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Not many would ever believe it, but our Argentinian striker (Franco Di Santo) has turned out to be a very good player, eventually. It has taken him over a season and a half but he is playing some great football, and the team will and have missed him when he hasn't been on the pitch.
His recent turn in form has come straight from the fact that he has somehow gained some confidence. I don't know where or how, but our Franco realized that he is big and fast, and that is a dangerous kind of player for Premier League defences to play against. If only he could score.
I would argue for him, that this has been his best ever season return, but five goals a season isn't really good enough. Its what you would expect of your midfielders.
Nether the less, we missed him against Fulham after he limped off 33 minutes into the game. Pulling up with a calf injury. One would imagine that has come down to playing so many games in such a short space of time in the space of two weeks, he played over 200 minutes of football. That can take a toll on the body.
Whatever the case, we have to hope that he will be back for this Saturday's game against Newcastle. His physical presence and buoyancy would be a miss up front. Roberto Martinez was mixed about Franco's injury when talking to the Wigan Evening Post:
"Franco felt his calf midway through the first half and you can understand that feeling after the demands on him and the rest of the team recently,"
"It came as a result of too much football in a short period of time, but these things happen.
"We had a few knocks and bruises going into the game, and unfortunately Franco wasn’t able to continue.
"We’ll asses his situation and we’ll all be keeping our fingers crossed he will be ready for next week."
Source: Wigan Today
On a small side note, it looks likely that Shaun Maloney will return to the starting line up this weekend. I don't feel totally safe with Jordi Gomez in the middle, even in the good form he has been in; but then Maloney has been outstanding form. And it showed on Saturday, as gaps that the Scotsman can find weren't open to Wigan against Fulham.