Jack Wilshere expects to be back next month, Connor Wickham’s knee injury is not as bad as initially feared, while Alan Pardew praises the defensive side of Ryan Taylor’s game. It’s only twelve more days till the next gameweek kicks off, folks:

Jack Wilshere has his eyes on a return to training next month after making good progress from his ankle injury. An x-ray revealed the midfielder is making steady progress and is well ahead of the anticipated February return date. Wilshere, yet to play a single minute of the league campaign, said yesterday:

It’s going really slow at the minute and obviously I’m really frustrated. I should be back in training by mid-December, then I can crack on and it’s up to the boss when he picks me.

A goal on Saturday against Everton helped cement Ryan Taylor’s place as the top-scoring Fantasy defender of the season so far. Although he’s played every minute of the season so far for Newcastle, Taylor’s defensive abilities have somewhat tended to make his game time a doubt, particularly with Davide Santon waiting in the wings. Taylor revealed his determination to hold onto the left-back spot:

I want to shake off that ‘Mr Versatile’ tag and be known as a left-back. It’s great scoring goals, but I want to hold a regular position. When people start referring to me as a left-back, that’s when I’ll start smiling.

Good news for Taylor, then, that his manager is thinking along the same lines. Alan Pardew heaped praise on the defender yesterday and admitted that, in his eyes, Taylor has come on leaps and bounds defensively:

Ryan’s defending has improved and with the ball there aren’t many better full-backs than him. He’s had his tough times here, but it’s all good for him right now…It’s all good, and long may that continue.

Sunderland received some positive news regarding Connor Wickham’s knee injury. The youngster was stretchered off just a couple of minutes into the match at Old Trafford last weekend, with Steve Bruce fearing the worst. Wickham had scans yesterday and, while the full extent of the damage is yet unknown, he revealed via twitter last night that the prognosis is not as bad as originally expected:

Scans showing injury not as bad as first thought, waiting to see a knee specialist later in the week.

Brendan Rodgers received some good news on the injury front yesterday. Swansea midfielder Kemy Agustien, in his first start since injuring a hamstring against Arsenal in gameweek four, completed the full ninety minutes of a reserve match against West Brom. With the likes of Mark Gower stepping up in his absence and Joe Allen excelling in the central midfield area, Agustien may find it a little tricky to immediately return to the first-team starting lineup.

Roman Pavlyuchenko missed Spurs trip to Fulham on Sunday afternoon due to a back injury. With a mere nineteen minutes game time in the league this term, it’s debatable whether he would have played any part in the game regardless of fitness, though. The Russian has mainly been used for cup games by the club this season and picked up the problem in last week’s Europa League defeat to Rubin Kazan.

John O’Shea could recover from a hamstring injury in time for the Republic of Ireland’s second leg play-off against Estonia next Tuesday. The Sunderland full-back will definitely miss this Friday’s first leg but according to Giovanni Trapattoni, could recover in time for next week. It’s ideal news for his Fantasy owners ahead of a strong run of games, with the Black Cats playing at home three times in the next four gameweeks (FUL, WIG, wlv, BLA).

The Patrice Evra-Luis Suarez race row reared its head in the tabloids this morning with reports suggesting Suarez is more than insistent he is innocent. The Liverpool player is believed to have said:

The FA will have to clarify things with [Evra]. I did not insult him. It was just a way of expressing myself. I called him something his team-mates at Manchester call him, and even they were surprised by his reaction. These things happen in football, in the heat of the moment. They leave someone looking bad. Now we have to see how the matter is decided and then, for him as much as me, we will have things clear. And wherever the fault lies, we are going to have to say sorry.