Blog Cup & Injury Update

Firstly, the injury news from football365.com

Amongst the terrible news emanating from Anfield this week is a scrap of the good stuff - according to the Liverpool Post, Alberto Aquilani 'is being tentatively slated for a return to action in tomorrow's reserve game against Sunderland'.

Boss Rafa Benitez told reporters on Monday that Aquilani was looking good on the the training ground, saying: "Today I was really happy watching Aquilani on the pitch, talking about how good he was with the ball and maybe in two or three weeks he will be ready and make the difference."

Lost in the Torres/Gerrard news on Monday was the revelation that winger Albert Riera will miss the games against Lyon and Manchester United with a hamstring injury he picked up in training over the weekend.

Also lost among the headline news of Theo Walcott's three-four week absence was the news from Arsenal that Tomas Rosicky has a knee problem that will keep him out of the game with AZ Alkmaar. But Gunners should worry that the last time the Czech midfielder was ruled out for "days not weeks", he spent the next 18 months on the sidelines.

Elsewhere, the big injury news is concerning Sunderland midfielder Lee Cattermole, who has been ruled out for three months with medial ligament damage.

Steve Bruce told the Sunderland Echo: "We think it will be at least 12 weeks for Catts. He's done his medial ligament. It's not good news, but it's the best we could have hoped.

"We were all praying he had not done his cruciate and damaged cartilage, which thankfully he hasn't - but he's still out for the best part of three months."

The scrap of good news for Sunderland fans is that Kenwyne Jones - who was also stretchered out of the Liverpool game - has suffered no significant damage to his ankle and should be fit to face Birmingham this weekend.

Chelsea will have been pleased to see Alex come through 45 minutes of reserve-team football on Monday night (scoring the opener in a 4-1 win) while Michael Ballack and Jon Obi Mikel are both back in training after ankle injuries, though Jose Bosingwa is a doubt for Wednesday's game against Atletico Madrid after suffering a knee injury against Aston Villa.

Also in reserve action was Stoke striker Mamady Sidibe, who played for an hour against Aston Villa after seven months on the sidelines with cruciate ligament damage. He eventually left the pitch wit a dead leg.

Sidibe told the Stoke Sentinel: "My knee felt good here and I will carry on training, and then we will see with the manager.

"Just playing was the most important thing here. In the first half, I was a little bit tired, but in the second half, I felt better before I got the dead leg.

"When you have been out for so long, especially with a cruciate ligament injury, you never know how it is going to react. I was a little bit worried before playing, but when the game starts, you stop thinking about that."

Meanwhile, Wigan have injury worries over two key players ahead of Saturday's trip to Burnley.

Goalkeeper Chris Kirkland dislocated a finger during last weekend's 1-1 draw with Manchester City but played on for the full 90 minutes after attempting to put the digit back in place, while midfielder Paul Scharner has a hip problem.

"We'll be having all the scans and all the tests possible to find out the extent of the injury," said Wigan manager Roberto Martinez about Kirkland.

"At the moment we feel it might only be a dislocated finger but we need to see exactly what the situation is and we'll find out more over the next 24 hours."

However, both Martinez and Scharner are more hopeful over the Austria international's problem.

"I picked up the injury the day before the game but it felt comfortable during the warm-up," said the 29-year-old Scharner.

"During the game it tightened up again and in the end I couldn't continue.

"We'll assess the injury, but hopefully I'll be okay for Saturday. I think I will be fine."

So lots to take in & I'm sure they'll be even more injuries after the Champions League games.

Now, a quick bit on the Blog Cup. A few people have been asking where the Round 2 results, and the answer is: Round 2 is not due to take place until Week 12. I spaced the Blog Cup out to every 4 weeks so it would last the whole season.

But I now face a tricky decision...

I want to start a 2nd Cup which will also include all the teams in Blog League 4. I was therefore thinking of moving all the Blog Cup Rounds closer together (to finish it quicker) so I can start a new competition in January.

However, Blog regular Ian Sanderson came up with an excellent idea - I run the 2 Cups side by side, on alternative weeks, a bit like the FA & League Cup. My only concern is running 2 Cups at the same time will become a bit of a nightmare on the admin front, but if I can think of a way of doing it without it taking over my life then I will consider it, as people won't have to wait 4 months to get involved.

I'd like you opinions - what do you think?

Option 1. Finish the current Blog Cup sooner by moving all the rounds closer together, then start the 2nd Cup on it's conclusion around January
 e.g
Round 2 in Week 10
Round 3 in Week 12
Round 4 in Week 14
Round 5 in Week 16
Qtr Final in Week 18
Semi Final in Week 19
Final in Week 20
New Cup starts in Week 22

Option 2. Keep the current Blog Cup rounds as they are but run a 2nd Cup alongside it
e.g
Blog Cup Round 2 in Week 12
New Cup Round 1 in Week 14,
Blog Cup Round 3 in Week 16
New Cup Round 2 in Week 18
etc, etc...

Please comment below to let me know what you'd prefer & feel free to add any ideas of your own!

Cheers,
AM