Weekend Briefing: Ins, outs and injury doubts for this week's matches

Ins, outs and injury doubts for the weekend's matches.

Derby dealt virus blow

Derby are set to fulfil Saturday's FA Cup third-round fixture at Chorley despite an outbreak of Covid-19, which has forced them to isolate interim manager Wayne Rooney and their entire first-team squad.

Seven of the club's employees have tested positive and Derby have had to close their training ground until next Tuesday.

The Rams will select a team from their Under-23 and Under-18 squads under the guidance of coaches Gary Bowyer and Pat Lyons.

Derby's situation hands a massive opportunity to their National League North opponents, who posted victories away to League One sides Wigan (3-2) and Peterborough (2-1) in earlier rounds.

Gunners handed double boost

Arsenal have started to climb the Premier League table after a three-game winning sequence and their positive start to 2021 has got even better with key players Thomas Partey (thigh) and Gabriel (Covid-19) closing in on first-team returns.

Partey has featured just six times for Arsenal but caught the eye in that time and was particularly impressive when the Londoners triumphed 1-0 at Manchester United in November.

One week later the 27-year-old was forced off during a 3-0 loss at home to Aston Villa and an attempted December comeback was cut short when he hobbled off just before half-time in the 2-0 defeat at Tottenham.

Arsenal may decide to be a little more careful with the Ghanaian in his latest comeback but have confirmed that he will be assessed before a possible return in this weekend's FA Cup clash at home to Newcastle.

Gabriel, who has not been involved since Christmas Day, will not resume training for another few days.

Several Millers on the mend

Rotherham boss Paul Warne has been working with a threadbare squad in recent weeks but his options could increase in the weeks ahead with four of his five long-term absentees nearing the end of their recovery processes.

Winger Chiedozie Ogbene (knee), centre-back Clark Robertson (broken foot) and midfielders Shaun McDonald (broken leg) and Kieran Sadlier (ankle) are all expected to return to contention by the end of the month, leaving only Joe Mattock (ankle) on the sidelines.

Warne said: "Aside from Joe Mattock we should have all of our long-term injured players back. That is really positive news and will feel like we have new signings."

Unfortunately for Warne, none of those players are going to be ready for Saturday's FA Cup third-round clash at Everton.

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