Arsenal will need to make a late decision on whether Declan Rice is fit enough to feature against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League this weekend. The midfielder was among several Gunners absentees for the midweek Champions League victory over Club Brugge in Belgium.
In his case, it was solely due to illness, and speculation has been widespread about a return to Mikel Arteta’s starting XI when they welcome the Premier League’s bottom-placed side, Wolves, on Saturday night. The objective for Arsenal will be to preserve their lead at the summit of the table, after it dropped to just two points last weekend.
Cristhian Mosquera, Gabriel Magalhaes, Kai Havertz and Max Dowman are all sidelined due to injury. At the same time, there are also doubts over the fitness of Jurrien Timber, Leandro Trossard and William Saliba.
Suspended from the fixture is Riccardo Calafiori. Arteta said on Rice: « Let’s see how he goes today, he was ill.
« Normally, in a few days, but let’s see how he gets on. Let’s see how he is today, when he was ill.
« That’s an illness; normally, in a few days, he gets resolved. But we have to wait and see how far he can push. »
There is yet to be a definitive answer on whether Rice will indeed be fit to play against Wolves this weekend. The Fantasy Premier League website suggests that Rice has a 75% likelihood of participating in the match for the Premier League leaders on Saturday evening.
That implies there is a reasonable chance he will be able to take part at the Emirates Stadium. Saliba, Timber and Trossard also have a 75% probability of playing.
The FPL deadline typically falls 90 minutes before the start of the first scheduled match of any game week. Therefore, players will be pleased to know that, with no 12:30pm kick-off on Saturday this weekend, the deadline is later than usual.
The cutoff point will be at 1:30pm. That comes ahead of Chelsea vs Everton and Liverpool FC vs Brighton & Hove Albion, both of which commence at 3:00pm.
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