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03 Oct 2019 by Tim Blackwell

FPL Gameweek 8 – Fixtures, Team News, Press Conference Quotes & Predicted Line-ups

Ahead of Saturday's 11:30am deadline, we have combed through all the Premier League press conferences to bring FPL managers the need-to-know team news, injury updates and predicted XIs for GW8.

The Stats Zone's other Gameweek 8 content can be found on our Fantasy section!

GAMEWEEK 8 FIXTURES

Saturday 5th October

Brighton v Spurs (12:30)

Burnley v Everton (15:00)

Liverpool v Leicester (15:00)

Norwich v Aston Villa (15:00)

Watford v Sheffield Utd (15:00)

West Ham v Crystal Palace (17:30)

Sunday 6th September

Arsenal v Bournemouth (14:00)

Man City v Wolves (14:00)

Southampton v Chelsea (14:00)

Newcastle v Man Utd (16:30)

TEAM NEWS & PREDICTED LINE-UPS

ARSENAL

  • Unai Emery made 10 changes to Arsenal’s starting line-up for the midweek Europa League match against Standard Liege, with only Lucas Torreira (£4.8m) retaining his starting position. The ten that were rested are expected to be recalled to the starting XI, with the only likely change from the side that faced Man Utd being Daniel Ceballos(£5.6m) in for Torreira.
  • On the injury front, Alexandre Lacazette (£9.3m) remains Arsenal’s most notable absentee, though the Frenchman is expected back following the international break.

ASTON VILLA

  • A whole host of potentially injured players have been passed fit for Dean Smith this weekend as Henri Lansbury (£4.4m), Tyrone Mings (£4.6m) and Matt Targett (£4.4m) have all been declared fit for the match against Norwich: “Tyrone Mings had a whack on the shin. But he’s fine. He’s trained since. Matt Targett has trained the last couple of days as well so he is available for selection."
  • Despite being fitted with a mask, the game comes to soon for Jonathan Kodjia (£5.4m): "The game will come too quick for Jonathan Kodjia, who has trained with us, but because of the nature of the facial injury, he'll be available after the international break." James Chester (£4.4m) is another who is still sidelined.
  • The manager has spoken about Wesley's (£6.0m) recent form and while the striker is likely to start at the weekend, back-up Keinan Davis (£4.5m) is beginning to push for minutes: "He's ready to start a game. He had a full pre-season with us, not missed a day's training, works very hard. He's been pushing Wesley all the way so Wesley knows that if he's not at it, then Keinan gets the shirt."

BOURNEMOUTH

  • Howe has confirmed his side are starting to get healthy once again: "There’s a whole group of players that aren't far away now, so excited to possibly get them close to returning after the international break. But they're not ready for this game." Unfortunately, only two names were mentioned.
  • Those two names were Dan Gosling (£4.9m) and Adam Smith (£4.4m). The pair are likely a little further along than the rest but are still expected to miss out this weekend: “They are not quite ready for this game but they’re getting close.”
  • There was no update from Eddie Howe on the fitness of Ryan Fraser (£7.2m) who missed last week with an illness but given the manager said “think we’re ok” with regards to the rest of his squad, we can assume Fraser has been passed fit.

BRIGHTON

  • Solly March (£4.9m), Alireza Jahanbakhsh (£5.8m) and Leon Balogun (£4.4m) have all been passed fit and are available for the match against Spurs: “Solly's been training back, Alireza's fine. Davy Propper we'll wait till tomorrow to make a decision.”
  • Davy Propper (£5.0m) meanwhile faces a late fitness test on his troublesome hamstring. Propper missed last week's match against Chelsea with the ailment and was replaced in the middle by Aaron Mooy (£4.9m).
  • In less positive news, Shane Duffy (£4.9m) has been ruled out until after the international break: “Shane Duffy is making good progress, he won’t make the game, but the diagnosis is better than we thought." He is joined on the treatment table by Leandro Trossard (£5.8m) and Bernardo (£4.4m).

BURNLEY

  • Jack Cork (£5.0m) is set to miss his first game of the season after suffering a minor fracture of the shoulder blade last week against Aston Villa: “Unfortunately, Jack has very fine fracture in his scapula, which is an odd injury,”
  • With Danny Drinkwater (£4.5m) still unavailable, Dyche has spoken about the possibility of Jeff Hendrick (£5.4m) playing in central midfield: “We know Jeff can operate in there and we know Westy is a really good footballer.” If Hendrick does move across to cover the loss of Cork, then Johann Berg Gudmundsson (£5.9m) could be recalled to the starting XI on the wing.
  • A second option is to play Jay Rodriguez (£5.7m) from the start, after the forward replaced Cork against Aston Villa. The introduction of Rodriguez would see Dyche go with the 4-3-3 he finished the game against Villa with, as Rodriguez would partner Ashley Barnes (£6.6m) and Chris Wood (£6.2m) up front.

