Arsenal
Arsene Wenger has confirmed that Philippe Senderos could leave Arsenal – and Celtic is a possible destination. The Swiss defender has been linked with a move away from Emirates Stadium for some time and speculation over his future has intensified since Sol Campbell returned to Arsenal on a short-term contract. “There is an interest from Celtic, yes. It may happen,” Wenger said. “We have Sol Campbell and we have four centre backs. Philippe needs to play. He has not played for a long time and he needs to if he wants to go to the World Cup.”
Aston Villa
Cardiff City striker Jay Bothroyd has played down talk of a move to Aston Villa and says he is “fully committed” to the Bluebirds ahead of Tuesday night’s FA Cup third-round replay against Bristol City. The 27-year-old former Arsenal trainee has overcome a viral infection to be in contention and maintains his focus has not been distracted by talk of a transfer. He told the club’s official website: “Obviously you are flattered when you get linked with other clubs, especially the likes of Aston Villa, but I am fully committed to Cardiff and just want to concentrate on doing well for them. It’s an honour to be linked with them but I am a professional and need to put that to the back of my mind and play well for Cardiff.”
Birmingham City
Striker Marcus Bent has returned to the club after a two-and-a-half-month loan spell at Middlesbrough. Bent will now provide back-up for Cameron Jerome, Christian Benitez and veteran Kevin Phillips.
Blackburn Rovers
A timely addition to Sam Allardyce’s attacking options is midfielder Steven Reid, for whom the Fulham match marked his first Premier League start since September 2008 after a bad knee injury. Allardyce believes Reid is a rare combative player in the centre of the field, and is convinced that with a carefully structured rehabilitation he can be a force once again in the top flight. Allardyce added: “It’s been a long and arduous journey for Steven and hopefully we can nurture him back into the player we know. It’s great to see him back and we can only see him growing from here. We have to try to build him up slowly now. He’s the type of player who is rare today, one who wins the ball and goes and tackles players. His timing is a little bit off but it will come back.”
bolton wanderers
Owen Coyle admits he is still a big admirer of Arsenal youngster Jack Wilshere. Coyle spoke to Arsene Wenger about Wilshere when he was manager at Burnley but a potential loan deal failed to materialise before he left Turf Moor to join Bolton. The 18-year-old was not part of the Arsenal squad that won 2-0 at the Reebok Stadium on Sunday and a hamstring problem means he is a doubt when the two sides meet again at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night, but Coyle is keeping a keen eye on the midfielder. Asked if his interest in Wilshere was still there, Coyle said: “Always. I admire good players and that kid is certainly a good player. I’m a little bit uncomfortable talking about it because we play Arsenal on Wednesday and I don’t think that’s the way we should go about it. But he’s a fantastic young player, a player I believe will eventually play in the Arsenal first team and for England. He’s one that I’ve always admired, but I think that conversation is for after Wednesday night when we’ve played Arsenal, and we’ll take it from there.”
burnley
New Burnley manager Brian Laws has returned to former club Sheffield Wednesday to fill out his backroom staff, snapping up Tom Little, Tim Henderson and Billy Mercer. The Yorkshire club confirmed the trio were leaving the club on Tuesday after a deal was agreed with Burnley. Little worked as the club’s sports scientist, Henderson as head of recruitment, and Mercer as goalkeeping coach. Laws, who was appointed Burnley manager last week in the wake of Owen Coyle’s switch to Bolton, left Wednesday by mutual consent in December after a run of bad results. The Owls have appointed former Preston North End goalkeeping coach Andy Rhodes to replace Mercer, but new manager Alan Irvine is yet to make a decision on any other appointments.
Chelsea
Chelsea will know the extent of Michael Essien’s injury by Friday. The Ghana midfielder is scheduled to arrive back at the club’s Cobham training ground this week in order for Chelsea’s own medical staff to assess his knee injury. Essien was forced out of Ghana’s African Nations Cup campaign after hurting his knee during training. Essien, 27, could be out of action for at least a month according to initial scans undertaken in Luanda. They are understood to show that he has suffered a partially torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee and damage to his meniscus. A spokesperson for Chelsea confirmed: “We are aware of the injury to Michael and have been in contact with the Ghanaian national team. We will fully assess the injury on Michael’s return to us later this week. Until then we are unable to comment further.”
everton
Everton playmaker Mikel Arteta believes he is close to making his first-team comeback after 11 months out with a cruciate knee ligament injury. The Spaniard was carried off in the 0-0 draw at Newcastle in late February last year and has endured a long rehabilitation period but finally feels the end is in sight. “I have been doing nearly everything in training with the lads over the last week and I am hoping to start doing contact work this coming week,” he said. “After that, whenever the manager says Mikky you are ready – I am there!”
Fulham
Roy Hodgson has reiterated to his players they must improve their dismal away record if they are to maintain their top 10 place and push for a return to the Europa League. Sunday’s loss at Blackburn means the Cottagers have won just one of 11 Barclays Premier League matches on their travels this season, and Hodgson says it remains the one black mark on his side’s otherwise successful campaign. Hodgson said: “We have got to do better away from home. It’s not enough to play reasonably good football, we’ve got to get that edge back into our game and get some results. I’m still fairly confident even with the injury situation that we are more than capable of holding our own in this division. But we must keep building on the good things we’re doing and not be as vulnerable at set-plays.”
