Fantasy Premier League team news: Predicted line-ups for Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Spurs and more

Gameweek two of the new Premier League season sees Chelsea and Tottenham go head to head at Stamford Bridge in the headline clash of the weekend, while Arsenal host Leicester, Liverpool take on Crystal Palace and Manchester City take on newly promoted Bournemouth.

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.

Liverpool

Fixture: Liverpool vs Crystal Palace, Monday 15 August, 8pm.

Liverpool team news: Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp hopes Thiago Alcantara’s absence with a hamstring problem will only be four weeks. The Spain midfielder was forced off in last weekend’s draw at Fulham and the initial prognosis could see him out until potentially the end of September.

“Thiago is good but the injury is not good. I read four to six weeks, I would prefer four,” said Klopp, who remains confident he has enough options in midfield that he will not have to dip into the transfer market – even though he also has Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (hamstring) and Curtis Jones out.”

Joel Matip has a groin injury and will miss out, reports the Daily Telegraph, while Ibrahima Konate remains sidelined too, paving the way for Joe Gomez to start alongside Virgil van Dijk in defence.

New signing Darwin Nunez could come in to replace Roberto Firmino after impressing from the bench at Fulham, while either Harvey Elliott or Fabio Carvalho are likely to replace Thiago Alcantara in midfield.

Liverpool predicted line-up: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; Henderson, Fabinho, Elliott; Diaz, Nunez, Salah.

Crystal Palace news: Michael Olise could be involved after injury, while James McArthur and James Tomkins remain out. Nathan Ferguson is also unavailable.

Chelsea

Fixture: Chelsea vs Tottenham, Sunday 14 August, 4.30pm.

Chelsea team news: Thomas Tuchel has confirmed Mateo Kovacic is out of the game with a knee injury. Marc Cucurella could make his first start after joining from Brighton, though he is expected to begin on the bench once more.

Tuchel said after Chelsea’s opening win at Everton that neither Ben Chilwell nor Reece James were up to full fitness, so both may well come off at some stage during the second half, but they are still likely to start the match.

Chelsea predicted line-up: Mendy; Azpilicueta, Silva, Koulibaly; James, Jorginho, Kante, Chilwell; Mount, Havertz, Sterling.

Tottenham

Fixture: Chelsea vs Tottenham, Sunday 14 August, 4.30pm.

Spurs team news: Antonio Conte said on Friday: “A little problem with Clement Lenglet. I don’t think he’s available for the game against Chelsea. He had a little problem... a little problem of fatigue. He’s a bit tired in his abductor, in the muscle. Nothing serious but only precaution, but not good to take a stupid risk. He’s had a training session apart, but I think that will be good for him.”

Conte added: “[Oliver] Skipp, I think a couple of weeks.”

Ivan Perisic played only a cameo against Southampton but could be in line for his first competitive start at Chelsea, if Conte decides to go with the Croatian’s big-game experience at left-wingback over Ryan Sessegnon, who scored Spurs’ opener against Saints.

It is a similar story on the right side where Matt Doherty is still searching for full fitness after a long-term injury, but Emerson Royal’s defensive attributes could ensure that he holds on to the starting spot at right-wingback for another week.

Spurs predicted line-up: Lloris; Romero, Dier, Davies; Royal, Bentancur, Hojbjerg, Perisic; Kulusevski, Kane, Son.

Arsenal

Fixture: Arsenal vs Leicester, Saturday 13 August, 3pm.

Arsenal team news: Takehiro Tomiyasu, Kieran Tierney, Emile Smith Rowe and Fabio Vieira are all close to full fitness after injuries but given Arsenal’s 2-0 win at Crystal Palace on the opening day of the season, it seems unlikely Mikel Arteta will feel the need to ring the changes here and the same XI could well be given the chance to go again.

However, Arteta did hint Tierney is close to a starting place, saying he is “ready to go”, so Zinchenko could move into midfield at the expense of Xhaka to accommodate the Scot.

