It’s a pared-down Scribbles on the menu this morning, ahead of today’s press conferences. More on the Carlos Tevez saga, Kenny Dalglish continues to urge caution over Steven Gerrard and Arsene Wenger reckons he has plenty of options for the Arsenal right-back spot…
Reports in the Guardian suggest Roberto Mancini and Carlos Tevez held peace talks at the Man City manager’s house late Wednesday evening. Tevez, however, refused to apologise for his behaviour at the Allianz Arena over a fortnight ago and as a result, was forced to train alone yesterday after his two-week club ban was served.
Tony Pulis has some selection problems ahead of this weekend’s home clash with Fulham. Stoke face a run of seven games over twenty days and Pulis is sweating over the fitness of Matt Etherington, Jermaine Pennant, Marc Wilson and Kenwyne Jones as the Cottagers make their way to the Britannia. Speaking to the club’s official website, Pulis acknowledged:
All the lads are training and in with a shout of returning, but it’s a massive call because of all the games we have coming up. We don’t want to rush players back too quickly and then find they have to miss a couple of weeks because they have a reaction.
Despite Bacary Sagna’s absence with a broken ankle, Arsenal have plenty of alternatives for the right-back role, according to Arsene Wenger. The Gunners boss was speaking to Arsenal Player yesterday and feels he has several strong options available, ahead of Sunday’s home game with Sunderland:
We have Jenkinson, we have Koscielny – who has been educated as a right-back – we have Djourou who can play right-back. Koscielny was always a right-back, so he can play there. Even Andre Santos can play there, I think, so we have plenty of possibilities.
Kenny Dalglish remained coy over the possibility of Steven Gerrard starting against Man United in Saturday’s early kick-off at Anfield. While the papers are full of stories suggesting the Reds skipper is a nailed-on starter, Dalglish was a little more cautious yesterday when discussing Gerrard’s long-term groin problem and insisted his skipper’s star performances in previous campaigns will have no bearing on his thinking:
We’ll continue to manage it as well as we have done. We’re not in any position to sit here and disclose our team for two days’ time. But we’re delighted with the progress he’s made and the way he’s been looked after, and we’ll just continue to do that. When we think he’s ready to play, he’ll be the first to answer the call….It’s not to do with what he’s done against Manchester United before. We don’t look back into history and see what he’s done to Manchester United.
Nemanja Vidic’s return to action last Tuesday for Serbia looks set to hand Sir Alex Ferguson a major boost for the Liverpool game. Plagued with a calf problem, the Man United skipper has failed to feature since the opening day of the season but Fergie hinted he’ll leave it to the player himself to decide whether he’s ready for the Anfield showdown:
The big question mark is whether Vidic is ready for the game. Nemanja came in yesterday and felt okay, but a Liverpool game is such an intense, draining affair, you want everybody to be 100 per cent. It may be down to how he feels himself, we’ll have to see.
Gabby Agbonlahor is looking likely to be passed fit for Aston Villa’s testing trip to Man City. Alex McLeish’s side put their unbeaten record on the line at the Emirates and according to the Villa boss, Agbonlahor’s back problem came through an intensive training session unscathed yesterday:
Gabby has trained. We are very pleased with the way he has trained. Today was the most intense session for him. We put him through it a wee bit and he came through with flying colours. We expect him, barring a nightmare in training tomorrow, to be okay for the game at City.
Leon Britton is set to feature for Swansea this weekend, after missing the previous game against Stoke. While the Swans defence and the likes of Scott Sinclair have been the focus of most of the attention, Brendan Rodgers has hailed the midfielder as integral to his first-team and is delighted to welcome him back ahead of the trip to Carrow Road.
He’s been fantastic for us this season. Leon offers the team so much balance and control and it’s good to have him available for selection.
