The latest Fantasy Premier League injury news ahead of Gameweek 3 - with updates on Cole Palmer, Bukayo Saka and more.
Injuries are always a headache for Fantasy Premier League players, but the 2025/26 season seems to have gotten off to a particularly brutal start – and with Cole Palmer, Bukayo Saka and Rayan Aït-Nouri all picking up injuries ahead of Gameweek 3, there are very few FPL managers in the world who don’t have difficult decisions to make.
As always, 3 Added Minutes are here with our Friday round-up of all the biggest FPL-relevant injury news and we’ve got the very latest updates on Palmer, Saka, Aït-Nouri and many more below to help you decide whether you should keep or sell some of your star players.
As the managers’ pre-match press conferences take place on Friday, we’ll be updating this article with all of the latest information ahead of this weekend’s Premier League fixtures.
Cole Palmer & Bukayo Saka latest ahead of FPL Gameweek 3
Cole Palmer: Palmer aggravated an existing groin injury in the pre-match warm-up prior to last week’s 5-1 defeat of West Ham United and was subsequently left out – and has picked up a worrying yellow flag ahead of Chelsea’s game against Fulham this weekend.
Results of initial assessments of Palmer’s condition were positive but Palmer didn’t train with the team for the first part of the week and the early indications are that he is quite likely to miss out – but we are still waiting for confirmation from Enzo Maresca’s press conference. His price has yet to drop but seems likely to do so should he miss out against Fulham, meaning that selling him may be the correct move if you have concerns over your team’s finances.
Bukayo Saka: Given the choice, of course, most FPL players who sold Palmer would switch to the ever-reliable Saka – but that’s unlikely to be the best decision after the BBC reported that the England international would miss up to four weeks with a hamstring injury.
Mikel Arteta has yet to confirm the timeline for Saka’s return to action but the orange flag on the FPL app is almost certainly a red herring, and the winger won’t be back until after the international break. Between difficult fixtures and injury, it’s almost certainly correct to sell for now. Saka’s team-mate Martin Ødegaard is also a significant doubt ahead of the Gunners’ game against Liverpool thanks to a shoulder injury.
Rayan Aït-Nouri: The news is rather better if you’re one of the 18.1% of players with new Manchester City signing Aït-Nouri in your team – Algeria’s national team manager, Vladimir Petković, pre-empted Pep Guardiola by publicly stating that the wing-back had trained during the week and that the injury was “not serious”.
With team-mate Joško Gvardiol out until after the international break, it looks likely that the former Wolves man features this weekend, although Nico O’Reilly could take his place if he fails to get back to full fitness in time. Aït-Nouri is a hold barring unexpected updates from Guardiola.
Jeremie Frimpong & Dan Ballard out – and will Yoane Wissa or Alexander Isak play?
Jeremie Frimpong: The Liverpool wing-back was an injury victim last week and remains unavailable – he should be back in mid-September. His price has already fallen to £5.9m, making him a tempting pick-up when he is healthy again, but he will miss at least one more match and perhaps two. Meanwhile, Arne Slot has confirmed that Virgil van Dijk is fit to play against Arsenal this weekend and Alexis Mac Allister, who is yellow-flagged, has been back in training in recent days and should be available.
Dan Ballard: The budget-friendly centre-back went into a host of teams after his opening-weekend goal encouraged knee-jerking managers around the world to make what will probably prove to be a bad decision – and their punishment has been immediate. A groin injury means that Ballard isn’t expected to play against Brentford this weekend. He could be back straight after the international break, at least.
Fabian Schär: Newcastle may be without several key players this week – Anthony Gordon is suspended, Joelinton and Sandro Tonali are doubts, and popular FPL pick Schär may also miss out with a head injury sustained during the last-gasp defeat to Liverpool. The Austrian took to social media to tell supporters that he was “OK”, however, so he may well be in Eddie Howe’s plans, and the manager didn’t mention his condition during his press conference. There’s probably no need to sell if you have him.
Destiny Udogie: Few FPL managers have Udogie right now but between Tottenham Hotspur’s form and his status as a wing-back, he may well be signed quite a bit very soon – he’s been out for over a month with a knee injury but is close to a return, according to Thomas Frank. The Italian probably won’t be ready for a full 90 minutes against Bournemouth, however, so hold fire until next month.
Alexander Isak & Yoane Wissa: Barring a very unexpected late development, Isak is still considered unavailable for selection by Newcastle as he holds out for a move to Liverpool. The picture is less clear with Brentford’s Wissa, however.
Having initially refused to train while he pushed for his own transfer to St. James’ Park, he is now back in training but wasn’t ultimately selected for last week’s win over Aston Villa. Keith Andrews has since told the press that “nothing has changed” ahead of the trip to Sunderland and Wissa is not expected to be involved.
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