We’ll have all the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) injury updates, team news and key manager quotes as we cover Friday’s Gameweek 2 press conferences in this live blog.
There are 14 managers in total speaking to the media today, with the other six facing questions yesterday.
The major updates from Thursday’s pressers can be found here.
KEY UPDATES
- Liverpool: Klopp on the Darwin/Salah partnership
- Manchester City: Gomez to challenge Cancelo at left-back
- Arsenal: Smith-Rowe, Vieira and Tomiyasu in training
- Tottenham Hotspur: Richarlison returns from ban
- Chelsea: Alonso and Kovacic out
- Manchester United: Martial missing, Ronaldo could start
- Aston Villa: Bailey “looking sharp”
- Newcastle United: Shelvey out for three months
- Everton: Godfrey and Mina injured
- Wolverhampton Wanderers: Jimenez and Moutinho still absent
- Crystal Palace: Olise could return
- Brentford: Damsgaard “not ready” to start
- West Ham United: Antonio trains after “knock”
- Nottingham Forest: McKenna added to injury list
Friday’s presser times are listed below:
For much more detailed information, check out our Predicted Line-ups page and Injuries and Bans feed.
LIVERPOOL
Thiago Alcantara (hamstring) has joined Diogo Jota (thigh), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (hamstring), Caoimhin Kelleher (muscle), Ibrahima Konate (muscle), Curtis Jones (muscle) on the sidelines for Monday’s clash with Crystal Palace but Naby Keita has recovered from illness and Kostas Tsimikas (knock) could also be involved as he returns to training today.
“We have now, in the moment, definitely too many injuries, that’s clear. A couple of boys are coming back. Naby will be back for Monday, Kostas will train today for the first time so he might be back as well.
“Thiago is good, but the injury is not good. I read four to six weeks [for a timeframe]. I would prefer four!” – Jurgen Klopp
Klopp was also asked about the developing relationship between Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez, as well as the importance of Roberto Firmino to the Liverpool squad.
“It’s a cool partnership, definitely. It’s two players who are determined to score and be in the decisive areas – I mean behind the line, wherever the line is. It’s very helpful. Mo is in a really good moment and Darwin is settling in. I think Luis [Diaz] just missed the goal, if you want [at Fulham], really good moments, really good situations. [He had] two chances, one was post I think, or crossbar, and then got blocked in another situation. So, a little bit of luck and then he would score and that would help him as well massively. But apart from that, this department was not our problem last weekend.
“[Firmino is] very important. If you take now our last game against Fulham, we didn’t find Bobby properly. There were different reasons, we saw in the analysis a lot; we can speak about it but it was something that had nothing to do with us, to be honest, because the centre was very often blocked. If you want to watch it back you see it as well, and they were not bad players. That’s why it was a bit difficult for him to get into the game. And we didn’t play well, and that’s always for an offensive player not easy to show up really. But apart from that, I don’t obviously judge Bobby because of one game or two games or whatever. Bobby is a fantastic player and had a good pre-season, not a perfect pre-season but a good pre-season and that’s all he needed, that he could have the amount of sessions he had and could train as often as he did. He will benefit from that definitely during the season and from there we go.” – Jurgen Klopp
MANCHESTER CITY
Aymeric Laporte (knee) is still on the sidelines ahead of the visit of Bournemouth, while Kalvin Phillips (niggles) and Cole Palmer (foot) are fresh doubts.
“We have Kalvin [Phillips] with some niggles, I don’t know if he will be able. Cole Palmer had a knock in his feet in the last games, and is a doubt tomorrow. The rest [apart from Aymeric Laporte] are perfect.” – Pep Guardiola
Pep Guardiola confirmed that new signing Sergio Gomez will be part of the first-team squad and provide back-up/competition for Joao Cancelo at left-back.
“You know the club is always working on many possibilities and chances in all positions. This one target is a young player, in the World Cup years ago the best player was Phil Foden and he was the second best player in this tournament.
“He played for Spain under-21s, he was a young talent for the academy of Barcelona, he went to Dortmund, didn’t have many minutes, in the last year played in good hands under Vincent Kompany at Anderlecht. He played well, we target him and we could bring him here.
“He’s for now, he is going to stay with us, the squad, and with Joao, Josh [Wilson-Esbrand] and him, an option for the left-back.” – Pep Guardiola on Sergio Gomez
ARSENAL
Mikel Arteta confirms that Takehiro Tomiyasu, Emile Smith Rowe and Fabio Vieira have been reintegrated into training after injury, while Kieran Tierney “looks in perfect condition”.
Reiss Nelson is set for a spell on the sidelines, however.
“They’ve been reintegrated into training this week, all of them. They are in different phases, but some of them will be in the squad tomorrow.
“Tierney played 15/20 mins last week and did really well. He’s been out for a long time after the knee injury. But he looks in perfect condition now and ready to go.
“[Nelson] felt something in training, we scanned him and the doctor came with bad news. It’s a muscular injury and hopefully he will be back soon.” – Mikel Arteta
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Antonio Conte confirmed that Clement Lenglet is very likely to be missing with “fatigue in his adductor” ahead of the trip to Chelsea.
The Spurs boss also revealed that Oliver Skipp needs “a couple of weeks” before returning but Richarlison is back from suspension this weekend.
CHELSEA
Marcos Alonso won’t be considered for selection this weekend as he tries to force through his move away from Chelsea, while Mateo Kovacic is out of the Tottenham Hotspur game due to his bothersome knee.
