Premier League Wednesday Team News

Premier League Wednesday Team News

All the team news ahead of Wednesday's premier league clashes including the game between Arsenal and Liverpool.

Arsenal vs Liverpool

Arsenal will again be without Croatia striker Eduardo (hamstring) for the visit of Liverpool.

Fit-again Denmark forward Nicklas Bendtner is pressing for a start after coming off the bench in the 2-0 defeat at Chelsea.

Robin van Persie (ankle), Kieran Gibbs (foot), and Johan Djourou (knee) are long-term absentees.

Midfielder Alberto Aquilani will miss Liverpool's trip to Arsenal.

The Italian has been vomiting and manager Rafael Benitez said he was too weak to feature at the Emirates Stadium.

Centre-back Sotirios Kyrgiakos starts a three-match suspension after being sent off in Saturday's fiery Merseyside derby and is also sidelined for forthcoming games against Manchester City and Blackburn.

He is likely to be replaced by Martin Skrtel, who was dropped to the bench at the weekend to allow for the return of Daniel Agger after a month out injured.

Liverpool's only other absentees are striker Fernando Torres (knee), Yossi Benayoun (rib) and Glen Johnson (knee), all of whom are still some way off full fitness.

Teams:

Arsenal (from): Almunia, Vermaelen, Clichy, Sagna, Gallas, Arshavin, Fabregas, Walcott, Song, Nasri, Diaby, Fabianski, Campbell, Denilson, Fabianski, Ramsey, Eboue, Bendtner, Rosicky, Eastmond.

Liverpool (from): Reina, Skrtel, Agger, Carragher, Insua, Gerrard, Lucas, Rodriguez, Riera, Ngog, Kuyt, Cavalieri, Pacheco, Spearing, Darby, Babel, Aurelio, Degen.

Aston Villa vs Manchester

UnitedVeteran duo Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs are set for recalls as Manchester United look to maintain their Premier League title push by winning at Aston Villa on Wednesday night.

The pair did not even make the bench for Saturday's 5-0 demolition of Portsmouth, which suggests they will face Martin O'Neill's men.

Rio Ferdinand is suspended, while Nemanja Vidic has an outside chance of being involved for the first time this year after suffering a nerve problem in his leg last month.

Aston Villa striker Emile Heskey is struggling to be fit.

Heskey suffered a groin injury during Saturday's goalless draw at Tottenham and, although a scan revealed no major damage, Villa boss Martin O'Neill rates the England striker "doubtful" to face the Red Devils even though he is included in the squad.

John Carew could replace Heskey in the starting line-up after recovering from a knee problem and coming on as a substitute at White Hart Lane. Left-back Stephen Warnock (ankle) is still unavailable as Villa attempt to complete their first league double over United for 55 years.

Teams:

Aston Villa (from): Friedel, Guzan, Beye, Cuellar, Collins, Dunne, L Young, A Young, Petrov, Milner, Downing, Delph, Agbonlahor, Carew, Heskey, Delfouneso, Sidwell, Davies, Clark.

Man Utd (from): Van der Sar, Kuszczak, Neville, Brown, Rafael, De Laet, Vidic, Evans, Evra, Fabio, Park, Nani, Valencia, Carrick, Scholes, Fletcher, Gibson, Anderson, Giggs, Rooney, Owen, Berbatov, Diouf.

Everton vs Chelsea

Captain John Terry has recovered from the minor dead leg he collected in the victory over Arsenal and will play against Everton at Goodison Park.

But Chelsea have a slight doubt over midfielder Deco ahead of their trip to Merseyside.

Deco is struggling with a knee injury and may miss out. Michael Essien (knee), Jose Bosingwa (knee) and Juliano Belletti (knee) are all sidelined.

Everton are without Marouane Fellaini and Steven Pienaar.

Fellaini is out with an ankle injury sustained in a tackle with Sotirios Kyrgiakos in the Merseyside derby defeat at Liverpool on Saturday.

Pienaar is suspended following his sending off in the same match.

Mikel Arteta, who replaced Fellaini at Anfield, came through unscathed and could start but Phil Neville, Jack Rodwell and John Heitinga are other midfield options.

Teams:

Everton (from): Howard, Neville, Heitinga, Distin, Baines, Senderos, Yobo, Cahill, Rodwell, Arteta, Osman, Bilyaletdinov, Coleman, Saha, Donovan, Yakubu, Anichebe, Vaughan, Duffy, Baxter, Nash.

