Six Premier League managers faced the media on Tuesday ahead of UEFA Champions League matches the following day.
We round up the key quotes below.
KEY TEAM NEWS UPDATES FROM TUESDAY
- Arsenal: Timber + Saliba injured, Rice + Merino banned in Europe
- Chelsea: Palmer travels, Jorgensen fit
- Manchester City: Semenyo + Guehi still ineligible, Gonzalez to be assessed
- Liverpool: Konate + Gomez unavailable, Chiesa back in training
- Newcastle United: Bruno G latest, Murphy trains, Joelinton out for weeks
- Tottenham Hotspur: Porro injured, van de Ven has “minor thing”, Palhinha back
ARSENAL
Jurrien Timber and William Saliba were not spotted in training on Tuesday morning, and Mikel Arteta confirmed later in the day that the pair would miss the dead rubber against Kairat Almaty.
“No, those are not [available].
“No [they are not being rested], they have some niggles and it’s a good opportunity now that we make a different kind of work with them to get them in the best possible conditions so that we can help them.” – Mikel Arteta on Jurrien Timber and William Saliba
Max Dowman (ankle) remains out, too.
Mikel Merino was the fourth absentee from training this morning, with no word on the reason for that. Both he and Declan Rice are suspended for the Kairat match, regardless.
Riccardo Calafiori (muscle) was back in training last Friday. While he didn’t feature against Manchester United on Sunday, he’s expected to feature in midweek.
CHELSEA
Cole Palmer (muscle) has travelled to Italy with his teammtes for the crunch Champions League clash with Napoli. Palmer had missed the Blues’ last two matches.
“He’s here.” – Liam Rosenior on Cole Palmer
As for reports suggesting Palmer is unhappy in London, Rosenior was having none of it.
“I’m not surprised at the timing. A new manager comes in and all of a sudden there’s people unsettled. It’s not true. Cole’s here, he’s very happy and I can’t wait to see him back on the pitch.” – Liam Rosenior on Cole Palmer
Also included in the Blues’ travelling party is goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen, who was absent from Sunday’s 3-1 victory over Crystal Palace.
Dario Essugo (unknown), Tosin Adarabioyo (hamstring), Levi Colwill (knee) and Mykhailo Mudryk (suspended) remain out.
So too does Romeo Lavia (quad), but he’s at least nearing a return.
“We’re taking it really carefully with him. He has to clear a few more hurdles to fully train, but it’s great to see him back with the players today. I know his qualities and I know what he can bring. If we can keep him fit, I’m very excited to work with him.” – Liam Rosenior on Romeo Lavia
MANCHESTER CITY
John Stones (thigh), Josko Gvardiol (leg), Oscar Bobb (hamstring), Ruben Dias (hamstring), Mateo Kovacic (ankle) and Savinho (thigh) are all still sidelined for City.
As for Nico Gonzalez (unknown issue), it’s still uncertain whether he’ll feature against Galatasaray.
“Today is the last training session. We assess today.” – Pep Guardiola on Nico Gonzalez
A flippant Pep Guardiola was meanwhile asked if Erling Haaland was ready to “come back into the team”.
“I didn’t have dinner with him last night. So, I don’t know. We’ll see. We’ll see today.” – Pep Guardiola on Erling Haaland’s prospect of starting
New boys Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi are still ineligible for the Champions League.
LIVERPOOL
Liverpool will be without Joe Gomez (knock) and Ibrahima Konate (personal reasons) for Wednesday’s Champions League tie with Qarabag.
Gomez hobbled out of the clash with Bournemouth after taking a kick to his knee in a collision with teammate Alisson last weekend.
“No, not really [any timeline yet]. But I can confirm that he is not available for tomorrow evening.
“I’lI expect him back in a relatively short time.” – Arne Slot on Joe Gomez
Konate has missed the last two games following the death of his father.
“Of course, I spoke to him and if you know why he is not here, of course, we both know that he is having a hard time. I’m hoping and expecting him back soon, but also not for tomorrow evening’s game.” – Arne Slot on Ibrahima Konate
Alexander Isak (ankle), Conor Bradley (knee), Giovanni Leoni (knee), Stefan Bajcetic (hamstring) and Jayden Danns (hamstring) remain out, too, but Federico Chiesa, who has sat out the last two matches, is back in training.
Away from injuries, Arne Slot discussed Saturday’s benching of Hugo Ekitike.
“That’s not a worry but that’s a difficulty. Because I can assure you that I would have preferred to start with Hugo [Ekitike] against Bournemouth. If we probably would have had one or two days extra, he would have 100 per cent started that game again because I liked his performance against Marseille. But he was out with an injury for two weeks and then he had to play quite a lot of games. And with only one No.9 available for the upcoming months, it made sense to me to manage his load as well, and that is what I had to do with more players.
“Jeremie Frimpong, who was sitting here just before me, is another example of that. Giving him another time 90 [minutes], I think you could see that he was tired just before I took him off, at least that was my take on it, and then it’s a big risk to keep him on.” – Arne Slot on juggling players’ workloads
NEWCASTLE UNITED
Having missed the defeat to Aston Villa, Bruno Guimaraes (ankle) looks set to return for the midweek clash with Paris Saint-Germain.
Eddie Howe hinted at his availability in Tuesday’s presser before he trained with his teammates later in the day. So too did recent absentee Jacob Murphy (hamstring) but Joelinton (groin) has joined Fabian Schar (ankle), Emil Krafth (knee) and Tino Livramento (hamstring) on the injury list.
“Joe won’t make the game. He’s had a scan, we don’t think it is a bad injury, but he will possibly be out for a few weeks. He’s going to get another opinion just to make sure we’re on the right lines with that. Although he won’t be out for a long time, he will miss a few games.
“Our other Brazilian is with us, and we will know more in the next few hours.” – Eddie Howe
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Pedro Porro (hamstring) has joined Lucas Bergvall (ankle), Ben Davies (ankle), Richarlison (hamstring), Rodrigo Bentancur (hamstring), Mohammed Kudus (thigh), James Maddison (knee) and Dejan Kulusevski (knee) on the injury list. The right-back will miss the next month.
Micky van de Ven is also out of the Eintracht Frankfurt game with a small issue but could be back for Gameweek 24.
“Pedro hasn’t travelled. Unfortunately he picked up a hamstring injury to be out for four weeks. Micky has not travelled. Minor thing. It’s possible he’s available for the weekend.” – Thomas Frank
Randal Kolo Muani and Wilson Odobert are both available, despite being involved in a traffic accident.
“Kolo Muani and Wilson Odobert are both fine. Unfortunately they were both involved in a minor accident… everyone else involved in that accident was fine. It was a tyre blowing up and so the two of them are a little bit delayed. But they will land later tonight.” – Thomas Frank
And Pape Matar Sarr (illness) and Joao Palhinha (unspecified) are with the squad for the crucial Champions League tie in Germany.
“The good news is, we have Pape back from winning AFCON with Senegal. He was not in the squad on the weekend because he had some illness, so he’s not super where he should be, but he’s available.
“I think with Joao Palhinha, he’s also available, so that’s also a positive.” – Thomas Frank
- READ MORE: Who is suspended or returning from a ban in FPL Gameweek 24?
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