Early Doors

"So, how are we going to spend our time off?"

Big Four edition.

Giggs worry for United

Ryan Giggs has been sent for an X-ray on an arm injury he suffered at Aston Villa, sparking fears he could miss Manchester United's Champions League encounter with AC Milan on Tuesday.
Giggs injured himself in a clash with Steve Sidwell during the second half of United's 1-1 draw at Villa Park and immediately clutched his arm.
The veteran Welshman was replaced by Dimitar Berbatov and left the stadium with his right arm in a sling, with United boss Sir Alex Ferguson confirming the hospital appointment.

Between this injury and Nani's straight red card, and subsequent three match ban, United's wide midfielders pick themselves, don't they?  Anyone else thinking Valencia and Park for two games next week?



REACTION: THEY MADE IT EXTREMELY DIFFICULT

One thing which will cause extra concern for fans on top of tonight's loss was the early departure of Ashley Cole, who took a knock 10 minutes into the second half.
He was replaced by Michael Ballack while Yury Zhirkov moved into the left-back role. Wilkins informed us of the thump our number 3 sustained.
'He has taken quite a nasty knock. It wasn't a foul but it was a tough challenge and the force of the tackle has created a slight problem with his ankle.
'We will get back to Cobham and assess but hopefully it's not too bad.'

Chelsea's next league game is not until the 20th when they travel to Wolves so there is a lot of time for ACole to recover.  But if not, Zhirkov becomes a good if not great option.  He's cheap, but would take up a midfield spot.



Wenger: 'A little goal made a massive result'

Arshavin has a hamstring problem and Nasri had a knock on his head. He felt unwell and I didn't want to take a chance because it was his head. That's why I took him off. He wanted to stay on but he felt sick so I didn't want to take a chance. We have to make a scan on Arshavin tomorrow.

Arsenal have a very nice home match against Sunderland next so it will be worth monitoring their players.  It would be a blow for them to lose Arshavin, but if there is one thing they have in abundance is the small, crafty type.  It's Bendtner who is irreplaceable at the moment (well, and Song of course, but we're talking fantasy) and his relatively poor performance plus a harsh yellow card means he's good value against the Black Cats.