The first lot of Premier League pre-match press conferences get underway on Thursday as the countdown to Gameweek 1 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) begins.
Eight managers are speaking to the media today, with the other dozen to follow on Friday.
KEY UPDATES
Thursday’s presser times are listed below:
For much more detailed information, check out our Predicted Line-ups page and Injuries and Bans feed.
ARSENAL
Emile Smith Rowe, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Fabio Vieira and Kieran Tierney are all working their way back from injury ahead of Friday’s match against Crystal Palace, with Mikel Arteta saying that three of them could even be available for selection.
“Three out of four of those probably are going to be training this afternoon. If everything goes well, they will be available for selection.”
“You’ll find out tomorrow [who the missing player is]!” – Mikel Arteta
“Hopefully not. The reasons why they got those persistent injuries are for different reasons – probably because the squad didn’t enable them to recover and don’t play them when it was necessary. It was a combination of things.
“With those two fit and performing at their best, we are much stronger as a team.” – Mikel Arteta on whether Tierney and Tomiyasu are long-term concerns over recurring injuries
The Arsenal boss didn’t reveal any fresh concerns when facing journalists, although wasn’t directly asked.
EVERTON
Dominic Calvert-Lewin (knee) could be out for Everton’s opening eight league fixtures, after Frank Lampard confirmed that his star striker would be sidelined until mid-September.
“We’re probably looking at around six weeks for the injury.” – Frank Lampard on Dominic Calvert-Lewin
The Everton boss also provided us with a comprehensive update on his other walking wounded:
“[Tom Davies] should be training with us next week. [Andre Gomes] is a week or two away. [Yerry Mina] is fit. [Asmir Begovic] is fit, we hope – just about fit. He’s worked very hard, he’s ahead of schedule. [Seamus Coleman] is fit, he’s going to play for the under-21s tomorrow night to get some minutes. He’s behind in terms of fitness but typically Seamus like, he’s working very hard to get up to speed. [Allan] is fit but still trying to get some match-minutes, he’s not played so many minutes in pre-season. He’s part of the squad but again we need to try and work on how our training is and getting him match-fit.” – Frank Lampard
LEEDS UNITED
Jesse Marsch confirmed on Thursday that Daniel James (suspended), Stuart Dallas (leg), Luke Ayling (knee), Junior Firpo (knee), Adam Forshaw (knee) and Luis Sinisterra (hamstring) are all out of Leeds’ clash with Wolves.
CRYSTAL PALACE
Patrick Vieira confirmed in Thursday’s presser that Michael Olise, who hasn’t featured since May because of a foot problem, is still a few weeks away, while James McArthur will not be involved tomorrow due to a groin issue.
More to follow
