Harry Redknapp has confirmed that Aaron Lennon faces a further spell on the sidelines after suffering a further groin injury in training ahead of his proposed comeback match at Wigan at the weekend. The winger has undergone an MRI scan, and is set for an ultrasound to determine the full prognosis later today.
Lennon had originally been lined up for a return from his original groin injury last month for the FA Cup tie with Leeds. He could now be looking at another month out and suddenly face a real fight to book his place on the World Cup plane.
The midfielder had, up until his injury, enjoyed a fine season notching up three goals and nine assists. Firmly in the mid-price bracket, that form had seen him pick up plenty of attention from fantasy managers.
Lennon’s continued absence will now pave the way for David Bentley to continue his resurrection at the Lane. Bentley has started the last five league games for Redknapp and has started to attract some interest from fantasy investors despite a return of just a single goal in that run. Harry is certainly a fan of the new Bentley…
“Aaron is a fantastic player but David Bentley has been great. He’s come into the team and been in great form for us. He balances us up well and I have been really pleased with him.”
The likelihood of a missing fixture in gameweek 29 casts a shadow over investment in Redknapp’s players. Spurs face Bolton in the FA Cup replay tomorrow night and should they progress or City beat Stoke in their replay, then Spurs would sit out of the gameweek. After this however, Spurs have a run from gameweeks 30-33 (BLA stk POR sun) that looks to promise returns at both ends of the field.
That will likely see a run of investment in Michael Dawson and Jermain Defoe. In terms of midfielders however, there’s little to separate the likes of Bentley, Luka Modric and Niko Kranjcar as fantasy prospects.
Modric always promises more than he delivers and is the most expensive of the three, while Kranjcar certainly has delivered with four assists and four goals but is perhaps the least secure in terms of a starting role. Bentley meanwhile is the cheapest option of the trio at 6.6 in the Fantasy Premier League game. If he starts to produce and Lennon is confirmed as sidelined for gameweeks 30-33, then we could well see increased interest in the former Rovers man.
Arguably however, there are better mid-price fantasy prospects elsewhere with Chelsea’s Malouda, Everton’s Cahill (when fit), City’s Adam Johnson, Wigan’s N’Zogbia and of course Villa’s James Milner all continuing to look like strong options in the mid-price bracket.