Today’s big news is that Michu has been ruled out of Swansea’s trip to Fulham tomorrow after picking up an ankle injury at Reading on Boxing Day. Michael Laudrup remains uncertain whether his top goalscorer will be ready to face Villa on New Year’s Day, stating he may be available “with a little luck”.
Luis Suarez has been passed fit to turn out for Liverpool’s trip to QPR as both sides look to bounce back from Boxing Day defeats, while Harry Redknapp is hopeful Ryan Nelsen can shake off a virus in time for Sunday’s game. Carlos Tevez failed to train due to illness yesterday but “should” be fit, according to City assistant boss David Platt. Gael Clichy and Samir Nasri are both back, though Mario Balotelli is likely to miss out with illness once again.
Over at United, Sir Alex Ferguson hopes to have Ashley Young and Danny Welbeck available after they missed out against Newcastle. Phil Jones will be assessed, while Shinji Kagawa could make the bench, according to his manager, who also ruled Wayne Rooney out “for at least another two games”. Jonas Olsson, Youssouf Mulumbu and Goran Popov are all “major doubts” for West Brom ahead of their Old Trafford visit, though.
The injuries mount up for Paul Lambert as Villa prepare for the visit of Wigan. Andreas Weimann and Nathan Baker have been ruled out for the midlands outfit as they look to bounce back from a couple of recent hammerings.
We’ve collected all this in our team news section and added our current predicted lineups ahead of the weekend’s fixtures. You can keep in touch with the very latest via our twitter feed as always.
My present to you, to haunt your waking moments.
