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 5

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 5 everyone – let’s do this!

Sheffield United

Chris Wilder expects to have David McGoldrick (shoulder) and Callum Robinson (hamstring) available for this weekends home tie against Southampton. Both players were released from the Republic of Ireland squad due to minor issues after the 1-1 draw with Switzerland:

“A couple of the Irish boys came back early but I believe Mick [McCarthy, Ireland boss] was going to change the team around on Tuesday anyway. That gave Callum and Dave the chance to come back and have treatment with us. We’ll give them every chance of being fit for Saturday.”

Wilder also added that there could be quite a bit of rotation for the two striking spots in the starting line-up as he has five players ( McGoldrick, Robinson, Billy Sharp, Oli McBurnie and Lys Mousset ) at his disposal:

“I’ve got a really good group of forwards. I’ve said to them they have to be patient at times. I feel it’s possibly the one area where we will mix it up, looking at different teams to give ourselves the best opportunity of a result.”

Tottenham Hotspur

Mauricio Pochettino has confessed that he feared Christian Eriksen would leave right until the window slammed shut but he now expects Eriksen to get more game time despite the fact that this could be his last season with Tottenham:

“He’s happy. He was always happy. He never said he wasn’t happy here. Everyone of course has aims, goals, challenges. I told you before the Arsenal game he was in his right mind and that’s why I played him. Always he was an important player for us. In our sixth season, we’ve always appreciated him a lot. His qualities are there and important for the team. He’s happy and if we believe he deserves to play then he’s going to play. It’s not because he has less than one year on his contract we’re going to take a different decision. All decisions are based on performance”

In other team news, Tanguy Ndombele (thigh), Ryan Sessegnon (hamstring), Kyle Walker-Peters (hamstring) and Eric Dier (hip) have all returned to training and are being “assessed for selection”.

Lo Celso (hip) is undergoing rehab and won’t be ready until late-October, Juan Foyth (ankle) has entered the final phase of his conditioning and is close to re-joining the main group. Davinson Sanchez has been complaining of irritation in his ankle and is under assessment.

Leicester City

Brendan Rodgers has confirmed that Leicester have no injury concerns ahead of their trip to Old Trafford except for long-term absentee Matty James, who is still recovering from an operation on his Achilles.

Leicester City had seven of their first team players – Kasper Schmeichel, Ben Chilwell, James Maddison, Caglar Soyuncu, Youri Tielemans, Dennis Praet and Jonny Evans – representing their respective national teams during the international break. Rodgers has confirmed that they are all fine and fit.

Southampton

Nathan Redmond (ankle injury) and Kevin Danso (suspended) will miss the weekend game against Sheffield United. Ryan Bertrand and Michael Obafemi are back in training, while Moussa Djenepo remains a doubt:

“With Moussa [Djenepo] it looks better; we aren’t sure whether it is enough to play this weekend. We’ll have to look. He can bring us something special, he showed it in the few minutes he’s played so far that he can make a difference. The chances are not that big, but let’s see. I don’t want to take too much risk because it’s a very busy September. Michael [Obafemi] is in training sessions as well as Ryan [Bertrand], they are both options. It has been good to regroup over the break, we’re looking forward.”

Brighton

Leandro Trossard is expected to be out until at least mid-October after suffering a groin injury when training with the Belgian national team.

Ezequiel Schelotto has returned to training and could come into contention. Yves Bissouma is expected to return to training next week, but Jose Izquierdo remains sidelined.

Aaron Connolly, who came off the bench against Manchester City to make his Premier League debut at the age of 19, is back from action with the Republic of Ireland under-21s and could feature against the Clarets – the loan moves of Jurgen Locadia and Florin Andone have propelled Connolly into the first-team picture.

Newcastle United

Steve Bruce will be without Sean Longstaff for the trip to Anfield this weekend because of an ankle injury:

“Unfortunately, Sean Longstaff turned an ankle in training, it was one of those freak ones for Sean. He went to stop a cross and locked his ankle in the ground.”

Andy Carroll, Allan Saint-Maximin, Matt Ritchie, DeAndre Yedlin and Dwight Gayle still remain sidelined for the Magpies but Bruce mentioned that he was happy with the progress made by Allan Saint-Maximin and Matt Ritchie:

“It’s still a bit early for Andy Carroll and Allan Saint-Maximin, but they’ve made big progress this week. Andy is away to see a specialist this afternoon and, touch wood, he’s delighted with how it has gone so far which is good news for us. With Allan, we are bordering on the air of caution after what happened last time with him so another seven days before we play Brighton next week. Hopefully, he will be in contention for then. Matt Ritchie has been quite remarkable in his recovery. He’s shocked us all. We weren’t expecting to see him for at least a couple of months. The way he trained yesterday and the day before – as long he doesn’t have any reaction – then I don’t think he’s very far away so that’s good news to us”

Burnley

Sean Dyche has confirmed that Dwight McNeil and Ashley Barnes could play this weekend against Brighton while Johann Gudmundsson remains a doubt.

