We’ve got injury updates from five Premier League managers who held pre-match press conferences on Thursday: Burnley‘s Sean Dyche, Manchester City‘s Pep Guardiola, Tottenham Hotspur‘s Antonio Conte, Brighton and Hove Albion‘s Graham Potter and Crystal Palace’s Patrick Vieira.
Six more top-flight bosses will face reporters after their final Gameweek 28 fixture this evening, with the Gameweek 29 section of those pressers likely to be embargoed until Friday or later.
We’ll hopefully hear from the rest of the managers tomorrow, when we’ll bring you our second team news round-up of the week.
MANCHESTER CITY
With Pep Guardiola hosting his pre-match press conference four days before Manchester City take on Crystal Palace, the chances of him giving a clear-cut update on Joao Cancelo (illness) always looked slim.
And so it transpired…
“It’s still a few days before the Monday night game. We have a little bit problems because we don’t have many, many players available. Hopefully, some of them come back at the end of the week.” – Pep Guardiola on team news
A day earlier, after City had coasted into the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League, Guardiola said he was “hopeful” on Cancelo’s recovery for the trip to Selhurst Park.
“I don’t know – he’s sick right now. Hopefully, I don’t know… we play Monday, we’ll see. Nathan [Ake] is coming back, too. We will see.” – Pep Guardiola was on Wednesday night if Joao Cancelo would be fit for Gameweek 29
We do know that Ruben Dias will definitely be out, however, as the defender is set to miss 4-6 weeks with a hamstring problem.
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Antonio Conte has ruled Ryan Sessegnon out until after the March international break after a scan on the injury he picked up on Monday detected a muscular problem.
Oliver Skipp (groin) and Japhet Tanganga (knee) also remain out for the Lilywhites.
“Bad news about Ryan Sessegnon. He had a scan and a muscular problem. Maybe we’ll see him after the international break. About Skipp and Japhet Tanganga, they are not ready. We have to wait.
“We’re talking about not a new problem [for Sessegnon]. We are talking about a situation that is repeating. We have to try with the medical department to find a solution to help this player. Sometimes, also, I think that there is a predisposition to have this type of problem, especially a muscular problem. He’s very strong physically… and sometimes it can be a problem if you are much stronger than your body [can take].
“His performances were good, he was excellent and he was improving. He’s very frustrated. It’s very young to see a player like him frustrated by these injuries. It’s a pity. Also, we have to work with him in the human aspect.” – Antonio Conte
Matt Doherty is attracting plenty of interest in the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) world ahead of Double Gameweek 29, and the Irish wing-back was given praise by Conte on Thursday.
“For sure Matt is a player that improved a lot from when I arrived. We work, we work hard. On the tactical aspect, on the physical aspect, with the video analysis. I think during this process, there are players that improve more quickly than the others, and Matt, I think, he improved a lot in these four and a half months.
“Now he is showing also personality, to be confident. For me with this system, the wing-backs are very, very important, very important, and to have this improvement is good, but at the same time, also the other players showed improvement: Sessegnon and Emerson… he had in the last period a problem, a groin pain. It was the same for Sergio Reguilon, after Covid.
“For sure my task is to improve every single player. I am happy when we finish the season and I see my players improve their performances and their football knowledge.” – Antonio Conte
BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION
Adam Webster (groin) is Brighton’s only absentee for the first instalment of their Gameweek 29 double-header, which is against Liverpool on Saturday.
“Adam Webster is the only player who is missing for this Saturday’s game, everyone else is available.
“Enock Mwepu has trained this week which is really good, but we need to keep an eye on his minutes and his involvement.” – Graham Potter
BURNLEY
Erik Pieters (knee), Matej Vydra (elbow), Ben Mee (knee) and Johann Berg Gudmundsson (calf) will all miss the trip to Brentford, while Dale Stephens (muscle) has only just rejoined training after a spell out with a muscle issue.
“Ben Mee is going to be a bit of time, certainly not a few days but hopefully not too long. The [international] break will benefit him.
“Erik Pieters, certainly not the next week or so but obviously the extended period to recover will help him. Johann Gudmundsson has got a longer-term one.
“Vyds got back to more or less full fitness but twisted his elbow and ended up dislocating it. He’s back on the grass but that’s going to delay him coming back. Dale Stephens has only just got back in training.” – Sean Dyche
CRYSTAL PALACE
The broadcast section of Patrick Vieira’s press conference was short on team news, so we await the latest on Joel Ward (groin) and James McArthur (unspecified); further comments may emerge when the embargoed section of the presser becomes available but we do know that Ward has been back in training, at least.
Nathan Ferguson (hamstring) definitely remains out.