Arsenal predicted line-up: Ramsdale; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko; Partey, Xhaka; Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli; Jesus.

Manchester United

Fixture: Brentford vs Manchester United, Saturday 13 August, 5.30pm.

Man United team news: Erik ten Hag said that both Anthony Martial and Victor Lindelof will miss Saturday’s trip to Brentford with injury.

Cristiano Ronaldo will be involved but the manager refused to be drawn on whether or not the Portugal forward will start. “He had a good training week,” Ten Hag said. “He’s had two half-games (against Rayo Vallecano in pre-season and Brighton) and for the starting XI we will see tomorrow. I have made the decision, I keep it.”

Man United predicted line-up: De Gea; Dalot, Maguire, Martinez, Shaw; Eriksen, McTominay, Fernandes; Sancho, Ronaldo, Rashford.

Brentford news: New signing Mikkel Damsgaard is not ready to start but could be involved in the matchday squad, Thomas Frank has said. Sergi Canos, Kristoffer Ajer and Ethan Pinnock remain out.

Manchester City

Fixture: Manchester City vs Bournemouth, Saturday 13 August, 3pm.

Man City team news: Pep Guardiola said on Friday: “We have Kalvin (Phillips) with some niggles, and we have Cole Palmer with a knock in his feet last games. Obviously, he is a doubt tomorrow. The rest is perfect.”

Guardiola’s main selection quadaries are Ake vs Stones at centre-back, Bernardo vs Gundogan in midfield and choosing two from Grealish, Mahrez and Foden on the wings.

Man City predicted line-up: Ederson; Walker, Dias, Stones, Cancelo; De Bruyne, Rodri, Gundogan; Mahrez, Haaland, Foden.

Bournemouth news: Bournemouth’s new recruits defender Ryan Fredericks (calf) and midfielder Joe Rothwell (quad) will both have to wait a while longer to get their first taste of Premier League action with the Cherries, while new defender Marcos Senesi may be eased in from the bench. Kieffer Moore could drop to the bench despite scoring against Villa, as Parker looks to sure up midfield.

More team news

Aston Villa vs Everton, Saturday, 12.30pm: Tyrone Mings and Emi Buendia are available for Villa but Kortney Hause remains sidelined. Leon Bailey looks "sharp" in training, according to Steven Gerrard, and is "in a good place". Everton are without defenders Ben Godfrey, ruled out for three months with a fractured leg, and Yerry Mina. They have since signed Wolves centre-back Conor Coady on loan to add options to their back line, as well as promising Belgian midfielder Amadou Onana.

Brighton vs Newcastle, Saturday 3pm: Jonjo Shelvey is likely to be out for around three months after hamstring surgery, but Jamaal Lascelles is back after limping out of the warm-up against Forest and Federico Fernandez could be in the squad. Graham Potter could bring Tariq Lamptey into the Brighton side.

Wolves vs Fulham, Saturday, 3pm: Raul Jimenez and Joao Moutinho remain unavailable for Wolves, while Nelson Semedo and Adama Traore are unlikely to start after disrupted pre-seasons.

Nottingham Forest vs West Ham, Sunday, 2pm: Orel Mangala and Taiwo Awoniyi are in contention for starting berths as Steve Cooper considers making changes to the side which were outplayed by Newcastle at St James’ Park last weekend.

David Moyes said on his West Ham team: “It’ll be a similar group to last week. Craig Dawson is doing quite well so we’ll see where he is. We have Angelo Ogbonna working his way back from a cruciate too. Lukasz [Fabianski] had a knock last week and Micky Antonio had a knock too, but he’s trained today.”

On new signings Maxwel Cornet and Gianluca Scamacca, Moyes added: “Yes, I think they’re ready to start. I think it’s just a decision if we’re ready to play them yet. They’re getting much closer to it, that’s for sure, now they’ve had a few weeks training.”