Injured England players return for their clubs

With reference to my post on Friday wondering how many of the England players who cried out of last week's match against Montenegro, the answer is: THEY ALL PLAYED.

John Terry of Chelsea and Phil Jagielka of Everton played the full 90 minutes respectively against Aston Villa (0-0) and Liverpool (2-0), and Darren Bent played the whole game in a dour (as predicted) 0-0 draw for Sunderland at Blackburn Rovers. Finally, Aaron Lennon played most of the second half in Tottenham's 2-1 win at Fulham.

Now, I'm not saying there's any dishonesty or feigning of injury; just citing the facts. You can draw your own conclusions.

Meanwhile, Wayne Rooney, who did play the whole game for England in the 0-0 draw, did not play the full game for Manchester United in their 2-2 draw at home to West Brom, and it now appears that he wants to leave Manchester United. Speculation on the whys and wherefores of his reasoning will fill many column inches for days and weeks to come!

Will the injured English return to Premier League action?

It's back to Premier League action this weekend after the international break.

It will be interesting to see how many of the injured English players make recoveries to enable them to play for their clubs.

John Terry (Chelsea), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Aaron Lennon (Tottenham), Darren Bent (Sunderland) are examples.

League leaders Chelsea travel to Aston Villa for a Saturday 5.30 kick-off. Often a testing ground for the Blues, I full expect them to carry on their imperious form and take three points from Villa Park.

Everton take on Liverpool on Sunday at lunchtime, and rarely could the pair have both been placed so low - Everton are 17th, Liverpool 18th. A defeat for either, while not catastrophic, would be another downward step on a treacherous path.

Tottenham travel across London to visit draw specialists Fulham. Spurs haven't really built on last season's fourth place, and could do with a win at The Cottage. However, a draw remians the likeliest result.

Darren Bent's Sunderland play at Blackburn Rovers in the Monday night match. A dour draw looks entirely possible!

Tottenham run riot with nine

Eight second half goals produced an amazing score line at White Hart lane yesterday with Tottenham blasting Wigan Athletic 9-1. Jermain Defoe became only the third Premier League player to score five goals in a game with a hat-trick in seven minutes, and two more to follow.

Defoe joins Andy Cole (Man United 9, Ipswich Town 0 in 1995) and Alan Shearer (Newcastle United 8, Sheffield Wednesday 0 in 1999) on the five-goal mark, and it is only the second time that a team has scored nine since the inception of the Premier League in 1992.

An agonising second half for Wigan and boss Roberto Martinez must have seemed interminable as goals flew in on 51 mins, then 54,58,64,69, then a lull before three late goals (87, 88, 90) turned the score line from a thrashing into a total embarrassment. Peter Crouch, Aaron Lennon, an own goal and Niko Kranjcar added to Defoe's quintuple.

Defoe complimented Lennon for his assists, saying: "Azza made the difference. He's so direct. When you've got someone with that pace in the team, he's so direct, it's just easy for everyone.


"He gets the ball, you just leave him in a one-on-one and get in the box. Two fantastic crosses, which I made sure my movement was right for, and I got on the end of them and scored."


Wigan's goal - which made it 3-1 - was courtesy of a handball by Paul Sharmer, causing the Spurs fans to sing "Are you Henry in disguise?", but they weren't that bothered as Spurs' fourth goal was scored a minute later.

The question now for Tottenham is whether they can build on this result. Now in fourth, they travel to fifth-placed Aston Villa next Saturday. They're sure to present a sterner test.