ASTON Villa manager Martin O’Neill has recognised the contribution of Richard Dunne ahead of tonight’s Premiership visit of Manchester United, claiming the central defender’s “immense” performances since arriving from Manchester City make him a worthy contender to be shortlisted for footballer of the year.
The Republic of Ireland international has been highly impressive in a Villa defence that has the best record in the Premier League, and although Wayne Rooney would appear to be the overwhelming favourite to be nominated as the season’s outstanding player, O’Neill believes Dunne’s form deserves to be recognised.
The Villa manager described the 30-year-old’s display against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday as “sensational” and claimed his €5.6 million transfer fee represented “incredible value”.
“If the season was to end in two or three weeks, Dunne would certainly be up there as a contender for player of the year,” said O’Neill.
“He has been immense for us. Playing back the game against Tottenham on Saturday, if I needed any recent proof, he got two or three great blocks, he read two or three situations brilliantly, and he was playing against real quality players.
“I am absolutely delighted with him. We obviously got a bit of luck with what was happening at Manchester City at the time. But for £5 million (€5.6 million) he has been incredible value.”
O’Neill expects Emile Heskey to miss out tonight because of a groin injury. John Carew could replace Heskey in the starting line-up after recovering from a knee problem and coming on as a substitute at White Hart Lane.
“Emile went for a scan yesterday and the news is pretty good,” said O’Neill. “It didn’t show anything really.
“Whether Wednesday comes a bit too early for him, I’m not too sure. He is in the squad at the moment but he didn’t train today and probably would be considered doubtful but we will see.”
Veteran United duo Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs are set for recalls.
United have withdrawn their appeal against the extra one-match ban the English Football Association handed to Rio Ferdinand for appealing his three-game suspension for striking out at the Hull City striker Craig Fagan.
Ferdinand’s sanction for last month’s incident was extended after an independent regulatory commission deemed the club’s appeal to be “frivolous”.
Despite this, United appealed again, with a hearing scheduled for Friday, but that was risky given that if it also failed another match could have been added to the ban and Ferdinand could have been forced to miss the League Cup final against Villa on February 28th.
The defender did not want to risk missing the final as it would have meant him not playing before England’s friendly against Egypt on March 3rd, the first time he will captain the side since taking over from John Terry last Friday.
The 31-year-old was also aware of the embarrassment a prolonged suspension would have caused the FA given his promotion to national captain.
Ferdinand, it is believed, had to persuade Ferguson to back down on the appeal, with the United manager naturally more concerned about the player’s availability for his side than for England. The U-turn means Ferdinand will miss tonight’s trip to Aston Villa and complete his suspension by sitting out the match at Everton on February 20th.
GuardianService
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)