More bad news for Zabaleta

The hamstring injury which ruled him out of Argentina's games during the current international break appears to be serious enough to cast doubt over his participation next Sunday at Wigan:

"He's been with the Argentinian FA who have checked him out, as after the game last Monday he said that he had felt something with the last kick of the game.

"He'd felt a slight strain in the hamstring, but he needed to travel to Argentina to get it verified.

"It's a disappointment for him. Argentina have two crucial games and he wanted to be part of that, but it wasn't to be.

"He's played very well of late and that was flagged to the powers that be in Argentina. It would have been great for him to get the recognition for his good form, but it is unfortunate that he's going to miss out.

"He'll be back today and once we get him scanned hopefully it will not be as bad as feared at the moment, but as it stands you have to say that there is a real doubt that he would be available for our game at the weekend."

If he does miss out, it will be interesting to see the performance of Micah Richards, who will need to put in a big performance to wrestle the position back.