Football: Newcastle to rest Cole for a month: Guy Hodgson on the weekend's key football games in the Premiership
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Your support makes all the difference.Timing, a quality so typical of Andy Cole that you might expect his runs to carry the mark of a Swiss clockmaker, abandoned the Newcastle United striker yesterday when he succumbed to shin-splints, a problem that has plagued him for most of the season.
Kevin Keegan, decided to withdraw the 23-year-old striker for a month in the hope complete rest will cure the injury where six weeks of sitting out training has failed. 'It's my decision,' the Newcastle manager said. 'His lack of fitness has been catching up with him. I hope we can keep going the way we did when Peter Beardsley was injured.'
The setback could not have come at a less propitious moment for Newcastle.
Today, the unbeaten Premiership leaders meet third-placed Manchester United at Old Trafford, while on Tuesday they defend a 3-2 lead in Spain against Athletic Bilbao in the second round of the Uefa Cup.
The scoring onus will now fall on Beardsley, who suffered a fractured cheekbone earlier in the season, and Paul Kitson, Newcastle's recent pounds 2.3m signing from Derby. However, Robert Lee, who has scored 12 times from midfield, might play today. He missed Wednesday's Coca-Cola Cup victory over Manchester United with a groin injury and will face a fitness test today along with Ruel Fox, who has a thigh strain.
United fielded five 19-year-old players in a match that was lost only in the last eight minutes and Paul Ince, for one, has wondered about the wisdom of the move. 'The pressure is on us now,' he said. 'We know we'll have be at our best just to match the kids.'
Many of the older players return today, although not all. Lee Sharpe, Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt and David May will not play, while their manager, Alex Ferguson, must weigh up whether Paul Parker and Roy Keane should be risked with Wednesday's Champions' League match in Barcelona looming. His dilemma will be the danger of further handicapping two players who face operations set against the 10-point advantage Newcastle will have over his team if they prevail today.
'They (Newcastle) have been a breath of fresh air this year,' Ferguson said.
'They play the right way, they try to win matches and they've scored more goals than anyone else. I don't think anyone can argue about them being top of the league.'
Unless you are Nottingham Forest. The surprise package in the Premiership, they will go top tonight if they beat fourth- placed Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle lose. But just as the leaders are no longer Cole-fired, Forest will be without their leading goal scorer, Stan Collymore.
He has a hamstring strain which leaves his manager, Frank Clark, having to decide whether to play Jason Lee alongside Bryan Roy, or revert to the five-man midfield who served them well in the First Division.
Blackburn suffered their first home defeat of the season against Manchester United last Sunday, although they showed no lingering after- effects by beating Coventry in midweek.
First against third and second versus fourth, it is a pivotal day in the Premiership although no one will have more resting on a result than Ossie Ardiles. The Tottenham manager's fate may have already been sealed by the 3-0 Coca- Cola Cup setback at Notts County, but a defeat at home to West Ham would make his position untenable.
He will not, though, sacrifice his methods for expediency. 'I'm not going to apologise for trying to create an exciting team and I will never change my principles,' he said yesterday. 'Brazil in 1970 were the best team I have seen. They had no great defenders and only one defensive midfielder. They showed what attacking teams can do.'
Regarding his hold on his job, he said: 'I have spoken to Alan Sugar since the Notts County game and my future was not discussed.'
It was by the fans, though, who called for his head on Wednesday. 'I understand their reaction,' Ardiles said. 'If they have a go at me, in a way I would welcome it if it took pressure off the players. I would prefer the crowd to turn against me rather than the players. They are under enough pressure.'
Football Diary, page 46
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