Injuries and Bans ahead of Gameweek 21
For Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers, the availability of their players both in terms of injuries as well as bans is an important part of their Gameweek preparations.
Gameweek 20 was a difficult week for many FPL managers with three matches postponed, one after the deadline, and of course the most highly captained player Salah missing a penalty and registering a zero pointer.
Gameweek 21 will now be one match light with the Premier League confirming that, as a result of Norwich being unable to field a team their match against Leicester has been postponed.
INJURIES
Players to monitor ahead of Gameweek 21
Leandro Trossard (Brighton) – Hamstring injury Substituted as a precaution because of hamstring tightness on 26/12. Will be assessed ahead of the Chelsea game on 29/12.
Shane Duffy (Brighton) – Knock Absent from the Brentford game on 26/12 but his manager wouldn’t say whether the issue was injury or illness related
Rico Henry (Brentford) – Hamstring injury Substituted with a tight hamstring as a precaution in the EFL Cup on 22/12. Wasn’t fit to face Brighton on 26/12 and won’t recover in time for the Man City match on 29/12.
Bryan Mbeumo (Brentford) – Calf injury Substituted with tightness in his calf against Brighton on 26/12. Unlikely to recover in time to face Manchester City on 29/12.
Reece James (Chelsea) – Hamstring Went off in Gameweek 20 with a Hamstring injury.
Conor Gallagher (Crystal Palace) – Illness Missed out against Norwich on 28/12 but his club wouldn’t say whether it was Covid or injury related.
Daniel James (Leeds) – Muscle injury Picked up a muscle problem in the match against Man City on 14/12. Ruled out of the Arsenal game on 18/12.
James Maddison (Leicester) – Muscle injury “A bit sore” after appearing to pick up an injury in the match against Liverpool on 28/12.
Jamie Vardy (Leicester) – Muscle injury “A bit sore” after appearing to pick up an injury in the match against Liverpool on 28/12.
Thiago (Liverpool) – Illness Returned a suspected positive Covid-19 test ahead of the Spurs game on 19/12.
Lindelof (Man United) – Illness Missed the Newcastle game on 27/12 after testing positive for Covid-19.
Kyle Walker (Man City) – Knock MIssed the match against Leeds on 14/12 as he was short of fitness.
Allen Saint-Maximin (Newcastle) – Muscle injury Substituted with a muscle injury in the match against Man Utd on 27/12. His manager doesn’t think the issue is too serious.
Max Aarons (Norwich) – Illness Missed out against Crystal Palace on 28/12 but his manager wouldn’t elaborate on whether it was injury or illness that was the issue. Not expected back for the Leicester game on 1/1.
Todd Cantwell (Norwich) – llness Missed out against Crystal Palace on 28/12 but his manager wouldn’t elaborate on whether it was injury or illness that was the issue. Not expected back for the Leicester game on 1/1.
Teemu Pukki (Norwich) – Illness Missed out against Crystal Palace on 28/12 but his manager wouldn’t elaborate on whether it was injury or illness that was the issue. Not expected back for the Leicester game on 1/1.
Rayan Ait-Nouri (Wolves) – Muscle injury Pulled out of the starting XI on 15/12 after feeling discomfort in the warm-up. Assessment is continuing ahead of the Chelsea game on 19/12 to determine how long he will be out.
Potential FPL options with longer term injuries
Granit Xhaka (Arsenal) – Knee ligament damage picked up against Spurs (26th Sept), out for three months
Marvelous Nakamba (Aston Villa) – Knee injury Substituted in the game against Liverpool on 11/2 with a knee injury. Has since undergone surgery and will be out for 12-16 weeks.
Ajer Kristoffer (Brentford) – Hamstring injury Missed the defeat to Burnley on 30/10 with a hamstring injury. His manager subsequently ruled him out for up to two months.
David Raya (Brentford) – Ruled out for four to five months on 26/10 after sustaining a serious ligament injury in his left knee.
Jeremy Sarmiento (Brighton) – Hamstring injury Substituted with a hamstring injury in the match against West Ham on 1/12. Expected out for between three to four months.
Ben Chilwell (Chelsea) – Knee injury Substituted in the Champions League win over Juventus on 23/11 with a partial injury to his ACL. Initially ruled out for six weeks on 26/11 but it later transpired that he would require surgery and miss the rest of 2021/22
Abdoulaye Doucoure (Everton) – Everton confirmed on 19/10 Doucoure has suffered a foot injury and will be assessed to determine the period of absence.
