After the Window: Spurs

Spurs late summer looked a lot like the one experienced across North London at Arsenal. What the acquisitions lacked in romance and long term strategic benefit they more than made up for in being effective near-term band-aids. Spurs needed something new at forward and a deep-lying player to both win the ball and start the attack. It certainly would have been nice to find a reliable partner for Michael Dawson but presumably the combination of Ledley King and William Gallas will be able to get the job done for 80% of the matches over the course of the upcoming season.

Premier League Round Up

Stoke City goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen hoping to return against Bolton Wanderers

Terry Assessment to Continue

Knee injury rules Doyle out

Liverpool striker Fernando Torres doubt for derby

Lennon ruled out of England game, Downing in

Jean Beausejour to miss Birmingham's trip to Arsenal

Injured Jagielka ruled out

Arsenal buoyed by imminent return of Cesc Fábregas and Theo Walcott

Frank Lampard optimistic of return for Chelsea's match at Aston Villa

Pavlyuchenko Blow for Russia

Finally, lost in this week's "blogasm" over Liverpool FC, I think we've lost sight of another similar, if not spectacular issue. Manchester United just reported financial statements that were about as bad as Liverpool's. They are also coming off a weekend where they benched their in-form striker and came away from another road trip with another draw. Were Liverpool not such a grease-fire of a club at the moment, I think SAF and Manchester United would be feeling a lot more heat.

Etherington could return for Stoke

Stoke boss Tony Pulis has confirmed Matthew Etherington is in line for a shock return to the side for the FA Cup fifth-round replay against Manchester City at the Britannia Stadium.

Etherington was taken off on a stretcher in the initial tie 11 days ago amid fears he had suffered serious knee ligament damage.

But following a rapid recovery the winger will now be assessed over the next 24 hours and may undergo a late fitness test.

However, in less encouraging injury news:

Aaron Lennon has suffered a setback in his recovery from a groin problem, Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp has confirmed...

Redknapp, speaking ahead of Wednesday night's FA Cup fifth-round replay against Bolton, said: "He was close to getting fit, but has had a bit of a setback.

"Hopefully it should not put him back much from where he was, and he could still be fit in a couple of weeks."

I wouldn't bet on it. (Too soon?)

Early Doors

It's still more than a week away from the end of the current game week, but it's not too early to count the cost of the "hectic festive period" (^TM English Football Punditry Ltd) and see what team news is available ahead of the weekend's FA Cup matches.