Chelsea have confirmed that John Terry will be fit and able to play against Tottenham at White Hart Lane on Thursday after picking up an injury in training.
The Blues’ skipper was rumoured to have injured his Achilles blocking a shot in team training on Monday, and sat the remainder of the session out after being helped from the field.
Fears that the England international would be sidelined for the game against Tottenham have been mooted however, as the Stamford Bridge outfit have stated that it was only a minor knock and that he will be available for selection.
Meanwhile midfielder Jon Obi Mikel has stated that Chelsea must learn from the mistakes they made against Wigan on Saturday, as a late Jordi Gomez goal resulted in a 1-1 draw at the DW Stadium.
“The goal was a lucky goal but it was a mistake from us, but this is what we need to learn from,” he told the club’s official website.
“We knew what we were coming into, it was going to be hard it was going to be difficult and they certainly made it difficult.
“We started the game well and then problems just kept on mounting, we found it hard to get hold and control the game.
“They played very smartly, pushing everyone forward and made it difficult. We just have to keep on going,” he concluded.
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Transfer speculation will be going into overdrive as the transfer window opens in January. What areas of the squad should Sir Alex Ferguson be looking before the window slams shut?
We currently find ourselves in a precarious position with the number of injuries we have, especially in the midfield area, so it is to be expected that the press will link us with a number of players.
Sir Alex Ferguson has already stated that he won’t be rushed into signing anyone and there is no panic but coach Rene Meulensteen has let slip a player that United could seek to sign if he becomes available.
Christian Eriksen has created a bit of a buzz starring for Ajax and Denmark and his performance against England earlier this year raised his stock further.
Meulensteen has confirmed to Voetbal International he is a player that interests Man United,
“This is a player that is on our radar.
“But that is to be expected. If people weren’t looking, no-one would ever have an opinion on these players.
“It is true that a player like Eriksen would fit our transfer policy. He is being strongly linked with us, but to suggest that we are about to make a move is not true.”
I can’t help but be excited by the prospect of Eriksen joining the club. Having seen him play on a number of occasions this season, it’s clear that he has come on in leaps and bounds. He’s starting to look like the real deal and could be a real asset for Manchester United .
If the price is right, I hope that United can take a step forward and make a genuine bid for the 19-year-old. He may be young, but he has a big future.
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But what’s your take? Should United go after Eriksen? How much would it take to ply him from Ajax’s grip?
Arsene Wenger will be hoping to leave the Emirates tomorrow with a chorus of cheers, to make up for the rather raucous reception he received at the final whistle last weekend. The Gunners support took exception to the removal of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain from the action in the second half, which was only made worse as his replacement Andrey Arshavin failed to deal with Valencia’s run that led to United’s late winner. The French boss refused to accept the criticism that came his way, claiming he has made thousands of substitutions over the years and have never been questioned before.
Tomorrow will be an important occasion for Arsene Wenger, as the FA Cup represents Arsenal’s best chance of silverware this season. Although the Gunners are on the run of three straight defeats, you do sense that they will have too much for Villa and will cruise through to the 5th Rd.
This week at Football FanCast we have had a mixed bag of blogs that include; what to expect from Stan Kroenke; greater protection for Oxlade-Chamberlain, while Thierry Henry was exactly what Arsenal needed. We have also included the best Gunners blogs on the net this week.
Best of FFC
What can fans expect from the Arsenal chief?
Is this really Arsene Wenger’s Greatest Arsenal XI?
The Arsene Wenger quandary
Top TEN – Arsenal should NEVER have let him go
Greater protection for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain?
Simply A Turning Point For Arsenal Fans?
Paska hints at new Rosicky deal
Is it the ‘not knowing’ that is really eating Arsenal fans?
