In the latest of our weekly series, we’ll be bringing you the important news from every Premier League press conference that impacts your Fantasy Premier League team selection for FPL Gameweek 4

As usual, feel free to give myself (FPL Connect) a tweet if you find there are any problems with this article.

All the best for Gameweek 4 of the new season everyone – let’s do this!

Arsenal

Unai Emery mentioned that “yes, there is a possibility” that Nacho Monreal could leave before the close of the European transfer window but shut down any speculation that Mesut Özil could leave.

Unai Emery also added that Özil could possibly feature in the North London derby this weekend:

“This week he is training well, he is progressing physically better and doing normal work for us. He is going to be closer for us and available for Sunday I think.”

Here are some of the other team news from the Emirates Stadium:

Rob Holding

Left knee. Continuing with on-field rehabilitation and successfully completed 90 for the U-23s against Everton on Friday.

Emile Smith Rowe

Groin. Successfully completed 80 minutes for the U-23s against Everton on Friday and 90 minutes for the U-21s against Northampton Town on Tuesday night.

Hector Bellerin

Left knee. Continuing with on-field rehabilitation. Progressing well and aiming to participate in full training in September.

Kieran Tierney

Groin. Continues to receive treatment and further assessments. Progressing well and aiming to participate in full training in September.

Dinos Mavropanos

Groin. Continues to receive treatment and further assessments. Progressing well and aiming to participate in full training in September.

Source: www.arsenal.com

Burnley

JB Gudmundsson has a minor calf injury and is a doubt for the game against Liverpool.

Robbie Brady had a 75 minute run out with the U23 side in a midweek friendly against Huddersfield Town however, Brady and Steven Defour remain sidelined for this weekend.

West Ham

Manuel Pellegrini has indicated that Chicharito has recovered from a slight injury and is available for this weekend’s Premier League clash with Norwich City. Michail Antonio is awaiting a scan after coming off in Tuesday’s Carabao Cup second round victory, while Winston Reid remains West Ham’s only other unavailable player:

“Javier Hernandez has recovered from his small knee injury he picked up last week that meant he couldn’t play. Michail Antonio will see tomorrow [about his injury]. He needs at least 48 hours to do his MRI, and then we will see exactly what kind of injury he has. Winston Reid continues with his injury for a couple of weeks more. All of the rest of the squad is okay.”

Jack Wilshere, having missed out on the win at Watford last weekend, returned to the starting XI for Tuesday’s clash with Newport and scored his first goal to put him into the thinking of the manager for their game against Norwich on the weekend:

“I said last week that we cannot expect Jack to play at 100 per cent of his quality when he’s coming back from such a long injury,” Pellegrini added. “But he’s getting minutes and he’s improving in every game. I think he played very well the other night; not only because he scored but because of the balls he received and the amount of passes he did. I think it was a complete game and now we will see tomorrow what the starting XI for Saturday will be.”

Aston Villa

Dean Smith has confirmed that Matt Targett, James Chester (both hamstring) and Jonathan Kodija (ankle) will be unavailable for the Crystal Palace game this weekend:

“They’re the three that won’t make the game but the others are fit and raring to go”

Southampton

Ralph Hasenhüttl has some injury trouble in his squad ahead of the game against Manchester United, with Nathan Redmond and Moussa Djenepo ruled out, while Michael Obafemi is also likely to be absent and Ryan Bertrand remains a doubt:

“So, maybe we have three players – Redmond / Djenepo / Obafemi that cannot play on the weekend.”

More on Redmond:

“In the moment it looks that he seems to be out for 2-3 weeks, I think, [but] it can be longer. In the next ten days, he has to wear a shoe [so] that he doesn’t move his ankle and then it can be quicker. It could be worse.”

Watford

Only Troy Deeney is unavailable, meaning Gracia has nearly 30 players to choose from for the trip to the North East. He plans to think long and hard before naming his XI:

“It’s true we need to change something to change our results. We’ll see how many changes but the solution is not always to change the players. The players we have we need to improve. We have a lot of games to play and we have to be ready. I try to look for the best way to find the XI to start and look for the solution for this game.”

