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 2

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 2 of the new season everyone – let’s do this!

Arsenal:

On whether or not new signing Nicolas Pepe will start, Emery said the following:

“I am going to decide on Friday because now is a small difference for my decision about the player. It depends how they will be tomorrow in the training. But Pepe is training with us, is improving with us, is knowing us, our idea, our style, is able to understand his team-mates better. Physically also, getting better. He’s more close to helping us than he was at the beginning, after giving us an impact during the match.”

Mesut Özil has been “a little sick” and Unai Emery will make a late decision on his involvement. Mentally, both him and Sead Kolasinac are 100 per cent ready to start following last weeks’ security scare.

Burnley:

Burnley will be without Robbie Brady and Danny Drinkwater, who is still not match fit. However, Charlie Taylor returns to the Burnley squad to face Arsenal after getting a week’s training following a spell out during pre-season.

Aston Villa:

Dean Smith has confirmed that striker Jonathan Kodjia has suffered an ankle injury in Villa’s opening game of the season against Tottenham Hotspur and will play no part against the Cherries along with James Chester and Kortney Hause who are also injured.

Bournemouth:

New signings Arnaut Danjuma and Lloyd Kelly will miss Saturday’s game against Aston Villa. Dan Gosling and Lewis Cook are also out as they continue their rehabilitation, while Andrew Surman and Harry Wilson are fit:

“We’re waiting to see the extent of Arnaut Danjuma’s injury, which was unfortunate. Lloyd Kelly won’t be too long hopefully, but both him and Arnaut will miss this game. Andrew Surman is fit as is Harry Wilson, and Dan Gosling is still working back from his operation. Lewis Cook is out working in America with a specialist and it’s going really well.”

Brighton and Hove Albion:

Graham Potter has revealed that he has no new injury concerns for the game against the Hammers following last weekend, as long-term absentees Jose Izquierdo, Yves Bissouma and Ezequiel Schelotto all still remain sidelined.

West Ham:

Manuel Pellegrini has revealed that Sebastien Haller and Felipe Anderson picked up small knocks in Saturday’s match with Manchester City and are doubtful for the weekend’s clash with Brighton & Hove Albion:

“We have small problems with Felipe Anderson and Sebastien Haller. They are recovering from the kicks that they had in the last game.”

Mark Noble is expected to return to training with the team from next week as he recovers from his calf injury, while Jack Wilshere has already returned to team training after his early substitution against Manchester City:

“Mark Noble is recovering from his calf injury. I think that next week he will work with the team.



Jack is working without any problems with our squad. Everyone here has the freedom to work with another physio, but he works in the week with our team and I have no problem with that. He works with both as well so it’s okay.”

Everton:

Andre Gomes (ankle) remains a doubt after he was forced off at Selhurst Park. Leighton Baines is working with the squad again although he lacks fitness.

No Fabian Delph either despite footage of him training with the group this week. Morgan Schneiderlin is serving a one-match ban, so will be unavailable for their first home game of the season.

On Alex Iwobi, Silva remarks:

“It’s a matter of putting him in the best physical condition possible, we’re trying to do this as fast as possible. He’s working really hard and well. It’s up to me to decide if he will be in the squad list for tomorrow.”

Watford:

Javi Gracia revealed that Danny Welbeck has been fully involved in every session this week with the team:

“He is training with us all this week, with the rest of the team. He is training well and I think he can help us in the next games because what I see is he’s ready.”

Ismaïla Sarr, the club-record buy from Rennes, is being gradually eased in after being on holiday for a fortnight following an extended season because of the African Cup of Nations.

Gracia also mentioned that Gerard Deulofeu was replaced at half-time on Saturday because he had been unwell on the eve of the Brighton game. Deulofeu, Masina, Quina and Chalobah trained with the team this week with only Peñaranda missing out.

Norwich City:

Daniel Farke says he has good/bad news on the injury front:

“Alex Tettey is back and available for tomorrow. Ibrahim Amadou and Mario Vrancic have had a week training, these are the positives.”

The negatives:

“Timm Klose and Christoph Zimmermann are not available for tomorrow. Kenny McLean is also a major doubt and we are definitely without Josip Drmic,”

Onel Hernandez will also spend a significant period out following a freak accident:

“He slipped over at home and fell on his knee. We have to check if there’s something wrong with his anterior cruciate ligament. He is out for 3 months, may need surgery.”

Newcastle United:

Jonjo Shelvey (knee) should be okay for the trip to Norwich, but Allan Saint-Maximin has picked up a slight hamstring problem and is flagged as a doubt for tomorrow. Andy Carroll is working his way back to full fitness and it could be another month before he is available.

No other injury concerns mentioned, but DeAndre Yedlin (groin) wont be back until September. Christian Atsu has an ongoing knee problem and isn’t up to speed following his AFCON involvement and Dwight Gayle is still some time off. And of course, Florian Lejeune (ACL knee) remains out long term.

Southampton:

Ralph Hasenhüttl says he has no injury concerns ahead of this weekend’s Premier League meeting with Liverpool. New signing Kevin Danso has also joined team training this week.

