamstring injury for a few weeks, we’ll have to see and make a late decision on him, but he’s certainly a doubt.” – Eddie Howe
Howe went on to clarify that if Fraser were to miss the Gameweek 9 visit of Southampton he would almost certainly be fit for Gameweek 10.
Junior Stanislas looks first in line to claim Fraser’s place if he does not feature on Saturday.
Howe also revealed that Josh King was struggling with an ankle injury sustained on international duty with Norway but that he was hoping not to rest him considering his current form.
Things were a little more straightforward at Chelsea where most of the injury concerns are either minor or concerning players less in the Fantasy spotlight.
Ethan Ampadu will be out for a few weeks while Maurizio Sarri says he “thinks” Antonio Rudiger and Mateo Kovacic will recover from their knocks in time to face Manchester United. Ross Barkley was also revealed to have a minor injury that could only keep him out for one or two days and is therefore not ruled out of Saturday’s lunchtime match.
Marco Silva announced that Idrissa Gueye is a doubt for Gameweek 9 but revealed that he may be able to include Yerry Mina, Andre Gomes and James McCarthy in his matchday squad.
Wilfried Zaha remains a doubt for the Crystal Palace side visiting Goodison Park on Sunday. Roy Hodgson revealed that the Ivory Coast international had not trained since picking up his injury and that he was touch and go to train on Saturday.
On Thursday, Tottenham broke the news that Christian Eriksen had recovered from his abdomen and that, along with Mousa Dembele, he was available for Gamweek 9. Dele Alli, Danny Rose and Jan Vertonghen remain ruled out.
Finally, Marko Arnautovic‘s fitness was given another vote of confidence by West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini who explained that he does not have an injury. However, he did make reference to the fact that he has to be “careful” with his knee.
This is just a round-up of some of the bigger Fantasy Premier League talking points from the Gameweek 9 press conferences. Get the full team news and predicted line-ups on our TEAM NEWS page.
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