Sam: ‘Injury worries but AC good to go’

Sam Allardyce appears to have changed his tune concerning Andy Carroll.

With a minor injury crisis on his hands which involves four players – Diafra Sakho, Winston Reid, Stewart Downing and one other, currently unnamed, the question of Andy Carroll’s fitness is high on the agenda.

Those with reasonable memories will remember that the boss said after the Villa match that the record signing was into a six week pre-season and the five minutes he played was the first of those.

Since then he has appeared in a practice game against Fulham and we might have expected that, given the manager’s previous assessment, he might get half an hour at best against The Toffees.

How a few injuries change things however, and in his press conference this morning Allardyce made it clear that the striker is fit and raring to go.

He said: “I wouldn’t say he’s 100% match fit but he is ready to start. He’s raring to go as is Carlton Cole so we’ve got very good options up front.

“We don’t have much time to work together for Saturday but that’s the situation we’re in, same as Everton. We’ll work on a few things today and tomorrow and then make a decision.”

What a difference a fortnight makes – WHEN IT HAS TO!