Premier League Roundup

Maybe Kuyt should just leave this kind of thing to the experts.

International break always brings with it injuries, real or imagined, that fantasy managers have to take into consideration for the next game week.  Some are big news, others are a bit more obscure.  This time, there is the added fun of the transfer window having just closed so there's also news about new players and their potential to start (and shine) for their new teams.  Here's what I've been tracking over the last few days:


First and foremost is the injury to Theo Walcott.   The word is two weeks out, so he's at least missing the Bolton match.  But this is Arsenal and their training staff, so that could easily stretch into a longer absence.  Case in point:

Arsenal have confirmed that Robin van Persie is expected to be sidelined until the middle of October as a result of his ankle injury.

Van Persie suffered the problem in a 2-1 win over Blackburn Rovers and was initially expected to be out of action for around a month, meaning he would have been hoping to return to action before the end of September.

That now looks an unrealistic prognosis with Arsenal confirming that his likely period of recuperation has been extended by around a further two weeks.

On Tyneside, it seems that Andy Carroll is still struggling with an injury, but is expected to play against Blackpool as he did against Wolves.

[Newcastle boss Chris Hughton] told the Newcastle Chronicle: "He's doing OK, but he still hasn't trained. We have to make sure he is rid of the problem.

"When it happened before the Wolves game he didn't train for five days. And there was still a lot of swelling afterwards.

"We're confident he'll be OK for Blackpool, but as always we'll continue to assess his fitness throughout the week."

New Newcastle signing, Hatem Ben Arfa, is also "expected to make his Magpies debut in Saturday's home date with Blackpool". I assume it is Wayne Routledge whose place is under threat. He's been doing good work for the team, but maybe a bit too anonymously. If Ben Arfa is a step up in class it will be an extra dimension for the team. Who knows, maybe Ben Arfa has a touch of Laurent Robert in him! That would certainly make for happy bloggers.

Of course, Y!UK needs to put him, and all the other new signings, into the system first. *sigh*

For Blackpool, they'll have last year's hero, DJ Campbell back in their team. Presumably he comes right into the eleven - I would guess at the expense of Omerod from the line-up that held Fulham.

Back on the injury front, it looks likely that John Terry "will be fit in time for Saturday's match against West Ham." Frank Lampard is a bit more touch-and-go, but will be training, so is likely to be in contention. I had penciled Ramires into my fantasy team for the week, but he won't stay there unless Carlo names him a starter in advance of the match.

On Merseyside, Dirk Kuyt injured himself trying an overhead kick and is out for at least a month. Now reports are that it may be longer. David Ngog is getting past his hamstring issues, but Fabio Aurelio is out with an Achilles. I guess the latter doesn't matter with the signing of Paul Konchesky for the left back spot. It seems like Liverpool could line up with Poulsen and Mierles screening the defence, Gerrard playing off Torres and Jovanovic and one from Maxi Rodriguez, Ryan Babel or Dani Pacheco wide. My guess would be Maxi.

For Monday's snoozer between Villa and Stoke, Carew is now doubtful but Sorensen is likely to play.

Finally, Spurs have probably had the worst luck this week seeing Dawson go down and out for six weeks, and Jermain Defoe taken off in midweek. However, Defoe expects to be fit for West Brom, and Peter Crouch should be fit as well.