Blackburn man returns to full fitness

Blackburn man returns to full fitness. Could he be the man for the left side of midfield?

Having experimented with Wayne Bridge against Macedonia on Wednesday night, Sven will be interested to hear that one of the most talented left-footers in the country, Matt Jansen, made his long-awaited return to first team action for Blackburn over the weekend.

The former Carlisle and Palace man came on as a substitute in his side's 5-2 demolition of Newcastle and he will now have his sights set on regaining his first team spot at Rovers and then convincing Sven that he is worthy of another chance with the Three Lions.

Matt was called up for England's last warm up game before the World Cup squad was announced. The match against Paraguay was a real chance for him to earn a place on the plane to Japan but sadly a stomach bug forced him to withdraw. But now he's back and delighted to be playing again.

Speaking to Radio Rovers after Saturday's game, he said: "Yes, it's great to be back. It's been a bit longer than usual; I've never been out for this long before," admitted Jansen.

"It was good game to come back into and the ovation I got from the crowd made it all worthwhile. All credit to them they kept us going all through the game."

Matt almost returned in style, coming close on two occasions, only to be denied by Newcastle keeper Shay Given. He joked: "The game was over, so I was disappointed he didn't let at least one of them in!"

Blackburn boss Graeme Souness said: "Great to see Matty back; pleased about that. To be fair he could have had two goals today when he was on. He looked lively, perhaps he should get a bang on his head every week!"

Sven will take note.