Danny Drinkwater could be out for another month with an ankle injury while Robbie Brady could make his Premier League return this weekend:

“Dwight has trained for a number of days so I would expect him to be right and ready to go. Dwight is in good shape, thanks to the really good lines of communication with England. He had a tight hamstring and back and rather than sitting on a plane for hours they made a call and said they were not going to do that. Barnesy had a tight groin, but should be fine, for a couple of days last week. Johann has got a niggly calf, he might make it but we are going to make a judgement call on that. He has had some treatment and has done some work on the grass. Robbie is back in the pack, he got another 90 in the other day (in a training game) which we felt was important because he had missed a big chunk of the pre-season window.”

Bournemouth

Eddie Howe has revealed that Lloyd Kelly is set to return to full training after his ankle injury sustained during pre-season training:

“Lloyd Kelly ‘touch wood’ will be training today, which is his first training session back, He won’t be involved this weekend, but it’s a good step forward where he’s around the training group and we’ll look to get him a game as soon as possible.”

Howe also revealed that he would take a late decision on Lewis Cook‘s involvement this weekend:

“This weekend might come a bit too early for Lewis Cook, he’s trained now for a sustained period of time and looked really good. He’s getting closer and closer and I’ll have to make a late call on him.”

Howe mentioned that Simon Francis is also back in training while Arnaut Danjuma is still building his robustness to get back to full training.

Bournemouth still has quite a few other players who are in the treatment room. The list includes Charlie Daniels, Junior Stanislas, David Brooks and Dan Gosling.

Chelsea

Lampard confirms Callum Hudson-Odoi and Reece James will play for the U23s tonight. The pair are building fitness following Achilles and ankle injuries respectively.

On the fitness of N’Golo Kante, Lampard says this weekend comes too soon for the French International:

“This game is too soon for him. He is hopefully close [to returning]. I don’t want to jump the gun because we’re waiting for improvement to fill that final step to get him to where we want him to be on the pitch again. But hopefully that will be in a week or so.”

Antonio Rudiger is in line to make his first Chelsea appearance in almost five months, with Lampard declaring the defender is fit for Saturday’s trip to Wolves. Matteo Kovacic and Pedro are fit however.

Manchester United

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has confirmed that Paul Pogba, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Jesse Lingard, Luke Shaw and Anthony Martial are not likely to start this weekend against Leicester City:

“I can’t promise any of them will be on the pitch but we’ll try to get one or two more on the bench. Let’s see when we get to the game. Maybe next weekend [at West Ham United], we’ll have more of them back. That’s how it is in football and why we have loads of quality and numbers and we’re fine.”

Paul Pogba (France), Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Jesse Lingard (both England) were all forced to withdraw from national-team duty due to injury or illness, while Luke Shaw and Anthony Martial missed our last Premier League fixture, away to Southampton.

Solskjaer explained that Pogba and Martial look certain to be out of the Leicester clash but could return for the West Ham trip. Wan-Bissaka and Lingard are battling to be available for Saturday:

“Well, the treatment room has been busy and still is. We don’t really know who is going to be available. Maybe Aaron, maybe Jesse and I think maybe that’s it from the ones that had to pull out [of the internationals], but I can’t promise those two will be available either. Pogba won’t be fit, no, unless he’s had a miraculous recovery overnight from yesterday to today or maybe from tonight to tomorrow. He’s not been ready to do 100 per cent training, no. We hope, as I’ve said, that more can be ready for West Ham next week and Paul and Anthony are in that category. I think they’ll be ready for then and I can’t say more than that really.”

Crystal Palace:

Ahead of tomorrow’s trip across London to play Tottenham Hotspur, Roy Hodgson has revealed in his pre-match press conference that Palace have two injury doubts as well as two confirmed absentees for the game:

“We’ve got a couple of people we need to assess in the morning, that’s Scott Dann and James McArthur. Martin Kelly is injured, of course, he’s been injured since Aston Villa so we won’t have him or Connor Wickham who is injured as well.”

West Ham:

On the team news, here’s what Manuel Pellegrini had to say:

“We have no news about that. We have all the players fit except for Reid and Antonio, who has had surgery on his leg. I hope it went well. The doctors are happy and now he needs time to recover and he has no pain, so everything is going in the right way.”

Manuel Lanzini ranks second behind De Bruyne in chances created so far this season. Pelegrini backs the Argentinian to go one step further:

“It’s very good to have Manu back, I hope he continues to create so many chances over the rest of the season. He will keep improving and I think he can take one step more.”

