Erling Haaland (£15.0m) went off injured in Manchester City&#8217;s latest pre-season friendly &#8211; an issue which could define Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers&#8217; Gameweek 1 strategies if it proves serious.
There&#8217;s just over two weeks to go until the first match of the Premier League season and injury problems and the impact of international tournaments have the potential to cause some headaches for Gameweek 1.
Here, we cover what&#8217;s been said about Haaland&#8217;s injury, as well as some of the latest fitness issues to consider.
Read all our pre-season content, including our guide to every pre-season friendly result, in our <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/fantasy-premier-league-ultimate-guide-fpl-tips">Ultimate Guide to FPL</a>.

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<h2>Haaland injury latest</h2>
The signs had looked good for Haaland, with no international commitments giving him the opportunity to rest ahead of the 2024/25 season.
He had looked sharp too. He scored in City&#8217;s first two friendlies, while he appeared to score against Barcelona, although a goal was not given.
The Norwegian came off at half-time against AC Milan a few days ago but there was nothing to suggest this was an unplanned change.
Pep Guardiola admitted there was a problem last night however, forcing him into taking Haaland off at half-time. He said:
<blockquote>
&#8220;Erling is not comfortable. We don&#8217;t want to take risks. But sooner or later he has to take a step with training and minutes.
‘The season is there, around the corner. He has niggles, muscular, we don&#8217;t want to take a risk and lose him for three weeks or a month. That would be a problem.&#8221;
</blockquote>
City face Chelsea on Saturday (August 3), a week before the Community Shield against Manchester United.
Fantasy managers will have a close eye on that match to help them assess Haaland&#8217;s fitness ahead of Gameweek 1.
His record price tag has already prompted a debate within the FPL community over whether he is worth the money. Any fitness doubts would push more managers into going without him &#8211; as our <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/my-team/ai-teams">Hub AI team</a> currently does.
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<div id="attachment_65383" style="width: 907px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-65383" class="size-full wp-image-65383" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Haaland-stats-6.jpg" alt="Erling Haaland's stats" width="897" height="731" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Haaland-stats-6.jpg 897w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Haaland-stats-6-300x244.jpg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Haaland-stats-6-768x626.jpg 768w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Haaland-stats-6-610x497.jpg 610w" sizes="(max-width: 897px) 100vw, 897px" />Erling Haaland&#8217;s <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/opta/" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c="1" title="FPL Stats by OPTA - Player and Team Stats">stats</a></div>
<h2>Yoro spotted on crutches</h2>
Big-money signing Leny Yoro (£4.5m) excited Manchester United fans when he reportedly chose to sign for the Red Devils over Real Madrid.
But the elation has quickly turned to despair after he <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/fpl-pre-season-results-guide">went off against Arsenal</a> late last week.
The game also saw Rasmus Hojlund (£7.0m) withdrawn within the first 20 minutes after scoring United&#8217;s goal.
Erik ten Hag has not yet confirmed how serious the pair&#8217;s problems are, however <a href="https://x.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1818568355441168553">Yoro has been spotted on crutches</a> and in a protective boot.
This is not always a terrible sign. Fantasy managers will remember when Anthony Gordon (£7.5m) started for Newcastle in February after being on crutches after their previous match.
But once again, all eyes will be on the Community Shield if ten Hag does not provide an update in the meantime. United play Betis and Liverpool in the coming days.
<div id="attachment_65455" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-65455" class="size-full wp-image-65455" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Leny-Yoro.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="679" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Leny-Yoro.jpg 1024w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Leny-Yoro-300x199.jpg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Leny-Yoro-768x509.jpg 768w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Leny-Yoro-610x404.jpg 610w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Leny Yoro. Picture by Getty Images</div>
<h2>Everton defeated as key players remain out</h2>
Everton fell to a second successive pre-season defeat yesterday, losing 3-0 to Coventry.
The Toffees&#8217; injury list includes James Tarkowski (£5.0m), Jarrad Branthwaite (£5.0m) and Vitalii Mykolenko (£4.5m), while new signing Iliman Ndiaye (£5.5m) was left out on a precautionary basis. Manager Sean Dyche said:
<blockquote>
“From our point of view, like I say, we are missing too many very important players. We are hoping they are going to come back sooner rather than later.
&#8220;We are bedding players in and it is difficult when they are in this fitness period to just do any tactical shape and understanding. So we are trying to manage a lot and get it all right when we know deep down there are five, six, seven players who have been very important to us who will be important again.
&#8220;There’s three or four we think might be close for the weekend, but two or three we might have to protect beyond then.
&#8220;There is better news with Tarky [Tarkowski], he might be around it at the weekend, we will see. Gana [Gueye] as well might be around it. Jordan [Pickford] is obviously not back yet.
“Jake [O&#8217;Brien], we will see on his fitness, he is another newcomer to us. There’s a few more on top of that. Jesper [Lindstrom] is more of a common sense sort of thing; he’s just got here – a niggly thigh, nothing too heavy. Jarrad [Branthwaite] is making progress as well but isn’t quite there yet.”
</blockquote>
<div id="attachment_52689" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-52689" class="size-full wp-image-52689" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1246783974.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1246783974.jpg 1024w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1246783974-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1246783974-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1246783974-610x407.jpg 610w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />James Tarkowski. Picture by Getty Images</div>
<h2>Will international tournaments including Olympics impact Gameweek 1?</h2>
As well as injuries, players&#8217; late arrivals from post-international tournament breaks could affect fantasy selections in Gameweek 1.
While Mikel Arteta has said earlier this month that he did not expect the likes of Bukayo Saka (£10.0m) to miss the start of the season, Guardiola was unsure about some of his first-teamers.
The City boss has indicated those who were involved in the final of Euro 2024, including Phil Foden (£9.5m), would not make the Community Shield.
He added that they would be reintroduced &#8216;against Chelsea, against Ipswich&#8217; &#8211; with the latter their Gameweek 2 opponents.
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca confirmed Cole Palmer (£10.5m) and others would report for duty on August 6, giving them 12 days before their match against City to prepare.
Other players meanwhile, including Julian Alvarez (£7.0m) and Jean-Philippe Mateta (£7.5m) are taking part in the Olympics.
The men&#8217;s gold medal match takes place on Friday, August 9, a week before the first match of the Premier League season.
Regardless of their teams&#8217; progress, it seems likely <a href="https://www.premierleague.com/news/4053937#:~:text=Premier%20League%20players%20at%20Olympics&amp;text=France%3A%20Jean%2DPhilippe%20Mateta%20(,%2C%20Enso%20Gonzalez%20(Wolves).">those involved in the tournament</a> will struggle to make the league&#8217;s opening weekend.
Check out our <a href="https://www.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/premier-league-predicted-lineups">team news and predicted lineups</a> article in the week of the Gameweek 1 deadline for full team news from every club.
<div id="attachment_63722" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-63722" class="size-full wp-image-63722" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Cole-Palmer-Getty.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="752" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Cole-Palmer-Getty.jpg 1024w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Cole-Palmer-Getty-300x220.jpg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Cole-Palmer-Getty-768x564.jpg 768w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Cole-Palmer-Getty-610x448.jpg 610w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Cole Palmer. Picture by Getty Images</div>
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Haaland injury latest, Yoro on crutches and will international players make FPL Gameweek 1?

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