Category: Sports

Everton manager Frank Lampard has revealed that utility defender Ben Godfrey will miss the visit of Manchester City in the Premier League this weekend and that the England player is still a couple of weeks away from full fitness. Chelsea legend Lampard gave an injury update on the England defender during his pre-match presser on Friday ahead of the City game as he said that the player is progressing well in the bid to recover from the thigh injury currently plaguing him. According to Lampard, it was always a five-week injury for the former Norwich City star.

Godfrey is not the only England player to miss out for Everton ahead of the home game with holders Manchester City in the league on Saturday evening. The England midfield duo of Fabian Delph and Tom Davies will also miss the game due to respective thigh problems. While Davies has been ruled out for the remainder of the season, Delph is still on course for a return to action next month, but the game against his former team comes too soon for him.

The Everton treatment table also have Colombian international Yerry Mina as one of its patients. The Ex-Barcelona defender was ruled out for at least eight weeks with a thigh problem and he’s not expected back until April.

On Doucoure and Gray, Everton boss Frank Lampard said they are both in the squad for the Manchester City game having returned to full training. They have completely recovered from the injury that ruled them out of a couple of Premier League matches. Frenchman Doucoureand Englishman Gray have both missed the last few Premier League games due to respective groin injuries. Doucoure has missed the last three games in the league after picking up the groin injury during the 1-0 home defeat to Aston Villa, while Gray has missed the last two league games after sustaining his own groin injury during the 3-1 loss at the home of Newcastle United.

Northern Ireland national team star Corry Evans would be hoping to make his first goal contribution of the season when his Sunderland side take on Reading in an English Championship clash billed to take place later on Wednesday.

Corry Evans is yet to score or provide an assist on his return to the English Championship this season. He spent last season in League One with the Black Cats. Evans was an influential figure as Sunderland returned to the Championship after some years thanks to the win over Wycombe Wanderers in the League One playoff final. The midfielder was the Sunderland captain as they secured promotion to the second tier of English club football and the target for him and his teammates is to secure back-to-back promotions thereby landing in the much-coveted Premier League. 

Northern Irishman Corry Evans and his Sunderland teammates would be hoping to get their Premier League promotion quest back on track when they take on the Royals. The quest suffered with the defeat at Middlesbrough last week Monday. Riley McGree scored the only goal of the game to give Boro a 1-0 win over Sunderland. It was only the second league win of the season for Boro.

Sunderland had the chance to bounce back from the defeat to Borowith the home game against London team Millwall last weekend, before the game was postponed as part of the football games suspended to show respect to Queen Elizabeth II who died on Thursday. The Black Cats have another chance to bounce back from the loss at Boro with the away game against Reading who are fourth on the league table with 15 points from eight games. The Royals can go as high as second spot on the league table if they beat the Black Cats who are in the top ten with 11 points from eight games.

The Scottish Premiership duo of Celtic and Rangers are reportedly keen on signing Tottenham Hotspur starlet Dilan Markanday ahead of the January transfer window. The interest of both Rangers and Celtic in the young Spurs striker was revealed by report from The Evening Standard which claimed that the two Scottish Premiership teams and others from the English Championship are interested in the player.

Markanday, 20, has been a major source of goals for the Tottenham Hotspur Under-23s this season. He has ten goals and four assists in 11 matches for the Spurs Under-23 team.

Apart from the aforementioned teams in Scotland, four Championship teams are also keen on signing the young attacker. The Championship teams plotting a move for Markanday are Nottingham Forest, Blackburn Rovers, Stoke City and Bournemouth.

Sky Sports reported earlier this week that Markanday could leave Tottenham Hotspur with his existing contract nearing its completion. The Championship teams eyeing a move for the Spurs player were mentioned on the popular media platform. It was revealed that the player could leave the North London side in search of regular first-team football.

It has been disclosed that two more Championship teams are interested inMarkanday via the report from The Evening Standard.Queens Park Rangers (QPR) and West Brom are also said to have joined the race to sign Markanday. The Spurs youngster is in high demand amongst clubs in the second tier of club football as far as English football is concerned. The top two big teams in the Scottish Premiership are also not left behind in the scramble for his signature.

Tottenham Hotspur officials see Markanday as one for the future and they want him to go out on loan before coming backto stake a claim for a place in the first team. It remains to be seen if he would still be in North London at the start of next season with his contract situation.

Italian football side Bologna have been dealt a blow on the injury front with the news that experienced player Lorenzo De Silvestri won’t play again this month. 

De Silvestri, 33, suffered a thigh injury and has been ruled out for at least three weeks. To this effect, the experienced right-back won’t be in the Bologna squad when Italian Serie A football resumes as from next week.

An injury update on De Silvestri was provided via a statement on the Bologna website. The Italian football team disclosed that the defender has a right thigh injury that will keep him out of action until next month. He was said to have suffered a Grade I tear to the semi-membrane of his right thigh.

De Silvestri picked up the thigh problem during the Italian Serie A clash at Sampdoria last weekend. He was removed from the game at the half-time interval with Danish winger Andreas Skov Olsen coming on in his place. His absence didn’t stop Bologna from sealing a 2-1 win at the expense of their hosts thanks to the winning goal from Austrian striker Marko Arnautovic. Ex-West Ham United and Inter Milan striker Arnautovic scored with twelve (12) minutes left on the clock to take the points from Sampdoria.

Sampdoria had levelled proceedings through Norwegian national team midfielder Morten Thorsby as his strike cancelled out the first half opener from Swedish midfielder Mattia Svanberg. In a matter of just a minute, Austrian star Arnautovic scored to regain the lead for his team. In the end, the strike from Arnautovic proved to be the winning goal. 

Apart from De Silvestri, Jerdy Schouten and Kevin Bonifazi are also injury victims at Italian football club Bologna, while Nicolas Viola is said to be in part training with the main squad as he works his way back to full fitness.