Duff injury worry ahead of Wigan clash (From Kingston Guardian)

Duff injury worry ahead of Wigan clash

9:06am Thursday 5th November 2009

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Roy Hodgson is sweating on the fitness of Damien Duff ahead of Fulham’s trip to Wigan Athletic on Sunday.

The Cottagers boss was without his prized winger for last night's game in Rome after the irishman picked up a recurrence of an achilles injury in the 3-1 win against Liverpool last Saturday.

“It's an injury he has been struggling with for a while,” Hodgson said.

“It stems from his achilles, but it's a little bit more complicated than that - it is not an out and out achilles injury. He has to work very hard to get it going.”

Hodgson is hopeful eight days' rest and medical treatment will make his prized winger enough time to recover, and Duff is also hoping to be fit for the his Republic of Ireland team's World Cup play-off ties against France on November 14 and 18.

“It is very hard stopping Damien playing for the Republic of Ireland. You have to lock him in a cage,” Hodgson said.

“If he's fit for next Sunday then there's no reason why he shouldn't play for the Republic.”

Fulham are in the middle of playing three games in eight days, and Hodgson said balancing Europa League football with the Premier League was proving difficult.

“It is very hard. It would be naive to believe you can get it [the balance] right,” he said.

“The fact is both competitions are so enormously difficult to win that the moment you dilute your chances of winning one competition to win the other...it makes life much more difficult.

“Also what happens is you get injuries because players don’t get the time to recover.

“I know people say you should be able to play every two or three days and it shouldn’t be a problem playing three times a week.

“We did it in the past but, of course, the pace of the game is so frenetic, with the challenges, the effort they have to put in.

“So we know that when you get that type of compromised fixture list injuries are going to come.

“It can’t be coincidence, it must be down to the fact that we are asking too much of our players.”

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