Gameweek three of the new Premier League season will build up to the big clash on Monday night between Manchester United and Liverpool, while before then Tottenham Hotspur host Wolves and Arsenal travel to Bournemouth looking to maintain their strong start. On Sunday, Chelsea face Leeds and Manchester City are away at Newcastle United.
Fantasy football managers will have a keen eye on the team news ahead of the FPL deadline at 11am BST on Saturday, with new signings bedding in and some players still finding their fitness. Here we take a look at the key team news from the pre-match press conferences and predict line-ups to help make our Fantasy Premier League decisions.
Tottenham
Fixture: Tottenham vs Wolves, Saturday 20 August, 12:30pm
Spurs team news: Antonio Conte has confirmed that defender Cristian Romero will be unavailable due to an adductor injury. “He had a little problem against Chelsea in the final part of the game,” Conte said. “After the game, he started to feel a bit of pain in his adductor muscle. We checked him. The player wanted to be available but, in this situation, we have a lot of games to play, so it would be stupid to take risk. For this reason, he is not available against Wolves.”
Romero has been key to Tottenham’s strong defensive record under Conte and Davinson Sanchez will be his likely replacement in the back three. Elsewhere, Ivan Perisic and Richarlison made positive impacts from the bench at Stamford Bridge and the Croatian could be handed his first start at left wing back in place of Ryan Sessegnon. On the right, Conte faces another decision between Emerson Royal and Matt Doherty - but the Brazilian looks set to keep his place.
Spurs predicted line-up: Lloris; Sanchez, Dier, Davies; Emerson, Hojbjerg, Bentancur, Perisic; Kulusevski, Kane, Son
Wolves team news: Nelson Semedo and Adama Traore could start while Goncalo Guedes will be pushing for his first involvement. Raul Jimenez remains out with a knee injury and Morgan Gibbs-White is set to sign for Nottingham Forest.
Arsenal
Fixture: Bournemouth vs Arsenal, Saturday 20 August, 5:30pm
Arsenal team news: Emile Smith Rowe, Fabio Vieira and Cedric Soares are getting closer to full fitness having appeared for Arsenal’s Under-21s in midweek, while Takehiro Tomiyasu and Kieran Tierney are pushing for full involvement after both coming off the bench last weekend.
“Everybody is ok,” Mikel Arteta said. “Cedric, Fabio and Emile played for the Under-21s. They are ok, they have trained all week so they are available.”
It would not be a surprise to see Arteta name an unchanged team, unless he wants a more natural right back in Tomiyasu in place of Ben White. Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli are two of the Premier League’s in-form forwards and will lead the line again along with Bukayo Saka.
Arsenal predicted line-up: Ramsdale; Tomiyasu, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko; Partey, Xhaka; Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli; Jesus
Bournemouth team news: Scott Parker said striker Dominic Solanke will be assessed ahead of the match after missing the trip to Manchester City last weekend with an ankle injury.
Chelsea
Fixture: Leeds vs Chelsea, Sunday 21 August, 2pm
Chelsea team news: N’Golo Kante is out for “weeks” with a hamstring injury, Thomas Tuchel has confirmed, while Chelsea will be without Mateo Kovacic again. Chelsea will also be missing Christian Pulisic due to an Achilles problem while Armando Broja is also unavailable. “N’Golo Kante’s injury is quite serious, we are talking about weeks. It is not good news,” Tuchel said. “We are disappointed and sad because he is super important and super fit. Amando [Broja] is out for days, but will not be at Leeds, and Mateo Kovacic is out with knee problems.”
Tuchel must pick between Marc Cucurella and Ben Chilwell at left wing-back in one of several interesting line-up calls. “If we play a back four I would say they are competing for a place and in a back five they are not,” Tuchel added. “Ben is a clear wing back and Cucurella can do both [centre back or wing back].”
Chelsea predicted line-up: Mendy; James, Silva, Koulibaly; Loftus-Cheek, Gallagher, Jorginho, Cucurella; Mount, Havertz, Sterling
Leeds team news: Patrick Bamford picked up another problem against Southampton so Rodrigo will likely start in attack. Leeds have several defensive concerns: Luke Ayling, Stuart Dallas and Junior Firpo are out while Liam Cooper is a doubt.
Manchester City
Fixture: Newcastle United vs Manchester City, Sunday 21 August, 4:30pm
Manchester City team news: Aymeric Laporte is still recovering from knee surgery so Nathan Ake looks set to feature in defence alongside Ruben Dias. Kalvin Phillips is available after missing the match against Bournemouth last weekend. “Some niggles for some players but the rest are okay,” Guardiola said, while new left back Sergio Gomez will be in the squad for the first time.
Elsewhere, Bernardo Silva could get his first start of the season now his future seems more certain. With Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne certain to start, Guardiola will have to choose two from Phil Foden, Riyad Mahrez and Jack Grealish.