Thierry Henry is exactly what they needed
[divider]
Best of WEB
[divider]
Alex Fynn talks David Dein, Arsene Wenger and the clubs future – Le Grove
There’s only two Arsène Wengers – Online Gooner
Down On His Luck, Brow-beaten But Arsène Is Not Broken. Jack Is… – A Cultured Left Foot
Trabzonspor star open to Arsenal move – Gunnersphere
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Could Hazard and Vertonghen really be on their way to Arsenal? – Highbury House
[divider]
Quote of the Week
“You have an 18-year-old kid making his first Premier League start and a player who’s captain of his country and they are querying the substitution? Let’s be serious.
“I’ve been a manager for 30 years and have made 50,000 subs. I do not have to justify every decision I make. I stand up for it.” Wenger talking to Sky Sports.
Manchester City are going to lodge a complaint with UEFA following the racial abuse Yaya Toure and Mario Balotelli received from sections of support at Porto’s Estádio do Dragão. The sound of monkey chants could be heard and City is hoping the UEFA delegate will report the incident so action can be taken. Toure revealed after the game that one of the reasons he moved to the Premier League is that Black players don’t receive such abuse in the football stadiums in England.
Elsewhere in the news, Andre Villas-Boas admits that he lost some of the support of his players at Chelsea; Harry Redknapp believes a part-time England role could work ahead of the Euros, while Arsene Wenger is set to dump some of his Euro flops this summer.
Andre Villas-Boas admits that he has lost some of the support of his players, but believes that Roman Abramovich is fully behind his Chelsea project – Guardian
Manchester City is set to lodge a complaint with UEFA after Yaya Toure and Mario Balotelli were racially abused by the Portuguese crowd – Guardian
Harry Redknapp believes that he could partake in a part-time role for England that will see him finish the season off at Tottenham, before taking the reins for the Euros this summer – Guardian
Arsene Wenger is reportedly ready to dump some of his Arsenal flops in the wake of the Gunners crushing defeat in Milan. The Frenchman was left furious at the performance and is prepared to make changes in the summer – Daily Telegraph
Manchester United were hit with an injury blow last night with Antonio Valencia out for 4-6 weeks after damaging his hamstring in the Red Devils’ 2-0 victory against Ajax – Daily Telegraph
Everton captain Phil Neville is on a revenge mission as he hopes to guide the Toffees a step closer to Wembley. Defeat in the 2009 final has left a bitter taste for Neville and he is determined to put things right this season – Independent
The American giant AEG are set to launch a £450m takeover of Tottenham Hotspur. AEG own the 02 Arena as well as LA Galaxy and if a deal to takeover Spurs is successful, Daniel Levy will be asked to remain on as Chairman of the football club – Daily Express
Both Manchester United and Manchester City are battling it out for Derby County starlet Will Hughes. The youngster has been in great form in England’s U17 tournament in the Algarve, where the Three Lions have cruised through their group stages – Daily Mail
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Tottenham are facing a transfer battle with Inter Milan to secure the services of Brazilian striker Leandro Damiao – TalkSport
Eden Hazard has talked up a potential move to Arsenal claiming that they are one of the options available to him at the end of the season. The Lille ace is attracted to the French contingent at the Emirates, as well as his compatriot Thomas Vermaelen – Sun
Bolton manager Owen Coyle has stated that he is hopeful midfielder Fabrice Muamba will make a full recovery.
The former England under-21 international collapsed on the White Hart Lane pitch in his side’s FA Cup clash with Tottenham on Saturday, and was rushed to hospital in a saddening and shocking incident.
Despite the Premier League player’s life being threatened by the health problems, Coyle has stated that things are looking better for Muamba.
“Two things Fabrice has on his side are he is a fit young man and the life that he has had. He has had to fight every step of the way along his young journey. These are two things that I’m sure will stand him in good stead,” the Scottish coach told The Telegraph.
“I’ve managed to get to see him myself, as have close family members. I had a conversation. A few words exchanged [although] that will remain private as you will understand, which is a great sign.
