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Jimmy Bullard |
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Fulham’s hopes of avoiding relegation from The Premier League were given a boost
on Monday night
when midfielder Jimmy Bullard played all 90 minutes of his side’s
2-0 reserves victory over Arsenal at Barnet’s Underhill.
Livewire midfielder Bullard played just a handful of games for The Cottagers after
his 2006 move from Wigan Athletic before suffering a horrific knee injury in Fulham’s
2-1 win over Newcastle United in September of that year.
The player tore cruciate and anterior knee ligaments in a challenge with Scott Parker
and his recovery has been hit by setbacks, but he is now closing on a return, the
Arsenal game coming swiftly on the back of two specially-arranged behind-closed-doors
friendlies against Reading and Bristol City in the last three weeks.
To add to the positives for Fulham, winger Lee Cook, who joined from Queens Park
Rangers in the summer but suffered an almost immediate knee knock of his own, played
an hour against the young Gunners as he too looks to be well on the road to a first-team
return.
Bullard was involved in Fulham’s opening goal on Monday evening and
could return
for Roy Hodgson’s side for the crucial trip to Bolton on January 29 or the home
game with Aston Villa five days later.