A Friday night match gives an early start to Gameweek 9 and we’ve got all the important team news information in our latest press conference summary of the week.
You can catch the headline updates from Thursday’s pressers – featuring Arsenal, Aston Villa, Brighton and Hove Albion, Burnley, Leeds United, Southampton and Watford.
For much more detailed information, check out our Predicted Line-ups page and Injuries and Bans feed plus Az and Neale’s video here:
CHELSEA
Thomas Tuchel provided a Friday update on the injuries of Romelu Lukaku (ankle) and Timo Werner (thigh), ruling them out of Norwich (H) and their midweek Carabao Cup tie.
“No big news for Romelu [Lukaku] & Timo [Werner], the thing I can say is that they are out for tomorrow, they will be out for the Southampton game. Then we will see what’s next, I don’t think that it makes any sense to go into speculation about how long.”
Christian Pulisic is still out with an ankle injury.
MANCHESTER UNITED
Bruno Fernandes is a doubt for Sunday’s clash with Liverpool after receiving some rough treatment from Atalanta in midweek. However, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer refuses to rule him out of proceedings.
“Games like Wednesday night will always bring knocks and bruises. Bruno [Fernandes] might be a doubt but he’s doing everything he can to be fit. I’m not going to rule anyone out from Sunday but I’m not sure if everyone’s going to be fit.”
Anthony Martial (knock), Marcus Rashford (dead leg) and Fred (hamstring) may also miss out, with Raphael Varane (groin) still injured from international duty.
MANCHESTER CITY
Apart from Ferran Torres (foot), there seems to be a fully-fit squad for Pep Guardiola. When asked if Man City have any fresh injury concerns, he replied:
“No, the team is in really good condition”
LIVERPOOL
Alisson and Fabinho are both back in action, after returning from international duty too late to face Watford. Harvey Elliott (ankle) is out long-term but Curtis Jones (hip) could return this weekend.
“Curtis [Jones] will train today with us completely, he did already parts of training before we went to Atletico. He should be in contention. Thiago, not, he is not in team training yet, will not be this week for sure.” – Jurgen Klopp
LEICESTER CITY
James Justin (knee) and Wesley Fofana (leg) remain injured, as is Wilfred Ndidi (hamstring).
Brendan Rodgers confirmed Marc Albrighton could miss a few matches because of a “horrendous challenge” in Moscow on Wednesday night. Timothy Castagne (hamstring) should be okay and Ayoze Perez is likely to overcome an illness in time.
“He had a spasm towards his lower back. He looks fine. He’s on a recovery work today with the medical team, but he looks fine.” – Brendan Rodgers on Youri Tielemans
With three in-form strikers in Jamie Vardy, Kelechi Iheanacho and Patson Daka, Rodgers has discussed how he will continue to manage their game-time.
“We’ve been keeping Jamie fresh for PL games; hoping he becomes more involved in the latter stages of UEL. That’s kept him full of energy. Kelechi is now a consistent performer. Patson was one we wanted to give time to.”
EVERTON
It was announced on Tuesday that midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure has stressed a bone in his foot and will have a spell on the sidelines. He joins Andre Gomes (calf) and Fabian Delph (shoulder) on the injured list.
Whilst Rafael Benitez believes Richarlison is now available for selection, he admits “the match fitness is an issue” and has also ruled out Dominic Calvert-Lewin (thigh) for longer.
“How long he will be out, we need to see. It depends on how he reacts to the treatment. We will not see him for four or five weeks.”
Yerry Mina tweaked his hamstring in training, so will not take part against Watford.
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS
Yerson Mosquera (thigh), Pedro Neto and Jonny Castro (both knee) remain long-term absentees, although Francisco Trincao has recovered from the positive Covid-19 test that kept him out of the win over Aston Villa.
Willy Boly will miss out and Bruno Lage will assess Raul Jimenez‘s energy levels before deciding whether to start him.
NEWCASTLE UNITED
Interim manager Graeme Jones is without the suspended Jonjo Shelvey, while Martin Dubravka (foot) and Paul Dummett (calf) aren’t yet ready to return.
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Nuno Espirito Santo is still without Matt Doherty (knock) and Ryan Sessegnon (knock) but Steven Bergwijn (ankle) and Ben Davies (abdominal) both took part in Spurs’ Europa Conference League defeat to Vitesse.
WEST HAM UNITED
Vladimir Coufal missed the win at Everton because of a groin injury that forced him to withdraw from international duty. It is believed that the Czech right-back will be out for another couple of games.
CRYSTAL PALACE
Eberechi Eze (achilles) and Nathan Ferguson (achilles) remain the Eagles’ only absentees, with Patrick Vieira confirming that Wilfried Zaha is back from the illness that kept him out of Monday’s trip to Arsenal.
“Wilf [Zaha] is good – he started training with the team a couple of days ago. He will be in the squad tomorrow. We are looking good.”
BRENTFORD
Thomas Frank had little to say in terms of team news, just commenting that:
“Yoane Wissa will be out for a few more weeks with an ankle injury. The others are closer and will be assessed before the game.”
He refers to Mads Bech Sorensen (knee), Josh Dasilva (hip) and Shandon Baptiste (shoulder), as well as Vitaly Janelt, who has missed the last two matches with a thigh problem.
NORWICH CITY
Owners of Billy Gilmour will hope it’s not another weekend of rotations and surprise benchings, as the Chelsea loanee is ineligible to play against his parent club.
Christoph Zimmermann has yet to play this season and Daniel Farke has confirmed the defender will remain out for a while longer.
“I can confirm he needs ankle surgery that will take place on Monday coming and think he will be out for 6 weeks or so.”
Sam Byram (thigh) and Todd Cantwell (achilles) remain out.
