David Silva feels his second season at Man City has produced the best form of his career so far. Steve Bruce ponders Stephane Sessegnon’s most effective position, while Steven Fletcher is set to miss Wolves’ crucial home game with Wigan this weekend:
Having taken the Premier League by storm this season, David Silva admits he is in the form of his life right now. The Man City midfielder has been a class apart in the first ten gameweeks and feels he’s now settled into life at the Etihad Stadium, on and off the pitch:
Speaking for myself, I am enjoying my best form ever – including my time with Valencia. I am the same person as last season but, as a footballer, I have matured a lot. I know the City style better and have adapted to all aspects of club life. My English is more fluent and this always helps in communicating with my team-mates. In my early days here, I suffered a lot of anxiety over this.
Reports this morning suggest Sunderland keeper Simone Mignolet may be out for months after initial scans revealed a fractured eye socket. The Belgian stopper broke his nose against Aston Villa last weekend after clashing with Emile Heskey and it’s feared he could be sidelined until after the New Year. The Black Cats await further test results as Kieren Westwood prepares to step up as Mignolet’s replacement this weekend at Man United- as the club’s only fit keeper, Westwood could see plenty game time over the next few weeks.
Jermaine Jenas could feature for the first time this season for on-loan club Aston Villa this weekend. Ahead of the home clash with Norwich, Alex McLeish admits he’s satisfied with the player’s recovery from an Achilles problem and is hopeful that Jenas will grab some game time against the Canaries:
I thought it was a little bit early for Jermaine last weekend at Sunderland. I said to him it was good for him to get a good week behind him and then we can consider introducing him to the squad for the Norwich game. I know the fans are keen to see him and I am keen to see him as well. We want to get him into the action as quickly as we can. I’m confident that we can get him involved with the squad this weekend.
Brendan Rodgers received some encouraging news on the injury front regarding three of his first-team squad players. On-loan Steven Caulker, Kemy Agustien and Stephen Dobbie should be ready for a return to action after the international break, according to the Swansea boss. The trio will miss this week’s trip to Liverpool but look like being available for selection for the following league game, a home clash with Man United.
Owen Coyle reckons a March return could be on the cards for Lee Chung-yong. Speaking to the Bolton Evening News, the Trotters boss has admitted the South Korean is making strong progress from a broken leg sustained in pre-season:
At this moment in time, he’s doing better than I would have envisaged. I don’t want to get ahead of myself but I don’t think it will be as bad as we first thought – i.e. the whole season – but what part of it he comes back is still very much up in the air.We could get him back March, maybe, but he’s certainly doing well.
Reports today suggest Man City will offer Emmanuel Adebayor to Tottenham on a permanent deal in January. The Togo international is currently on loan at White Hart Lane but City are keen to get rid of his £170K per week wages and although Spurs have an option for a £14m deal in the summer, City look set to offer him to Harry Redknapp for £10m in the next transfer window.
While Arsenal failed to secure automatic promotion to the Champions League knock-out stages last night, Arsene Wenger sang the praises of his back-four after the Gunners chalked up a clean sheet against Marseille. Tellingly, the goalless draw at the Emirates was the first time Thomas Vermaelen and Per Mertesacker had started a game together and bodes well for Wenger’s side, with a strong run of league fixtures on the horizon:
It is not all perfect but we have rebuilt the back four. Vermaelen had a good game and Mertesacker was solid, Santos as well and Jenkinson has just come back – he lacks experience in some situations but overall he did all right. The positives are that we didn’t concede a goal and Marseille had one shot on target and we know in the final third we can do better.
Steve Bruce has been talking up the versatility of Stephane Sessegnon. The Black Cats boss has fielded the player in three different positions so far this season but it’s only when he moved Sessegnon to the wing that the goals have started flowing, with 2 in the last two games. Going by Bruce’s words, though, a role out wide is perhaps the way forward:
He gives you that good headache where he can play effectively [in several positions]. That’s what we looked at, at the back end of last season, when he played up top and got three goals in the last five games, and played in pre-season and got something like three or four goals in five games. But you worry and think: ‘Can he score enough if we are going to play him up the top end of the pitch?’ And that’s what I have got in my mind at the moment. But he’s certainly a very good player wherever he plays.
Ahead of the weekend home game with Wigan, Wolves were dealt a blow this morning with the news than Steven Fletcher is set to miss out. Mick McCarthy had hoped the striker would sufficiently recover from a calf problem to feature against the Latics but has now said:
He’s alright, he’s coming on but he won’t be ready for the weekend. The hope was he’d be training this week, but I don’t think so. It’s unlikely. He has to strengthen his calf first.
