There is no Fantasy Premier League deadline to worry about this weekend but there is no less team news to report, with many of the Premier League managers (or their assistants) holding press conferences on Friday ahead of the FA Cup third round.
There are several notable injury updates to bring you.
Tottenham Hotspur confirmed late this afternoon that, following assessment today, Harry Kane suffered a tear in his left hamstring during the defeat to Southampton.
The club’s medical staff will continue to review the injury and no timeframe has been put on his return but Jose Mourinho said in his presser earlier:
I don’t know yet, maybe later today we have news but if you ask me just my feeling – good news or bad news – I am more on bad news than good news, that’s my feeling.
Some opinions from the medical department before the test results: I don’t think we’re going to have good news. We can say that no Middlesbrough [in the FA Cup] for Harry Kane.
The Special One also provided an update on Tanguy Ndombele (hip), saying:
In this moment he can’t give anything because he is injured. What he can give is what he gave against Norwich which was clearly a very, very good performance.
Spurs earlier confirmed that Eric Dier (illness) and Kyle Walker-Peters (calf) have returned to training.
Son Heung-min is available after suspension but Ben Davies (ankle), Hugo Lloris (elbow) and Danny Rose (calf) remain out.
From one premium striker to another.
Brendan Rodgers said of Jamie Vardy‘s calf problem on Friday:
He’s coming along very well. He’s done some good work with the medical team and he’ll be back out on the [training] pitch tomorrow. He’s not available for the [FA Cup] game but he’ll be training with us Sunday.
Rodgers confirmed that everyone else was fit, with Matty James (Achilles) set to feature for the under-23s tonight.
Aston Villa delivered a double dose of bad news this morning, disclosing that Tom Heaton and Wesley will miss the remainder of the season.
The pair suffered knee ligament damage in the 2-1 victory over Burnley on New Year’s Day.
Discussing who could fill in for the pair ahead of some possible transfer moves in January, Dean Smith said:
Our only fit striker at the club at the minute is Jonathan Kodija. Keinan Davis was training last week but he still felt a tightness in his hamstring.
We’ve got Ørjan Nyland and Lovre Kalinic who are both full internationals, we’ve got a lad on loan at Livingston, Matija Sarkic, who is a Montenegro international.
Pep Guardiola clarified Manchester City’s fitness situation, saying:
Ederson was sick. He came to the Everton game very bad. Today he trained and he feels better. Nico [Otamendi] is getting better too. Tomorrow he won’t play but in the next days he can be with the squad again.
On Aymeric Laporte (knee), Guardiola added:
He trained with the team for 10, 15 minutes, the rest individually and he is getting better. He feels good and in the next few weeks he will complete all the training sessions for us. I don’t know, I think he will dictate [his return date].
Diogo Jota won’t feature for Wolves against Manchester United, meanwhile.
Nuno Espirito Santo said of his striker on Friday:
Unfortunately, Diogo is not available. In the last game, the moment of the red card for Kabasele, no intention at all, but he had a strong impact. Tomorrow and probably the next days, he’s out.
He’s being assessed, he’s done an MRI, but it’s not good. We have to wait for all the blood, that the impact caused, to go down, so the doc can evaluate him better and assess him. After that, we’ll have a proper look at the diagnosis.
The Red Devils will again be without Paul Pogba (ankle), whose manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said of the Frenchman and United’s other injuries:
Paul came back after a long spell out, two games, had a reaction. Felt his ankle was sore, we did a scan. It’s not the same injury. It’s not a major one, probably three or four weeks.
Axel [Tuanzebe], Eric [Bailly], Tim [Fosu-Mensah] are getting closer but won’t be ready for this. Rojo won’t be ready for this but getting back. There’s feelings of illness and cold, which is normal around about this time.
Ahead of the Merseyside derby, Jurgen Klopp said he was none-the-wiser about the severity of Naby Keita‘s groin injury:
He will have a scan today, I don’t know exactly when but somebody will then tell me the result of this. That didn’t happen yet.
On Liverpool’s other injuries, Klopp said:
Shaqiri looks good; in a good way, will not be available for [Sunday] but looks good. Oxlade–Chamberlain looks good. Joel [Matip] looks good. Dejan Lovren, spoke last night, looking good. Fabinho out on the pitch doing the running stuff.
