Carroll ‘injury’ update

Andy Carroll is unlikely to get a run-out against Rubin Kazan in Austria later this afternoon but manager Slaven Bilic will probably give the striker 30 minutes or so against Karlsruhr on Saturday.

We have reported twice that Carroll has been concerned about a groin’nag’ and was scanned at Spire Roding Hospital ahead of the trip to Europe.

That was confirmed by Jack Sullivan on Twitter which immediately led to wild exaggeration that the player was suffering a long term injury problem which is not the case.

We were told this morning that the situation was “very minor” but that the manager is unlikely to risk him in the second friendly of the Austrian tour.

We were told: “He is likely to get between  20-30 minutes on Saturday as we need him next Thursday for the opening Europa League Cup match next week.”

Today’s game will be shown on Premier Sport and kick off is at 5pm. If you can’t get to a television we will be carrying live text reports on ClaretandHugh.