Mathieu Debuchy could be ready in time for Newcastle’s next league match. Rickie Lambert praises the effect of Jay Rodriguez on Southampton’s attacking fortunes, Roberto Martinez looks to keep faith in a winning side, Harry Redknapp remains happy with QPR’s attacking form, while Bacary Sagna may be back in time for Arsenal’s home game with Reading:
Alan Pardew is hopeful that Mathieu Debuchy could be fit in time to face Man City in less than a fortnight’s time. The right-back was subbed off with less than 15 minutes on the clock in Sunday’s defeat at Wigan and early yesterday morning, his manager revealed:
“We’re sending him to France. He’s in the squad, and it’s their right to assess him. I don’t there’ll be much conclusion other than for him to come back. Hopefully, for Manchester City. We don’t think it’s a particularly bad one.”
Debuchy was subsequently withdrawn from the France squad ahead of the upcoming internationals – giving him plenty time to recuperate ahead of the Etihad showdown on March 30. Despite a lack of clean sheets, he has impressed going forward and has collected bonus in each of his last two at St James’ Park, in addition to supplying an assist against Southampton recently. With three home games in four after the trip to City (FUL, SUN, LIV) he could be set for a strong finish to the campaign as the Magpies look to their St James’ Park form to secure top-flight survival.
Roberto Martinez has revealed he intends to continue with the selection policy which saw a handful of regulars miss out in Sunday’s vital 2-1 win over Newcastle:
“The message in the dressing room is very simple: if you play well you keep your place, if you don’t you can’t progress. That is a situation we are in. There is real good competition, daily standards are high and I will let football make the decision. I will assess what happens on the pitch and we will take it from there for the next game. I felt the team which played against Everton deserved continuity and we showed a real togetherness and character which has given us three points.”
The likes of Ali Al-Habsi, Gary Caldwell, Franco Di Santo and James McArthur all lost out and with the decision proving pivotal, Martinez is clearly willing to look for alternatives within his squad over the relegation run in. It could, potentially, bring one or two intriguing Fantasy options our way – Joel Robles was handed his first league start of the season against the Magpies and with Norwich and QPR up next, in addition to a double Gameweek 36, the 4.0 priced stopper is one to keep an eye on if he gets the nod ahead of Al-Habsi again.
Rickie Lambert has sang the praises of Jay Rodriguez after the former Burnley man continued his strong recent form under Mauricio Pochettino. Rodriguez started on the Southampton right ahead of Jason Puncheon once again and was afforded license to drift centrally to link up with Lambert – he resultantly grabbed a goal and assist in the 3-1, with the latter saying:
“I think Jay is a terrific player. I think his best position is as a striker in the middle, and when we have played in that position (together) we have done really well. It was obviously good to see him get that terrific goal at the end, I was over the moon for him.”
While Puncheon drifts further out the first-team picture, Rodriguez has now started six of the last seven under the new manager. He has now produced attacking returns in five of those matches, with a goal against United and assist at home to City amongst his recent displays. At 5.1 in FPL, he now looks key to the Saints’ survival prospects and may well appeal to those on the hunt for a cut-price frontman.
Harry Redknapp looks set to continue with an attacking approach in his attempt to clinch QPR’s top-flight survival. Despite a late defeat at Villa last Saturday, the R’s racked up another couple of goals and have now scored seven times in the last three, compared to four in the previous 10 Gameweeks:
“We are playing well at the moment, that is the encouraging thing. In the first half I couldn’t have asked for more from them. Even all through the game we had chances. Now we have got to go and win away from home somewhere. We have got to win at Fulham, we have got to win at Reading. We have got to win one of those games and we have got to win our home games. If we can do that we can still stay up. It is not impossible.”
While this means less chance of a clean sheet – they have now conceded in each of the last five – Redknapp’s attacking intentions are good news for those mulling over Andros Townsend as a potential cut-price midfielder. Coming in at 4.5 in FPL, the wide man was moved to the left flank at Villa Park as Redknapp shifted from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3 but still found the net for the second game running – he has now racked up 33 points in five starts for the Loftus Road outfit and with home games against Wigan and Stoke in the next five in addition to the above-mentioned road trips, certainly looks to have the platform to maintain his current form.
Bacary Sagna could be set to return from a knee injury in time for Arsenal’s next league game with Reading. The Frenchman has missed the last three Gameweeks due to the problem but is expected to resume full training over the international break – his possible return would certainly raise major question marks over Carl Jenkinson’s game time for the Royals match and the upcoming double, despite the latter’s recent impressive displays.
Staying on the subject of Arsenal, Wojciech Szczesny is determined to prove his worth to the Gunners after being dropped due to poor form for the last couple of matches. The Pole has warmed the bench as compatriot Lukas Fabianski has registered back-to-back clean sheets away to Bayern Munich and Swansea; the latter now seems in the driving seat between the sticks right now for the Gunners but Szczesny seems content with the situation, for the time being:
“I am too happy to go somewhere else. I believe in the philosophy of the club and that Arsenal will start to win again. I have a debt to pay here for the club, I owe them. I just do not want to go anywhere else. As long as they want me here, there is no ‘somewhere else’, and I have a contract until June 2015. It is halfway through March and we have lost everything. There are still 10 matches left to save the club against the humiliation of all times. It would be disaster not to be in the top four and without Champions League next year. We have the 10 most important games in our careers. We are going through the most difficult time since I came here.”
The Belgian FA could be set to risk the wrath of Roberto Mancini by fielding Vincent Kompany for the upcoming internationals. Kompany has now missed the last six Gameweeks with a calf complaint and Mancini had spoken of taking no risks prior to Saturday’s defeat at Everton but Belgium assistant head coach Vital Borkelmans has hinted at the importance of his availability for the World Cup double-header against Macedonia:
“Vincent is now training with the physical coach. He also trained very hard at City.He is very important for the group and we are quite happy he is here. We will make a decision on Wednesday or Thursday whether he can play or not.”
Joe Allen has pulled out of the Wales squad to face Scotland and Croatia. The midfielder started for Liverpool in Saturday’s 3-1 loss to Southampton but was replaced by Lucas at half-time – reports suggest the Reds now may decide to bring forward an operation on his shoulder, which could see Allen miss the remainder of the season.
