Fantasy Premier League team news: Predicted line-ups for Arsenal, Spurs, Man City & more before FPL deadline

The Premier League is back on Friday evening when Arsenal take on Crystal Palace – and that means fantasy football is back too.

Fantasy Premier League has grown into a phenomenon in recent years and could top 10 million managers for the first time this season – though plenty will no doubt be caught out by the earliest ever start to a Premier League season as well as the always-tricky Friday night deadline, which kicks in at 6.30pm BST, meaning there may be plenty of late registrations after the first gameweek.

As fantasy managers put together the finishing touches on their teams they will no doubt be following team news closely, hoping to glean some information from Friday’s press conferences. Here we take a look at the most popular FPL sides, what their (real) managers are saying and how they are likely to line-up this weekend.

Arsenal

Gameweek 1 fixture: Crystal Palace vs Arsenal, 8pm BST, Friday 5 August.

What Mikel Arteta said: “Three out of four of those players [Takehiro Tomiyasu, Emile Smith Rowe, Kieran Tierney and Fabio Vieira] are going to be training and if everything goes well, they will be available for selection and in the squad. Hopefully, we can start to recover because they’ve been missing a lot of minutes and time in pre-season and they are really important players for us.”

FPL team news: With Tomiyasu and Tierney injured, new-signing Oleksandr Zinchenko is set to start the season at left-back while Ben White looks in line to shift across to the right side, with William Saliba starting at centre-back alongside Gabriel. Emile Smith Rowe’s lack of fitness means the left-wing position is Gabriel Martinelli’s to lose.

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

Manchester City

Gameweek 1 fixture: West Ham vs Manchester City, 4.30pm, Sunday 7 August.

What Pep Guardiola said: “I don’t know how many goals [Erling Haaland is] going to score and I don’t care. From what I’ve seen, he’s going to adapt incredibly quickly.”

On left-backs: “Nothing special. Josh [Wilson-Esbrand] is there. Joao [Cancelo] is there, Nathan [Ake] can play there. Some surprises we can do. We will see.”

On Bernardo Silva’s future: “I would love for Bernardo to continue, but I don’t know what will happen. Players sometimes have a desire and I’m not a person to stop a person’s desire. I want Bernardo to stay here, 100%. We will see what happens”.

FPL team news: With Aymeric Laporte injured and John Stones missing most of preseason, Nathan Ake could be cheap route into the City defence, though rotation may well be just around the corner. Phil Foden did not start the Community Shield but could force his way into the side to face West Ham.

City’s predicted line-up: Ederson; Walker, Dias, Ake, Cancelo; De Bruyne, Rodri, Bernardo Silva; Mahrez, Haaland, Grealish.

Tottenham

Gameweek 1 fixture: Spurs vs Southampton, 3pm, Saturday 6 August.

What Antonio Conte said: “For the right side we have a similar situation like Ivan [Perisic] to Matthew [Doherty]. Matthew had a serious injury and I think worse than Ivan. Now he is working a lot. He has had a bit of time to come back to be fit like last season. I hope to bring him in the same situation as last season as I think Matthew, he played really well. At the moment we need to have a bit of patience. He needs to have a bit of patience but is working very well to be fit quickly.

“Then we have [Djed] Spence. Spence, I said to you that he was an important investment for the club for the future, he is a really good prospect and young player. For sure it is important for him to understand very well with us to adapt himself to the demands of Tottenham.”

FPL team news: Ivan Perisic looks set to start the season at left wing-back but Antonio Conte’s comments suggest his minutes could be limited, similarly to Matt Doherty, as the duo build fitness. Ryan Sessegnon and Emerson Royal are likely to get plenty of opportunities, particularly when the Champions League kicks in around gameweek six.

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

more to follow...