The pre-match press conferences for Blank Gameweek 32 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) are already underway.
As ever, we’ll be bringing you all the key quotes and injury updates that you need over the coming 24 hours or so.
Nine Premier League bosses are scheduled to face the media on Thursday, with the headline news to be found below.
On Friday, we should get injury updates from the other seven managers whose teams have a Gameweek 32 fixture.
The two Manchester clubs, Brighton and Hove Albion and Chelsea ‘blank’ in the upcoming Gameweek but all bar Frank Lampard’s side are in FA Cup action, so we should get some bonus team news from those three camps, too.
KEY UPDATES FROM THURSDAY
THURSDAY’S PRESS CONFERENCE TIMES
ARSENAL
Mohamed Elneny (knee) and Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) are long-term absentees, while William Saliba (back) is no closer to a comeback based on Mikel Arteta’s comments today.
“There’s no big news, the picture hasn’t changed from last week. Regarding William [Saliba], we still have to wait a little bit more. He’s not progressing as quickly as we hoped and it is a bit delicate so we want to be certain that when we push him, he’s ready to absorb the load and the risk that we’ll take, and that’s not possible at the moment.
“I don’t know [if Saliba will be out for the season], it’s a bit early to know. Probably next week we’ll have more certainty. There is some evolution, he’s doing more activity but is not there yet to start to throw him into the pitch at the level the sessions demand to compete in this league.” – Mikel Arteta on William Saliba
Despite Oleksandr Zinchenko (groin) being spotted in training this week, Arteta’s update on the Ukranian left-back was a little ambiguous.
“We’ll see about that one as well, it’s not certain. It’s a muscular injury and it needs some time to heal and we’re not there yet.” – Mikel Arteta on Oleksandr Zinchenko
Away from injury news, Arteta gave his backing to Bukayo Saka for future penalties despite the winger missing a spot-kick in Gameweek 31.
“Yes. If he is on the pitch we will throw him the ball and make sure he takes the next one.” – Mikel Arteta on whether Bukayo Saka will remain on penalty-kicks
The Arsenal boss was also asked about whether Gabriel Jesus was ready to last 90 minutes, something he is yet to do since returning from a three-month lay-off.
“We’ll see. We’ve been really careful. There have been some issues within that period when he was doing the final stages of the rehab and we have to be really attentive. We have players that can change the game, that are fully fit, that deserve to play as well and we have to be mindful of that.” – Mikel Artea on whether Gabriel Jesus is ready to last the full game
SOUTHAMPTON
Long-term absentee Juan Larios (muscle) remains out for Saints, alongside more recent casualties Mohammed Salisu (hip) and Ché Adams (calf).
Ainsley Maitland-Niles is ineligible to face his parent club and while Tino Livramento (match fitness) played for the Southampton B team on Friday night, he still needs more game-time after a year on the sidelines.
Mislav Orsic (hip) is fit, however.
“We’re still in the same position. Ché Adams is still out with a calf injury, Mohammed Salisu is still out with his pelvic bone problem.
“Tino Livramento played 45 minutes for the B team last week as part of his recovery but still needs to test a little bit more and Juan Larios is still out with a long-term injury with his hamstring. The one that has recovered is Mislav Oršić who has been training with us during the week.” – Ruben Selles
