Arsene Wenger hails Mikel Arteta’s importance to his new-look Arsenal, Kenny Dalglish talks up fit-again Daniel Agger, while Phil Jagielka admits morale in the Everton camp is far from ideal right now after five defeats in the last six. Here’s some evening Scribbles for you, folks…
Arsene Wenger has lauded the recent performances of Mikel Arteta as the Spaniard starts to settle into life at Arsenal. An assist last week followed by a goal at home to West Brom has been Arteta’s most consistent Fantasy streak since moving to the Emirates in late August and Wenger is full of praise for the way the former Everton player plays a key part in his side’s possession game:
He is an important player for our team. He is really a player between Song and Ramsey or Rosicky and that gives us continuity. When we need to keep the ball he can achieve that – Jack [Wilshere] can do that as well. With Jack missing he is really a player who allows you to keep the ball when it is needed. He is adapting to our game.
Yohan Cabaye is due to undergo tests after being subbed off with a groin problem in the first half of Newcastle’s 2-1 win over Everton on Saturday. With Cheik Tiote also currently injured, Alan Pardew’s side are fretting over the Frenchman’s possible absence as they face the possibility of squaring up to (mci, mun, CHE) with their first-choice central midfield pairing currently both doubts. With the international break now upon us, Cabaye has a fortnight to recover but admitted post-match:
I felt slight pain in my left adductor muscle. I don’t know how serious it is, but I will have a scan on Tuesday in Paris.
If there’s a positive for Kenny Dalglish to take from Liverpool’s goalless draw against Swansea, it’s the fact his side recorded a second clean sheet in a row for the first time this season. It may very well be coincidental that Jamie Carragher missed both matches, as Daniel Agger slotted in alongside Martin Skrtel at the heart of the back-four, but Dalglish’s thoughts on the Dane perhaps suggest a more permanent role, providing he keeps free of injury:
Daniel’s a fantastic player and he’s probably as good as anyone else in his position in the Barclays Premier League. He’s comfortable in possession and he’s a very good defender as well. He’s a top defender, a top player. He played left-back for us at Stoke as well and did very well.It’s great to have him back and I hope his fitness remains as it is for a long time.
The FA have today charged Wigan’s Antolin Alcaraz with an alleged spitting incident during Sunday’s game at Wolves. The Paraguayan was involved in an alteration with Richard Stearman and if found guilty, would face a three-match suspension.
Alex McLeish is hoping the international break will allow Stiliyan Petrov time to recover after the midfielder was subbed off in Saturday’s win over Norwich with a hamstring problem. With Bulgaria having no fixtures over the fortnight, Petrov will be handled with care by Villa ahead of the gameweek twelve trip to Spurs, particularly with fit-again Jermain Jenas unavailable for the game due to terms of his loan deal. Big Eck explained:
He felt a little niggle in his hamstring. He thinks he caught it just in time. We’ll get him on the treatment table. He couldn’t go on. He would have become a liability in midfield for us, so we needed to get some freshness on.
McLeish also revealed Emile Heskey is battling an on-going Achilles complaint that is preventing the player from managing the full ninety minutes in any game right now. Heskey was subbed off just after the hour mark at the weekend as Villa look to manage the problem.
Connor Wickham is today having scans on his injured knee after being stretchered off at Old Trafford on Saturday. The youngster lasted no more than a couple of minutes before injury struck, though as yet the club have offered no further prognosis. Steve Bruce will definitely be without Seb Larsson for the gameweek twelve home game against Fulham- the Swede picked up his fifth yellow card of the season and the club have officially confirmed he will miss the match.
Owen Hargreaves is edging closer to a return from injury, according to Man City coach David Platt. The midfielder has played just fourteen minutes of the club’s league campaign this term and is currently recovering from a calf problem.
Everton’s Phil Jagielka has admitted morale inside the camp is low after a run of games that has seen the Toffees pick up just three points from a possible eighteen. Speaking to the Daily Express, the centre-half conceded David Moyes has his work cut out right now:
Morale is not good. I’d be lying if I said we were all high-fiving each other in the changing room. We’re all absolutely gutted, managers and coaches included. I don’t think we would have expected to have got so few points from this run. That’s five out of six we’ve lost. We’ve been in games, at least until 70 or 80 minutes, and in the past we might have nicked a draw or a win. The manager has got a hard job to do now in terms of getting confidence and morale back up.
Martin Jol received some bad and good news on the injury front today. Early reports suggest Zdenek Grygera could be sidelined for the rest of the season with knee ligament damage sustained in yesterday’s home loss to Spurs, while Andy Johnson is expected to recover from an ankle knock for the gameweek twelve trip to Sunderland.
