Vincent Kompany may be back for this weekend’s trip to Stoke, though Joleon Lescott is less likely. Phil Jones is available for United, while Nani could return to training this week. Liverpool are assessing knocks picked up by Charlie Adam and Martin Kelly, Chieck Tiote should be back for Newcastle at the Baggies, while the midfield worries rack up for Terry Connor:
Vincent Kompany could be in the frame for a return to the Man City first-team this weekend. The Belgian has missed the last couple of matches with a calf injury sustained in the Europa League defeat at Sporting Lisbon but, according to Roberto Mancini, he “maybe has some chance” of making the trip to the Britannia on Saturday evening. Mancini was less optimistic on Joleon Lescott, with the former Everton man expected to miss out. Lescott has also been sidelined for the last two league games and the loss of their first-choice central defensive pairing has been obvious for City- having chalked up clean sheets in each of the previous four, they have since conceded against both Swansea and Chelsea.
Alan Pardew expects Cheick Tiote to be available for Newcastle’s trip to West Brom this weekend. The Ivorian missed out in last week’s win over Norwich after picking up a muscle strain in the previous game at Arsenal but the Magpies manager is confident of a comeback. Ryan Taylor, on the other hand, is unlikely to make the Baggies clash, with Pardew reckoning the versatile defender will be back for the home game against Liverpool in Gameweek 31.
Mark Hughes is sweating on the fitness of Armand Traore after the left-back picked up a hamstring problem in last night’s win over Liverpool. The former Arsenal man has kept Taye Taiwo out of the QPR side in recent weeks but his half time withdrawal saw the Nigerian introduced at Loftus Road- Taiwo chipped in with an assist as the R’s overturned a 2-0 deficit to stun Kenny Daglish’s side 3-2. Clint Hill is also a doubt at the back- he suffered a back injury in training and missed out last night.
Salif Diao’s latest injury comeback is up in the air after the midfielder was forced off at Spurs. Having previously played 47 minutes all season, Diao returned to the Stoke team last week for the game against Chelsea and was afforded a starting role at the Lane by Tony Pulis last night but sustained a hamstring injury and is a doubt for the weekend clash against City.
Liverpool will assess Charlie Adam and Martin Kelly after the pair were subbed off with knocks at QPR. Adam was afforded his first start in the last three but failed to appear after half time, having twisted his knee, according to Kenny Dalglish. Kelly lasted just over half an hour before being replaced by Sebastian Coates- Dalglish revealed the right-back suffered a recurrence of a knock picked up in the previous weekend’s FA Cup win over Stoke.
Phil Jones is back in the United squad for Monday’s match against Fulham. Speaking to ManUnited.com yesterday, Sir Alex Ferguson also revealed that Nani is not far off a return, going on to say:
There are no problems with injuries. It’s much better now. There was Jones getting that bout of ‘flu but he’s back. Jones was actually back on Friday but we didn’t risk him on Sunday. He’ll be available [for the Fulham game]. So they’re all training apart from Nani, who should not be far away and might start training this week.
Wolves’ problems in midfield continue to mount up this week. Jamie O’Hara was ruled out for four weeks yesterday, while today the club revealed Karl Henry has failed to recover from a hamstring problem in time for the trip to Norwich. David Davis is also unavailable- he picked up a rib injury against United and will now be sidelined for three weeks with the problem. Nenad Milijas has returned to training, however, as he looks to overcome a calf problem ahead of the crucial Canaries clash.
