Week 14 - Update

We've had a whole bunch of new injuries since Wednesday's player picks and plenty of news regarding some unlikely recoveries. I'm expecting the news to come thick and fast and I'm going to be constantly updating this post as the day goes on so you'll need to keep checking back to to ensure you're working with the latest information!

What we know at the moment...

Steven Gerrard will miss up to 4 weeks with the hamstring injury picked up late in England's latest international disappointment vs France. All of a sudden, that "stand-out" fixture vs West Ham doesn't look so easy.

Some brighter news for Liverpool - Fernando Torres will be fit after shaking off an ankle knock, while Martin Skrtel, Dirk Kuyt & Glen Johnson are also ready to return. This means one of my recommendations, young right-back Martin Kelly, will almost certainly find himself benched. I'm guessing Paul Koncheskey could find himself taking some set pieces in Gerrard's absence (if not, who else!?) & I expect Torres would be on penalties.

UPDATE Scott Parker is ill and is likely to miss the game. This is probably a bigger blow to West Ham than Gerrard is to Liverpool. Torres anyone?

Mixed reports on Charlie Adam, who was another player injured whilst representing his country in midweek. He's got a problem with his knee and wasn't able to train yesterday, but while Ian Holloway has put him as extremely doubtful for the home game vs Wolves, Adam himself think he'll be ready. Hopefully we'll have some clarification later today. UPDATE No further news, he's 50-50, but I'm leaning towards keeping him @ 5.4.

Matt Gilks is definitely out for 2-3 months with a broken knee-cap (ouch) so Kingston will continue in goal.

Things just keep getting worse; Chris Brunt injured his groin playing for Northern Ireland and is struggling to be fit for the weekend. My gut feeling is he's going to miss out as groin injuries take longer than three days to recover from, but again lets wait for the Di Matteo's press conference this afternoon. UPDATE Similar to Adam, we have no confirmation on Brunt but at his current price of almost £10m I'm going to steer clear of him.


We're still awaiting an update on the back spasm that caused Joe Hart to miss the France game. If he's set for a spell on the sidelines then Given becomes a very viable option at around £7m, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Hart make a miraculous recovery. UPDATE Hart should be fit to play.

As we know, John Terry is continuing to have problems with a leg injury and reckons he could be out for weeks or maybe even months.

UPDATE I've just watched Ancelotti's press conference and Alex is fit to play but will require surgery soon. He'll partner Ivanovic in central defence. Zhirkov picked up an injury on international duty and is OUT. Malouda will drop back in to midfield with Ramires & Mikel, so I guess it'll be a front 3 of Kalou, Anelka, Drogba. Ancelotti hinted that Bosingwa will continue at right back despite playing 90 minutes for Portugal.

Tom Huddlestone is out for 3 months after Spurs decide he needed an ankle operation, so I expect Jenas, Palacios & Sandro to share the minutes until he recovers. Better news is Defoe & Lennon should be ready to return, at least to the bench for the North London derby.

UPDATE Rooney has a chance of starting on the bench but has not trained all week.

UPDATE Darren Bent could be fit for Sunderland, so would partner Gyan in a 4-4-2

UPDATE Fulham's Dembele is out for 3 weeks with an ankle injury

That's everything for now, please keep checking back & also add any injury news you hear/read to the comments section below to help your fellow blog readers (and me!).

How's your team looking in light of all this injury news?

Cheers,
AM