There is, or should be, a full complement of pre-match press conferences to get through before Saturday’s 11:00 GMT deadline.
As usual, we’ll be bringing you all the key quotes that you need for your Fantasy Premier League (FPL) teams.
A total of 17 Premier League managers will face the media on Friday, following on from the two (Javi Gracia and Brendan Rodgers) we had on Thursday.
Erik ten Hag was also scheduled to hold a press conference on Thursday but no quotes have yet emerged; it may be that the presser is being embargoed until lunchtime today.
KEY UPDATES FROM FRIDAY
FRIDAY’S PRESS CONFERENCE TIMES
LEICESTER CITY
James Maddison “should” be fine to face Southampton this weekend, having missed last weekend’s visit of Arsenal due to illness.
The midfielder has also been nursing an ongoing knee niggle, which has impacted on his training time, but he had been passed fit for Gameweek 25 before illness struck.
“James should be fine. Fingers crossed he gets through the rest of the week okay. He’s obviously a very important player for us. It’s about the team. Obviously, James gives another dimension to the team. His importance is clear to see but ultimately it’s a team effort.” – Brendan Rodgers
Youri Tielemans (ankle) has joined James Justin (Achilles) and Sammy Braybrooke (knee) on the injury list, while Ryan Bertrand (knee) and Jonny Evans (thigh) may still both be short of match fitness.
“There’s no new injury concerns. Some of the guys who got through the game the other night are all good. [Ricardo] had no after-effects. It was great for him to get the game-time. It’s good to have him back on the training field and we’ll see what game-time he gets.” – Brendan Rodgers
LIVERPOOL
Calvin Ramsay (knee), Thiago Alcantara (hip) and Luis Diaz (knee) remain sidelined, while this Sunday’s game comes just too soon for Joe Gomez (muscle).
“We had little [knocks] – should be [the same]. The last message I got, it’s now early and I didn’t see them this morning – a lot of things can happen overnight – but yesterday evening they were all fine apart from the players who are out; Thiago and Luis Diaz.
“Joe obviously I think is closer, but not close enough.” – Jurgen Klopp
There was no word on Naby Keita, who sat out the midweek win over Wolves with a knock, or Arthur Melo, who built up his match fitness with a 90-minute run-out for the under-21s last weekend.
NEWCASTLE UNITED
Bruno Guimaraes has been passed fit, despite limping out of the EFL Cup final last weekend with an ankle injury.
Nick Pope is also available again after a ban, having been suspended for the trip to Wembley.
Emil Krafth (knee) is the only Newcastle player who remains on the sidelines.
LEEDS UNITED
We’re going to have to get used to a shortage of Leeds team news, as new boss Javi Gracia once again batted away a question about the current injury situation at the club.
“I know you are really concerned about injured players but don’t worry they are in the best hands to recover as soon as possible. I don’t like to speak about players because I don’t want to give information about players. To be honest, some of them, today, I don’t know with surety if they are going to be ready or not. The main reason is not only that, I don’t want to speak about injured players.” – Javi Gracia
Rodrigo Moreno (ankle), Adam Forshaw (hip), Stuart Dallas (knee) and Luis Sinisterra (muscle) have all been out of late, while Pascal Struijk was expected back two weeks ago after observing the concussion protocol but complained of “fogginess” in a training session and hasn’t been seen since.
Liam Cooper and Max Wober were also absent from the matchday squad in the midweek cup tie against Fulham; it could be that Wober was rested as a precaution in order to prevent an aggravation of a shoulder injury that rendered him a doubt for Gameweek 25.