CHELSEA

  • Lampard will still be without Antonio Rudiger (£6.0m), Emerson (£5.5m) and Ruben Loftus-Cheek (£6.4m) for the match against Southampton. Andreas Christensen (£5.0m) was rested midweek for Kurt Zouma (£4.8m) and could come back into the side.
  • The manager confirmed that N’Golo Kante (£5.0m) came through the midweek match against Lille unscathed and is in contention for selection at the weekend: “In terms of the injury, he’s fine and there was no fallout with that from the Lille game so it’s just about making sure he’s fit and ready, which is a call for me to make.”
  • The big decision for Lampard is whether he sticks to with a back four, like in Chelsea’s previous league match against Southampton, or reverts to three at the back, like in the midweek Champions League match. A switch to three could see a route into the starting XI for Reece James (£5.0m), a player for whom Lampard has high expectations.

CRYSTAL PALACE

  • On the injury front, Mamadou Sakho (£5.0m) is the only player expected to be missing for Hodgson: "Only Mamadou. He is the only player from the senior squad who is unavailable.” Last week, Sakho was replaced at the back by Martin Kelly (£4.1m), who looks likely to keep his spot for at least another week.
  • Luka Milivojevic (£6.7m) will miss out after collecting his fifth yellow card of the season last time: "In the midfield area we do have options. It will be quite a simple case of replacing him. We are disappointed to lose him because he is an important cog in our wheel." The midfielder will likely be replaced by one of James McCarthy (£4.4m) or Victor Camarasa (£4.7m), though Andros Townsend (£5.7m) is another option if Hodgson decides to push Jeffrey Schlupp (£5.5m) in-field.

EVERTON

  • Marco Silva has been handed a fitness boost as both Andre Gomes (£5.3m) and Theo Walcott (£6.3m) will be available for the upcoming match against Burnley: "Andre started training the first day of this week, Theo started to do some individual work as well, and today he did all the session. Theo just stopped for two or three days, it's nothing, so, if we decide, he will be ready."
  • Summer signing Jean-Philippe Gbamin (£4.9m) is also starting to step up his rehabilitation following his injured quadricep. He will likely miss the weekend fixture though. Bernard (£6.5m) has overcome the illness that forced him to miss out last weekend, so Gbamin is Silva’s only absentee.

LEICESTER

  • Brendon Rodgers has confirmed that James Maddison (£7.1m) will be available for selection on Saturday: “James is fine. He’s trained the last couple of days and he’s okay." The return of Maddison could see one of Harvey Barnes (£5.9m) or Ayoze Perez (£6.0m) make way. Marc Albrighton (£5.3m) is also an option for the wing given the industrious nature of the player.
  • Dennis Praet (£5.3m) is another that could drop to the bench, particularly if Rodgers decides he needs more defensive cover for the match against Liverpool. If that is the case, Hamza Choudhury (£4.5m) could make his return to the starting XI.
  • Following the return of Maddison, Rodgers has close to a fully-fit squad to choose from, with only midfielder Matty James (£4.4m) still out through injury.

LIVERPOOL

  • Klopp has confirmed that Alisson (£5.8m) has returned to training but remained coy over whether the Brazilian would start at the weekend: "With Alisson it's still: maybe, maybe not, yesterday he trained with the team, but if you know goalie sessions, they are often pretty more intense than the proper football sessions. He looked really good.”
  • A player who Klopp won’t be risking at the weekend is Joel Matip (£5.5m): "Joel looks good but is not ready for tomorrow.” Joe Gomez (£5.2m) should retain his place at the heart of the Liverpool defence. In addition to Matip, Xherdan Shaqiri (£6.3m) is Liverpool’s only other absentee.

MAN CITY

  • In very un-Guardiola like fashion, the manager has provided a very clear update on the fitness of Kevin De Bruyne (£10.0m): "No, tomorrow is not fit. After the international break he will be ready, it's not a big, big problem." Looks like just being a one-week absence for the Belgian. With KDB unavailable, David Silva (£7.6m) looks likely to start alongside potentially Bernardo Silva (£7.9m) or Ilkay Gundogan (£5.2m).
  • Speaking of Bernardo Silva, the threat of suspension lingers over the Portuguese midfielder but he will be available for the match against Wolves on Sunday as he has until the 9th of October to respond to an FA charge.
  • Another player Pep hopes to have back after the international break is John Stones (£5.3m), who has been absent since Gameweek 6: "Hopefully after the international break he will be back."
  • Raheem Sterling (£12.1m) and Gabriel Jesus (£9.5m) started the midweek match against Dinamo Zagreb on the bench and could be bought into the starting line-up. If Jesus does play, it will be instead of Sergio Aguero (£12.2m) as Pep recently stated he is reluctant to pair the two up front.
  • Benjamin Mendy (£5.9m) played 90 minutes in the Champions League midweek, so Oleksandr Zinchenko (£5.5m) could keep his spot in the Premier League starting XI as Pep continues to monitor Mendy’s minutes after his return from injury.

