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Fantasy Premier League managers and actual Premier League managers will be equally worried about the same players going into this weekend’s matches. A host of big names are doubtful, as the gameweek concludes with Manchester United’s crunch home test against Aston Villa.
But first up is Coventry’s trip to Everton on Friday night (8pm kick-off) as Frank Lampard faces his former team. That means the FPL deadline is, once again, on Friday at 6.30pm, so it’s time to lock in your squads.
Here, Express Sport takes you through the latest and most vital injury updates ahead of this weekend’s action…
Note: This article will be updated throughout Friday to bring you all the latest news.
Ezri Konsa
Konsa started Arsenal's 2-1 win over Slavia Prague in midweek, but was forced off in the second half with what Mikel Arteta described as “some issues”.
The England defender had been spotted holding his knee and is a doubt for this weekend’s visit of Hull to the Emirates, especially now that William Saliba has fully returned to the squad.
"Obviously he's playing a lot," Arteta said. "He's played so many games in the last few weeks. He had some issues and we decided to take him off."
Arteta will provide a further update on Friday.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin
Leeds boss Daniel Farke revealed that Calvert-Lewin suffered a setback and missed training on Thursday.
“Dominic Calvert-Lewin had a little setback with his foot and was not able to train with us today,” Farke said on Thursday.
“But I would say I am carefully optimistic that he is back in training hopefully tomorrow and then he would also be available.”
All eyes on Friday’s training pictures…
Farke also confirmed that Noah Okafor and Anton Stach are likely to miss Sunday’s match with Tottenham.
William Saliba
Saliba is “ready to go” according to Arteta and could make his first appearance of the season against Hull.
“He’s in a really good place. I think the process and the timings and in the manner that the injury has been dealt with, and especially the feelings that Willy has been having along the way, they’ve been very, very positive,” Arteta said before their Champions League win on Tuesday.
He added: “So, his evolution has been as expected, which is not always the case. He feels very comfortable. He played 45 minutes [behind] closed doors last week, and he feels ready to go. So whether we use him or not now is a matter of what the team needs.”
Saliba did not play against Slavia Prague but was named on the bench.
Emi Martinez
Goalkeeper Martinez has returned to Chelsea training as he steps up his recovery from a fractured jaw.
Mike Penders has stepped in since Martinez was taken to hospital following a collision during the Blues’ 2-0 win at Everton on October 17.
But having missed three matches, Martinez was spotted back in training with heavy protective padding on his jaw, and is pushing to play against Sunderland on Sunday.
Joao Pedro
Pedro is still owned by 37.7% of FPL managers at the time of writing, but he is unlikely to feature until after the international break.
“He has an injury on his thigh and he's going be out for a few weeks," Xabi Alonso said before the Carabao Cup defeat by Liverpool. "Let's see how many. We don't want to predict on that. But not ready for the next games.
“He's a key player. We will miss him, but we have to be ready to deal with the injury, and be competitive and try and win with the players we have available. This is the situation.”
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