Owen Hargreaves steals the show as Man City ditch holders Birmingham. Steven Gerrard returns to the Liverpool fold, though Kenny Dalglish is quick to play down the hype. Chelsea suffer a couple of injury worries in their derby win over Fulham, while Rio Ferdinand looks in line for a weekend return as United go to Stoke. Here’s this morning’s Scribbles:
Andre Villas-Boas played down the possibility of a spell on the sidelines for Petr Cech. The Chelsea keeper was subbed off in last night’s Carling Cup win over Fulham after suffering a head injury in a collision with Orlando Sa. With Hilario also out, it left Ross Turnbull as the only keeper available to Villas-Boas and although Turnbull helped the Blues through to the fourth round after a penalty shoot-out, Villas-Boas seemed positive over Cech’s prognosis:
Petr went for a scan in the hospital and he’s okay. He felt a little bit dizzy from the early concussion at half-time. We decided, and he decided as well, it was better not to take risks.
Daniel Sturridge was also taken off after hurting his knee in the process of scoring a disallowed goal and the Chelsea boss also had news on the forward:
The ligaments are okay. If he misses one (game), it won’t be more than that.
To further add to Chelsea’s woes, Alex was sent off and will miss the weekend home clash with Swansea.
Yossi Benayoun took to twitter yesterday to reveal he will be out for “a week or so†after suffering a strain in Arsenal’s Carling Cup win over Shrewsbury. The Israeli will miss this weekend’s game with Bolton as well as a Champions League clash with Olympiakos. Arsene Wenger will be hoping the midfielder will be available for the following weekend’s North London derby against Spurs.
Steven Gerrard returned to the Liverpool first-team for the first time in six months last night. The skipper featured in the Carling Cup win over Brighton but, while Kenny Dalglish was delighted, he was quick to downplay expectations and will continue to ease Gerrard back into action:
He has had a few disappointments along the way and just to get 20 minutes will have given him a lift. We will manage the situation as diligently as we have done to get him this far. We want the same as what he wants but we need to be careful with him. We won’t get carried away with the fact he is back for 20 minutes, but it’s great for everybody.
Martin Kelly also returned from a hamstring strain to give Dalglish a boost at right-back ahead of the home showdown with Wolves on Saturday.
Owen Hargreaves and Kolo Toure made their first starts of the season for Man City last night. The former may have hogged the headlines for his superbly taken opener in the 2-0 win over Birmingham, but it was the City forward selection that was of most interest to Fantasy managers- Mario Balotelli and Carlos Tevez started, which bodes well for owners of Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko ahead of the weekend clash with Everton.
The Everton-West Brom clash saw both managers field strong sides. David Moyes gave starts to new boys Royston Drenthe and Denis Stracqualursi and it was the hosts who prevailed with a 2-1 win at Goodison Park. The Toffees are now on a five-match unbeaten run, though the same can’t be said for Roy Hodgson’s side right now- the Baggies have lost five of their seven games in all competitions this season and are struggling to spark.
Rio Ferdinand is on course to appear for Man United this weekend. The centre half has returned to full training this week and with Chris Smalling sidelined for a fortnight with a groin strain, Ferdinand would slot in at centre half once again, with Phil Jones moving to right-back for the away trip to Stoke.
