Jez Posted August 3, 2005 Share Posted August 3, 2005 Laursen Hopeful Martin Laursen is setting his sights on the Premiership opener against Bolton, after coming through a second-half outing at Walsall last night. The Danish international defender had feared a knee injury would rule him out of the August 13 clash, but is now hoping to prove his fitness. And he believes he must complete a 90-minute run-out in Utrecht on Friday night to have a chance of facing Bolton. He commented: "We have to wait and see how my knee reacts but it was another 45 minutes and it feels alright. I have played on Saturday (at Wolves) and now at Walsall and I hope to play a part on Friday night as well, and then we just have to wait and see how the knee reacts with more training and more games. "I would be glad to try to play the full game in Utrecht and then see how the knee reacts. That would be a good test because I would very much like to play against Bolton. "To do that I obviously have to get 90 minutes under my belt if I am to play against Bolton, so it would be nice to try. But we have to wait and see with my knee. I can't say anything with certainty." Laursen, whose first Premiership season was dogged by injury, continued: "I may need surgery if my knee is not alright. It would put me out for a long time, although ten months has been mentioned and that is a long time. I just hope everything will be good. "I am quite happy about things now. Obviously I haven't played that much. I haven't tested the knee that much and I haven't played 90 minutes yet. We haven't played against very strong sides. We have played smaller teams. So I can't say how the knee will react. "My training is going well. We are monitoring the training a bit but I am training a lot, although perhaps not everyday on the pitch with the others. But I am training everyday in the gym." David O'Leary remains cautious about Laursen's chances of starting the season. The Villa boss added: "He got another 45 minutes fitness-wise, but he's missed the month which forms the base of our six-week pre-season training, which is really heavy conditioning work. He still needs to get a lot of that into him." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paddy Posted August 3, 2005 Share Posted August 3, 2005 Now I'm no doctor but... I'd say play about 4 games at a time, then get injured for about 8, then 4 in, 8 out, and so on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisVillan Posted August 3, 2005 Share Posted August 3, 2005 Not sure about this injury, and on top of this I'd bet my house on him picking up another one before long. Such a shame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTheVillan Posted August 3, 2005 Share Posted August 3, 2005 You hope for the best but he looked like a man playing on one leg last night when he came on. In the warm up he buckled on the knee and stayed down a long time before stretching out the leg very tentatively. You wonder what the first crunching block tackle will do to him Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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