Positive news on the injury front

With this from the MEN:

MICHAEL Johnson is winning his fitness battle to be back in the first team picture by the end of the season.

And boss Mark Hughes is ready to invite other clubs to Carrington for behind-closed-doors matches to speed up the process even further.

Nagging groin and pelvic problems have kept the 21-year-old out of action since the end of September but if Johnson keeps making progress he could yet force his way back into the manager's plans before the end of the current campaign.

And this from skysports.com:

Daniel Sturridge and Benjani Mwaruwari could both feature for Manchester City against Arsenal on Saturday.

Benjani has made just 12 appearances for City this season due to hamstring problems, while ankle trouble has kept Sturridge out for the past two months.

However, both players are making good progress and manager Mark Hughes has also been boosted by news concerning Michael Johnson and Martin Petrov.

It remains to be seen quite how much of an impact some of the longer term casualties will be able to have given their lack of match fitness but it is a boost to all concerned nonetheless and will certainly create a bit of pressure on those currently in possession, with the carrot of both European qualification and winning the UEFA Cup firmly in our sights between now and the end of the season.

It will also create some intriguing discussion regarding team selections, and I'm sure we'll see plenty more of these before the season is out.