Lets cut through all that unhealthy Keegan euphoria with a lovely slice of mildly interesting injury news. Gareth Barry has apparently picked up a potentially nasty hip injury in training and could well face a spell on the sidelines.

The England man suffered a blow to the hip on Villa’s training grounds and, after a lengthy spell, was eventually carted off on the back of a buggy so he could undergo further treatment. That doesn’t sound good for Barry who has played every minute of every game this season for O’Neill’s side.

He was due to have a scan to assess the damage today although there’s no confirmed news on the extent of the injury as yet. We’ll expect that tomorrow but it seems very likely that he’s out of the clash with Liverpool at the weekend which seems likely to open the way for Gardner to move into the midfield after filling in for Mellberg at right-back last time out. Mellberg is not back in training although O’Neill confirmed today that he is “getting better” so he seems likely to return at Anfield.