On now to our own injury situation.
Depending on which sources you consult, it’s either touch and go whether Andy Johnson will play on Sunday or he’s already in the squad. Paul Konchesky has been suffering from a similar problem and might be back in the line-up tomorrow, although I thought Kallio did very well on a tough night for our defence. RTE reckon that Dickson Etuhu could play some part as well.
It’s a shame that Giles Barnes isn’t close enough to earning a starting place yet. You feel we could use his pace and invention in midfield, but I guess that’s why the loan signing was such a gamble. He apparently played in a private reserves’ friendly against West Ham in the week but must be well down on match sharpness. He’s got undoubted quality but it’s anybody’s guess when we’ll be able to use him.
Freddie Stoor has picked up a knock in training and may not feature, although we’d expect John Pantsil to keep his place in the side. Olivier Dacourt would be useful in central midfield too having started on the bench at Manchester United in midweek.
The interesting one is Diomansy Kamara, who is being heavily tipped for a return but isn’t in any of the squad lists I’ve seen. His pace and finishing would be handy assets as we approach this tricky time in the season but again it would be a massive risk starting him. Surely Nevland and Zamora (in the absence of AJ) would be a strong enough starting pair with Dio to come off the bench if necessary.
