Rice, Gabriel & Cucurella: Latest FPL injury news for Gameweek 20 as Arsenal take on Bournemouth

The New Year fixtures are coming thick and fast and for Fantasy Premier League players, that means Gameweek 20’s deadline is almost upon us – and as always, there are a whole host of injury problems to fret about before Saturday 11:00 GMT, by which time all of your transfers will have to have been made.

Declan Rice, Gabriel Magalhães and Marc Cucurella are among the key FPL players who are either out or doubts ahead of the latest round of Premier League matches, and to help you out we’ve checked in on the latest media reports and listened in to the managers’ pre-match press conferences to compile the latest FPL injury news.

Will Declan Rice and Gabriel play vs Bournemouth?

Declan Rice, Riccardo Calafiori & Gabriel Magalhães: Widely-owned midfielder Rice was left out of Arsenal’s squad for the 4-1 win over Aston Villa and remains a doubt due to a knee injury. In an unusually open statement about one of his players’ injuries, Mikel Arteta told the press on Friday that the swelling around his knee had not yet come down and that his availability would depend on whether he made it through training on Friday. It didn’t sound promising and we suspect that Rice will be out.

Elsewhere, Arteta confirmed that Riccardo Calafiori would miss Saturday’s match against Bournemouth through injury, but it looks as though fellow defender Gabriel Magalhães will be fine to play after limping off in midweek. That seems to have been no more than a bout of cramp.

Marc Cucurella: The Chelsea left-back is among the most popular defenders in the game but has a worrying yellow flag next to his name this week, the result of a hamstring injury which kept him out of the midweek draw with Bournemouth. He trained on Friday but stand-in coach Calum McFarlane said he was “undecided” as to whether the Spaniard would play. It all sounded promising enough, however, and we suspect he’ll have some role.

Antoine Semenyo: Semenyo isn’t injured, there had been a significant question mark over whether he would play for Bournemouth this weekend given that he seems likely to leave (perhaps for Manchester City) in the coming days - but Andoni Iraola has now confirmed that the Ghanian winger will be involved against Arsenal and that Bournemouth don’t expect this to be his last game for the club.

Chris Richards: Crystal Palace’s defensive contribution magnet was a heavy doubt heading into the weekend and doesn’t seem likely to be involved for a little while longer – The Athletic report that Richards could be out for another three matches due to a foot injury.

Newcastle stars among other Fantasy doubts this weekend

Sven Botman, Tino Livramento and more: Newcastle’s defence has been ravaged by injuries of late but it seems as though a few players are getting close to comebacks – Eddie Howe told the media on Friday that Livramento and Kieran Trippier are “close” to a return, Botman and Anthony Elanga are “very close,” and Lewis Hall should be fine. None of which is wildly helpful, but it suggests that people eyeing Livramento should probably wait another week.

Yankuba Minteh & Mats Wieffer: Winger Minteh sustained a thigh injury during the recent draw against West Ham but is “fine” to play against Burnley this weekend, according to Fabian Hürzeler. Wieffer, however, is out due to a “small” toe injury which doesn’t sound like a long-term problem.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall & Michael Keane: Ahead of Everton’s last match, David Moyes bluntly told reporters that he wouldn’t be giving them any information about when injured players like Dewsbury-Hall and Keane would be back in action – but he was more forthcoming on Friday, saying that Keane “has a chance” to play this weekend while Dewsbury-Hall is still a little way away from making his comeback.

Maxime Estève: Burnley’s budget enabler was a major doubt heading into the midweek match against Newcastle but did ultimately start – only to be substituted 15 minutes into the match. Scott Parker told the press that the defender was back in training but won’t play this weekend as he recovers. Not that he was getting many FPL starts anyway.