Konaté, Mazraoui & McNeil: FPL Gameweek 17 injury news

It’s traditional for the busy Christmas period to be a pretty torrid time for Premier League clubs, with fixture congestions and fitness issues going hand in hand to make life difficult – and that usually means that there are plenty of selection headaches for FPL managers, too.

Suspensions perhaps present more problems than injuries ahead of Gameweek 16, admittedly, with the likes of Rayan Aït-Nouri, Marc Cucurella and Liam Delap all getting themselves onto the naughty list and earning bans – but there are plenty of players who could miss out this weekend.

We’ve listened in to all the press conferences and scoured media reports to bring you all the latest updates on the stricken players who could be relevant to your Fantasy Premier League sides – and if you’re also looking for some more general advice ahead of the deadline, then check out our resident FPL expert’s latest hints and tips column by clicking here.

Diogo Jota & Ibrahima Konaté

Liverpool might be flying high at the top of the Premier League, but they haven’t had it all their own way, with Jota and Konaté among the players slowly making their way back from injury – neither are expected to feature this weekend, with Arne Slot telling the media that they hadn’t trained this week.

Nouassir Mazraoui

16% of players have Mazraoui in their teams right now, so that’s a lot of players who will have been dismayed be the appearance of the dreaded yellow triangle next to his name – and Ruben Amorim has not been very forthcoming, having said only that he would need to be assessed by a specialist after he was spotted limping after the Manchester Derby. That comment, which came in midweek, was not followed up on during the Friday pre-match press conference.

Riccardo Calafiori

Although not widely owned himself, Calafiori’s availability has implications for owners of players like Gabriel and, in particular, Jurriën Timber – and having been down as only have a 25% chance to play, it may upset such players to hear Mikel Arteta claim that he is available for Saturday’s match day squad. There is a caveat with all Arsenal injuries, of course… Arteta lies. We’ll see if this is one such case very soon. He also said that Declan Rice would be fine to play, and that one we do believe.

Manuel Akanji & Rúben Dias

Meanwhile, over on the other side of the Mancunian divide, things are going rather poorly of late and it’s unlikely that there are too many takers for Manchester City defenders who might be hot property in happier times – but in case anyone is backing Pep Guardiola’s side to complete a quick turnaround, they should at least avoid Dias, who will be out for up to four weeks thanks to a muscular injury. Akanji is back in training, at least.

Danny Welbeck

Welbeck’s popularity as a budget option up front has plunged since the early months of the season, and it won’t be about to improve – thanks to an ankle issue, the former Manchester United and Arsenal forward is “not in the best shape” and “week to week”, according to head coach Fabian Hürzeler. Matt O’Riley, Joël Veltman and Adam Webster are back in training, but Welbeck isn’t expected to feature this weekend.

Dwight McNeil

Almost every week, there seems to be a question mark over the availability of popular budget midfielder Dwight McNeil – he may as well get that little yellow warning sign tattooed on him. Sean Dyche told reports that he was “touch and go” for Sunday and that he still has a “niggly knee”.

Eberechi Eze

One player who really hasn’t had much luck with injuries this season is England attacking midfielder Eze - no sooner has he returned from one lay-off than Oliver Glasner is forced to announce another. A swollen foot is the issue this time and he “is not 100%” as a result, and will miss this weekend’s game against Arsenal. It didn’t sound like he would be out for long, at least.