Aston Villa:

Smith reports that James Chester is available again, whilst Jonathan Kodjia is a doubt following a fractured cheekbone:

“James Chester is back. Jonathan Kodjia has fractured a cheekbone and had an operation. It’s one we’ll have to monitor.”

Trézéguet will miss out through suspension after picking up two yellow cards at Selhurst park last time out. Matt Targett remains out with a longer-term hamstring injury.

Wolves:

Willy Boly serves a one-match following his dismissal at Goodison Park.

Matt Doherty comes back into contention following knee surgery. Roman Saiss is also clear following his withdrawal from the Morocco squad. Leander Dendocker has recovered from the minor knock he picked up while training with Belgium.

Norwich:

Injury crisis strikes!

Farke reports that Zimmermann, Tom Trybull, Patrick Roberts, Moritz Leitner, Mario Vrancic, Max Aarons and Ben Godfrey are all confirmed out of the clash with Man City, with Grant Hanley and Tim Krul either having minor doubts or having just returned to training:

“Zimmermann is out until January. His ligaments are okay but it’s a complicated injury. Grant Hanley is not available for the starting line-up tomorrow. He is back on the training pitch today and he could play 20/30 minutes tomorrow. Tom Trybull is out. He damaged his ligaments against West Ham. He won’t come back before the next international break. Patrick Roberts is ineligible. Moritz Leitner is out with his calf. He hasn’t trained for 2 weeks. Mario Vrancic is not available for tomorrow, he has a calf strain. Max Aarons is also out, he could be back after the next international break. Ben Godfrey came back with a groin strain from international and is a major doubt for tomorrow. It will be a short-term decision. Tim Krul is a minor doubt for tomorrow. I may have to name three goalkeepers in the squad.”

Arsenal:

Arsenal’s medical department have the following updates on Rob Holding, Hector Bellerin, Kieran Tierney and Dinos Mavropanos.

Source – https://www.arsenal.com/news/team-news-holding-bellerin-tierney

Despite an early return from international duty with Ivory Coast, Unai Emery confirms he will be able to call upon Nicolas Pepe for the short trip to Watford on Sunday.

Everton:

There are no fresh injury concerns for Marco Silva.

Jonas Lossl (calf) remains out while there is no timescale for Jean-Philippe Gbamin who suffered a serious tendon injury in his right quadriceps muscle last month.

Manchester City:

Aymeric Laporte is set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines, with Pep stating he thinks it might be January/February before we see the French centre back again.

On Leroy Sané, Pep stated:

“He [Sane] is coming back before the end of the season. He was injured in August so he should be perfect by December, January and February. The surgery was good and he’s back now with us making his rehabilitation. Hopefully it will go well.”

Ilkay Gündogan and Gabriel Jesus are back in training, whilst Benjamin Mendy gets closer to being back in the squad:

“Ilkay Gündogan had a stomach problem – he trained really good the last few days. Same with Gabriel Jesus. He’s [Benjamin Mendy] good, he’s training now. I’m delighted because he has been training regularly with us for the last two weeks so hopefully in the next few games he can start to be part of the squad.”

On the fitness of John Stones, Pep stated: “Good. He trained good.” He simply said “yes” when asked if Stones was in his thoughts this weekend.

Liverpool:

Klopp expects to have Naby Keita available for training following the trip to Italy. He will sit out the forthcoming fixtures with Newcastle United and Napoli.

Elsewhere, the manager offered the latest on Alisson Becker’s rehabilitation from a calf injury, confirming Liverpool will continue to assess the goalkeeper’s recovery daily:

“Funnily enough, we had lunch together [just now]; he looks good and he is improving, but we cannot put any pressure on it. It was a really serious injury in the calf. It is now much better, of course, and that’s good for us and good for him, but we don’t know exactly [how long it will be]. The target was always after the next international break [that] he could be ready, but we don’t know. So, as I said, there is no pressure and hopefully everything will be fine for the rest of the season, that’s the plan. Naby is close, much closer than Ali. I think he could be in training when we come back from Napoli next week.”

Jurgen Klopp is thrilled two of his front three – Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah – did not have to report from international duty over the last fortnight:

“It was perfect for the boys who did not have to go. I am happy for them to go and play for their national team, it is a big honour, but I have said it 500 times, if you see the boys who did not have to go this time, for different reasons, then everything is different. To have five or six days off, they always train, but they don’t have to be here and play proper football sessions. We could have trained as there were five players here, but then Sadio and Mo would not have got the time off that they needed. We now have another week with two games, which is not easy, but we cannot change that. They are refreshed, that is how it is, and hopefully we can use that.”

Watford:

Updates from 17:00 GMT.