“I must stress it’s still very early in the process – Fabrice has still a long way to go. But there’s encouraging signs. We think that’s really positive as we move forward from that point,” he confirmed.
Meanwhile, it looks likely that Bolton will play their Premier League fixture with Blackburn on Saturday, despite Muamba’s ongoing health problems.
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This is arguably the most important week in Reading FC’s history. With the tough game at playoff-hopefuls Brighton and another away game at Southampton on Friday, the run-in is not allowing Reading fans to catch their breath at any moment.
It was a different story during the 05/06 season. Reading were promoted with a record breaking 106 points, scoring an unbelievable 99 goals and losing only twice in the process. Promotion was secured in March and, whilst no fan will admit it, the form we were playing in meant that the expectation of gaining Premier League status came a while before it was mathematically confirmed.
But this season is something quite alien to a Reading fan. Our late surge last season came too late to prove a real challenge to the top 2 and fans were happy with a playoff place. This year anything less than automatic promotion will be a disappointment. With a tougher string of final games than Saints and West Ham, Reading really need to grind results out and that is exactly what happened last night at Brighton.
Nearly doubling the amount of shots on target Reading had, the home side looked like they were good for a win. However, Reading knew they had to get an early goal in order to relax on the ball, especially with an injury-stricken midfield, and Ian Harte’s deflected free kick went in on 14 minutes; his third goal in four games. Brighton did look dangerous, with Vicente striking the crossbar and Federici saving a Barnes penalty, Reading did well to hold on; as they say, a sign of a good team is one that can win ugly.
This momentum will be taken to St Mary’s on Friday evening and what a huge game it is going to be. Reading have proved they can get 3 points at tough away fixtures, having done so at the likes of West Ham and Middlesbrough since the start of the new year, and there is no better chance than Friday’s televised game to show that we have the quality to be a Premier League side.
Gus Poyet has admitted that Reading are the best team in the league and hopefully Nigel Adkins will have to concede the same thing in his post-match interview on Friday night. Ricky Lambert is clearly their man to watch but our defence is capable of holding him off. With 19 clean sheets this season, our back 5 will be a tough match for Lambert, the league’s leading goalscorer who has netted 10 more times than his nearest competitor.
Reading’s midfield is a bit of a concern with many injuries – Leigertwood and Tabb both doubts again, whilst Jem Karacan is out for the rest of the season with a broken ankle suffered in the win against Leeds. Our makeshift midfield will have to step up once more on Friday; local lad Hayden Mullins will likely start again with Jobi McAnuff continuing in the centre to replace Karacan’s composure on the ball – McAnuff has proved he can do this in previous games.
Whatever happens this week, the match is set up to be the game of the season and the atmosphere will be electric. If Reading win we will have gained 43 points out of 48 which is not the form of a team looking for a second place finish; it is the form of champions.
Thoughts? Contact me on Twitter @JackPeedell
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Thanks go to Joe Deeks for his input on this article.
And so it came down to this, the final day of the Bundesliga, the fight for survival.
In the red corner, weighing in with 30 points from 33 games, the winners of the inaugural Bundesliga – the extremely unreliable FC Cologne.
In the blue corner, weighing in with 28 points from 33 games, the club from the capital – the equally unreliable Hertha Berlin.
Now all boxing analogies and hyperbole aside, Saturday held a lot of importance for these two clubs. Of course, such is the way the Bundesliga works, the most either could achieve on Saturday was the relative safety of the awkward Relegation Play-Off.
It was the importance of the occasion which helped to make Saturday afternoon’s events all the more dramatic. Both Cologne and Hertha had the advantage of playing at home. However, the Billy Goats faced Bayern Munich, a side looking to keep themselves in good shape ahead of the DFB-Pokal Final and the Champions League Final.
Hoffenheim weren’t going to be an easy proposition for Hertha Berlin but they certainly weren’t as tough opposition as Bayern were to Cologne. The final results showed this.
