Here’s some alarm bells for you just a few hours before kick-off – Mark Hughes has announced that his in-form striker and Fantasy darling, Roque Santa Cruz, is carrying a string of niggling injuries. In a story on Football 365 today Hughes expresses how surprised he is at Santa Cruz’s form remarking…
“He’s getting his goals and he’s doing it when he’s still not 100% fit. He’s carrying little knocks and niggles but he is going out and doing a job for us”.
That would seem to indicate that a rest for the striker will only be just around the corner with Roberts the obvious replacement standing by for an opportunity. Whether Hughes takes that option today at Derby remains to be seen. If I was to stick my neck out I would say that Santa Cruz will start today and possibly sit out the home game with Sunderland on New Years Day. Hughes wants to get that win on the board after a string of bad results and today is certainly the best opportunity to do that. The warning is there though for those looking to jump on the Santa bandwagon to catch his rich vein of form.
