Team News: Late Fitness Check – GW8
Premier League sides continue to struggle in Europe. Only the teams from Manchester manage a win as both come from behind to register their first victory in the Champions League competition. A trip to Porto offered no respite for Jose Mourinho while a home defeat to Olympiakos brought Wenger back down to earth after their emphatic win over Leicester.
Tottenham picked up a respectable draw in Monaco but the pressure on Brendan Rodgers was ramped up a further notch as Liverpool failed to beat mid-table Swiss side FC Sion. A loss in the derby and it could be all over for the Irishman.
Two weeks ago there was talk of City walking away with the title having won five on the spin but following back-to-back defeats United have stolen a march and lead the pack for the first time in over 2-years [when a certain Sir Alex Ferguson was in charge].
Pivotal games ahead for those on international duty. Places in next years’ European Championships will be decided over the next 10 days while African and Asian national sides continue their quest for World Cup qualification.
Crystal Palace – vs – West Brom
Alan Pardew expects to name a similar squad to the one which won at Vicarage Road back in GW7. “Damien Delaney and Mile Jedinak are not fit.” Connor Wickham and Joel Ward should return after the international break “The medical team tell me they’ll be back for West Ham.” Dwight Gayle will continue to lead the Palace attack “I was very impressed. If he’d scored those two goals [v Watford] he’d have been MotM.” Julian Speroni is working his back to full fitness which means Wayne Hennessey is likely to keep his place ahead of Alex McCarthy after the former QPR and Reading goalkeeper was dropped following his mistake against Tottenham. Brede Hangeland will continue in the heart of defence following his man-of the match performance at Watford.
Gareth McAuley [calf] and Jonas Olsson [groin] “haven’t trained,” and Tony Pulis expects the pair to miss out along with Salomon Rondon who limped off during the home defeat to Everton. “We’re looking at them not being available for Saturday.” Saido Berahino was on the scoresheet for the second successive game but only three of the strikers’ 16 PL goals have been scored away from the Hawthorns. West Brom are yet to concede a goal on their travels.
Norwich City – vs – Leicester City
No fresh injury concerns for Norwich. Gary Hooper [ankle ligaments] should return after the international break while Youssouf Mulumbu is back in “light training” but could be another month or so. Nathan Redmond is pushing for a recall following his [surprise] omission from the starting line-up at West Ham. Alex Neil has a decision to make as Matt Jarvis is available again. Robbie Brady was the stand-out performer at the Boleyn Ground playing in a more advanced role as Martin Olsson came it at left-back.
Claudio Ranieri confirmed that Jamie Vardy broke his wrist during the recent win over Aston Villa but the forward was prepared to play through the pain-barrier “the medical staff have worked hard. He doesn’t want to stop for injury.” Nathan Dyer will face a late fitness test. The Swansea City loanee had his first training session on Thursday after a recent knee injury “[he is] not ready to [start]. He’s a maybe.” The Foxes’ porous defence is a concern for Ranieri [14 goals conceded] and only Sunderland have a worse record. However in attack no team has scored more with Riyad Mahrez and Vardy [4-in-4] proving themselves to be invaluable during this early part of the campaign.
Manchester City – vs – Newcastle United
Vincent Kompany won’t be involved on Saturday. The City skipper is still struggling with a calf injury “We’ll see if he’s fit after the international break.” However Kompany will still join up with his international team mates despite not being able to play. “It’s important for him to be with his team as they have important qualifiers,” said Pellegrini. Gael Clichy, Fabian Delph, Samir Nasri and Yaya Toure are also injured. “It’s not normal to have so many injuries. We hope after this international break most of them will be fit.” However there was better news regarding Eliaquim Mangala, Wilfried Bony and Kelechi Iheanacho “who will be added to the squad list.” Pablo Zabaleta is also fit-again, but after a month out the full-back lacks sharpness and may have to settle for a place on the bench.
Jack Colback is a doubt for the trip to The Etihad after the midfielder tweaked his hamstring during the draw with Chelsea. “He is the only injured player with a chance of returning,” says McClaren. Gabriel Obertan, Massadio Haidara and Rolando Aarons are out while there was early optimism regarding the fitness of Cheick Tiote and Papiss Cisse this week but it now looks like the pair will fall just short. Siem de Jong should be fine after the midfielder was caught in the face by Ramires moments after his introduction on Saturday “he didn’t have concussion – he was a little dazed.” Others missing include Paul Dummett, Sylvain Marveaux, Karl Darlow and Emmanuel Riviere.