Hull City
Phil Brown is hoping Jimmy Bullard will return from a knee injury for the Wolves match on January 30th. Speaking from the team’s training camp in Tenerife, Brown said: “Jimmy has come away with us and we’ll be condensing his work to two or three sessions a day for a full week, and hopefully then he’ll get back in the group. With the Manchester United game being brought forward three days, that probably puts Jimmy at too much of a risk. But I’m still confident that Jimmy will play some part in the Wolves game.”
Liverpool
Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano feels it is unfair manager Rafael Benitez is shouldering the burden of criticism when the players themselves are not performing. “It’s easier for them to criticise one manager than 20 players,” said the Argentina captain. “When the team is not playing well, the press criticises the manager and not the players, but we don’t have to pay too much attention. You have to realise that when we are playing like this, people will criticise Rafa. But we are a top side. We need to think about football and try not to worry too much. The mentality among all of us is really good and we want to take Liverpool to the place it deserves to be.”
manchester city
Manchester City are ready to give Fabio Capello a double dose of good news by having defensive duo Joleon Lescott and Wayne Bridge fit in time for England’s friendly with Egypt on 3rd March. The pair have both been missing for an extended period and neither man has yet had a chance to impress manager Roberto Mancini. But it seems their time on the sidelines is coming to an end. Bridge suffered a knee injury in the victory over his old club Chelsea at the beginning of last month and has so far missed eight matches while Lescott was forced to undergo an operation after also suffering a knee problem at Bolton a week later. “It is good because they are both making progress,” said Mancini.
Manchester United
Former Manchester United star David Beckham will come up against the club when AC Milan travel to Old Trafford in the last 16 of the Champions League and he will not celebrate if he scores. “It’s going to be a weird feeling playing against United at Old Trafford. But I am ready for it now,” he admitted. “I wouldn’t celebrate if I scored. It would take me a split second to compose myself and remind myself I couldn’t because when you score a goal it’s a rush and it’s an instinct to celebrate. But if it happened at Old Trafford I would curb that instinct.”
Portsmouth
Portsmouth have re-arranged four of their Premier Academy League home fixtures that were claimed by the weather. The Blues will host Arsenal on Saturday, 13th February and Charlton four days later on Wednesday, 17th February. Chelsea visit on Saturday, 10th April with Southampton at Pompey four days later on Wednesday, 14th April. All the matches kick-off at 11am at the Wellington Sports Ground in Eastleigh.
Stoke City
Thomas Sorensen, who signed a new two-and-a-half year contract with Stoke in November, says he always wanted to stay with the club and claimed comments he had made in an interview with the Danish press earlier this month had been misrepresented. “There’s been a lot of rubbish that’s been said, the Danish press have stitched me up big time,” said Sorensen. “And all the rumours they’re still spreading, it’s just shocking, so I think I’ve finished speaking to them. It’s all rubbish and I’m really annoyed about it because I’m fully committed to the club, and then all this comes out and it puts a strain on everyone. If you read the original interview, I said I wanted to stay at Stoke and all the other things weren’t on my mind, I just wanted to do well here. Someone has twisted that and made it into something else. It’s just shocking.”
sunderland
Sunderland have been handed a much-needed boost with the news goalkeeper Craig Gordon is likely to return for Saturday’s FA Cup fourth-round tie at Portsmouth. Scotland international Gordon has been out of action since breaking his arm following a clash with Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe at White Hart Lane in November. But he is back in training and ought to return at Fratton Park, along with three other players who missed the 7-2 mauling at Chelsea last weekend.
tottenham hotspur
Harry Redknapp has strongly denied making a bid for Manchester United goalkeeper Ben Foster. One report suggested Spurs had an offer turned down by the Barclays Premier League champions for the 26-year-old England international, who has struggled for regular matches at Old Trafford and has not played since November. “I have no idea where this story has come from because we have never made an offer for Ben Foster, let alone had one rejected,” said Redknapp. “He is an England goalkeeper and I cannot see him going somewhere as a number two anyway.”
West Ham United
Scott Parker believes West Ham United’s players took a lot of positives from Sunday’s 0-0 draw at Aston Villa. He said: “It is a good result for us. We take a lot of positives out of the game. We played really well and had a gameplan. We did really well at times. You go to Villa Park and obviously they’re a very good side, but we did well.”
Wigan Athletic
Daniel de Ridder is keen to join Hapoel Tel-Aviv as he steps up his pursuit of regular first-team football away from Wigan. The Dutch winger has struggled for playing time since joining the Latics from Birmingham in 2008, with opportunities few and far between. “At the beginning I was very positive about the offensive intent of our new coach Roberto Martinez,” he said. “My chance has not come. If I want to play this season a move looks to be the right solution.”
wolverhampton wanderers
Defender Richard Stearman has admitted letting the club down with his sending off in the 2-0 defeat by Wigan. With the match tied at 0-0, Stearman picked up two yellow cards for fouls on Maynor Figueroa and James McCarthy. Stearman said: “I’ve got to hold my hands up – I cost us. I let the team down. It was a bit of a nightmare. I’ve had such a good season up until Saturday and it was just so disappointing to make a mistake. I’ve been delighted with the way I’ve been playing and didn’t think I was having too bad a game. But I messed up. I think I was harshly punished to be sent off, but that’s football and I’ve got to move on.”
“I am hoping to start doing contact work this coming week” – Mikel Arteta
Credits: PremierLeague.com
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