Manchester City predicted line-up: Ederson; Walker, Dias, Ake, Cancelo; De Bruyne, Rodri, Gundogan; Foden, Haaland, Grealish
Newcastle United team news: Ryan Fraser is set to be available, Eddie Howe has confirmed, but Matt Targett faces a late fitness test. Jonjo Shelvey is out for 12 weeks with a hamstring injury. Federico Fernandez and Emil Krafth are doubts.
Manchester United
Fixture: Manchester United vs Liverpool, Monday 22 August, 8pm
Manchester United team news: There has been talk of Lisandro Martinez being deployed at holding midfield ahead of the visit of Liverpool, as Erik ten Hag faces a pressure match at Old Trafford. The United manager made three changes at half-time as his side were 4-0 down to Brentford and Raphael Varane and Tyrell Malacia could start after making introductions from the bench. Anthony Martial is nearing a return and could be on the bench, so Cristiano Ronaldo should lead the line again.
“Victor [Lindelof] has not returned to the training pitch but the good news is that Anthony Martial is back in training with the team,” Ten Hag said.
Manchester United predicted line-up: De Gea; Dalot, Varane, Maguire, Malacia; Martinez, Fernandes, Eriksen; Rashford, Ronaldo, Sancho
Liverpool
Fixture: Manchester United vs Liverpool, Monday 22 August, 8pm
Liverpool team news: Darwin Nunez will serve the first match of his three-game suspension following his red card against Crystal Palace. He joins a lengthy injury list that already includes Diogo Jota, Thiago Alcantara and Ibrahima Konate. Joel Matip is a doubt but Jurgen Klopp has backed Joe Gomez to fill in at centre-back alongside Virgil van Dijk after missing the draw against Palace.
“It’s an opportunity. He came back to team training on Sunday, the day before the Palace game,” Klopp said. “Joe has looked great in training this week. He has trained completely normal.” Roberto Firmino is “ready” to lead the line alongside Mohamed Salah and Luis Diaz, Naby Keita has been passed fit while Harvey Elliott and Fabio Carvalho could see minutes.
Liverpool predicted line-up: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho, Henderson, Milner; Diaz, Firmino, Salah
More team news
Leicester vs Southampton, Saturday 20 August, 3pm: Brendan Rodgers has said Leicester winger Harvey Barnes should be available but warned he is prepared to leave Wesley Fofana out of his squad amid uncertainty over his future. Saints forward Che Adams will be fit to face the Foxes after suffering a minor injury in last weekend’s 2-2 draw at home to Leeds. Romain Perraud, Tino Livramento and Theo Walcott remain unavailable.
Everton vs Nottingham Forest, Saturday 20 August, 3pm: Forest manager Steve Cooper has confirmed Ryan Yates and Steve Cook have returned to training but Jack Colback is still out with illness. Emmanuel Dennis, Morgan Gibbs-White and Remo Freuler have all been signed since Forest’s last match, with Dennis set to be an option at Goodison Park. For Everton, Amadou Onana could be handed his first start after an impressive cameo against Aston Villa last weekend. Dominic Calvert-Lewin remains out while Dele Alli appears to be on the verge of joining Besiktas.
Crystal Palace vs Aston Villa, Saturday 20 August, 3pm: Diego Carlos is set to be out for several months with a ruptured Achilles but Steven Gerrard has confirmed he has a fully fit squad elsewhere. Emi Buendia could start, potentially ahead of Philippe Coutinho, after his impact against Everton last weekend. Danny Ings and Ollie Watkins also combined well.
“It’s not a case of having favourites or a best front three, it’s about horses for courses and what we think the game in front of us demands,” Gerrard said. “We’ve got a lot of attacking options and big talents who all bring different skillsets. They’re all extremely important to us and they will be over the course of the season.”
Patrick Vieira switched to a back five at Anfield but either Odsonne Edouard or Jean-Philippe Mateta will come back in for Joel Ward as he reverts to a four-man defence, with Wilfried Zaha starting on the left.
Fulham vs Brentford, Saturday 20 August, 3pm: Fulham remain without Harry Wilson and Manor Solomon and are set to name an unchanged team, providing Andreas Pereira is fully fit. Brentford have no new injury issues and could start with the same side that thrashed Manchester United 4-0. Kristoffer Ajer and Sergi Canos are nearing a return while new signing Mikkel Damsgaard could make the bench for the first time since arriving from Sampdoria.
West Ham vs Brighton, Sunday 21 August, 2pm: Gianluca Scamacca started in Thursday’s 3-1 win over Viaborg in the Europa Conference League and scored his first goal for the Hammers, who are the only Premier League side yet to find the target this season. Jarrod Bowen started too while Michail Antonio came on from the bench, as did new signing Thilo Kehrer for his first minutes.
David Moyes faces a big decision in whether to now hand Scamacca his first Premier League start ahead of Antonio but suggested the Italian may have to wait for his chance. “I think in time he will have an impact,” Moyes said. “I don’t think it is fair to judge him right away. We will bring him into the Premier League gradually but we’ve seen enough to see he will bring a lot to us.”
Brighton have no injury issues and could name the same starting team for second week in a row, unless Graham Potter hands a debut to new left back Pervis Estupinan.
