Double Gameweek 23 is drawing ever nearer and the pre-match press conferences have started taking place on Thursday.
As usual, we’ll be bringing you all the key quotes that you need for your Fantasy Premier League (FPL) teams over the coming 24 hours.
Four Premier League bosses took questions today, with the 16 other managers hopefully set to face reporters on Friday.
In the meantime, check out our early team news article for any club not listed below.
KEY UPDATES FROM THURSDAY
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
Spurs assistant boss Cristian Stellini confirmed the rumours about a Hugo Lloris injury in Thursday’s pre-match presser.
The France international will be out for five to seven weeks with a knee issue, so £3.9m-rated FPL goalkeeper Fraser Forster looks good for starts up to Gameweek 28.
Everyone else is fit in the Spurs squad but Cristian Romero will serve a one-match ban this weekend.
“Everyone [bar Lloris] is available for the next game. We are all disappointed about Hugo and his injury. However, we have a good experienced goalkeeper [in] Fraser Forster with great experience in the Premier League and Champions League. We have a tough five weeks in front of us.
“We trust in Fraser and we are happy with him in the squad. We say to Hugo: ‘See you soon’. He needs a good recovery. He needs maybe between five and seven weeks to be back with us.” – Cristian Stellini
LEICESTER CITY
James Justin (Achilles) and Sammy Braybrooke (knee) are long-term absentees but Wilfred Ndidi (personal issue) should return this weekend and there’s a long-awaited comeback for Ricardo Pereira (Achilles), after he featured in a training ground friendly on Tuesday.
Ryan Bertrand (knee) also participated in that kickabout but is behind Pereira in his recovery.
Jonny Evans (calf) and Boubakary Soumaré (hamstring) rejoined training this week: the former will be “assessed” ahead of the Spurs match, while Soumare looks likelier to feature in Gameweek 24.
“He (Ricardo) has looked great, so he’ll come into the squad, which is great news for us. He played 70 minutes in a game on Tuesday. Him and Ryan Bertrand played in that. Those two have been out for a long, long time, but both did very well, got through the game, which is fantastic. Ricardo is probably a bit further down the line than Ryan.
“Bouba has looked very good. He probably won’t be ready for the weekend, so I think it’s going to be Manchester United for him. But he’s back earlier than was anticipated – about five-and-a-half weeks.
[Ndidi] is back in training and hopefully should be fine for the weekend.
“Jonny has worked well, just a couple of little niggles from him coming back, having been out for so long, so we’ll assess how he is tomorrow.” – Brendan Rodgers
NOTTINGHAM FOREST
We’ve learned by now not to trust much of what Steve Cooper says on the team news front but on Thursday, he implied that Dean Henderson (thigh), Moussa Niakhate (hamstring), Cheikhou Kouyate (hamstring), Taiwo Awoniyi (groin) and Ryan Yates (illness) would remain sidelined ahead of the Fulham game.
Giulian Biancone (ACL) and Omar Richards (leg) are long-term absentees and have been left out of Forest’s 25-man squad for the second half of 2022/23.
“We’ve had some positive news with Moussa Niakhate, who has been out long-term. He’s back on the grass training with us, but he’s non-contact, so he’s not in full training but he is at the final stage of his rehab where he can do some parts of training with the group.
“He’s a lot closer than what he once was, but he’s not close to featuring in games. But he’s getting to the final stages, so that’s been positive this week.
“Other than that, we are as we were. The lads who are injured are going through rehab, as normal. There’s a few niggles that we’re managing, but every team will be the same. We’re cracking on with our work.” – Steve Cooper
New boy Jonjo Shelvey (calf) has been on the grass this week and is “close”, however.
“He’s close. We’ve seen him on the grass this week and have been pleased with him.” – Steve Cooper on Jonjo Shelvey
SOUTHAMPTON
Tino Livramento (knee) is a long-term absentee, while Kyle Walker-Peters (hamstring) and Stuart Armstrong (groin) would appear doubtful to feature this weekend based on their manager’s comments.
The visit of Wolves also comes too soon for Juan Larios (muscle).
“We’ve got a pretty strong bill of health, with the two new lads and Mislav Oršić playing in the [under-]23s last week, everyone is a bit more up to speed.
“We’ve got a few that weren’t anywhere near match tempo and that’s why we had to be sensible with them, albeit scrutinised.
“It’s a bit early for Juan. The other two [Armstrong and Walker-Peters] are a lot further ahead so, how early it is Saturday to play them, because they’re important players, again, not because we don’t like them or think they can’t improve the team, it’s about putting them into games when they’re ready so that’s what we’ll do.” – Nathan Jones