MAN UTD

  • After his ankle injury flared up again, Paul Pogba (£8.4m) missed the midweek Europa League tie and is set to be absent on Sunday. When asked about the Frenchman’s availability, OGS said, "Probably not, there's an international break as well, it might be time for us to give him 10 or 14 days extra to be ready for Liverpool."
  • Solskjaer will also be without Jesse Lingard (£6.4m) who hobbled off on Thursday night with a hamstring injury: “He tweaked his hamstring, so he didn’t feel like he could risk it. But hopefully it’s not too bad. Probably not Newcastle, but be ready for Liverpool.”
  • When asked if the likes of Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£5.5m), Luke Shaw (£5.4m) or Anthony Martial (£7.5m) were expected to be back in time for the match against Newcastle, OGS said, “Probably not let's see on Saturday morning.” Of the three, Wan-Bissaka is the most likely to play given he has missed time due to illness and not injury.

NEWCASTLE

  • Steve Bruce as an almost fully-fit squad to choose from with only Florian Lejeune (£4.5m) and Matt Ritchie (£5.4m) definitely absent through injury: “Lejeune has been training now for the past week to ten days. Another couple of weeks after this one, and he might be available too.”
  • Dwight Gayle (not in FPL) will also probably not be available due to a lack of match fitness but Bruce is yet to rule him out: “Dwight Gayle has trained all week, so I’ll make a decision on him in the next couple of days.”
  • Jonjo Shelvey (£5.0m) has recovered from a hamstring injury that wasn’t as bad as initially feared, while Jetro Willems (£4.5m) is ready to feature after overcoming a knee problem.
  • Away from the injury front, Isaac Hayden (£4.5m) will be absent following his red card against Leicester. In that game, Bruce brought on Ki Sung-Yueng (£4.8m) to strengthen the midfield, though the fit-again Shelvey is another option.

NORWICH

  • The injury list at Norwich remains large as Farke confirmed, “none of the injured players are coming back for this game.” That means Grant Hanley (£4.0m), Alex Tettey (£4.5m), Cristoph Zimmermann (£4.5m), Tim Klose(£4.4m), Mario Vrancic (£6.2m), Tom Trybull (£4.5m) and Onel Hernandez (£5.3m) are all still sidelined, in addition to his two first-choice goalkeepers. Hernandez for one “isn’t too far away from returning.”
  • There are also doubts over the fitness of Todd Cantwell (£5.0m) who tweaked his hamstring during training. The manager has said, “There's a question mark on Todd Cantwell's hamstring. It looked alright today but we hope to have him available for tomorrow.”
  • Injuries to both of his goalkeepers mean that Michael McGovern (£4.0m) will start in net as both Tim Krul(£4.5m) and Ralf Fahrmann (£4.4m) have been ruled out through injury.
  • In better news, both Jamal Lewis (£4.5m) and Sam Byram (£4.4m) will be with the squad this weekend: Sam Byram is struggling a bit with his ankle, which is why we didn't start him at Crystal Palace. He will be with us tomorrow in the squad. Jamal Lewis will be with us and has a good chance to play tomorrow. Just ligament damage, nothing broken.”

SHEFFIELD UTD

  • It’s as you were at Sheffield Utd with David McGoldrick (£5.4m) the only absentee through injury: "No, the game on Saturday has just come a bit too quick for Didzy. I think he might be going over with the Republic of Ireland squad, for them to have a look at him as well, to see where he is. He's getting closer."
  • With McGoldrick still injured, expect Oliver McBurnie (£5.9m) and Callum Robinson (£5.3m) to continue their partnership up front. Despite stating Lys Mousset (£4.9m) is getting “closer” to a start, the manager has made it clear McBurnie and Robinson are his preferred duo for now: “I’ve got to say I thought the front two did well on Saturday, as well. Callum Robinson for a young boy, and Oli McBurnie, not a lot of Premier League experience. I thought they caused them problems."
  • Billy Sharp (£5.7m) is likely to be involved at some point during the match against Watford, though it’s more probable that it’ll be from the bench as opposed to the start: "It’s been disappointing. I had a chat with Bill and he’ll say he was a bit unlucky. He’s worked hard, he’s played in a “bounce” game and he’ll be raring to go."