Danny Welbeck and Ismaïla Sarr are edging ever closer to making their first league starts for the club. Welbeck played his first 90 minutes of any sort since October 4, 2018 in the 3-0 win over Coventry while Sarr played 72 minutes and looked stronger and more acclimatised as the game wore on:

“These two players need time. They need time to show their best quality, their best condition, but in this moment we need all of them. We will see and decide if they start or play some minutes.”

Sheffield United

Chris Wilder hinted that Oli McBurnie could feature this weekend against Chelsea. There are no major injury updates with John Fleck likely to have a late fitness test on Saturday.

Ravel Morrison impressed in mid-week, with the manager having the following to say on the midfielder:

“He’s not a million miles off. I think you’ve seen what he gives you in possession. We want him to play further forward at times, because when he does he goes into overdrive and speeds the game up. He’s got genuine quality to hurt.”

Brighton

Graham Potter reports no new injury concerns for his side going into the Man City match.

Jose Izquierdo (knee), Yves Bissouma (shoulder), Ezequiel Schelotto (ACL) are ruled out through injury. Florin Andone begins a three-match ban.

Newcastle

Matt Ritchie (ankle) has been ruled out for at least two months due to ligament damage sustained in a tackle by Choudhury tackle in the Carabao Cup:

“It’s not great news. I think he’s going to be two months, (or) eight weeks. There is ankle ligament damage too, bone bruising and cuts. The kid was in a mess the other night. Thankfully it’s not six months, but it’s bad enough when it’s the best part of eight weeks. He’s angry, frustrated, disappointed, whatever you want to call it. But he’s a great character, Matt, and he’ll get over it, and I’m sure when he gets over the next few days he’ll get to work on getting himself back right.”

Bruce will also have to check on the fitness of a number of his charges ahead of the game against Javi Gracia’s men, with full backs Emil Krafth and Jetro Willems both nursing muscle problems.

Meanwhile, forward Joelinton – whose winner earned United their first three points of the season at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday – is expected to be fit, while Miguel Almirón (ankle) remains a doubt.

With Allan Saint-Maximin (hamstring) set to be sidelined for “at least three weeks, but anywhere between three weeks and five” according to Bruce, and Andy Carroll not yet ready to make his second debut for the club, the upcoming international break has come at a good time for Newcastle – with Dwight Gayle and DeAndre Yedlin also among those working their way back to full fitness:

“Dwight’s been to see a specialist yesterday. Since I walked through the door, I’ve seen Dwight train once. Yedlin trained yesterday, the first time I’ve seen him train, so one or two are starting to edge back a little bit, so hopefully we can get them all back. I think the break has come at the right time for a certain few, and we can put a lot of work into certain individuals who missed pre-season. It’s an ideal opportunity, and in that respect it’s good.”

Bournemouth

David Brooks (ankle), Lloyd Kelly (ankle), Arnaut Danjuma (foot), Dan Gosling (hip), Lewis Cook (knee), Simon Francis (knee) and Junior Stanislas (hamstring) are all unavailable for the trip to King Power Stadium.

Brooks and Gosling were both expected to be sidelined for around 12 weeks following their respective operations and are on schedule, while Kelly and Danjuma are “improving”.

Howe was asked whether Cook, Francis and Stanislas could be in contention to return immediately after the international break and said:

“It’s difficult to give a clearly defined yes or no due to the long-term nature of their injuries. Any player could have a minor setback so I don’t want to put pressure on them to say they will be back in that period but they are getting very close.”

Charlie Daniels was this week added to the injury list after damaging his knee against Manchester City and faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines.

Man United

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has provided a further update on injured duo Anthony Martial and Luke Shaw, ahead of Saturday’s trip to Southampton:

“They’re doing okay, but they won’t be involved in this game. They’ll need the international break. Hopefully Anthony is ready for the Leicester game and Luke maybe another week or two after that. They’ve got slight injuries that they picked up in the game against Palace, and in one respect, it’s a positive time to get it, because it’s the international break for them, and they won’t miss many games.”

With Martial out, Mason Greenwood could step into the starting 11:

“Mason [Greenwood] is not used to playing as little as he is. He is used to playing every week, now he is coming on for half an hour here and there. He won’t be expected to play five games on the bounce, he is cover and an option behind Anthony and Marcus.”