Liverpool:

Naby Keita has been ruled out of Liverpool’s Premier League clash with Southampton on Saturday:

“It’s a muscle thing and we don’t know exactly how long it will take. But he’s not available.”

Goalkeeper Adrian is also a doubt for Saturday’s game. A supporter slid into Adrian’s ankle at Istanbul following the penalty shoot out victory over Chelsea.

Did anyone see this slide tackle by some idiot after the shoot out… what the heck man!! #LFC #SuperCup pic.twitter.com/hJrGpiguMd — Reaaz Ahmed (@ReaazAhmed) August 16, 2019

“Yesterday it was swollen. Today I spoke to him and he said it is better, much better than yesterday, but we have to see. He will not go for a scan. We wait for the swelling to go down. It went down already. You can imagine, you have that and then you fly four hours back and that doesn’t help swelling. He could not have played directly after we landed in Liverpool, but I saw him now, he is OK and it looks better, but the decision will be made tomorrow – there is no chance to make it early.”

On his squads recovery from the Super Cup, Klopp expects Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah to recover fine:

“I would say that the three players who suffered least in that game were Kante, Sadio and Mo! They are more used to playing in circumstances like that, physically really strong all three of them. Now we have to make sure and have a look how they all recover. I will see them in an hour or so and then we have to make decisions.”

Manchester City:

Excluding Leroy Sané, Pep reports a clean bill of health for City, which includes the return of Fernandinho:

“Everybody is good, everybody is fit. Everybody deserves to play. We can talk about the line-ups but we have to think about what is best for the team and how to beat our opponent.”

On Benjamin Mendy:

“What I want with Benjamin is be fit. Be ready for training sessions, week after week. That is the target. After, for these specific qualities, he is going to help us. Because when he played, he played good.”

Tottenham Hotspur:

Asked if Christian Eriksen will start against City, Pochettino said:

“We will see. There are only 11 players who can start. I am happy with the last week with how he is doing, his performance in training (has been good). We still have one training session and I will decide the starting XI. “No (contract situation does not affect decision). For me it is the same between a player who has one year on his contract and one who has five years, the section is not for the length of the contract it is for the performance.”

In terms of missing players, Heung-Min Son and Juan Foyth will miss the weekend trip to the Etihad through suspension. Foyth is also still recovering from an ankle injury.

Ryan Sessegnon and Dele Alli are both still unavailable with hamstring injuries and are undertaking on-field rehab.

Chelsea:

Lampard reveals that Antonio Rudiger and Willian are getting closer to fitness and are both in contention for the Leicester game. Hudson-Odoi could return after the break:

“He’s going to have to be fitter than he’s ever been because I’m going to want him to run.”

Lampard maintains that Michy Batshuayi is very much part of his plans despite missing out altogether in week one:

“The future is, Michy is here as one of our strikers. With Michy, it’s an important thing that he trains at the top, top level every day, gets himself absolutely fit to play the way I want my strikers to play.”

Leicester City:

Rodgers reports no injury concerns for his side ahead of their match against Chelsea:

“We’ve got no injury worries. Everyone is fit and has been training very well.”

Rodgers on why Demarai Gray was left out of the 18 last Sunday:

“He understands where he’s at and we spoke at length about where I see him. In training he will have to be the very best he can be, to show the mentality to improve your game to get into the matchday squad.”

Wolves:

Nuno Santo made nine changes to the side which played against Leicester City on Sunday for the Europa game against FC Pyunik, including full debuts for Maximilian Kilman, Jesus Vallejo, Pedro Neto and Patrick Cutrone.

Neto marked his debut with the opening goal in the 4-0 victory with Gibbs-White and Ruben Vinagre also getting on the scoresheet. Raul Jimenez (assist) and Diogo Jota came off the bench to combine for the final goal in the 87th minute.

No fresh injury concerns were reported after the game, so Santo has a fully fit squad to choose from for Monday’s match.

Sheffield United:

No new injury concerns for Sheffield United. Wilder has a full XI to choose from for their first game at Bramall Lane.

Crystal Palace:

Jeffrey Schlupp has recovered from the injury he suffered in pre-season and is ready for Saturday. Both James Tomkins and Mamadou Sakho remain sidelined however.

Hodgson spoke about his new signings, but gave no indication as to whether they will start:

“The new boys – McCarthy, Camarasa and Cahill – came through Monday’s U23 game unscathed. They’re bedding in well.”

Manchester United:

No new injuries for United:

“We’ve had a good training week, a competitive week, so hopefully we can have the same squad and people available, unless we get something towards the end. There are still a few days until we play.”

Ole was asked about Alexis Sanchez’s availability in his press conference. The Chilean wasn’t involved in pre-season after participating in the Copa America with his country Chile:

“He’s part of our squad and he’s a very, very good player. He’s just had a couple of weeks [of training], three weeks now, so he’s a few weeks behind the rest, but he’s very close to being part of it [the squad].”

Eric Bailly remains absent and is unlikely to return until around Christmas after having an operation on a knee injury sustained against Tottenham in pre-season. Meanwhile, fellow defender Tim Fosu-Mensah is still recovering from the knee ligament operation he had earlier in the year.