It looks as though John Carew’s chances of making the Arsenal game are reducing by the day. Having had a scan earlier this week, Villa have announced today that the big striker is a major doubt for the Emirates trip with back and thigh injuries.

That kind of news will surely only add to the speeding Darren Bent bandwagon that’s leading to a rapid rise in his FPL price…

While Martin O’Neill revealed that injured pair Petrov and Luke Young were to return to training ahead of the weekend, the news on Carew was far less positive.

“John is really struggling at the moment,” revealed the Villa boss.

“The discomfort seems to have moved from his back to the front thigh area…He had scans yesterday that have come up pretty decently. He is going for tests now with the specialist. We will see accordingly.”

Carew is currently owned by around 160,000 managers in the Fantasy Premier League game. With Darren Bent tempting Carew owners with red hot form and a similar price bracket, we can surely expect more sales and Bent purchases in the coming days. Carew has been sold by 20,000 FPL managers this week and with United to follow the Arsenal fixture, there are surely more to come.

In contrast, Bent is currently on the verge of his second price rise of the week. The message is clear then: if you’re a Carew owner hovering over the “sell for Bent” button, hesitation may cost you.