Many Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers will be waking up to more yellow flags or worse on Wednesday morning thanks to some key injury updates before and after the midweek EFL Cup ties.
We’ll round up the headline news in the article below.
RAPHINHA
There was positive news from Marcelo Bielsa after Leeds United’s 2-0 defeat to Arsenal, with the Whites’ boss saying that he thought injuries to Raphinha and Jamie Shackleton “won’t affect their participation” in Gameweek 10.
CESAR AZPILICUETA, ANDREAS CHRISTENSEN
Cesar Azpilicueta, Andreas Christensen, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and N’Golo Kante all sat out the penalty shootout victory over Southampton on Tuesday, with the first three of those missing out on probable starts according to their manager.
Kante had previously been passed fit for this encounter after missing Gameweek 9 as a precaution, while the news sounds positive on the other sidelined trio.
“We hope Azpi is back for the weekend. He had a shoulder injury yesterday in training when he fell on it. It’s very painful but he’s Azpi and he’s a tough guy.”
“Ruben [Loftus-Cheek] felt after training some pain in his hip joint. Hopefully, we can handle it for Saturday.
“Andreas [Christensen] needed to recover from tooth surgery and he should be back in training on Thursday if there are no complications.” – Thomas Tuchel
There were six changes to the Blues’ starting XI from the team that thrashed Norwich 7-0, with Reece James, Kai Havertz, Trevoh Chalobah, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Mateo Kovacic keeping their places and all lasting 90 minutes.
Mason Mount and Ben Chilwell appeared as second-half substitutes.
BEN WHITE, KIERAN TIERNEY, MARTIN ODEGAARD
There was also encouraging news on Ben White, who appeared to be injured when walking gingerly from the field of play in Arsenal’s win over Leeds.
Mikel Arteta later revealed that it was merely illness had forced the England international off, and went on to provide an update on missing pair Kieran Tierney and Martin Odegaard.
“There’s a bug going around. We lost Pablo [Mari] today because he wasn’t feeling great. Ben had it for the last day or two. He wasn’t feeling great so we decided to take him off.” – Mikel Arteta on Ben White
“They were both out with two different injuries. They tried yesterday but they didn’t feel great. They wanted to be involved. Hopefully in the next few days, they can feel better and be available for Leicester.” – Mikel Arteta on Kieran Tierney/Martin Odegaard
DAVID RAYA, BRYAN MBEUMO, ETHAN PINNOCK
Brentford aren’t in EFL Cup action until tonight but they have been dealt a big injury blow in advance of their meeting with Championship side Stoke City, with David Raya set to miss the next four to five months after sustaining a knee ligament injury at the tail-end of the Bees’ defeat to Leicester City on Sunday.
Álvaro Fernández, who disappointingly comes in at £4.5m rather than half a million cheaper, now looks set to deputise between the posts.
Bryan Mbeumo and Ethan Pinnock will miss Wednesday’s cup tie but could be back for the weekend.
“Bryan Mbeumo and Ethan Pinnock will be out for [the EFL Cup on] Wednesday. Hopefully, they are available for Saturday, it is too early to say yet.
“Bryan [Mbeumo] is a minor hamstring issue. It is not a big one because that would rule him out for the next couple of weeks. We took him off as it was the early stages so, hopefully, he can be available for Saturday.” – Thomas Frank
OTHER INJURIES
We should find out more on Jamie Vardy‘s knee issue before or after Leicester City’s cup clash with Brighton and Hove Albion, who will hand Adam Webster a start on his return from injury.
Liverpool have a raft of problems in central midfield, with assistant manager Pep Lijnders providing an update on several key personnel ahead of Wednesday’s meeting with Preston North End.
“Millie felt something, he felt something wasn’t right in his hamstring, a little bit tight. “Then [Mason] Greenwood made this run and he decides, ‘I need to catch him’ – how Millie is, putting the team always first. And that created a bigger injury in that moment, that run.It shows a lot about his character and his will power to put the team first. This [injury] will be until the international break for sure, so it’s a long one. But we will need him in the coming period.
“Naby has a bruise in this moment, we assess it day by day. It’s looking good, so that’s good.
“Fabinho will not be ready for tomorrow’s game, we will assess him day by day still. He can make the game on Saturday hopefully.
“Then we have Thiago as well, who is closer to team training than ever. He will be later in the week with the team training. Probably Brighton comes too early but it’s good that he is back, especially in the situation we are in.” – Pep Lijnders
Matt Doherty being declared available was the only injury update of note from Nuno Espirito Santo ahead of Spurs’ trip to Burnley, who expect to have Ben Mee back after his recent Covid-19 diagnosis.
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