Fit or Miss: Premier League Injury Tracker - Week 5

Fit or Miss: Premier League Injury Tracker - Week 5

This article is part of our Fit or Miss series.

With Champions League and Europa League group matches officially underway, there will be plenty of roster shakeup this weekend throughout the Premier League. Outside of players who picked up injuries, teams may sit others who would normally start because of the midweek action. We won't try to guess which ones won't make the Starting XI, but we can look at those who have injuries that could keep them out.

Norwich City vs. Aston Villa
Out:Jores Okore will miss the next nine months after tearing the ACL in his right knee.
Expected to Play:Nathan Baker should be good to go after recovering from an ankle injury.

Newcastle vs. Hull City
Out:Steven Taylor could miss up to three matches after picking up a knock in training. Massadio Haidara remains out after suffering a setback in his recovery from a knee injury. Maynor Figueroa (groin) has been granted compassionate leave and is in Honduras now tending to a family issue. Paul McShane, who likely would have started in Figueroa's place, is out with a hamstring injury. Robert Koren will miss the next two months after breaking a bone in his foot.
Not Expected to Play:Gabriel Obertan and Jonas Gutierrez are likely to miss out with hamstring injuries.
Expected to Play:Robert Brady will try to gut it out as he fights his way through a stomach muscle strain.

West Brom vs. Sunderland
Out:Ben Foster remains out with a stress fracture in his foot. Philip Bardsley remains out after breaking his foot in August.
Not Expected to Play:Matej Vydra remains sidelined with a hamstring injury that has kept him out since the end of August. Shane Long is battling a knee injury that kept him out of last week's match against Fulham. Zoltan Gera (knee) continues to get closer to a return, but it doesn't sound like he's quite there yet.
Expected to Play:Steven Reid could be healthy enough to play, although that doesn't mean he'll make it onto the pitch after so much time off. Emanuele Giaccherini should be good to go after missing last week's match against Arsenal following a slight hamstring strain while on international duty with Italy. Lee Cattermole is expected to make the trip, although he isn't guaranteed a spot in the Starting XI.

Liverpool vs. Southampton
Out:Philippe Coutinho is expected to miss the next six weeks after undergoing surgery to repair the AC joint in his shoulder. Glen Johnson remains sidelined with a knee injury.
Not Expected to Play:Aly Cissokho is still not back from an ankle injury suffered in late August.
Expected to Play:Daniel Agger will have a late fitness test for his side, which he injured in training trying to avoid a dumbbell from falling on his foot. Luke Shaw has recovered from an ankle injury and should play. Daniel Fox will have a late fitness test to test out his ankle.

West Ham vs. Everton
Out:Andy Carroll remains out with his foot injury.
Not Expected to Play:Joe Cole (hamstring) and Stewart Downing (leg) are still at least a week away from returning. Steven Pienaar suffered a hamstring injury in training two weeks ago and was described by manager Roberto Martinez as "50-50" to play Saturday. Antolin Alcaraz remains out with his hamstring injury despite a return to training.
Arouna Kone is expected to play after missing last week's match against Chelsea with a bruised knee. Darron Gibson is expected to make his season debut Saturday, although it wouldn't be surprising if he was limited and did not play the full 90 minutes.

Chelsea vs. Fulham
Not Expected to PlayAaron Hughes is unlikely to play with a thigh injury. Maarten Stekelenburg (shoulder) has still not been able to resume training, while Matthew Briggs is dealing with a hernia.
Expected to PlayDimitar Berbatov will have a late fitness test after suffering a hamstring injury during last weekend's match against West Brom. Darren Bent has recovered from the hamstring injury that kept him out last week.

Crystal Palace vs. Swansea
Out:Jonny Williams is out for three months after damaging ankle ligaments. Jack Hunt is expected back in December after breaking his ankle two weeks ago in training. Glenn Murray (knee) is still at least two months away from a return.
Not Expected to Play:Patrick McCarthy remains sidelined with a groin injury. Pablo (hamstring) was unable to play in Thursday's Europa League match against Valencia. Neil Taylor (thigh) remains sidelined.
Expected to Play:Jonathan Parr featured in Wednesday's friendly against Oman and looks good to make his Premier League debut for Palace this weekend. Jerome Thomas (ankle) could make his season debut.

Arsenal vs. Stoke City
Out:Alex Oxlade-Chamerblain is out for another two months with a knee injury. Lukas Podolski is also not expected back until November at the earliest. Santi Cazorla is out for at least two weeks with an ankle injury.
Not Expected to Play:Tomas Rosicky (thigh) has not returned to full training. Yaya Sanogo (back) has also not gotten back to strength. Mikel Arteta is close but not likely close enough to return this weekend. Friday update: Arteta has trained fully and could very well play Saturday.Marc Muniesa is working his way through a groin injury. Jamie Ness continues to struggle with a thigh injury.

Cardiff City vs. Tottenham
Out:Etienne Capoue (ankle) is likely out for another two weeks.
Not Expected to Play:David Marshall has not recovered from his hip injury. Friday update: Marshall has made a full return to training and could play.Andreas Cornelius is still a few weeks away from returning. Aaron Lennon has not fully recovered from a foot injury.
Expected to Play: (knee), Danny Rose (ankle) and Younes Kaboul (thigh) all picked up slight injuries during Thursday's Europa League match against Tromso but manager Andre Villas-Boas said he expects them all to be fit.

Manchester City vs. Manchester United
Out:Martin Demichelis is out for another four weeks with a knee ligament injury.
Not Expected to Play:Gael Clichy is in a race against time to be fit after suffering a leg knock. Micah Richards could be close to a return, although he was unavailable for Tuesday's Champions League match against Viktoria Plzen. Danny Welbeck (knee) did not train ahead of Tuesday's Champions League match against Bayer Leverkusen. Phil Jones has not fully recovered from his ankle injury sustained against Liverpool on September 9. Rafael (hamstring) is still not close to being fit. Darren Fletcher has returned to training but is not fully fit yet.
Expected to Play:Vincent Kompany played all 90 minutes of Tuesday's Champions League match and got through the match unscathed. David Silva still has some work to do to be ready but could make the cut.

RotoWire Community
Join Our Subscriber-Only Soccer Chat
Chat with our writers and other RotoWire Soccer fans for all the pre-game info and in-game banter.
Join The Discussion
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andrew M. Laird
Andrew is a former RotoWire contributor. He was the 2017 and 2018 FSWA Soccer Writer of the Year. He is a nine-time FSWA award finalist, including twice for Football Writer of the Year.
Fantrax Premier League Player Rankings: Gameweek 16
Fantrax Premier League Player Rankings: Gameweek 16
DraftKings UCL DFS Preview for Wednesday, Dec. 11: Back Home
DraftKings UCL DFS Preview for Wednesday, Dec. 11: Back Home
Champions League Best Bets: Picks, Odds & Predictions for Wednesday, Dec. 11
Champions League Best Bets: Picks, Odds & Predictions for Wednesday, Dec. 11
Champions League Preview: Borussia Dortmund vs. Barcelona Predictions, Odds, & Notes
Champions League Preview: Borussia Dortmund vs. Barcelona Predictions, Odds, & Notes
Fantasy Premier League Player Rankings: Gameweek 16
Fantasy Premier League Player Rankings: Gameweek 16
DraftKings UCL DFS Preview for Tuesday, Dec. 10: Road Favorites
DraftKings UCL DFS Preview for Tuesday, Dec. 10: Road Favorites