The latest FPL injury news and selection updates ahead of Friday’s Gameweek 2 deadline.
The deadline for Gameweek 2 of the Fantasy Premier League passes at 18:30 BST this Friday, giving FPL players a limited amount of time to make their transfers and set their teams – and, as is so often the case, a slew of injuries will make matters even more complicated.
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Bruno Guimarães and Morgan Gibbs-White are among the doubts heading into the weekend, Pedro Porro is among the players who could return after post-World Cup breaks, and there are a number of players who might miss out because of recent or impending transfers, such as Ezri Konsa and Enzo Fernández.
To make life a little bit easier, we’ve collected all of the latest FPL injury news and selection updates below ahead of the deadline.
Guimarães & Gibbs-White among FPL Gameweek 2 injury worries
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Bruno Guimarães & Jurriën Timber: Arsenal new boy Guimarães missed the 3-0 win over Coventry with a minor groin injury, but is back in training and “potentially available,” according to the typically unhelpful Mikel Arteta. Timber is said to be progressing well as he recovers from a long-term groin injury, but it doesn’t sound like he’ll be ready to play against Aston Villa on Monday night.
Morgan Gibbs-White: A knee injury sustained against Leeds last weekend meant that Gibbs-White missed his side’s midweek EFL Cup tie and he remains a doubt for the Liverpool game – Oliver Glasner has said that Forest are “working really hard to get him fit” for the trip to Anfield on Saturday, but it sounds touch and go.
Mohammed Kudus, James Maddison, Pedro Porro & Micky van de Ven: Kudus (thigh) and Maddison (shoulder) are both significant doubts for this weekend and seem relatively unlikely to play at this point – a spot on the bench isn’t out of the question for either, but it would be a shock if they started. Porro and Van de Ven, meanwhile, made their first appearances of the season against Charlton Athletic in midweek as substitutes, and both could well start against Newcastle. No guarantees, though.
Moisés Caicedo & Marco Palestra: A couple of fringe picks from Chelsea missed the midweek match against Luton Town due to training injuries – Caicedo is a doubt but has a chance of playing, according to Xabi Alonso, while Palestra is expected to miss out. Everyone else who played on Monday against Fulham is apparently “fine.”
Ismaïla Sarr: The Crystal Palace winger is one of those reliable FPL contributors who tends to work his way into plenty of teams at some point in the season, but won’t play this weekend thanks to a groin injury which has mysteriously flared up at the same time that he’s pushing for a transfer – perhaps to Liverpool. Avoid.
Jack Hinshelwood & Georginio Rutter: Gameweek 1 hero Hinshelwood is set for an unspecified spell on the sidelines, according to The Athletic, due to a training injury. He won’t feature this weekend. Rutter is a minor doubt up front, with limited information available about his status.
William Osula: A foot injury is expected to rule out the Danish striker, who scored on the opening day against Liverpool, for at least two weeks. A spicy potential differential who will just have to wait a little longer for his time to shine.
Jérémy Doku: The Belgian winger’s form towards the end of this season earned him some FPL buzz for the new campaign, but he still hasn’t recovered from a calf injury sustained during the Community Shield defeat to Arsenal. No set return date yet, but expect him to be absent for at least two more games.
Will Ezri Konsa start for Arsenal?
Arsenal could hand Ezri Konsa some debut minutes against his former club Aston Villaplaceholder image
Arsenal could hand Ezri Konsa some debut minutes against his former club Aston Villa | Getty Images
Ezri Konsa: Arteta told the press that Konsa was “available” to make his debut against former side Aston Villa on Monday evening, but given that the centre-back hasn’t played since England’s 6-4 win over France at the World Cup and had a shortened pre-season, it would be a minor surprise if he started – or at least if he played the full 90 minutes. He’s likely to be a very good FPL signing at £4.5m, but you can probably hold fire for another week.
Enzo Fernández: Left out of Chelsea’s squad for the Luton game due to a widely-anticipated move to Manchester City, all signs point to him being absent once again when Chelsea welcome Brighton to Stamford Bridge. It would be a big surprise if he played.
Emiliano Martínez. Ollie Watkins & Nicolas Jackson: The Aston Villa goalkeeper is expected to move to Stamford Bridge and as such almost certainly won’t be involved this weekend – Zion Suzuki could make his debut at Villa Park on Monday. Watkins returned to training this week amid speculation over a potential transfer to Saudi Arabia, but with Nicolas Jackson heading to Birmingham to replace him, we assume that Watkins won’t be involved. There’s an outside chance that Jackson might feature in some capacity with the announcement of his move seemingly imminent, but we’d wait a week to make that particular gamble.
Omar Marmoush & Sávio: The Egyptian striker’s move to Tottenham Hotspur has been finalised but we’ve received no clear indications that he’ll be in the squad immediately – the same is true for winger Sávio, with Roberto De Zerbi coy on whether or not he would be ready to make his debut. We would guess that both are in the matchday squad, but have no idea if either might actually start.