Woodgate suffers yet another injury

Johnatan Woodgate has once again been put out of action due to a injury to his hamstring. His injury nightmare's just keep going on with this latest one. Woodgate has only just returned from a very very lengthy injury that prevented him from making his Real Madrid debut for almost 18 months. Woodgate limped out of his side's win over Real Zaragoza on Sunday and now faces another spell on the sidelines. The new setback has also cost him an expected call-up to the England squad to play Argentina on Saturday. Woodgate was thought to be in England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson's plans after making his long awaited return to action.


He had been out since tearing a thigh muscle in a Premiership game against Chelsea on 25 April 2004 before starting his first competitive match for the Spanish club against Athletic Bilbao on 22 September this year. Real's £13.4m acquisition from Newcastle in August 2004 scored an own goal and was sent-off against Bilbao. But he has impressed since and also scored in a Champions League win over Rosenborg. Woodgate is now set to miss Real's match against arch-rivals Barcelona on 19 November while his England prospects will also be concerning him. The defender has played down his international prospects since returning to first-team action but will want to prove his fitness to Eriksson before next summer's World Cup finals.

Very very unlucky for Woodagte because he was just starting to settle in to the Real team. Last night I was fully expecting him to be picked in the England team but I was shocked when his name wasn't their but now I know that he was injured. Woodgate has really had a bad run of injuries in the past few years and I am starting to wonder will he ever be back to the player he used to be.

Blackburn demolish Charlton

Blackburn today claimed their third straight win by dfeating Charlton 4-1. The defeat for Charlton ended their 100% away start to the season. Charlton looked off the pace throughout, and had barely had a kick when Emerton put his side in front. Hermann Hreidarsson miscontrolled an innocuous ball across the edge of the box, but there looked to be no immediate danger as Jonathan Spector shepherded Emerton away from goal. The Australian surprised everyone though as he swept a powerful shot from a narrow angle into the top corner.Blackburn belied their popular image as a mainly physical threat as they played some delightful football. Charlton were all at sea with passes going astray, and they were fortunate to escape when Craig Bellamy was wrongly adjudged offside with a clear run on goal. It got worse. Charlton again failed to clear their lines and they were made to pay as Lucas Neill's cross deflected off Spector to fall perfectly to an unmarked Dickov who headed in from six yards.


The Addicks were possibly unlucky not to get an offside decision this time, but it made little difference to the overall result. Charlton eventually got a foothold in the game as they started to hold on to possession in midfield. Spector's well-timed run beat the offside trap, but the full-back could not quite apply the acurate volley needed to beat Brad Friedel. Soon after, Michael Gray's hamstring injury forced a reshuffle in the Blackburn team, and the changes seemed to stop Rovers' momentum. Charlton's lacklustre performance scarcely merited it, but Hughes' brave slide at the far post got them back in the game. With Darren Bent starved of service, the striker turned creator and sent in a dangerous low cross that was helped on by Darren Ambrose before Hughes bundled the ball over the line. The goal finally got Charlton going, and they finished the half well on top.

Blackburn started the second half in the same dominant fashion as the first and had a clear penalty decision go against them when Hreidarsson handled Bellamy's cross. Fortunately for referee Phil Dowd, the mistake did not turn out to be critical as Pedersen notched their third on 59 minutes. Tugay and Emerton combined to set Steven Reid free down the right and his touch was expertly turned in by the Dane. Rovers continued to make chances with Bellamy's pace causing no end of problems for Charlton. A flowing move down the left ended with Emerton heading over from Bellamy's cross. Charlton never gave up and Hreidarsson's bullet header and Jay Bothroyd's stab drew two sharp saves from Friedel. The match looked to be fizzling, but there was still time for Bellamy to get on the end of Shefki Kuqi's knockdown and dab it past Anderson. Final score: Blackburn 4-1 Charlton.

A very very impressive victory by Blackburn and a very dissapointing defeat for Charlton. Charlton have got of to a good start this season but today they certainly didn't show any of the form they have been showing. That is three straight wins for Mark Hughes' Blackburn and it moves them up to 11th in the table whilst the defeat for Charlton drops them down to 7th.