O’Neill’s left to sweat on Collins
James Collins
JAMES Collins is still a serious injury doubt for Villa’s game against Spurs on Saturday.
But Martin O’Neill is hoping for a better prognosis on Stewart Downing, who came through his surprise debut at Burnley well and could feature for Villa reserves tonight.
Collins, Villa’s player of the season so far, has missed the last two games against Bolton and Burnley with a groin strain and O’Neill admitted: “If the game was in the next 48 hours he would be struggling.”
The centre-back, who has built a dream partnership with Richard Dunne since his £5 million move from West Ham in the summer, will now be given time to recover with his manager insisting he will not rush Collins back.
“I would say at this minute he is probably still a doubt,’’ said O’Neill.
“It is a groin problem. He came back last week feeling fine but hurt himself towards the end of the training session on Friday.
“So we have had to keep an eye on him. I don’t think it is as bad as when he first did it at West Ham but we are not sure. We will monitor it.”
O’Neill said it was not an injury that could be rushed for fear the problem might be exacerbated.
“People suffer these things and sometimes it becomes a bit more serious so we won’t be rushing him,’’ said O’Neill.
‘‘We will see nearer the time. We wait and see.”
Villa do have options should Collins fail a late fitness test with Carlos Cuellar able to fill in at centre-half.
“We have cover but we still need our other centre-halves fit,” O’Neill said.
“We have Curtis Davies still injured and we certainly wouldn’t want anything else to happen to our defenders.’’
He added: “We can shift people around but it is not ideal. James has done very well and, when he missed the Bolton game, Carlos Cuellar came in at centre-back and played very well.
“But James has had a really great impact since he has arrived.”
O’Neill is more confident, however, that winger Stewart Downing may again play some part depending on how he fares in tonight’s trip with the reserves.
He feels Downing deserves to be back in the team for the “extraordinary” way he has battled back from a broken foot suffered before his £12 million move to Villa from Middlesbrough in the summer.
“Stewart, with a wee bit of luck, will play tonight at Arsenal with the reserves,” O’Neill said.
“I think, partly having played now even though it was just 20 mins at Burnley, at least now he has been involved and he will be approaching these games with a wee bit more gusto.”
O’Neill continued: “He is so enthusiastic – one of the most enthusiastic trainers we have had and is desperate to get on.
‘‘Anything the coaches ask him to do he will do and a bit more besides. He has been pretty extraordinary.’’
O’Neill concedes Downing has the added carrot of wanting to be part of Fabio Capello’s World Cup squad – fitness permitting.
“Of course the World Cup is a pretty big incentive,” O’Neill said.
“He will definitely be thinking at the back of his mind that Capello may have him in his thoughts.”
Share