The Reds will also be without Alexis Sanchez, who completed a loan move to Internazionale in Milan earlier this week, which means he will play out the remainder of 2019/20 in Italy.

Diogo Dalot is also unavailable. The full-back missed the Palace game and is expected to return during the upcoming international break. The Portuguese is joined on the sidelines by Eric Bailly and Timothy Fosu-Mensah, who are both working to overcome lengthier injuries.

Solskjaer also confirmed in the press conference that Chris Smalling and Matteo Darmian could spend the season elsewhere too, with both parties involved in discussions to join other clubs.

Spurs

Norwich

Alex Tettey will travel after missing out midweek due to personal reasons and Josip Drmic is also available after his recent hamstring injury:

“Josip trained with us the last three days, he’ll be back 100 per cent after the international break but he is an option for tomorrow.”

Christoph Zimmermann is available but no such luck for Grant Hanley, who’s ruled out for their trip to East London:

“He [Zimmermann] got a hit against his back and hip and was sore but he trained today. Grant has injured himself this morning. Overstretched his groin. Needs a scan today.”

Timm Klose has had a scan on his knee with the results inconclusive. He will need another next week but concerns mid-week are that he may have damaged his anterior cruciate ligament which could see him out for more than 5 months.

Crystal Palace

Hodgson reports that James Tomkins is close to returning, whilst Scott Dann will be a late call:

“Tomkins is on the brink of recovery. Scott Dann has a cast on his hand and we will make a decision on him later. Apart from that, we’re okay on the injury front.”

Everton

Following the return of Leighton Baines mid-week. Marco Silva confirms Jean-Philippe Gbamin (thigh) is the only injury absentee:

“Our only player injured at the moment is JP Gbamin. Everyone else is available.”

On new boys Moise Kean, Fabian Delph, Djibril Sidibe and Alex Iwobi:

“Now they are coming to the same level as the others and it is up to me to decide.”

Chelsea

Lampard confirms Mason Mount is fine:

“Mason is OK. It was more of a dead leg, like a kick. He’s fine, in training.”

N’Golo Kante, Pedro and Antonio Rudiger all received updates too:

“N’Golo Kante is not fit. Continuation of his ankle injury. I had a conversation with (Didier) Deschamps (France Manager). Pedro is not fit, but should be the other side of the international. Antonio Rudiger will play for the U23s tonight. It is a setback (Kante). My focus then is to make sure that he is okay. We certainly had to get it right. We must cope as a squad and we should show that.”

Leicester

Rodgers confirms he will make a late decision on Ben Chilwell (hip) after the English full-back has missed the last three games.

Wilfred Ndidi (hamstring) has been passed fit, and will be back in the squad, whilst Wes Morgan had an issue with his back at Newcastle and could miss out of their match against the Cherries.

Liverpool

Klopp reports Alisson will need time but is “happy” with Adrian:

“He made steps but it was a proper injury, so it will still take time. When you have a muscle thing, it takes as well a while to bring the muscle at the same level it was before. The calf muscle is pretty important for jumping”

On rotation, Klopp reports that changes will come:

“We need them all 100 per cent. That’s the most important part of the season, the first four weeks. This is not a moment for a lot of changes but after the international break that will change.”

Man City

Pep Guardiola remained coy on Gabriel Jesus and John Stones’ availability for tomorrow but insists they will be ready for the Norwich game:

“They are much better. I don’t know if they will be available tomorrow but they are much, much better. If they are not ready for tomorrow, the Norwich game they will be ready.”

When asked about Joao Cancelo, Pep stated the following on the Portuguese full back:

“When we come back from the international break, we have Norwich, after three days, we have to travel to Ukraine, after three days we have a game here, then Carabao Cup. Start the real season in terms of a lot of games. Joao, we’re delighted what we have seen but arrived late so was not in pre-season. Joao started to understand what to do. And now, maybe tomorrow, maybe after the international break, he start to play. He has to be ready.”

Wolves

Will update this section as and when I receive any news after they played their Europa League match versus Torino last night in a 2-1 win.

Line up: Patricio; Vallejo, Coady, Boly; Traore, Dendoncker, Saiss, Moutinho, Jonny; Jimenez, Jota

Jota came off on 81 minutes for Cutrone.

Moutinho and Jimenez were substituted on 90 and 92 respectively.