Aston Villa – vs – Stoke City
“Idrissa Gueye is fully fit, he’s had a bit of treatment this week on his hamstring,” confirmed Tim Sherwood but Adama Traore is struggling. “He played for the U21s on Monday, but he was limping one minute and fine the next. We can’t take any risks because there’s still a long way to go in the season.” Rudy Gestede is expected to lead the Villa attack after his 2-goals at Anfield. “Agbonlahor is carrying a [calf] injury, so Rudy is crucial.” Jores Okore is targeting a return before the end of October while Gary Gardner won’t be considered just yet as “he’s integrating with the under-21s.”
Mark Hughes is hoping Xherdan Shaqiri – hamstring – can train on Friday while Marc Wilson is still struggling with a calf problem “We’ll look at [them both].” If Wilson does miss out then Philipp Wollscheid could continue his partnership with Geoff Cameron – Marc Muniesa is another option. Leading scorer Mame Diouf is expected to return to the side having grabbed the winner from the bench last weekend. Ryan Shawcross is slightly ahead of schedule and might make a surprise return against Swansea “It’s encouraging to see him back out on the pitches, hopefully we can step it up even further within the next week. He needs some game time, and then we’ll see how he goes from there. We certainly don’t want to rush him but he is making real positive progress.”
AFC Bournemouth – vs – Watford
A scan earlier this week confirmed that Callum Wilson is likely to miss the remainder of the season after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament in a challenge with Phillipp Wollscheid. “We are going to be a different team now without Callum, so it’s up to us to adapt. Everyone must step up,” said Eddie Howe. In his absence Glenn Murray will be tasked with trying to keep the Cherries’ in the PL. Tommy Elphick is still struggling with an ankle complaint which threatens to keep him out while Howe remains hopeful that Harry Arter can make his PL debut “sooner rather than later.”
Quique Flores confirmed Holebas has been left out of the match-day squad recently “Because his performances were not good enough.” In his absence winger Ikechi Anya has flourished at left full-back “I think he has been man of the match. He has been one of our best players since the start of this season. It doesn’t matter if he is left-back, midfielder or left winger. Anya is one of the best players in the team so it is impossible to not select him.” Quique Flores has kept change in personnel to a minimal during the opening seven games and Saturday should be no different despite the loss to Palace. Lloyd Doyley is on the comeback trail. The 32 year-old defender underwent neck surgery during the summer but stepped up his recovery by playing for the under-21s this week.
Sunderland – vs – West Ham
Sunderland go in search of their first PL win this weekend but the Black Cats will have to do it without Younes Kaboul who has been ruled because of a knee injury. Seb Coates is expected to step in to partner John O’Shea. DeAndre Yedlin is in line for his first PL start as Advocaat looks to end Patrick van Aanholts’ nightmare start to the season. Jack Rodwell has overcome an ankle complaint while Jermaine Defoe [hamstring] will be included in the squad after watching the two previous games from the bench. Adam Johnson appeared in court on Friday [offences against a minor] and the winger may miss out dependent on his frame of mind. Only Newcastle and Watford have scored fewer PL goals but neither come close to the amount conceded [16] – the worst in the division.
Slaven Bilic will assess a number of players during his squads’ final training session on Friday. Andy Carroll picked up a minor knee injury and has been with the clubs’ fitness coach this week while Winston Reid is a doubt after picking up a hip / lower back problem. Angelo Ogbonna [hamstring] has been ruled out though. Enner Valencia is closing in on a return “he will join us in parts of training, if everything goes well it’s a matter of 2/3 weeks for him.” Alex Song is progressing but there is still no official word on the status of Joey O’Brien. Kouyate has proved himself to be an unlikely source of goals this term after his dramatic late equaliser [v Norwich] took his tally to three [joint leading scorer along with Payet and Sakho].
Chelsea – vs – Southampton
Jose Mourinho reiterated that his team defended well in Porto but ultimately “two big mistakes” cost Chelsea the game. Branislav Ivanovic is without “doubt” his best right-back and but he has “no doubt” that he needs to improve his form. Mourinho refused to be drawn in on any team news so it remains to be seen whether John Terry will return to the starting line-up. Only Thibaut Courtois is unavailable through injury “he should be back in December.” Diego Costa is suspended. Loic Remy, Oscar and Radamel Falcao trained “fantastically well” when the squad were away in Portugal. Eden Hazard and Nemanja Matic dropped to the bench in the Champions League as Mourinho shook things up midweek.
