Tottenham now have a league-high nine players on the sidelines
Alexander Isak and Ryan Gravenberch will be assessed ahead of Liverpool’s clash with Brentford
Rodri is nearing a return but misses out again for Manchester City
The Premier League returns for gameweek nine, which features an appetite-wetter on Friday, four Saturday fixtures and another five exciting clashes on Sunday.
The injuries are beginning to pile up for many of England’s top sides, with Rodri and Cole Palmer among the biggest absentees, but a number of influential players are nearing a return, too.
We have picked out some standout team news for the weekend's key fixtures.
Brentford vs Liverpool (Saturday, 8pm)
After four straight defeats, Liverpool stopped the rot with Wednesday’s 5-1 rout of Eintracht Frankfurt but they will need to be at their best to land a positive result at Brentford, who will be buoyant after Monday’s dominant display against West Ham.
Arne Slot will be keen to build on the midweek win but he could be without a number of key men as Jeremie Frimpong was injured in the week while Alexander Isak and Ryan Gravenberch face late fitness tests ahead of Saturday’s trip to the capital.
Alisson is also out for the champions, who must decide whether to bring out-of-form Mo Salah back into the starting 11.
Brentford are without Aaron Hickey, Paris Maghoma, Josh Dasilva and Antoni Milambo but they have no fresh injury concerns and will be looking to pull off a shock.
Arsenal vs Crystal Palace (Sunday, 2pm)
The big news coming out of the Premier League leaders’ camp is that Gabriel Magalhaes is a major doubt for Sunday’s clash with Crystal Palace as, not for the first time this season, the Brazilian was forced off in the week.
He will be assessed but while he is a sensational defender, Arsenal are not short of replacements. Piero Hincapie could make his long-awaited Premier League debut and Cristhian Mosquera is another capable deputy.
Gabriel Jesus, Kai Havertz, Noni Madueke and Martin Odegaard are sidelined, with the latter’s absence giving former Eagle Eberechi Eze the chance to start against his former side in his favoured central role.
Crystal Palace suffered a shock defeat to Larnaca on Thursday but with no fresh injury concerns, they have a chance to bounce back at the Emirates.
Aston Villa vs Manchester City (Sunday, 2pm)
Pep Guardiola insists that Rodri and Abdukodir Khusanov are nearing a return. That is great news for City but they will still have to do without their star midfielder and young defender for Sunday’s trip to Aston Villa.
Nico Gonzalez is also a doubt, making Rodi’s absence all the more damaging, but Bernardo Silva and Tijjani Reijnders should provide enough steel to see off Villa, who were beaten 2-1 by Go Ahead Eagles on Thursday.
The Villans will again be without Youri Tielemans and Andres Garcia but Lucas Digne could return after missing the trip to Deventer.
Everton vs Tottenham (Sunday, 4.30pm)
Just as they were for the majority of last season, Tottenham are the Premier League’s most injury-hit side.
Cristian Romero, Destiny Udogie and Yves Bissouma are the latest players to suffer a setback, joining Kota Takai, Dom Solanke, Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison, Radu Dragusin and Ben Davies on a nine-man injury list.
Everton sorely missed Jack Grealish’s creativity last week but he is available to start after missing out against his parent club Manchester City, leaving injury-ridden Spurs looking vulnerable.
