The pre-match press conferences for Gameweek 18 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) got underway on Wednesday, with four Premier League managers facing the media.
The key quotes and team news are provided in the article below.
As mentioned in our early team news round-up, there are no guarantees that we’ll hear from anyone else bar Aston Villa boss Unai Emery before the earlier-than-usual FPL deadline.
We’ll let you know on Thursday morning who is confirmed to be facing the media that day.
FPL GAMEWEEK 18 TEAM NEWS: INJURY UPDATES
- Crystal Palace: Hodgson unsure over Eze start, the latest on Lerma, Ward + Johnstone
- Brighton and Hove Albion: Welbeck not ready to start, Veltman out for two months
- Sheffield United: Archer available, unnamed players plagued by recurring issues
- Nottingham Forest: No team news from new boss Nuno Espirito Santo
CRYSTAL PALACE
The Palace injury crisis is slowly easing, with Tyrick Mitchell (hip), Dean Henderson (thigh) and Eberechi Eze (ankle) all returning to the matchday squad last weekend.
And Roy Hodgson confirmed on Wednesday that Jefferson Lerma (hamstring) was on course to make a swift return to action.
“The ones who have been injured are making good progress, most of them. [Jefferson] Lerma has made much quicker progress than expected.” – Roy Hodgson
Sam Johnstone (calf) could be back very soon, meanwhile.
“He’s got a calf strain, which came about during the course of the Liverpool game. It wasn’t one of those really bad ones where the tendon is involved and they talk about months rather than weeks.
“But any strain of that nature is going to take between 10 days and two weeks, and that’s if you’re lucky, if the player recovers quickly, the medical staff do a good job and the player himself does a good job.
“So that’s where we are with him. This game certainly is too early, but I’m certain he’ll be working between this game and the Chelsea game to try to get back on the field and compete and try and get his place back in the team.” – Roy Hodgson on Sam Johnstone
Palace will also get Jordan Ayew back from a one-match suspension on Thursday.
Cheick Doucoure (Achilles), Rob Holding (ankle), Jesurun Rak-Sakyi (hamstring) and Nathan Ferguson (hamstring) remain out, while Joel Ward (hamstring) has joined his team-mates on the injury list.
“Joel Ward, as I think everyone knows, picked up an injury, unfortunately, last weekend. He’s had a scan, so we will be missing him for a while – so that is a new injury concern.” – Roy Hodgson
Hodgson also implied that Odsonne Edouard (knee) is still absent.
“We need to get Odsonne Edouard back competing with Jean-Philippe Mateta for a forward place.” – Roy Hodgson
As for Eze’s starting prospects in Gameweek 18, the Palace boss remained undecided.
“[Eze] has been very sensible. Who is to say he’s not going to start? But he has worked hard with the medical staff to get himself fit as early as he possibly can. We would probably have liked him to have had a few more training sessions than the two he’s had this week where he has been sort of fully incorporated.
“We wouldn’t have minded a few more before taking the decision if he’s going to start the game but we might have to make that decision dependent upon what he’s done so far.
“The good thing is we do know that he is ready. So if I say to him, I want you to play either from the start or at some stage during the game like I did Man City, I know he’s ready, he’ll go on the field and do his job.” – Roy Hodgson
BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION
Joel Veltman (knee) has deepened Brighton’s full-back crisis and has been ruled out for two months, having limped out of the defeat to Arsenal on Sunday.
“Joel has an injury not so big but I think for a couple of months we lost him.” – Roberto De Zerbi
Danny Welbeck, who was used as a substitute at the Emirates, is still not ready to start.
“No, not yet [ready to start], but is important for us if Danny is available to play part of the game. He changed the game on Sunday but we know the importance of Danny inside the team.” – Roberto De Zerbi
It’s not thought that Brighton will recover any of their previously injured players.
De Zerbi said ahead of Gameweek 17 that it would be “many weeks more” before Adam Webster (unspecified), Pervis Estupinan (muscle) and Tariq Lamptey (muscle) are available.
Solly March (knee) and Ansu Fati (muscle) are longer-term injuries, while The Athletic reported on Tuesday that Julio Enciso (knee) will be out until February after undergoing a second operation.
SHEFFIELD UNITED
Chris Wilder didn’t name names but said that “a couple” of his players had been plagued by old injuries in the lead-up to the trip to Aston Villa.
“There are a couple of reoccurring injuries that players have got that have resurfaced so that’s disappointing because we need everybody available.
“We’ve just got to pick the right team, look at it and we can’t risk players coming back and re-injuring themselves so we have to a sensible approach.” – Chris Wilder
Wilder also confirmed what most of us knew in that Cameron Archer is available to play; Villa’s buyback clause has no bearing on the forward’s availability.
Rhian Brewster (knee) and Rhys Norrington-Davies (hamstring) have been back in training recently, with the latter playing 45 minutes for the under-21s on Tuesday after over a year on the sidelines.
“Hopefully we’ll try and get him some more minutes. But the condition he’s doing on the training ground, he’s hitting top speed. It’s just match practice he’s short of and he might have to get that in the first team.
“There’s been a few [injured] boys here, people should never be critical. Players don’t go out to get injured. It’s the worst situation that they can be in when they’re out injured and not available. These boys don’t deliberately get injured, the likes of Norrington-Davies and Brewster, and I really don’t think people realise how tough it is [being out].” – Chris Wilder on Rhys Norrington-Davies
Longer-term absentees Chris Basham (leg), Tom Davies (thigh), John Egan (leg) and Daniel Jebbison (illness) remain out but Jack Robinson returns from a one-match ban.
NOTTINGHAM FOREST
There was no team news from the broadcast section of Nuno Espirito Santo’s inaugural press conference as Nottingham Forest manager.
The former Spurs boss admitted that he would first have to get to grips with a bloated Forest squad, having previously preferred to oversee a smaller group of players in his past jobs.
“In terms of numbers, I have to be honest with you, I have never managed a squad of 30 players so that part is a challenge for us.
“For the players, I told them it is now a new chance for everybody, it is an opportunity for players who before didn’t play. My door is open for everybody. What I want is everybody involved, everybody committed so we can have more options and it can make us stronger.” – Nuno Espirito Santo
Santo did, however, say that he would need “every player possible” as Forest get set to play on December 23, 26 and 30.
The ex-Wolves manager is reunited with two of his former players, Morgan Gibbs-White and Willy Boly.
“It helped today having players that we have already managed and know our philosophy. They can transmit our ideas to their teammates.
“I’m happy to meet them again. Morgan is a father now, so he is a man. We found him when he was 16 years old there, we grow together. Boly the same, it is great to have them back.” – Nuno Espirito Santo
Steve Cooper’s final pre-match media duties saw him describe Serge Aurier‘s (calf) availability as “inconclusive”. The full-back subsequently missed the defeat to Tottenham Hotspur, as did Felipe (muscle) and Ibrahima Sangare (groin) with previously undeclared injuries.
Taiwo Awoniyi (groin), ruled out for “months” in November, is expected to be out for some time yet despite being pictured jogging this week.
