On another day, a further three Premier League managers faced the media ahead of their midweek UEFA Champions League matches.
Today it is the turn of Liverpool’s Arne Slot, Chelsea’s Liam Rosenior and Newcastle United’s Eddie Howe.
You can read what the managers of Arsenal, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur said on Monday here.
MOST IMPORTANT TEAM NEWS UPDATES FROM TUESDAY
LIVERPOOL
Mohammed Salah It appears he will return to action for Liverpool after the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) comes to an end.
The Egyptian took part in the open training on Tuesday ahead of the match between the Reds and Marseille. He is in traveling company for Wednesday’s match, too, and Slot hinted that he would start.
“There was a point in the season where I decided not to play against Mo. And there was a point where I decided not to take him to the match.” [against Internazionale]. He has always been in the squad in all other games and I brought him on as the first substitute against Brighton, so there has never been a problem for me at that point. But at that moment I think the outside world could see that there was no problem. The first time he can be in the selection again is because he trained with us today and will be in the selection tomorrow. Let’s take a look at the lineup tomorrow if you still think there’s a problem. – Arne Slot about his relationship with Mohamed Salah
However, he was absent from training Ibrahima Konate.
Konate has traveled ahead to France for “family reasons” and it remains to be seen whether he will join his teammates in Marseille.
“Ibou did not travel with us due to family matters and I would leave it at that. I will speak to him again tomorrow.” – Arne Slot
There were no other surprising no-shows, except Alexander Isaac (single), Conor Bradley (knee) and Giovanni Leoni (knee) on the long-term injury list.
CHELSEA
Malo wants (unspecified problem), Jamie Gittens (disease) and Estevao (illness) are all back in training after missing Gameweek 22.
But Tosin Adarabioyowho limped out of the win over Brentford was not involved and will be out for “weeks”.
And Enzo Fernandez is the latest player to be hit by the bug sweeping the Chelsea camp.
“Enzo Fernandez was ill yesterday and missed training. There were signs of that during [Saturday’s] match and that shows the kind of performance he put in against Brentford.
“Luckily, Estevao [Willian] has been there again, Jamie Gittens is back. Who else was it? There are so many. Gittens is back, Malo Gusto is involved again, which is great, another excellent player.
“There’s a bit of coughing, they’re working very, very hard, as I said. It’s not just at this club, it’s at a lot of clubs at the moment at this time of year, you’ll notice that, and it’s about making sure the players are fit for tomorrow’s game.”
“Enzo trained today. None of those guys are 100%. It’s a serious illness. So we’ll make that decision tomorrow about Enzo and how he looks in terms of starting or from the bench. Unfortunately for Tosin there’s something in his hamstring that will rule him out for the next few weeks. But I can’t be more precise about that at the moment. – Liam Rosenior
Romeo Lavia (quadruplets), Levi Colwill (knee) and Mychailo Mudryk (suspended) remain unavailable.
Returning to Enzo, Rosenior discussed where he thought the midfielder’s best position was.
“First of all, he’s technically excellent. He covers a lot of ground. He’s actually a very, very good athlete in terms of the way he can cover ground. He can finish, he can score goals. He gets into the box really well when he plays higher up as a forward eight or as a number 10 in the pocket. He gets into the box really well and a player of his level can do a lot of different things.”
‘What I have to do, not just with Enzo [but] with all the players, is figuring out what the chemistry is around his position. It’s not just him, it’s how other players fit around him. But for me, Enzo can play deeper as a six, which he did very well against Arsenal. I used him against Charlton as a pocket player and he did very well there. I’m not surprised because he’s an excellent player.
“I don’t like to pigeonhole players. I don’t say they are in one position. If you look at what I have done with players in my career, I have used them in different roles because of the way teams play against us and the strengths and weaknesses of each game. I will do that with Enzo because he is an excellent player.” – Liam Rosenior on Enzo Fernandez
Outcast Axel Disasi however, could soon be involved again Raheem SterlingChelsea’s future seems to be in the offing.
“When I came in, I said to the players: it’s a clean slate for everyone. So it was only good for me to have a conversation with [Axel]. Really good conversation. I got to know him really well. It was the right choice to be involved with the group again. Because of the situation he found himself in, he is behind in terms of his fitness and his match fitness, and we will continue to work very, very hard with him to get him up to speed.
“Raheem, right now we are discussing different things and different options that are going on in his career. And hopefully that will become clearer in the coming days.” – Liam Rosenior
NEWCASTLE UNITED
Then Burns (rib) and Will Osula Back to training (only) on Tuesday, although the visit from PSV comes too early.
However, they could be in a position to return for the Gameweek 23 clash with Aston Villa.
“He’s making really good progress, Dan. We anticipated the return journey he’s had, he’s pretty much keeping to the timelines we expected. He won’t make it to tomorrow, it’s too early.”
“Same goes for Will Osula, today was their first day with the team but hopefully not too far away.” –Eddie Howe
Fabian Schar (single), Emil Krafth (knee), Jacob Murphy (hamstring) and Tino Livramento (hamstring) remain outside.
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