“[Alonso] is not in training at the moment and tries to finalise his transfer, so he will not be available for tomorrow’s game. It’s the same for Kova, who is injured, unfortunately. He has issues with his knee and always a little bit of a reaction, so we decided to take a step back and increase treatment time and reduce the stress that comes from training.
“Everybody else is available.” – Thomas Tuchel
MANCHESTER UNITED
Erik ten Hag confirmed that Manchester United’s team news is “still the same” for the trip to Brentford, meaning that Anthony Martial and Victor Lindelof remain sidelined.
Asked whether Cristiano Ronaldo could start against the Bees following last weekend’s ‘false nine’ experiment with Christian Eriksen, the Red Devils’ boss was non-committal.
“So, he had a good training week, I thought he played a little bit longer than half an hour [against Brighton], I would say he now has two half a games. The starting XI, we will see tomorrow. I, of course, have made my decision but I [will] keep it.” – Erik ten Hag on Cristiano Ronaldo
ASTON VILLA
We didn’t get much team news from Steven Gerrard ahead of the Everton game but the Villa boss did speak at length about well-owned FPL midfielder Leon Bailey, saying the winger “looked sharp” in training.
“I don’t think he had much luck in terms of health and having his body accustomed to the Premier League. On the back of that, he got some injuries and niggles that stopped him from getting in a routine and rhythm.
“In pre-season, he’s been healthy and he’s looked sharp. Repeating games and training sessions – again he looked sharp this morning – he’s in a good place. He was disappointed, like all of us, with the last game, but it’s one game. Leon’s in a much better place than he was last year.
“He had doubts in terms of his body, he wasn’t having the best of luck and that was quite frustrating for him.” – Steven Gerrard
NEWCASTLE UNITED
Jonjo Shelvey may struggle to return before the Premier League breaks for the World Cup, with Newcastle boss Eddie Howe ruling him out for around 12 weeks following hamstring surgery.
“It was quite a complex one. We had a number of scans, a number of opinions because we wanted to make the right call. It wasn’t a simple injury. He’s had an operation and we expect him to be out for around 12 weeks.
“He was very disappointed, he worked very hard in pre-season and looked in good physical shape. A real shame for him and for us but he’s on the road to recovery now, he’s in a much better place after the operation.
“I feel we have enough to cover his absence currently but you know football, it can change very quickly. Bruno played in that position on Saturday and did very, very well. We do have other players: Sean Longstaff has played the position during pre-season and again done very well.” – Eddie Howe on Jonjo Shelvey’s injury
Jamaal Lascelles is expected to shake off a thigh injury after pulling out of the Gameweek 1 matchday squad and briefly missing training earlier in the week, while Jamal Lewis (groin) and Federico Fernandez (calf) are slowly building match fitness after longer-term lay-offs.
Emil Krafth is being plagued by a back issue despite scans coming back all clear.
EVERTON
The Toffees earlier in the week released a medical update on Ben Godfrey (leg) and Yerry Mina (ankle): the former will be out for three months with a fractured fibula while the latter “will see a specialist this week to discover the full extent of [his] problem before undergoing treatment”.
Conor Coady has of course been brought in to bolster the numbers at the back, while Salomon Rondon returns from suspension this weekend.
“No, we’re still weighing it up. And the reality is that we’re also still in a little bit of a pre-season mode and not all of the players have been able to play a lot of minutes in the short pre-season that we had. I have to weigh up the fitness levels to try and get the sharpest players on the pitch. If maybe some people haven’t had so many minutes, they might be more effective coming on.” – Frank Lampard when asked if it was a ‘given’ that Salomon Rondon starts this weekend
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS
Bruno Lage confirmed on Friday that Raul Jimenez and Joao Moutinho remain sidelined for the clash with Fulham.
Nelson Semedo and Adama Traore are technically available for selection but Lage warned of their lack of a pre-season, so match fitness looks to still be an issue.
CRYSTAL PALACE
Michael Olise (foot) could make his long-awaited return against Liverpool on Monday but the game comes too soon for James McArthur (groin) and James Tomkins (calf), while Nathan Ferguson (foot) has had a “setback” and faces yet another spell on the sidelines.
“Michael trained all week with the team, so there is a chance that he will be with the squad. The other two [James McArthur and James Tomkins], it will be too short for them.
“[Nathan Ferguson] just had a setback. It’s too early to talk about, but obviously he didn’t train in the last couple of days with the team.” – Patrick Vieira
BRENTFORD
Thomas Frank said that new signing Mikkel Damsgaard will not start against Manchester United on Saturday evening because he is not “ready”. The Brentford boss said that he will “definitely considering bringing him into the squad”, however.
Sergi Canos (hamstring), Kristoffer Ajer (hamstring) and Ethan Pinnock (knee) are all still out.
WEST HAM UNITED
David Moyes told reporters on Friday that he would have “a similar group to last week” for West Ham’s trip to Nottingham Forest.
Craig Dawson is doing “quite well” and will be assessed, while Michail Antonio has trained today after a knock.
Angelo Ogbonna is still working his way back from a cruciate ligament injury, too, but Moyes didn’t offer much new on Lukasz Fabianski, only confirming that he picked up a “knock” last weekend.
NOTTINGHAM FOREST
Steve Cooper confirmed that there was no change in the injury status of either Ryan Yates or Steve Cook, while Scott McKenna is a major doubt for Sunday after “picking something up in training”.
VIDEO ROUND-UP WITH AZ AND NEALE