Understandably, the relegation threatened duo started tentatively on Saturday but it was Hertha who struck first as Anis Ben-Hatira’s free-kick from wide on the right went all the way in to the delight of the Olympiastadion. Otto Rehhagel’s side had the advantage. The dour face of General Manager Michael Preetz, even when they’d scored, illustrated Hertha were by no means secure.
The mood was further lifted in Berlin with news Thomas Müller had opened the scoring at the RheinEnergieStadion. Such was their inferior goal difference to Hertha, Cologne now had to come from behind and beat Bayern. The problem for Frank Schaefer’s team was that not once during the campaign had their opponents gone in front in the Bundesliga and lost.
The last time it happened was actually against Cologne last season but there was to be no repeat on Saturday. Instead, things kept on improving for Hertha Berlin. Ryan Babel was harshly sent off for Hoffenheim just before half time. It meant Hertha continued to gather momentum which they took into the second period.
Meanwhile at the RheinEnergieStadion, Cologne made an impressive start after half time. Fortune didn’t favour their brave approach though on this occasion. Playing in such an open manner against Bayern is always risky and it didn’t pay off as Geromel diverted Franck Ribery’s cross into his own goal. This was quickly followed by a third by Arjen Robben. Milivoje Novakovic grabbed a consolation before Thomas Müller completed the scoring making it 4-1 to the Bundesliga runners up.
The news from Berlin wasn’t positive for Cologne either with Ben-Hatira scoring his second and ending their chances of automatic relegation, or so it seemed. Someone forgot to inform Hoffenheim’s Marvin Commper who ensured a bizarre finale to the season by halving Hertha’s lead with minutes left.
The scoreline now 2-1 and another goal for Markus Babbel’s side would condemn Hertha. In the final minutes, Thomas Kraft was forced into a save giving Hoffenheim a late corner. Up came goalkeeper Tom Starke but Hertha cleared and with no one guarding the goal at the opposite end, Raffael was able to run the ball in, cue roars of relief around the Olympiastadion.
Simultaneously in Cologne, there were some rather unsavoury scenes as some discontented supporters lit flares behind Manuel Neuer’s goal. Referee Florian Meyer took the sensible step to blow for full time as a plume of black smoke engulfed one end of the stadium. Players and officials rushed down the tunnel but one man trudged off at a slower pace than the others.
That was Lukas Podolski playing his final game for Cologne prior to his move to Arsenal. Seeing “Prinz Poldi” leaving the pitch with clouds of black smoke behind him was poignant. Indeed, he departs with his hometown club in disarray. That said Cologne’s exit from the Bundesliga epitomised the ridiculous nature of their season. Predicting whether they’ll make an immediate return is difficult at this time.
As for Hertha Berlin, they’ll have been delighted their former coach Markus Babbel didn’t end up coming back to haunt them. That relative honour might fall to Fortuna Dusseldorf, their opponents in the Relegation Play Off. Hertha fans know their team haven’t played that well under Otto Rehhagel but with the organiser supreme, they managed to win the fight for survival – for now.
For more on the Bundesliga, follow @archiert1 on Twitter
Matchday 34 Results:
Augsburg 1-0 Hamburg
Borussia Dortmund 4-0 Freiburg
Cologne 1-4 Bayern Munich
Hannover 2-1 Kaiserslautern
Hertha Berlin 3-1 Hoffenheim
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AC Milan’s decision to release Mathieu Flamini back into the footballing wilderness yesterday may spark up some interest from fans of his former club Arsenal. Many will be using him to illustrate the point that leaving the red of half of North London for pastures greener does not always work out (Mr Van Persie take note). Others may well see it as an opportunity for the 28 year old to put a red and white shirt on again.
But is it worth Arsenal’s trouble? He became a highly regarded defensive midfielder during his original spell, but after turning his back on the Gunners for higher wages at the San Siro, his commitment to the North London club can be brought into question.
