Premier League Round-Up

Liverpool duo head home

Liverpool's injured duo Martin Skrtel and Nabil El Zhar will fly home from the Far East on Thursday to have potentially serious injuries assessed in the UK.

Both players were injured in Wednesday's 1-1 friendly draw with Thailand in Bangkok... Central defender Skrtel has a hamstring problem while midfielder El Zhar damaged a knee ligament.

Skrtel's is potentially the most serious injury and it is feared he could miss the start of the season.

Neither Agger (9.17) or Carragher (9.20) are cheap, but if they're your nailed on starters they might be worth a look. Especially Agger who loves a shot from distance!

Elsewhere...

Injury blow for Kapo

Wigan midfielder Olivier Kapo is likely to miss the start of the Barclays Premier League campaign after damaging knee ligaments on the club's pre-season tour of Austria.

Wenger expects Eduardo to figure

Arsene Wenger has eased concerns over Eduardo's fitness by confirming the Arsenal striker is in line to make his pre-season bow in Monday's match at Szombathelyi Haladas.

Bouma boost for Villa

Villa, though, are optimistic the 31-year-old could feature in their first game of the Premier League, at home to Wigan on 15th August, after he was included in a 26-man squad for pre-season fixtures in Spain.

Tottenham captain King held on assault charge
Spurs sign Blades duo
Walker going back to Blades
Spurs face early season injury crisis

Tottenham Hotspur are facing a central defensive crisis for the start of the Premier League season after confirming a trio of injuries on Thursday.

Injury-plagued Jonathan Woodgate has a groin problem and has flown to the United States for treatment, captain Ledley King has not kicked a ball in pre-season and Michael Dawson has damaged his Achilles.

Assuming King will play (He never practices with the team anyway, so why should we expect him to play in pre-season? And these legal matters never seem to impact a player's availability.) the logical move is Corluka coming inside and Hutton or new boy Naughton at right back. If it is the latter, and rumours are that Hutton is going to Everton, he could be a nice early season pick-up in defence.

Strikers - Some Stricken, Some Stout

• Walcott and Eduardo back for Arsenal
• New blow for crocked Viduka
• Anichebe out for season

I am determined to overcome this injury,

Arsenal's Eduardo Da Silva suffers a serious leg injury after being tackled by Birmingham City's Martin Taylor during their English Premier League soccer match at St Andrews in Birmingham, central England February 23, 2008. ACTION IMAGES/Lee Mills VIA REUTERS

Arsenal striker Eduardo said on Sunday he was determined to recover from a broken leg and play again after accepting his season, including Euro 2008, was over.

The Brazilian-born Croatia striker had an operation late on Saturday night after breaking his left leg early in Arsenal's Premier League match at Birmingham City, which ended 2-2.

"I am unsure at the moment of the extent of the injury and how long I will be out of action for but I know that I won't be able to play for Arsenal for the rest of the season or be ready in time for the Euros this summer," Eduardo said.

"But I'm not worried about that. My concentration and determination is on making as quick a recovery as possible. I am determined to overcome this injury," he told Arsenal's Web site (www.arsenal.com).

Arsenal made to sweat on Da Silva

[Eduardo da Silva] has since made 12 appearances for Croatia, scoring seven times, including one against England in a Euro 2008 qualifier in October last year.

But Home Office regulations stipulate that a player has to have played in 75 per cent of their national team's games over the last two years to win a permit; Croatia have played 25 times in the past 24 months, meaning Da Silva does not even come close to meeting the criteria.

Arsenal will instead have to rely on proving the 24-year-old possesses "exceptional talent", much in the same way that Manchester United did to cut through the red tape and pave the way for the signing of Brazilian youngster Anderson earlier in the week.

I would assume that this will be just a formality. But still makes you hold your breath just a bit. Though maybe not as much as when Wenger says something like, "although he is predominantly a striker, he is a very adaptable player."I can't imagine that we're looking at anything but the new TH (boy is that unfair or what?) and not the new Reyes (who was himself an adaptable striker and the new Pires). I have +10 hopes for EdS.  And yes, he already gets coveted acronym status. For £16 he'd better be that good.

Gunners announce da Silva deal

Arsenal have announced they have agreed a deal to sign Croatian international striker Eduardo da Silva.

The Dinamo Zagreb star will move to Emirates Stadium for an undisclosed fee, subject to a medical, after agreeing a four-year deal in North London.

Da Silva, who moved from Brazil to Croatia at the age of 15, enjoys a prolific record at international level with seven goals from 12 games for his adoptive country, including a header against England in their 2-0 Euro 2008 qualifying defeat in October.

The 24-year-old has six goals in total in the qualifying campaign - three behind top scorer David Healy.

Last season for his club, da Silva scored a remarkable 34 times in 32 games, netting 71 goals in total in 100 appearances for Dinamo before earning a move to the Premier League.

This year's Berbatov?