An insight into preparations from Neil Cox
Neil Cox has confirmed that Jake Nicholson is ruled out of tomorrow’s match against Chelsea after the midfielder picked up a hamstring injury.
During an interview for Dons Player, Wimbledon’s assistant manager (pictured) also said that George Oakley (illness) and Mark Phillips (abscess) will not be in the squad.
The Dons are likely to be up against quality opposition tomorrow with Jose Mourinho’s first-team, supplemented by academy players, ready to provide a stern test.
However, Neil says it’s been an encouraging week of training in preparation for the game with Wimbledon’s new boys making a really good impression.
“All the players have worked very hard this week and it’s been good to watch,” said Neil. “There’s been a really good atmosphere in the camp as well. Most of the players we’ve brought in are senior players and they know how to handle themselves. Bayo Akinfenwa has been great with the young lads and has really helped the Under-21s. Also, senior players from last season including Alan Bennett and Andy Frampton have been great with the new signings.
“The new players have come in from different levels and they’re different sorts of players too. We have to work on the way that we’re going to play. We’ve done a bit of work on that this week, but we’ve also concentrated on defensive work more because we have a hard game coming up. The players are looking forward to it because they will be playing against one or two top Premier League players. As staff we just want to get us organised and make sure that we give a good account of ourselves. Of course, we will give them the respect that they are due.
“It’s a home game in front of a big crowd and we want to start off with a good performance as we did not do very well at home last season. We were disappointed with the result the other day (against Margate), but we’re looking forward to this game.”
Dons Player subscribers can access a comprehensive preview of tomorrow’s Chelsea match with Neil Cox, Sammy Moore and Matt Tubbs all interviewed.
to view this article.Chelsea previewSammy yesterday spoke all about what facing his old club Chelsea means to him and we featured part of this interview on the official website yesterday. Click on