Wesley Fofana (Leicester) – Broken leg in pre-season
Harvey Elliot (Liverpool) – Serious ankle injury vs Leeds (12th Sept) which required surgery
Raphael Varane (Man United) – Ruled out on 12th Oct for a few weeks with a thigh injury
Callum Wilson (Newcastle) – Muscle injury Substituted with a muscle injury in the match against Man Utd on 27/12. His manager thinks the issue might be serious.
Jack Stephens (Southampton) – Picked up a knee injury on 18th Sept. Ruled out for 10-12 weeks
Christian Kabasele (Watford) – Out for more than three weeks (7th Oct) due to a hamstring injury
Ben Foster (Watford) – Groin injury likely out until the new year at least.
Johnny (Wolves) – ACL injury from the 2020/21 season, on course for “a return in the new year”
Pedro Neto (Wolves) – Knee injury from 2020/21, due to have a specialist review in October but no further timeframe
For more in-depth details, check out the Fantasy Football Scout website:
BANS
Tyrone Mings (Aston Villa) – 1 Match Ban Suspended for one match after picking up his fifth booking of the season on 26/12.
Andy Robertson (Liverpool) – 3 Match Ban Suspended for three matches after being sent off for serious foul play on 19/12. Gameweek 21 is the final match of his ban.
Javier Manquillo (Newcastle) – 1 Match Ban Suspended for one match after picking up his fifth booking of the season on 27/12.
Kyle Walker-Peters (Southampton) – 1 Match Ban Suspended for one match after picking up his fifth booking of the season on 28/12
Mohammed Salisu (Southampton) – 1 Match Ban Suspended for one match after being sent off for two bookable offences on 28/12.
4 Yellow Cards (1 from suspension)
Sambi Lokonga – Arsenal
Matty Cash – Aston Villa
John McGinn – Aston Villa
Marvelous Nakamba – Aston Villa
Christian Norgaard – Brentford
Adam Lallana – Brighton
Neale Maupay – Brighton
Joel Veltman – Brighton
Josh Brownhill – Burnley
Reece James – Chelsea
Connor Gallagher – Crystal Palace
Marc Guehi – Crystal Palace
Lucas Digne – Everton
Abdoulaye Doucoure – Everton
Liam Cooper – Leeds
Tyler Roberts – Leeds
Raphinha – Leeds
Rodrigo – Leeds
Diego Llorente – Leeds
Jamie Shackleton – Leeds
Andy Robertson – Liverpool
Fabinho – Liverpool
Reuben Dias – Manchester City
Bernando Silva – Manchester City
Rodri – Manchester City
Scott McTominay – Manchester United
Fred – Manchester United
Paul Pogba – Manchester United
Luke Shaw – Manchester United
Callum Wilson – Newcastle
Brandon Williams – Norwich
Max Aarons – Norwich
Mattias Normann – Norwich
Pierre Lees-Melou – Norwich
Oriol Romeu – Southampton
Mohammed Salisu – Southampton
Cristian Romero – Spurs
Danny Rose – Watford
3 Yellow Cards (2 from suspension)
Assets from Arsenal, Chelsea, City, Liverpool, West Ham, Wolves, Villa, United, Southampton, Palace, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Norwich, Southampton, and West Ham are no longer at risk from a 5 yellow card suspension as the yellow card threshold is raised to ten after a team’s 19th league fixture.
Charlie Goode – Brentford
Pontus Jansson – Brentford
Frank Onyeka – Brentford
Cucurella – Brighton
Adam Webster – Brighton
Ben Mee – Burnley
Jay Rodriguez – Burnley
Andros Townsend – Everton
Demarai Grey – Everton
Ben Godfrey – Everton
Wilf Ndidi – Leicester
Caglar Soyuncu – Leicester
Harry Kane – Spurs
Emerson Royal – Spurs
Craig Cathcart – Watford
Oghenekaro Peter Etebo – Watford (out through injury until Feb 2022)
Josh King – Watford
William Troost-Ekong – Watford
The Fantasy Football Scout suspension tightrope will keep you up-to-date on which of your players are at risk of a ban:
https://www.fantasyfootballscout.co.uk/category/suspensions/
