{"id":24744,"date":"2011-12-31T10:39:34","date_gmt":"2011-12-31T10:39:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/12\/ghana-essien-set-for-mid-january-return-villas-boas\/"},"modified":"2011-12-31T10:39:34","modified_gmt":"2011-12-31T10:39:34","slug":"ghana-essien-set-for-mid-january-return-villas-boas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/31\/ghana-essien-set-for-mid-january-return-villas-boas\/","title":{"rendered":"Ghana: Essien Set for Mid-January Return &#8211; Villas-Boas"},"content":{"rendered":"<hr class=\"thin clear\" \/>\n<hr class=\"thin clear\" \/>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rnw.nl\/africa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/allafrica.com\/img\/static\/publishers\/minibanners\/rnw180.png\" alt=\"Radio Netherlands Worldwide (Hilversum)\" title=\"Visit Radio Netherlands Worldwide (Hilversum)\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>30 December 2011<\/p>\n<hr class=\"thin clear\" \/>\n<p>Ghanaian international midfielder Michael Essien should be in line for a first team start in mid-January after recovering from a serious knee injury said Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>Essien, 29, has not played this season after suffering the injury before the first match of the campaign but Villas-Boas said he was nearing the stage where he could compete for a starting place.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He (Essien) will return to the squad in mid-January and will be available for matches,&#8221; said Villas-Boas.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think that in three weeks, he will be in a posiiton to compete for a starting place.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Essien ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament at the start of pre-season training, just the latest in a series of injuries that have disrupted his career.<\/p>\n<p>He has been plagued by knee injuries during his time at Stamford Bridge; he sustained another cruciate problem in September 2008 that ruled him out until the following March and also missed last year&#8217;s World Cup after tearing medial knee ligaments during training for the Africa Cup of Nations in January 2010.<\/p>\n<p>He was not included in the Ghana squad for next month&#8217;s renewal of the Africa Cup of Nations which is being co-hosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. &#8211; <em>ANP\/AFP<\/em><\/p>\n<p>AllAfrica &#8211; All the Time<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<fieldset>\n<legend align=\"center\"><strong>More News on allAfrica.com<\/strong><\/legend>\n<\/fieldset>\n<p><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> 30 December 2011 Ghanaian international midfielder Michael Essien should be in line for a first team start in mid-January after recovering from a serious knee injury said Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas on Friday. Essien, 29, has not played this season after suffering the injury before the first match of the campaign but Villas-Boas said he was nearing the stage where he could compete for a starting place. &#8220;He (Essien) will return to the squad in mid-January and will be available for matches,&#8221; said Villas-Boas. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ghana: Essien Set for Mid-January Return - Villas-Boas - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/31\/ghana-essien-set-for-mid-january-return-villas-boas\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Ghana: Essien Set for Mid-January Return - Villas-Boas - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"30 December 2011 Ghanaian international midfielder Michael Essien should be in line for a first team start in mid-January after recovering from a serious knee injury said Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas on Friday. Essien, 29, has not played this season after suffering the injury before the first match of the campaign but Villas-Boas said he was nearing the stage where he could compete for a starting place. &quot;He (Essien) will return to the squad in mid-January and will be available for matches,&quot; said Villas-Boas.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"http:\/\/allafrica.com\/img\/static\/publishers\/minibanners\/rnw180.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2011\\\/12\\\/31\\\/ghana-essien-set-for-mid-january-return-villas-boas\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2011\\\/12\\\/31\\\/ghana-essien-set-for-mid-january-return-villas-boas\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Ghana: Essien Set for Mid-January Return &#8211; Villas-Boas\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-12-31T10:39:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2011\\\/12\\\/31\\\/ghana-essien-set-for-mid-january-return-villas-boas\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":224,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2011\\\/12\\\/31\\\/ghana-essien-set-for-mid-january-return-villas-boas\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/allafrica.com\\\/img\\\/static\\\/publishers\\\/minibanners\\\/rnw180.png\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2011\\\/12\\\/31\\\/ghana-essien-set-for-mid-january-return-villas-boas\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2011\\\/12\\\/31\\\/ghana-essien-set-for-mid-january-return-villas-boas\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2011\\\/12\\\/31\\\/ghana-essien-set-for-mid-january-return-villas-boas\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ghana: Essien Set for Mid-January Return - Villas-Boas - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2011\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2011\\\/12\\\/31\\\/ghana-essien-set-for-mid-january-return-villas-boas\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2011\\\/12\\\/31\\\/ghana-essien-set-for-mid-january-return-villas-boas\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/allafrica.com\\\/img\\\/static\\\/publishers\\\/minibanners\\\/rnw180.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-12-31T10:39:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2011\\\/12\\\/31\\\/ghana-essien-set-for-mid-january-return-villas-boas\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2011\\\/12\\\/31\\\/ghana-essien-set-for-mid-january-return-villas-boas\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/allafrica.com\\\/img\\\/static\\\/publishers\\\/minibanners\\\/rnw180.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/allafrica.com\\\/img\\\/static\\\/publishers\\\/minibanners\\\/rnw180.png\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2011\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2011\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2011\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ghana: Essien Set for Mid-January Return - Villas-Boas - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/31\/ghana-essien-set-for-mid-january-return-villas-boas\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Ghana: Essien Set for Mid-January Return - Villas-Boas - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"30 December 2011 Ghanaian international midfielder Michael Essien should be in line for a first team start in mid-January after recovering from a serious knee injury said Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas on Friday. 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