SOUTHAMPTON

  • After pulling up in the warm-up against Spurs, Ralph Hassenhuttl has ruled Cedric Soares (£4.9m) out until after the international break: “For sure not. He really tried to play against Tottenham, that maybe wasn’t the best idea, but he really wanted to help the team.” James Ward-Prowse (£5.8m) filled in at right wing-back against Spurs.
  • Moussa Djenepo (£5.3m) is also still out injured with a muscular problem: “Moussa is very difficult to say when he can play again. It’s high risk at the moment. When you have an injury in a muscle that you need when you shoot the ball then you don’t know if it’s okay until you shoot.”
  • Che Adams (£5.7m) could return to the starting XI after being afforded a rest last weekend. “It was clear that I needed to give him a rest. Sometimes a break can help, even if you are like him, where he always wants to play. This week he’s in better condition and is clearer in the mind. He can be an option for Sunday, yes.” If Adams does come back into the side, it will likely be at the expense of either Danny Ings (£5.9m) or Nathan Redmond (£6.3m).

SPURS

  • Mauricio Pochettino has no fresh injury concerns ahead of the weekend match against Brighton with both Giovano Lo Celso (£7.3m) and Ryan Sessegnon (£5.4m) continuing their respective rehabilitation programs.
  • Serge Aurier (£5.0m) is also set to miss out through suspension. Pochettino has hinted that Moussa Sissoko(£5.0m) may cover at full-back for the match: "A few options, I think Moussa was very good playing one hour against Southampton with tough players like Boufal and Redmond. He did very well and that made me think a little bit that his option is bigger than maybe another player.”
  • Pochettino has spoken about the need for rotation given the midweek match against Bayern followed a game against Southampton where the side played with 10 men for a large portion: "Some players that play two games, was a tough game playing one hour with ten men, maybe some players are going to rest for tomorrow." Of the regular starters, the players to not start both games include Christian Eriksen (£8.8m), Dele Alli (£8.4m), Lucas Moura (£7.2m), Erik Lamela (£6.1m) and Davinson Sanchez (£5.4m).

WATFORD

  • Quique Sanchez Flores will still be without club captain Troy Deeney (£6.2m) for at least another month as he continues to recover from a knee injury. Along with Deeney, fellow forward Isaac Success (£4.8m) is the only other absentee in an otherwise fully-fit squad for Watford.
  • The manager rang the changes last time out as he went in search of Watford’s elusive first league victory of the season. Daryl Janmaat (£4.3m) came in at right-back in place of Kiko Femenia (£4.3m), while Danny Welbeck (£5.9m) was also bought into the starting line-up and will be looking to retain his spot this week.
  • One player who could be dropped is forward Gerard Deulofeu (£6.1m). The Spaniard was hooked at half-time after 45 ineffectual minutes against Wolves and replaced by Roberto Pereyra (£5.7m), who will be pushing for a start this time around.

WEST HAM

  • After going off injured last time out, Manuel Pellegrini has confirmed that Lukasz Fabianski (£5.1m) will be missing for at least the next three months: "About Lukasz, the medical staff will decide today or tomorrow if he will have surgery or if he will recover without surgery. Either way, it will be no less than three months he is out." With Fabianski out for the foreseeable future, summer signing Roberto (£4.4m) should get a decent run between the sticks.
  • Along with Fabianski, Pellegrini will also be without Winston Reid (£3.9m) and Michail Antonio (£6.9m). On Reid, the manager has stressed the fans need to be patient as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury: “We need to be calm and patient with him. He will start playing with the u23s and, as soon as he’s able to play with the first team, he’ll be involved also.”
  • Manuel Lanzini (£6.5m) had to settle for a place on the bench last time out as he continued his recovery from injury. The manager has confirmed that he is now fully up to speed and is likely to come back into the starting XI: “Manuel Lanzini recovered from his injury, so he doesn’t have any problems.” If Lanzini does start, it will most likely be at the expense of Pablo Fornals (£6.1m), who he replaced from the bench last weekend.
  • Jack Wilshere (£4.8m) is another who has recovered in time for the weekend, though he will likely have to settle for a spot on the bench: “Jack is okay. He stopped playing just one day because he felt something in his muscle, but he has worked a full week with us.”

WOLVES

  • Nuno Espirito Santo fielded a relatively strong side for their midweek Europa League match away to Besiktas and he was rewarded with a 1-0 victory. Nine of the side that started last weekend’s victory against Watford were included from the start. Only Adama Traore (£5.0m) and Leander Dendoncker (£4.4m) were rested and the pair seem likely to be recalled on Sunday.
  • After missing last week’s match, Diogo Jota (£6.2m) remains unavailable for Wolves with an ankle injury. He is the only absentee in an otherwise fully-fit squad.
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