A full round of Premier League fixtures will take place this midweek after being squeezed into the calendar due to the upcoming winter World Cup in Qatar.
Managers and players have been critical of the league’s intense schedule from now until November, including Tottenham defender Eric Dier who says the arrangement of games “doesn’t make sense”.
“We knew the last three weeks wouldn’t represent what the season is going to be like but now it really starts,” Dier said. “There’s a lot of games.
“I think it’s strange that we’ve had one game a week for three or four weeks, and then suddenly you’re playing midweek games until November.”
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The relentless churn of matches will also keep Fantasy Premier League managers on their toes and with that in mind here is the main team news ahead of Gameweek 5:
Pep Guardiola dropped another hint that Erling Haaland could be rested for Manchester City’s game against Nottingham Forest by stating that his understudy Julian Alvarez is ready to step in.
“When Erling doesn’t play, he’s [Alvarez] going to play,” Guardiola said on Tuesday. “We are all of us really impressed for his pace, for the sense of the goal, for the work ethic, for many things.”
When pressed on whether Haaland would play against Forest, Guardiola replied: “You will see tomorrow.”
Patrick Vieira was non-commital on whether Wilfried Zaha and Tyrick Mitchell would return to Crystal Palace’s starting line-up for the visit of Brentford but did confirm that both players have trained this week after missing Saturday’s defeat to City.
“We have to wait and see tomorrow because they did some training. They did individual and some team training and we have to wait and see how they will recover tomorrow.”
Newcastle could be without Allan Saint-Maximin for their trip to Liverpool after the winger was seen clutching his hamstring shortly after scoring a wonder-goal against Wolves.
The Frenchman appeared to tweak a muscle in injury time after having a shot to win the game parried to safety by Jose Sa.
“We’ve got Maxi (Allan Saint-Maximin), who is a worry for us at the moment,” Eddie Howe admitted. “It was late in the game, off the back of his sprint to try and save the goal.”
Bruno Guimaraes is set to miss the trip to Anfield but Howe sounded pleased about his progress from a knock.
“He’s doing well,” he said. “I don’t know about this game coming up, but hopefully not far after if he doesn’t make this game. He’s very positive, in good spirits and desperate to get back and be involved. He’s a big player for us and we have to get him back as soon as possible.”
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Oleksandr Zinchenko and Thomas Partey were both absent for Arsenal’s comeback victory against Fulham on Saturday and Mikel Arteta has confirmed the duo will remain unavailable for Wednesday’s game against Aston Villa.
“I don’t think so,” he replied when asked whether they could return. “We still have to make another scan, especially on Thomas, to see the length but I don’t think they will be available. It is a similar area [to the one that kept Partey out last season], but hopefully not as bad.”
Richarlison has made a big impact as a substitute for Spurs in recent matches and could be pushing Son Heung-min for a starting place given the South Korean’s subdued start to the campaign.
“Now every time he’s playing, for 20-30 mins, playing very well,” Antonio Conte said after the Brazilian provided an assist for Harry Kane against Nottingham Forest. “For sure in the next games you will see him in the starting 11.”
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