Ronald Koeman expects to name an unchanged squad for the trip to Stamford Bridge on Saturday. The only potential addition to the 18 could be Jordy Clasie who has recovered from the hamstring and ankle problems which have blighted the start of his Saints career. Ryan Bertrand made a return v Swansea in GW7 as Matty Targett dropped out and the England international was excellent in his first game back. “In my opinion he was the best player on the pitch, and that’s all the credit,” said Koeman. Virgil van Dijk scored his first goal for the club before Dusan Tadic and Sadio Mane sealed the victory in an easy win over Garry Monks’ stuttering side.
Everton – vs – Liverpool
“It’s too early to tell if John Stones and Seamus Coleman will be fit,” says Roberto Martinez. “A decision won’t be made until Sunday morning.” Funes Mori and youngster Tyias Browning would be the players to make way. Brendon Galloway is likely to retain his place despite the return of Bryan Oviedo. No fresh injury concerns. “Everyone from the West Brom game is fit.” Kevin Mirallas misses out through suspension while Mo Besic [hamstring] and Tom Cleverley [ankle] could be back after the international break. Romelu Lukaku helped the Toffees grab an unexpected victory on Monday [two goals and an assist] and the Big Belgian will be tasked with getting one over their Merseyside rivals in the derby.
Christian Benteke will be given every chance to prove his fitness “we’ll see over the course of the next 24 hours,” but the striker has already been ruled out of the upcoming internationals. Brendan Rodgers is expected to have the same squad available as the Villa game. Daniel Sturridge “is fresh and fit and looking forward to this weekend. With so many games we need to look after him.” The England international gave a nice reminder of what Liverpool had been missing with 2-goals in only his second start back after hip surgery. Dejan Lovren [ankle], Jordan Henderson [metatarsal] and Roberto Firmino [back] remain sidelined.
Arsenal – vs – Manchester United
Laurent Koscielny has been ruled out of this weekends’ game and the Frenchman will also miss the upcoming internationals “it looks like three weeks,” said a spikey Wenger during Fridays’ press-conference. Gabriel is expected to partner Per Mertesacker in defence. Francis Coquelin [knee] “should be okay,” after his midweek return but Mikel Arteta [thigh] and Flamini [hamstring] will miss out. A win on Sunday would go some way to appease the Arsenal faithful who were baying for blood following the home defeat to Olympiakos in the Champions League. Wenger could do with another man-of-the-match performance from Alexis Sanchez who was in devastating form at the King Power in grabbing his first PL hat-trick. Expect to see Petr Cech back between the sticks [calf tightness] after he was benched midweek.
United came through Wednesdays’ European tie with Wolfsburg relatively unscathed and the squad will be further boosted by the news that Michael Carrick has been passed fit. Ander Herrera will face a late test. Louis van Gaal has given his players a day-off and will run a full check on Saturday as his squad are suffering from fatigue. Antonio Valencia is at risk of missing out after Ashley Young shone during the second half on Wednesday “It was important he played [at right back] in the second half. I’m very happy.” Phil Jones is another option although it may be a little early – lacking fitness – having just recovered from thrombosis.
Swansea City – vs – Tottenham
Garry Monk expects to have a fully fit squad to choose from for the visit of Tottenham and the manager could ring the changes having failed to win a single game since August. “Everyone’s positions is under threat, that’s why you have competition in the squad. I have good players that maybe haven’t had the minutes on the field that could play easily.” Goals appear to be their biggest concern with Bafetimbi Gomis and Andre Ayew the only players scoring from open play this term but Gylfi Sigurdsson did open his account [from the spot] at St Marys’ and is bound to raise his game against his former employers.
It looks like Tottenham came through the Europa trip to Monaco reasonably unharmed although Pochettino will make checks ahead of the trip to the Liberty Stadium. Heung-Min Son has been ruled out after picking up a foot injury last weekend. The South Korean is still being assessed but initial reports do suggest that the issue is not minor “We hope it’s not a big but he has a problem in his foot and we need to assess it day-by-day, but maybe he will be out for a few weeks.” Pochettino also confirmed that Alex Pritchard, Nabil Bentaleb and Mousa Dembele will remain sidelined. Ryan Mason “is close but is still out.” The midfielder could re-join the group after the international break.
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