RAMIRES RETURNS TO FRESH SQUADPosted on: Fri 28 Oct 2011 Andre-Villas Boas believes his side will not have put the defeat at Loftus Road behind them until they secure three points in Saturday's London derby… Squad newsRamires is over the knee injury suffered when scoring in the game at home to Everton two weeks ago and is in the squad to take on Arsenal. Henrique Hilario is over his back problem but is now ill so with Ross Turnbullserving a one-match suspension, Petr Cech, Rhys Taylor and Jamal Blackman are the three keepers in the squad. No other injuries are reported apart from Michael Essien who is out long-term.Didier Drogba is also suspended but Ashley Cole and Jose Bosingwa have completed one-match bans. John Terry did not travel to Everton for the Carling Cup game midweek butAndre Villas-Boas believes the skipper is in the right frame of mind despite the on-going FA investigation into an incident at last Sunday's game. 'We decided not to take Terry to Everton based on the quality that we have in the squad at centre-back and also based on the fact he had four yellow cards this season. Frank Lampard was also carrying four yellows into the game. Terry has been excellent in training.' Lampard was an unused sub against Everton. Despite several members of his squad having played two hours of football on Wednesday night, and with only 10 players in the team for part of the game, Andre-Villas Boas will not steer away from picking those players to face Arsenal if he decides they are the best men for the job. 'We have been spreading out minutes played throughout the season so freshness is not a question because we have been able to keep the standard of play going. 'It is a big, strenuous effort this match coming so soon after a game like the one against Everton but because of this rotation we are completely fresh.' On Facing ArsenalVillas-Boas has countered accusations that Saturday's game will be contested by two ill-disciplined sides, claiming that simply counting up red and yellow cards awarded this season can be misleading. 'It is not the case that both teams have been very aggressive towards the physical side of the game. 'There were two-footed tackles from Fernando Torres and Didier Drogba and they were sent off, rightly so, but for me theirs were instinctive reactions. 'Of the other red cards, two were for penalties given away when a player was through on the goal and the Bosingwa one was for me dubious and the referee applied the law. 'We have not lost control and we have not lost discipline. My team is not aggressive nor confrontational. We are a correct team and I think that Arsenal is that kind of team as well. 'It was important to go back to winning ways in the Carling Cup and now it is important for us to go back to winning ways in the Premier League.' With Didier Drogba suspended, it looks likely to be a straight choice betweenFernando Torres and Nicolas Anelka for the centre-forward slot against Arsenal. Torres has four goals in his last four appearances whereas Anelka has one goal in 25, although for many of those games he has played in a wider role. His manager is unconcerned about the recent lack of goals. 'We are speaking about a player who has one goal every two games in all of his career so we are speaking about one of the top goalscorers, so he will go back to goalscoring again. When he finds his confidence he will find the back of the net, I am not worried about that.' |
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