Javier Hernandez - The Forgotten Man

UPDATE:  I guess the secret is out.  Neal has included Chicharito in his Week Ahead Player Picks. Great minds, and all that.

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Word on the street - and by street I mean Twitter - is that Danny Welbeck is going to return to training next week following his hamstring injury. In the meantime, Javier Hernandez is going to start against Bolton Wanderers, at Bolton, and to me looks a good fantasy bet. He's only 10 in the Yahoo! game, and I assume that he'll keep his starting place even if Welbeck recovers quickly. With a lot of good striking options like Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie costing a pretty penny, and uncertainty over some of the cheaper options like Juan Mata and Bryan Ruiz for example, Hernandez good be a value for money pick.

Community Shield "Live" Blog

As I did with the Valerenga/Liverpool pre-season match, I'm going to "live" blog the Community Shield.  Even though it happened this morning, I'm just now getting a chance to watch.  But don't worry, I've been under the Cone of Silence all day so my reactions will be genuine.

And my first reaction is "WTF!?!?!?!" Kolarov starts over Clichy?  I thought the one nailed on spot was going to be Clichy as the starting left-back for Citeh.  If there's going to be rotation there... and it seems like there is now... I'm not so sure I want to gamble on either player starting against Swansea next week.  Looks like I'm going to spend a similar amount of money on the real sure thing - Kompany.

So neither defence is as expected with Smalling lining up at right back. Maybe that's temporary as Rafael was injured but does make the bench.  However, we saw Phil Jones line-up wide right last week and now Smalling.  Is Sir Alex just exploring all his options or does he have Smalling on a short-list for the position?

Further forward, Welbeck lines up with Rooney while Berbatov continues to be a £30 million squad player. It will be interesting to see how Welbeck and Rooney dove-tail.  Is the "Rooney needs to be a lead striker" argument over and replaced with the recently popular "he's more natural and effective playing behind the striker(s)"?

On to kickoff...

In Related News

Sky Sports | Football | Premier League | News | Sunderland send Welbeck for op

Skysports.com understands that Danny Welbeck is set to have an exploratory operation on his troublesome knee injury on Tuesday.

The 20-year-old is currently sidelined with a hamstring injury which kept him out of Sunday's Wear-Tyne derby.

However, he has been troubled by a knee complaint for some time and the club have decided to act now to get to the root of the problem.

So for the immediate future, we're likely to see Gyan as a lone striker. But that opens a midfield spot for someone. Steed Malbranque has already claimed a spot and Zenden seems to be in Bruce's good graces.

But might we see a return of Big Fat (and blog favorite) Andy Reid? He has been recalled from loan at Sheffield United, played in the FA Cup loss to Notts County and was on the bench at the weekend. Surely a midfield five of Reid, Richardson, Henderson, Cattermole, and Malbranque (with Zenden the first player off the bench) offers plenty of options for Sunderland.

If Reid does return, and with David Bentley starting again at Birmingham, our midfields might have a distinctly retro vibe to them soon.

UPDATE: Wellbeck out for Six to Eight Weeks

[Steve] Bruce said: "Danny was operated on yesterday and it was confirmed he had a torn cartilage and he will be [out for] six to eight weeks."

Sunderland Injury Worries Ease

Updating a previous post.

Injury news: Nedum Onuoha, Lee Cattermole and Danny Welbeck could all return for Sunday's derby. Gaffer quotes on safc.com shortly.less than a minute ago via webSunderland AFC
SAFCofficial

Of course this weekend is the Tyne-Wear derby, so the general fantasy rule is "stay away". But Welbeck has been hot, and Sunderland are good at home. Though their home record is predicated on their defence (7 goals allowed - joint best with the Manchester teams and Chelsea), rather than their offense (14 for, with puts them in with ManCity, West Ham, Stoke, and Fulham).

Welbeck Out for Three Weeks

BBC Sport - Football - Sunderland hit by Danny Welbeck hamstring injury

Sunderland striker Danny Welbeck is likely to be out of action for three weeks with a hamstring tear.

The 20-year-old forward, on loan from league leaders Manchester United, suffered the injury during the midweek match against Aston Villa.

Welbeck, who has scored six goals this season, could now miss four or five games, according to Sunderland.

Welbeck has been a popular fantasy pick recently as he's scoring for fun. But now he'll miss league games against Newcastle, @Blackpool, Chelsea and possibly @Stoke (5/2/2011).