Gameweek 37+ may well be a tricky one to navigate for Fantasy managers, with the fixtures spread out over five days.
That means that a number of Premier League head coaches, including Jurgen Klopp, won’t face the media before Saturday’s Fantasy Premier League deadline.
Gameweek 36+ is still ongoing, too, so we won’t hear much from David Moyes or Nigel Pearson before the Gameweek 37+ deadline passes, other than what they tell reporters after full-time on Friday.
On top of that, we have four top-flight sides in FA Cup semi-final action before they contest their Gameweek 37+ fixtures.
Below are the only ‘official’ Premier League pressers to have been held so far, although the managers of three of the FA Cup semi-finalists have also faced the media today:
Pre-Gameweek 37+ Press Conferences
Jose Mourinho has revealed that Dele Alli (hamstring) is not ready to return against Leicester City this weekend.
Asked whether Serge Aurier – who has travelled to France to be with his family – will feature, the Spurs boss said:
Let’s see, let’s wait. If he comes back tonight to train tomorrow morning, he will be available. It will be Serge’s decision.
The Foxes have problems of their own, with Brendan Rodgers without James Maddison (hip), Ben Chilwell (foot) and Christian Fuchs (groin) for the rest of the season.
Rodgers said:
Christian [Fuchs] won’t be involved for the rest of the season, he could be 12-14 weeks out. James [Maddison] and Ben [Chilwell] won’t play for the rest of the season.
Marc Albrighton (knock) will miss the clash with Spurs but could be back for Gameweek 38+.
Caglar Soyuncu remains suspended.
Charlie Taylor (hamstring) will miss the trip to Norwich City but “has a chance” of featuring in Gameweek 38+, with his injury described as “low grade”.
Jay Rodriguez (calf) was passed fit by his manager after returning to training.
Jack Cork (ankle), Ben Mee (thigh), Matthew Lowton (foot) and Ashley Barnes (hernia) remain unavailable.
Daniel Farke reveals that Norwich have no new injury concerns.
Christoph Zimmermann (back) has made a return to team training this week and could make the matchday squad, although isn’t ready for a start.
Nuno Espirito Santo didn’t report any fitness doubts in his pre-match presser, meanwhile.
Ralph Hasenhuttl said Southampton hadn’t picked up any fresh injury concerns in Thursday’s draw with Brighton.
Moussa Djenepo (calf), Sofiane Boufal (thigh) and Yan Valery (muscle) remain out, with Nathan Tella (unspecified) a “wait and see”.
Asked about Danny Ings, Hasenhuttl said:
Now he’s fit and when Ingsy is fit, he can work hard and also play 90 minutes. Now, in this moment, I don’t need to sub him in the end, like in the beginning [of the season], when after 60, 70 minutes he was finished.
Nathan Ake (groin), Simon Francis (knee) and Chris Mepham (knee) look set to miss the visit of the Saints but Adam Smith (head) could return to contention.
Eddie Howe said:
I don’t think [Ake] will make this game, whether he’s back in for Everton, whether he has a chance for that game, I don’t know at this moment. I think for this game it’s going to be too tight.
Adam Smith we’ll make a late decision on, he’s felt better so he’s got a chance. Chris Mepham, Charlie Daniels, Simon Francis, as I said, Nathan, will probably all be out.
Pre-FA Cup Press Conferences
N’Golo Kante (hamstring) will miss Sunday’s cup clash with Manchester United, with Frank Lampard reporting that there are a few other “niggles” that will be checked on in the next 24 hours.
Speaking straight after Thursday’s win over Crystal Palace, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said:
Yeah, we’re fine, we’re fit, the players are raring to go and wanting to play again. We’ve got players on the bench who are desperate to join in, but it was forced [on Thursday] as Luke [Shaw] and Brandon [Williams] weren’t available.
We’ve had a chance over this period to take players off. We’ve been three goals up in many games after 60 minutes so we’ve been fortunate in that respect.
Pep Guardiola reported that Claudio Bravo has “muscular problems” and won’t play in Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final.
Joao Cancelo is fit after a leg injury.
Calum Chambers (knee), Pablo Mari (ankle), Gabriel Martinelli (knee) and Bernd Leno (knee) will miss Arsenal’s FA Cup semi-final, while Eddie Nketiah will serve the final match of his three-game suspension.
Cedric Soares is cup-tied.
The Rest
Patrick van Aanholt will miss the rest of the season after dislocating his shoulder on Thursday night.
Speaking immediately after full-time, Roy Hodgson said:
He’s dislocated his shoulder, so it’s a bad injury. It’s going to keep him out for a long period of time. I fear it’s going to require an operation and that’s really bad news for us. We might be starting next season without him.
Mason Holgate limped out of Everton’s 1-1 draw with Aston Villa with a recurrence of a shin problem, meanwhile, but we await further news on that.
Kortney Hause (rib) and Neil Taylor (hamstring) both missed that game for the Villans.
James Milner (muscle) is pencilled in for a return for Liverpool in Gameweek 37+, meanwhile.
Newcastle may well be down to one centre-half for the trip to Brighton with Fabian Schar (shoulder), Jamaal Lascelles (knock), Florian Lejeune (thigh), Paul Dummett (ineligible) and Ciaran Clark (ankle) on the sidelines.
Allan Saint-Maximin had also “nicked a calf” in the defeat to Spurs, according to his manager.
All of the above players in this section, we must stress, could be ruled in or out of Gameweek 37+ after the FPL deadline has passed – so get those benches primed in case the worst-case scenarios develop.
More detailed information and predicted line-ups can be found in the Team News tab, which will be refreshed before the Gameweek 37+ deadline at 16:30 BST on Saturday.
Keep an eye on our Twitter feed, too, for any late-breaking updates.
A video round-up with Andy and Neale can be viewed below:
FPL Lessons Learned From Gameweek 36+
- Chelsea 1-0 Norwich City
- Burnley 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
- Manchester City 2-1 Bournemouth
- Newcastle United 1-3 Tottenham Hotspur
- Arsenal 2-1 Liverpool
- Everton 1-1 Aston Villa
- Leicester City 2-0 Sheffield United
- Crystal Palace 0-2 Manchester United
- Southampton 1-1 Brighton and Hove Albion
- West Ham United 3-1 Watford
3 years, 9 months ago
best defender for gw37+?
tarky
doherty
any other opttions?