London club Fulham earned three points in Saturday’s 2-1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers, but their aspirations for the season took a hit when starting striker Bobby Zamora broke his ankle, an injury that is expected to keep him out for 4 months.
While no one ever enjoys seeing an injury (I suppose I could make an exception for Nigel de Jong), Zamora’s absence could mean more playing time for US strikers Clint Dempsey and Eddie Johnson. In the last three years, Dempsey, who is in his fifth year with Fulham, has been a consistent starter, but this season he’s having to fight for playing time under new manager Mark Hughes. Johnson, on the other hand, has spent the last two campaigns on loan to other clubs. Yesterday, Johnson saw the pitch for the first time in 2010 and ended up drawing the free kick that led to Fulham’s winning goal.
Later this week, Ben and I will reflect on Dempsey and Johnson’s situation during the September podcast.
It’d be awesome if Johnson got more playing time. He became the forgotten man last year when Gomez/Buddle had that great run of form.