They are really all in a good way, our only problem is the games are coming so quick, that’s why there’s no real news. Most of them will not be available. Then we have eight days until the next game, so we will see what’s then possible.
Across the city, Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti said:
On Bernard, we will check today in training. Schneiderlin has trained with us, I think he is available to play. We had a problem with Fabian Delph, he had a knock on his knee. He had a scan yesterday, it seems good but we will see.
Roy Hodgson today revealed that Mamadou Sakho (hamstring) will be sidelined for “a considerable period” of time.
On Palace’s other injured players, Hodgson said:
Gary Cahill had his first training session today which is positive. One in, one out in terms of training bodies.
Wilf Zaha played with an injury on Wednesday. It was really touch and go: we didn’t know until the day he’d get on the field. I think it’s very unlikely we’ll be able to do that to him again on Sunday.
David Moyes reported a few minor concerns in his press conference, saying:
Lukasz Fabianski didn’t train today but if he is fit then he will start at the weekend.
Mark Noble didn’t train today and Aaron Cresswell didn’t train today. You could see Cress was limping at the end of Bournemouth and Nobes got his metatarsal stood on.
The other one is Michail Antonio. I saw him on the grass today, but I don’t think he will be ready for the game.
Ogbonna didn’t train today either, so he’s another one we will keep an eye on.
Ahead of the Blues’ match against Nottingham Forest on Sunday, Chelsea assistant boss Jody Morris said:
Injury-wise, Alonso is looking like he’s definitely out and Ruben [Loftus-Cheek] is the obvious one. Apart from that, we’re still having a look at a few players to see what the fallout is like from the Brighton game.
Fikayo [Tomori] trained today but he’s still not feeling the best himself, he’s got a bit of a bug as well. Olivier [Giroud] is OK.
Newcastle United have serious injury problems heading into the match against Rochdale, with Steve Bruce saying of Jetro Willems (groin), Javier Manquillo (hamstring), Jonjo Shelvey (hamstring) and Fabian Schär (hamstring):
None of them will play. I can’t see any of them being available for Wolves. In terms of severity, probably the worst is Manquillo. We think Schar and Willems are not too bad, they could be a grade I or II, which is two to three weeks.
On the Magpies’ other walking wounded, Bruce added:
Yedlin, we think, might be OK. He’s got a terrible hand injury, thankfully it’s not broken, but he’s going to be OK.
Dummett, Clark, Lascelles, we all hope that maybe for Wolves, but certainly not the weekend.
Ritchie is training, and if all goes well today, then he’ll take part on the bench.
Norwich will be without Josip Drmic (hamstring) and Dennis Srbeny (back) this weekend. Ralf Fährmann (unknown) remains sidelined but a return to team training could occur next week.
On Teemu Pukki (hamstring), boss Daniel Farke said:
Teemu Pukki is out for tomorrow, he has a little hamstring strain. He’s struggling with his toe as well. I can’t predict whether he’s available for the Manchester United game.
Eddie Howe isn’t expecting any of his injured players back for the visit of Luton, saying:
This weekend, probably not, and the week after, we’ll wait and see.
Craig Shakespeare, sitting in for Nigel Pearson, said of Watford’s injury latest:
There’s four or five that have got knocks, they’re being assessed today. We’ve still got Will Hughes [out] from the previous game. Etienne Capoue has got a bit of a knock.
Yesterday Arsenal confirmed that Calum Chambers ruptured an ACL against Chelsea and will be sidelined for between six to nine months.
Hector Bellerin and Gabriel Martinelli (both hamstring) continue to be assessed, while Kieran Tierney (shoulder) is out until March.
Brighton boss Graham Potter meanwhile revealed that Dan Burn will be out for around six weeks after undergoing surgery on his injured shoulder but Solly March (groin) could return this weekend.
Sean Dyche confirmed that Danny Drinkwater will now return to parent club Chelsea in his media gathering, while Chris Wilder announced the signing of Jack Rodwell in his.
Ralph Hasenhuttl promised line-up changes for Southampton this weekend but didn’t provide any fresh injury updates.
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