EPL Daily 9.17: Heskey and Silvestre back to square one; three of the Big Four suffers; Jol vs. Defoe

A fractured metarsal will keep Emile Heskey from his international resurgence (whether it’s a postponement or eventual involuntary retirement, who knows). It will also keep Wigan guessing as to whether or not they can stay up this year. Heskey will be out up to 6 weeks and will most likely miss the England’s qualifiers next month against Russia and Estonia in October. The former Liverpool striker also joins an odd list of those stricken with metatarsal injuries over the recent  years – Stevie Gerrard, Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney (a billion times), David Beckham, etc. Even youngster Giles Barnes –  a huge prospect from Derby County – has missed the start of the EPL season due to a metatarsal injury. Heskey will bounce back, he always does but the same might not be true for French international and Man Utd defender Mickael Silvestre. The bald Frenchman suffered cruciate ligament damage against Everton on Saturday and now Fergie has to rely on young defenders Jonny Evans and Gerard Pique to plug the holes on the left as John O’Shea is out and, as we all know, Gabriel Heinze left in a huff. That’s the end of the season for Silvestre, therefore expect a move for a left back come January. But who?

A host of other EPL stars will be missing their mid-week group stage Champions League clashes. Manchester United – which takes on Sporting Lisbon on Wednesday – will miss Owen Hargreaves, Mickael Silvestre, Park-Ji Sung, John O’Shea, and Darren Fletcher. Chelsea is missing its’ best (as Jose Mourinho has already spouted about) on Tuesday against Rosenborg (Norwegian Champions) – Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, Michael Ballack, Claudio Pizarro, Wayne Bridge, and Ricardo Carvalho. Liverpool will be ailing as well against Porto on Tuesday as Xabi Alonso will most likely miss alongside Momo Sissoko and Jon Arne Riise. That’s a lot of talent on the sideline (maybe now Gerrard will keep his starting spot instead of being foolishly rotated). Who lost out the most in this one?

Maybe I only digest what the media reports, but it really looks as if Martin Jol has to go. The team – pegged to be a top-four contender this year – are back to their underperforming selves again and Jol is still firmly at the helm. This pushed me overboard as apparently it was overheard that Jol told out-of-favor Jermain Defoe that ‘he would never be sold to a top-four club’ and ‘would rot in the reserves’. Someone fill me in – is Defoe a diva or is Jol a psycho?