Confirmation that Tammy Abraham will miss Gameweek 14 was perhaps the headline story from Friday’s press conferences.
The most-owned player in Fantasy Premier League suffered a hip injury in midweek and will be unavailable for the visit of West Ham United, with Frank Lampard saying:
We’ll know [more] by the end of the weekend. He’s got some pain. He won’t be involved tomorrow. We’ll see by Monday.
There wasn’t much else in the way of team news from Lampard, who gave us the latest on Antonio Rudiger (groin/match fitness):
He’s getting closer, had a really good week’s work. The reality is that he’s not played for a very long time, so it’s a mini pre-season now the injury seems to be over. Now we need to get him properly fit. Days and weeks rather than months.
Liverpool were dealt their own injury blow on Friday, with the news that Fabinho (ankle) is set to be missing until the New Year.
Jurgen Klopp said of the Reds’ injury latest:
We are not sure 100% [about Fabinho’s injury]. Looks pretty sure that he will not be involved in the Christmas fixtures. It obviously takes a while.
After the [Napoli] game, from the guys who were involved in the squad, all good. Nothing else apart from Fabinho. Naby [Keita] is OK.
Pep Guardiola didn’t bring us much in the way of team news, saying only:
Normal situation. Long injuries are long injuries, so the other ones are fit.
Sergio Aguero is the latest addition to the injury list, of course, having picked up a groin issue in the win over Chelsea.
On Monday, Guardiola ruled out the Argentinean striker for “a few weeks”.
Manchester City next face Newcastle United, who will be without Matt Ritchie (ankle) and Jamaal Lascelles (leg) until the New Year.
DeAndre Yedlin is rated touch and go after picking up a hip problem.
Tottenham Hotspur confirmed that Ben Davies (ankle), Erik Lamela (hamstring), Hugo Lloris (elbow) and Michel Vorm (calf) are all still sidelined ahead of the match against Bournemouth.
The Cherries will still be without Josh King (hamstring), with Eddie Howe providing us with an update on Ryan Fraser (dead leg) and Dominic Solanke (hamstring):
Solanke felt his hamstring in the warm-up when he was having a shot on goal. He was then warming up again at half time and felt that he couldn’t sprint. He had a scan on Monday and that came back all clear, so he should be ok.
Ryan Fraser got a knock on his leg, a dead leg really. We didn’t see him at training in the early part of this week, but hopefully, he’ll be ok.
Leicester City have a clean bill of health going into Sunday’s game against Everton.
Brendan Rodgers said of Jonny Evans (cramp):
He has trained. He had one day free because his wife, Helen, gave birth to a baby boy, so he’s had an eventful few weeks! He was fine. It’s a combination of being away with the international team and being out and everything. He’s trained for a few days so he’s fit and ready for the weekend.
Marco Silva isn’t blessed on the injury front, however.
The Everton boss said:
Morgan [Schneiderlin] is a big doubt, Theo [Walcott] the same. Fabian Delph, will be really difficult for him to be fit for the next match. Richarlison will be OK, you know about Andre [Gomes] and JP [Gbamin]. Coleman will be out as well.
Bernard (knee) has returned to training, however, and could feature.
Daniel Farke confirmed that Grant Hanley (groin), Josip Drmic (muscle) and Timm Klose (knee) remain sidelined ahead of the visit of managerless Arsenal, while Alex Tettey will be unavailable for “private reasons”.
Jamal Lewis (knee) and Todd Cantwell (ankle) have returned to training, however, and come back into contention.
The Gunners, who sacked Unai Emery earlier in the day, reported that David Luiz (ribs), Shkodran Mustafi (foot) and Hector Bellerin (hamstring) are all being assessed ahead of Sunday’s match with Norwich.
Dani Ceballos (hamstring) remains out but Sead Kolasinac (hamstring) is available for selection.
Chris Wilder says that he “should” have John Egan (calf) back from injury for the trip to Wolves and gave some positive news on Lys Mousset (muscle):
We should have John Egan back, so he’s got to to oust Phil Jagielka, who I thought was outstanding on Sunday. But no issues, the full group travels down to Wolverhampton.
He’s recovered, thankfully. We all feared the worst when Lys pulled up. He’s been outstanding for us the last couple of games.
Dean Henderson returns after being ineligible to face his parent club last weekend.
Asked about Paul Pogba‘s (ankle) recovery, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said:
He is stepping up his recovery and let’s see how soon he’ll be match fit and available. We want him back as soon as possible.
Sunday, no. I can’t say now [when he’ll be back] because I’ve not been home and seen him. Let’s see where he’s at when we comes back and when he starts training with us.
On Scott McTominay (ankle), Solskjaer added:
We hope Scotty will be back as soon as possible. He’s also been back home and I’ve not seen him. Maybe Villa, maybe Spurs, hopefully for Sunday.
Asked about the battle for the left-back position, the Norwegian replied:
The performances of Brandon [Williams] have been a big, big plus. I’ve been very pleased with Brandon, he scored a great goal. Great to have Luke [Shaw] through 90 minutes, let’s see what we do for Sunday.
Dean Smith said of Villa’s injury situation:
Bjorn [Engels] is fine, he’s trained every day so far. He just felt that he wasn’t right to give us 90 minutes if required against Newcastle so I didn’t put him on the bench. But he’s trained all week, so should be available for selection.
Jota has been training fairly regularly for the last two/three weeks, he’ll probably need some match minutes now. Keinan Davis starts jogging on Monday, so that’s great news. He’s pain-free so hopefully he’s back in the next two/three weeks.
There were no reports of any injuries from Nuno Espirito Santo following Wolves’ Europa League exertions, although Romain Saiss is suspended.
A round-up of Thursday’s press conferences can be viewed here.
Predicted line-ups and more detailed information are found in the Team News tab.
Our YouTube/podcast round-up can be viewed below.
Nominated for ‘Best in Fantasy Football – Editorial’ at the Football Content Awards 2020
4 years, 4 months agoRight, so best use of 2ft and 0m
Pope — Heaton
Taa Lundstram Tomori —- Rico lascelles
Sterling Kdb Mount martial — cantwell
Rashford Abraham Vardy
A: Sterling + Tammy >> Mane + Jimenez
B: Sterling + Lascelles >> Mane + Kelly
C: Mount + Tammy >> Pulisic + Ings
D: Something else...don’t mind taking a hit.