The weekend was a quiet but uneasy one for us fantasy managers. In the main we could only pray that injuries are staved off in preparation for a return to domestic action, although we could keep an eye out for players edging to form and fitness for the final run-in. Here’s some notes capturing the need to know bits from this weekend’s internationals…
First some good news, with news of players on their way back to full fitness. Bellamy and Collins both completed 90 minutes for Wales in their miserable 2-0 defeat to Finland. The pair are set to return for City and West Ham respectively at the weekend then, barring injury in Wednesday’s qualifier with Germany.
Chelsea’s Carvalho also made a welcome return to action on Saturday, to cloud the Alex situation once again for us. He lined up with Bosingwa and Ronaldo for Portugal against Sweden. Deco was on the bench and emerged just after the hour mark to prove his fitness.
Both Carvalho and Deco missed out on Chelsea’s trip to White Hart Lane last time out but will now presumably come into contention against Newcastle this coming weekend. Here’s the bad news though – as reported earlier, Bosingwa picked up a gash to his leg and was replaced at half-time. At this stage then, he’s a doubt going into that Newcastle game.
The injury concerns don’t stop there – England got things started in spectacular style with a string of knocks and scrapes to their strikers. First Heskey picked up a hamstring problem. He was replaced by Carlton Cole who then sustained a groin injury and was subbed on the half-hour mark. Crouch then followed after picking up a dead leg after a challenge from Sktel. That looked like a simple case of bruising, although Cole’s injury is potentially worrying.
There were early fears that he could miss the rest of the season but Cole has since allayed those concerns. He is due to have a scan early next week and we’ll hope to get an update very soon on his prospects.
Heskey has withdrawn from the squad for the Ukraine game on Wednesday and will also be a doubt for Villa’s game with United as a result. Crouch meanwhile, is expected to fit for Wednesday’s game and barring further injury, will therefore lineup for Portsmouth at Hull next weekend.
Arsenal’s Bendtner is another injury worry. He picked up a knee problem in Denmark’s win over Malta on Saturday and was subbed on the half-hour mark. He will miss Wednesday’s qualifier with Albania and will also be a doubt for Arsenal’s home game with Man City.
Wenger shouldn’t be too concerned though, as Adebayor confirmed his fitness with 90 minutes for Togo. The striker scored the winner for Togo in their qualifier with Cameroon. Assou-Ekotto and Geremi lineup up in opposition and both came through the full game.
The return of Adebayor will likely put further doubt over the Van Persie’s starting role. The Dutchman was also on the scoresheet in Holland’s win over Scotland this weekend before being subbed on 65 mintues with a head injury. That didn’t look serious, although we’ll need to monitor that going into the weekend. Ooijer and De Jong also started for the Dutch and completed the match.
Pavlyuchenko, benched for Spurs in recent weeks in favour of Bent, offered a reminder to Redknapp with the opening goal in Russia’s 2-0 win over Azerbaijan. He was subbed on 72 minutes while Arshavin completed the full game.
Pompey’s Greek duo, Basinas and Gekas both started for Greece against Israel. Gekas offered a reminder of his ability by firing the Greeks in front. Benayoun and Ben Haim both started for Israal. The Liverpool man was withdrawn on 76 minutes with a calf injury. He will be assessed prior to Israel’s return game with Greece on Wednesday. If he comes through that, then presumably he’ll come back into contention for Liverpool’s trip to Fulham next weekend. However, it’s thought that Benitez is far from happy about Benayoun turning out for Israel so soon after missing two weeks with a hamstring injury. That’s likely to see him on the bench at best against Fulham.
Elsewhere in the Liverpool ranks Torres and Alonso both started for Spain in the 1-0 over Turkey, who had Boro’s Tuncay in their starting lineup. Fulham’s Dempsey started and came through USA’s 2-2 draw with El Salvador. Arsenal’s Gallas and Sagna and United’s Evra all started for France against Lithuania. Clichy and Nasri were on the bench. Ballack scored for Germany in their 4-0 win over Liechtenstein, while Tevez was also on the scoresheet in a 4-0 drubbing as Argentina saw off Venezuela in Maradona’s first game in charge.
Finally, there were some familiar names on the scoresheet in Sunday’s internationals. Wigan’s Zaki scored the winner for Egypt against Zambia but there is an injury concern here. The Wigan striker completed the game but it is reported that he sustained a calf injury which is set to rule him out for three weeks. Details on that are still sketchy so we await confirmation, although as we know, Zaki’s calf is a recurring weakness. Elsewhere, Drogba scored a brace to go with Chelsea team-mate Kalou’s goal, as the Ivory Coast thrashed Malawi. Eboue, Zokora and Meite all started in that game.