Gerard Piqué still has a future with Spain, but he's been dropped by Vincente del Bosque for their two coming matches.

The decision to drop Piqué is somewhat surprising due to Spain's dearth of options at the back.

Although Pique is expected to feature for Barcelona in their La Liga game at Villarreal on Sunday, the veteran coach said at Friday's news conference that the decision had been made on fitness grounds.

"There are eight players from the World Cup who are not coming," Del Bosque said. "We have very fluid contact with [Piqué]. We spoke recently and he was not fully recovered. He had some discomfort from his hip injury. He wants to keep coming with the national team, but at this moment we thought he should not come."

Diego Costa will be available for Chelsea on Saturday in their match at Everton.

Costa suffered a hamstring injury during training this week and there were fears he could miss up to six weeks.

"Yes. It's a better scenario, but what matters now is the match tomorrow, not the match in three or four weeks time," José Mourinho said. "He's a doubt. Everyone else is fit, yes."

Olivier Giroud underwent surgery on an injured tibia and will be out for the remainder of the calendar year.

"Olivier Giroud had surgery today. It went well but he will be out, for maybe top competition, until end of December or beginning of January," Wenger told Sky Sports News.

Giroud suffered a small fracture near his ankle after the ball smashed into the sole of his boot, forcing his foot towards his shin in Saturday's match against Everton.

"We will look around but we want quality. We have quality, we have Walcott coming back soon, Podolski, Campbell, Sanogo. To find players better than we have would be very difficult," said Wenger about the prospect of finding a replacement for Giroud.

Olivier Giroud could miss the second leg of Wednesday's Champions League qualifier against Besiktas with an ankle injury.

Giroud came off the bench on Saturday for Arsenal and equalized in the final moments but injured his ankle in the last minute of added time.

Bastian Schweinsteiger will be out several weeks with a knee injury.

Bayern Munich is already without Javi Martínez for the entire season with a torn ACL.

While Schweinsteiger will be out several weeks, it is not expected to be a long-term injury.

Zlatan Ibrahimović suffered a partial tear in his left oblique muscle of the 12th rib on Saturday.

A timetable for when Ibrahimović will return is unclear.

The injury could effect whether Paris Saint-Germain sells Edinson Cavani before the summer window closes.

Bayern Munich is targeting a replacement for Javi Martínez, who is out for the season after tearing the ACL in his left knee in their loss in the German Super Cup to Borussia Dortmund.

“We need a new player,” Guardiola, who before Martínez’s injury had said he would make no more signings in this transfer window, told reporters ahead of Sunday’s German Cup first round match against Preussen Münster. “We have to react and there are candidates. There are many candidates but only a few who would do for us. With this injury we have a special situation and now we must act. There are still two weeks.”

Martínez is one of Bayern's most verstaile players, with the capacity to play multiple positions in their defense.

Marc-Andre ter Stegen will be out two to three weeks with an injured back.

The 22-year-old keeper is viewed as Barcelona's long-term replacement for Victor Valdes.

A Barça statement read: "The first team goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen, following persistent pain in his lower back caused by a blow received in training last Monday, August 11, has been subjected to new medical tests this morning which have revealed the existence of a small fracture in the transverse apophysis of vertebra L3.

"The club's medical services reported that the player will be out for between two and three weeks. The player will carry out recovery work during this period."

Real Madrid is concerned that Cristiano Ronaldo will continue to be plagued by a chronic knee injury.

Ronaldo typically insists on playing every minute of every game, but he is suffering from a degenerative knee condition called tendonosis and a long-standing thigh problem that would be best-served by rest.

"Cristiano always wants to play and it's that competitive streak that makes him the player he is, but he knows he will need to rest more to avoid a constant recurrence of this problem," a source close to Madrid told Goal. "The club are delighted to see him training at full pace as he has in previous years, but there is still some concern over how he will respond over the whole season."