Addressing the press this afternoon, Sven told a packed press room: “I have managed many teams in derbies before. I’ve never sat on the bench for one here, but I’ve seen some of them from the stands, so of course I know how important it is.
“You look forward to these kind of games. Every game in the Premier League is difficult but this is a special one because of the closeness.
“I think if you are a fan, a player, or a coach you are looking forward to these kind of games, because these are the big ones. Lots of press, a lot of talking before and after the game, what happened – was it fair? These are the games you want to be involved in.
“For the players it’s one of those games that if you are not up for it by 1.30 on Sunday, then you shouldn’t play. I don’t need to shout at players about it two or three days before, every player looks forward to these games.
“They are the sort of the games you dream about when you are young. For our players that are new to the Premier League, this is like a dream for them.”
Turning to the injury front, the Manager stated: “Touch wood, that tomorrow I think we have all the players fit for the final training session, apart from Isaksson of course.
“Mpenza came back from injury and has done very well all week. Hopefully we won’t have any injuries and that should be very good.”
Finally, we couldn’t let the gaffer go without a transfer ins and outs update. “Matthew Mills and Ishmael have both gone on loan and that’s the only news, Sven confirmed.
“We hope something will happen before the end of the month, but there’s nothing concrete at this moment.”
