Season › 2013-14 › News

Pienaar expected back for Villa clash

Martinez provides injury updates

Roberto Martinez has confirmed that Steven Pienaar will not be fit enough to face Hull this weekend but says that he expects the South African to be in contention for a place against Aston Villa next Saturday.

Pienaar tore a hamstring in training before the match against Chelsea last month and has been out of action since as the club's medical staff have assessed the injury's progress.

The manager, meanwhile, placed a three-week timeframe for Antolin Alcaraz's return. The Paraguayan has yet to figure in a competitive fixture for the Blues since undergoing hernia surgery in the summer and then picking up a muscle strain in training in September as he tried to get back to full fitness.

After admitting that he thought at the time that the injury would be much worse, Martinez expressed optimism that Darron Gibson could play again this season, however, after he undergoes surgery to mend an ACL tear suffered on Tuesday evening playing for the Republic of Ireland.

“With the scans yesterday, the ACL is ruptured," Martinez explained during his Thursday morning press conferences, "but the knee reacted well and nothing else is damaged. The whole structure of the knee is perfectly fine.

"It's going to be a straightforward surgery and we look forward to seeing Darron back, hopefully this season."

The Spaniard rejected the assertion that the 25 year-old had been overworked by two starts for Ireland in the space of four days so soon after returning from a separate knee injury.

"Had it happened in the 80th minute you could see if fatigue played a part in it but it happened in the first half an hour of the game. It was one of those unexpected moments in football that you can't do anything about."

 

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