Sunderland's Nicklas Bendtner set to return to training with mask

Stadium of Light's Danish striker has visited a specialist to have a protective mask fitted and could return to light training as early as next week

5 Feb 2012 08:53:00

By Chris Butterworth JR

More On :  Sunderland, Martin O'Neill, Nicklas Bendtner
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Sunderland’s Nicklas Bendtner looks set to return to training next week after having a protective mask fitted to protect his broken nose.

The striker on loan from Arsenal has not played for two weeks after suffering a broken nose and damaged cheekbone in a clash during Sunderland’s win over Swansea.

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The extent of his injury has meant the 24-year-old has been unable to train, but he has now visited a specialist to have a mask fitted, which is similar to the one worn by goalkeeper Simon Mignolet.

The Black Cats' boss Martin O’Neill is likely to be without the Dane for another fortnight but at least he will have him back on the training field.

O’Neill told The Evening Chronicle: “Nicklas travelled to London on Friday to see the same specialist who treated Simon Mignolet.

“He will be examined and measured for a face mask which we hope will allow him to play in the near future without causing more damage to the affected bones.

“It has been very successful with Simon at a time when we really needed him to play at the turn of the year and he has come through it fine.

“Hopefully, Nicklas will be equally helped by having a strong, protective face mask, which ensures he will be safe from any knocks he might take.

“It is possible he could start running again next week and look to be ready to play in a fortnight.

“However, it is important he takes as long as he needs with an injury like that, so we just wait and see.”


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England 1-0 Belgium, Netherlands 4-0 Northern Ireland - follow all the international action LIVE! ahead of Euro 2012
With countries across the continent gearing up for their final warm-up games ahead of Euro 2012, join us for all the action from Saturday's friendlies. Get in touch with us via Twitter with your reaction.

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20:06 BST
So, that game gave a few players a chance to impress for England. Who did/didn't? Will Welbeck start against France? Or Carroll? Or Defoe?!

19:59 BST
Unfortunately for Northern Ireland, they are trailing the Netherlands 4-0 at half-time. Looks like that one's all sewn up then.
19:54 BST
We're still getting plenty of Hazard chat on Twitter. A few are now saying that he's not worth the hype, others saying he was brilliant(!?) and others (which I agree with), saying he created much of his own hype. What do you think? Get involved!
19:46 BST
Joe Hart has also been giving his thoughts after the Belgium game: "It was a really tough game, a good run out. I thought we played well, [but] we were a little bit bitty at times.

"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.

"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
19:38 BST
Here's Roy Hodgson's reaction to the result and some injury chat: "I'm very pleased, it's been a hard week and we've used a lot of players. There was a lot of disruption in the second-half with substitutions – some forced upon us, some we wanted to do. But it's still a very good end to the week playing against a good Belgian team here. Arguably even stronger than the Norwegian team we played last week and I've got to be more than happy that we've come out with another victory."

"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."

Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
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