Chelsea (from): Cech, Hilario, Turnbull, Ivanovic, Carvalho, Terry, Ashley Cole, Ballack, Deco, Lampard, Joe Cole, Malouda, Drogba, Anelka, Sturridge, Borini, Ferreira, Alex, Zhirkov, Kakuta, Obi.

Wolves vs Tottenham

Tottenham centre-back Ledley King will rest his knee and miss the Premier League clash against Wolves at Molineux.

Roman Pavlyuchenko, Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Aaron Lennon, Jonathan Woodgate (all groin) are out, while Carlo Cudicini (wrists and pelvis) is a long-term absentee. Pavlyuchenko could return for the FA Cup trip to Bolton on Sunday and Lennon has been pencilled in for the following weekend.

Wolves' on-loan midfielder Adlene Guedioura is pressing to make his first start.

Guedioura, who arrived from Belgian side Charleroi last month, impressed as a substitute during Sunday's 2-1 defeat at Birmingham.

Winger Michael Kightly, midfielder Dave Edwards and striker Andy Keogh all remain sidelined following ankle surgery.

Teams:

Wolves (from): Hennessey, Hahnemann, Zubar, Stearman, Craddock, Berra, Ward, Elokobi, Foley, Surman, Guedioura. Henry, Milijas, Jones, Mancienne, Castillo, Mujangi, Doyle, Vokes, Ebanks-Blake, Iwelumo, Maierhofer.

Tottenham (from): Gomes, Alnwick, Corluka, Walker, Bale, Kaboul, Bassong, Dawson, Palacios, Jenas, Huddlestone, Gudjohnsen, Modric, Kranjcar, Bentley, Defoe, Crouch, Rose.

West Ham vs Birmingham

Striker Benni McCarthy misses West Ham's home match with Birmingham with a knee injury he picked up against Burnley on Saturday.

Long-term casualties Kieron Dyer, Danny Gabbidon and Guillermo Franco are still sidelined but Alessandro Diamanti returns and otherwise manager Gianfranco Zola reports a clean bill of health.

Birmingham manager Alex McLeish will be forced to change his starting line-up for the first time in 13 Barclays Premier League games.

Striker Christian Benitez is ruled out with the ankle injury suffered in a challenge from Wolves goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann in the weekend derby at St Andrews.

McLeish has to decide whether to give a rare start to veteran Kevin Phillips, after the 36-year-old came off the substitutes' bench to net twice against Mick McCarthy's side, or to push James McFadden into attack and draft Keith Fahey into the wide left role. Defender Stuart Parnaby is back in the squad after recovering from a back problem.

Teams:

West Ham (from): Green, Faubert, Tomkins, Upson, Spector, Collison, Parker, Noble, Kovac, Behrami, Diamanti, Cole, Mido, Ilan, Stech, Ilunga, Da Costa.

Birmingham (from): Hart, Carr, Johnson, Dann, Ridgewell, Larsson, Ferguson, Bowyer, McFadden, Jerome, Fahey, Taylor, Phillips, Michel, Jervis, Vignal, Gardner, Parnaby.

Blackburn vs Hull

Blackburn duo Lars Jacobsen and Vince Grella could return to the squad against Hull after overcoming thigh injuries.

Both players had a run-out for the reserves at Fleetwood on Monday night as did new signing Yildiray Basturk.

Chris Samba is sidelined through suspension while David Dunn remains absent with a calf problem.

Hull manager Phil Brown is hopeful Andy Dawson and George Boateng will be fit.

Both players picked up niggles in the impressive 2-1 victory over Manchester City on Saturday but Brown is hoping to name the same side.

Geovanni is still out after travelling to Portugal for treatment on a minor medial ligament problem while Jimmy Bullard has returned to training and could make his comeback against West Ham next weekend.

Teams:

Blackburn (from): Robinson, Jacobsen, Olsson, Chimbonda, Nelsen, Salgado, Pedersen, Givet, Grella, Nzonzi, Hoilett, Andrews, Emerton, Di Santo, Diouf, Kalinic, Jones, Brown, Reid, Roberts, Basturk.

Hull (from): Myhill, Gardner, McShane, Dawson, Mouyokolo, Boateng, Mendy, Hunt, Cairney, Altidore, Olofinjana, Vennegoor of Hesselink, Garcia, Zaki, Zayatte, Fagan, Barmby, Duke, Kilbane.


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