Lauren is due for tests today on the knee injury that's kept him out of the last 2 games. If surgery is required, the right-back is going to miss the rest of the season.

We were already having a nightmare at left-back, with Ashley Cole, Gael Clichy, Lauren, Pascal Cygan, Philippe Senderos, Sebastian Larsson, and even Cesc Fabregas all having been used there at some point this season. Now it looks similar on the right. Kerrea Gilbert, who's deputised so well for Lauren recently, was taken off after less than half an hour of last night's home loss to West Ham with a back problem that'll keep him out of the visit to Birmingham City at the weekend, and probably longer. Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Eboue are away in Egypt. We ended up with Mathieu Flamini playing most of the Hammers game in Gilbert's place and he did not look at all comfortable there.

The Ivory Coast play Cameroon on Saturday in the Cup of Nations quarter-final and I'm sorry (to them) to say that I'm hoping they lose. We could really do with Toure and Eboue right now. If they get past Cameroon there'll be the semi on the 7th against Nigeria or Tunisia, and the final is another 3 days away on the 10th.

Sebastian Larsson should continue at left-back. He did alright for the 45 minutes he was on against West Ham - looking much better going forward than Senderos and Cygan have and defensively aware despite the slip that let Reo-Coker in to create was turned out to be the winning goal. But who's going to play on the right? One has to wonder (or hope) about the possibility of brining Justin Hoyte back from hsi loan at Sunderland.