Edwin van der Sar set for United return on Saturday
By Soccernet staff
Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar could be set to return to action against Burnley at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Van der Sar has been absent since mid-November due to a knee injury and personal issues as his wife suffered a stroke shortly before Christmas.
However, Van der Sar returned to training with the club at their training camp in Qatar last week after his wife made a complete recovery, and Ferguson believes the 39-year-old could provide a major boost for a defence that has suffered from numerous enforced changes and poor form in recent weeks.
"Edwin has come back to training and has done very well," he said. "He has been out for a few weeks and it is great to see him back. He will give us so much experience when he eventually does come back, which is important to us. It depends how Edwin feels but he has been training very well."
Tomasz Kuszczak has been deputising for Van der Sar.
Meanwhile, Ferguson has revealed Dimitar Berbatov is reluctant to undergo an exploratory operation on his knee injury as it is hoped it can be delayed until the summer.
"Dimitar doesn't want an operation," he said. "Sometimes he feels the injury, other times he doesn't. It might have been the warmer climes but he didn't feel it at all in Qatar last week. We are just keeping an eye on it at present."
Ferguson also confirmed long-term absentees Rio Ferdinand and Owen Hargreaves continued to make progress at the training camp.
"They both took part in some work and Rio in particular is not too far away now,'' he said.
Portsmouth-Birmingham clash falls victim to weather
January 16, 2010
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Portsmouth's Premier League home match against Birmingham, due to be played on Saturday afternoon, has been postponed due to a waterlogged pitch at Fratton Park.
Arsenal is delighted to announce that Sol Campbell has rejoined the Club until the end of the 2009/2010 season.
Campbell (35), who spent five seasons at Arsenal between 2001 and 2006 is a vastly experienced player for both club and country. During his distinguished career, Sol has made 462 appearances in the Premier League and is currently fourth on the all-time Premier League appearances list. Campbell has also been a member of the England squad for six major tournaments between 1996 and 2006.
Originally joining Arsenal in July 2001, Campbell won five major honours with the Gunners, including the league and FA Cup ‘double' in 2002, and was an integral part of the historic ‘Invincibles' squad, which went the entire 2003/04 Premier League season unbeaten.
Manager Arsène Wenger said: "We are delighted to have signed Sol Campbell until the end of the season. For both club and country, Sol's career just speaks for itself. He is a hugely experienced and intelligent footballer, who will bring a great amount of quality and knowledge to our squad. Sol as a player and a person will be an enormous asset to us.
"Sol has been training with us since September and during this time he has shown he still has the required fitness, hunger and passion to compete at the top level."
After completing his move back to the Gunners, Campbell said: "I'm so happy to be rejoining Arsenal. I have many great memories from being here before and still have many friends at the Club. I've been working very hard at the Arsenal Training Ground, I feel really good at the moment and I'm ready to give my all. We're in a strong position and I want to help Arsenal be successful this season."
During his hugely successful first spell at Arsenal, Campbell made a total of 197 appearances for the Gunners, scoring 11 times. Fittingly, he scored in his last appearance in an Arsenal shirt - the 2006 UEFA Champions League Final, when the Gunners narrowly lost 2-1 to Barcelona in Paris.
Campbell left Arsenal in the summer of 2006 and joined Portsmouth, where he made 95 appearances in three seasons with the south coast club, during which time he captained the side to their FA Cup Final victory in 2008, Pompey's first major trophy in over 50 years.
Campbell, who will wear the number 31 shirt, played 45 minutes for Arsenal Reserves at West Ham United on Tuesday night. The Gunners' second string were 2-0 up at half-time when Campbell came off as planned, after playing the match through a Reserve League registration.
Campbell is the first player under Arsène Wenger to rejoin Arsenal, and only the fifth player in the Club's history to re-sign for the Gunners. The four other players were: John Lukic (1983-1990 & 1996-2001); Martin Keown (1982-1986 & 1993-2004); Jock Rutherford (1913-1923 & 1925-1926) and Hugh McDonald (three spells - 1906; 1908-1910 & 1912-1913).
Amr Zaki claims he is on the verge of signing for Hull on loan until the end of the season and will undergo a medical on Saturday.
The 26-year-old, who spent the 2008-09 season on loan at Wigan from Zamalek, has been linked with a host of Premier League clubs and Portsmouth reportedly had a bid rejected in August.
The Tigers now appear to be favourites to land the striker, who netted 11 times in 32 appearances while at Athletic.
A statement on the Egypt international's official website read: "AmrZaky.com can reveal that Amr Zaky will fly to England to have medical test at Hull City football club on Saturday.
"The Tigers will sign the Egypt striker on loan until the end of the season subject to passing medical test. Zaky had meeting alongside his agent with Zamalek board and agreed the transfer to go through.
"Zaky, who struck 11 league goals during his time as a Latic (sic), drew comparisons to Newcastle United and England legend Alan Shearer due to his formidable strength and ability to find the net.''
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