Foden, Watkins, Palmer and more: FPL injury news ahead of Gameweek 4 including Spurs stars

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The latest injury news ahead of Gameweek 4 in the Fantasy Premier League, featuring updates on Foden, Watkins, Haaland, Solanke and Palmer.

With the deadline to make your transfer ahead of Gameweek 4 in the Fantasy Premier League rapidly approaching, we’ve been listening in to the press conferences and trawling through the latest media reports to make sure you know which players are in, out and doubts.

Phil Foden, Ollie Watkins and Cole Palmer are among the players with worrying coloured triangles next to their names in the FPL app, and we’ve got updates on all of those and more below - and if you want some proper advice, you can also check out our resident fantasy expert’s latest advice column by clicking here.

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Phil Foden, Rodri & Nathan Aké

England winger Foden dropped out of Lee Carsley’s first England squad last week due to a combination of illness and a lack of match fitness following a long and wearying summer, but there’s good news – he’s back in Manchester City training as of Thursday and should be available for selection ahead of the game against Brentford. He may well not play a full 90 minutes, however, given that he hasn’t played a minute of competitive football since the Euro 2024 final. Rodri, likewise, could feature after returning to full training.

There’s less positive news for players who picked up Aké as a defensive asset, however. The Dutchman was stretchered off with an apparent hamstring injury during a Nations League game against Germany and Pep Guardiola told reporters that he would be out until the next international break in October.

Erling Haaland

Still with Manchester City but moving away from injuries, there has been some speculation that Erling Haaland might miss the match this weekend through compassionate leave, which has been offered to him following the death of close family friend Ivar Eggja. Guardiola told the media that he would “see tomorrow if he is able mentally or physically to play.”

Ollie Watkins & Leon Bailey

Striker Watkins withdrew from the England squad ahead of the games against the Republic of Ireland and Finland due to an unspecified pre-existing minor injury, and had as such been a doubt for this weekend. Unai Emery confirmed in his pre-match press conference, however, that he was available to play. Leon Bailey is highly doubtful with a hamstring problem, however.

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Cole Palmer

The third and final player to drop out of the Three Lions’ squad, and it is believed that he was planning to rest a hamstring injury that he picked up against Servette in the Europa Conference League. Palmer has been back in full training since Monday, however, and appears to be set to start away to Bournemouth on Saturday evening. In further Chelsea news, neither Malo Gusto nor Reece James will play this weekend.

Martin Ødegaard

The Norwegian captain picked up an ankle injury while on international duty and was pictured in a protective boot – initial scans ruled out a fracture but he is very unlikely to play in the North London Derby on Sunday. Arteta stopped short of ruling him out in his press conference, simply saying that he will “wait and see”, but the tone made it sound like it was deeply improbably that he would play. Gabriel Jesus will be back in the squad barring setbacks, however.

Dominic Solanke & Micky van de Ven

On the other side of the North London divide, there have been serious doubts over the fitness of centre-forward Dominic Solanke and Micky van de Ven, who is among the most commonly-owned £4.5m centre-backs in the game. The news is positive, however – according to Ange Postecoglou, Van de Ven is “good” and has trained right through the international break, and while Solanke remains a doubt for Sunday’s match he “improved” and trained for the second half of the week. It sounds probable that he will play at least some part.

Niclas Füllkrug

More people are keeping an eye on the German striker’s form than actually own him right now, but those watching him will have little to look at this weekend, because although FPL only list him as a doubt it seems all but certain that he will miss West Ham United’s game against Fulham with a minor Achilles injury. Germany manager Julian Nagelsmann told the press that he would not be able to play this weekend and while it’s not his final decision, it must be assumed that he was speaking from a position of certainty.

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Rayan Aït-Nouri

The Algerian wing-back didn’t end up playing for his country over the break due to injury, arriving at camp before the AFCON qualifiers with a problem before eventually being rested. Gary O’Neil told reporters on Friday that he will require a late fitness test – but that he also hadn’t trained ahead of the match against Newcastle at Molineux. He seems unlikely to play a full role, or play at all.

Rasmus Højlund

Initial reports suggested that the young Danish striker would be in contention for his first minutes of the season after the international break, but those hopes have now been dashed – apparently Højlund is “progressing”, per Erik ten Hag, but isn’t ready to play in the Saturday lunchtime match against Southampton. The same is true of Luke Shaw.

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