It is no secret to many that holding midfield is an area Arsenal could do well to strengthen. The inconsistency of Alex Song last season was originally met with speculation regarding the signing of Rennes’ Yann M’Villa as a replacement, and now Mathieu Flamini could be in the picture as a free transfer to M’Villa’s £17 million price tag.
A problem for Arsenal could be Flamini’s wage demands. One of the reasons why he left the Emirates in the first place, talks with Milan in renewing a contract broke down as they wanted him to take a wage cut. Something Arsenal are also keen for their players to do, their reduction of the Emirates wage bill may not be in keeping with offering the 28 year old a salary big enough to entice him. Another issues lies in the Frenchman’s fitness levels. Having missed the whole of last season suffering from a knee injury, Arsenal will be taking a huge risk if they were to invest big wages on a player who could just find himself making up the numbers in the treatment room.
There is however, reason to suggest it would be a sensible move for both parties. Flamini’s form in his final season for the Gunners was impressive, putting him on the Rossoneri’s radar. For many, he was the gritty defensive midfielder Arsenal so badly craved and arguably, never replaced. His knowledge of the English game as well as his well suited physicality have already been proven, and he would not need the time to adjust the Premier League that a player such as M’Villa may find himself requiring.
There is no denying Flamini’s talent. Having already proved himself in the Premier League, he was then at times, a first team regular in AC Milan’s Serie A team. Should injuries not take their toll, the recapturing of the 28 year old may prove to be a controversial but shrewd piece of business for the Gunners.
Whether or not Arsenal fans would be happy too see Mathieu Flamini back in their side would all depend on whether or not the gamble would pay off. After leaving North London in 2008, Flamini claimed Arsenal had ‘missed their chance’; well they just might get another chance with the Frenchman.
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Tottenham Hotspur boss Andre Villas-Boas is resigned to losing playmaker Luka Modric to Real Madrid, and is interested in buying Joao Moutinho from Portoas a replacement, reports Talk Sport.
Villas-Boas has been a long term admirer of Moutinho, who he worked with at Porto, and was impressed with the 25 year olds performances at Euro 2012.
The departure of Modric to the Bernabeu alongside Rafael Van Der Vaart’s rumoured return to Hamburg could see the Spurs midfield overhauled, as the signing of Moutinho would see him join Gylfi Sigurdsson at White Hart Lane.
However, the new Spurs boss was quick to state; ‘Those sort of players will always be interesting to us. It doesn’t mean it’s the only target we are looking at’. It would seem Villas-Boas is eager to fill Modric’s boots with an equally capable player, but Moutinho is not necessarily the only candidate.
Porto are currently suffering from financial instability are set to be aware of Spurs’ interest in Moutinho, but have slapped a £31.5 million price tag on their number 8. This will mean that the funds Spurs generate from Luka Modric’s transfer would be key to the deal going through.
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Manchester Untied and Arsenal are interested in securing the signing of Victor Wanyama from Celtic, according to The Daily Mail.
Scouts from the pair watched the Kenyan in the Hoops’ 1-0 friendly defeat to Norwich City on Tuesday and could step up their interest in the player in the coming weeks.
However, the 21-year-old has allegedly also attracted the attention of Queens Park Rangers and Stoke City who may be able to offer him a greater chance of first team football.
Wanyama is reportedly unsettled at Celtic Park having grown frustrated at having to play in defence rather than his favoured position of defensive-midfield.
The Scottish side have slapped a £7m price-tag on the youngster in an attempt to ward off interest from south of the border, but with four Premier League teams showing an interest it could be difficult for Celtic to hold onto their man.
Sir Alex Ferguson has refused to consider adding a defensive-midfielder to his side so it remains a mystery where the Kenyan would fit into the side.
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Arsenal are believed to be close to the capture of Spanish midfielder Santi Cazorla but Wanyama would represent a very different option in midfield.