Daily Mail - 06.09.2019

79
Daily Mail, Friday, September 6, 2019
Football

Drinkwater is hit

by mystery injury

BRITISH teenager Lando

Norris tried to reassure his

father that he need not

worry about him after the

death of a fellow driver at

the Belgian Grand Prix.

Last weekend’s race was

overshadowed by the death

of 22-year-old French F2

driver Anthoine Hubert.

But ahead of this weekend’s

Italian Grand Prix at Monza

Norris revealed that it was

his father Adam who was

most rattled.

‘My mum is always worried

but it threw my dad’s mind

because he comes to all the

races,’ said McLaren’s

Norris, 19. ‘He had to go to

the toilet and be sick. I have

to tell him that I’ll be OK but

it feels bad saying it. It is

what I want to say. I am sure

every driver does. And then

we have what happened last

week. I am more nervous

about reassuring him now.’

The authorities will

investigate the accident.

Giuliano Alesi’s car, which

Hubert dodged, has been

impounded. Juan-Manuel

Correa, the driver who hit

Hubert, is in hospital in

London with broken legs.

FORMULA ONE

JONATHAN McEVOY

reports from Monza

NORRIS: DAD

WAS SICK

OVER DEATH

By MIKE KEEGAN

Setback: Drinkwater during

his sole Burnley appearance REX

T

HE comeback

hopes of Danny

Drinkwater have

taken another

hit after he

sustained an unspecified

injury while away from

his club.

Sources say the Chelsea mid-

fielder, on loan at Burnley, was

assaulted but neither club

would confirm this.

Drinkwater has not played a

Premier League game for 18

months and this latest setback

could put him out for up to a

fortnight.

Burnley and Chelsea declined

to comment on how Drink-

water sustained the injury but

it is understood it occurred

away from the training ground.

the former Leicester title

winner, 29, who has three Eng-

land caps, was due to play for

Burnley’s Under 23s against

QPR on Monday but took no

part.

Frank Lampard was keen to

give the Manchester-born mid-

fielder, for whom his club paid

£35million, regular football after

he was frozen out at Stamford

Bridge under Maurizio Sarri.

the new Chelsea boss,

however, has a settled central

midfield of Jorginho, Mateo

Kovacic and N’Golo Kante.

Having only played in Burnley’s

EFL defeat by Sunderland

since his move, Drinkwater —

who has struggled to get a

game ahead of Ashley West-

wood and Jack Cork — faces

another setback. His loan deal

expires on January 6.

Drinkwater won rave reviews

and an England call-up thanks

to his key role in Leicester’s

Premier League title win of

2015-16. In May, he was banned

from driving for 20 months

after ploughing his Range

Rover through a wall while

twice over the legal drink-

drive limit.

Drinkwater last featured

in a top-flight match in

March 2018, when he

started in a defeat at

Manchester City.

IT’S MUMBAI NEXT

AS CITY PLAN TO

BUY INDIAN CLUB

MANCHESTER CITY’S owners are

close to adding Mumbai City to

their global stable of seven

clubs, although they are also in

discussions with other Indian

Super League teams.

Chief executive Ferran

Soriano confirmed in March

that the City Football Group

were likely to buy into the

Indian market this year.

ENGLAND and City captain

Steph Houghton has stoked

the rivalry for the first

women’s Manchester

derby at the Etihad

tomorrow.

‘It’s going to do the

women’s game the

world of good,’ she said.

‘Everybody has been dying for a

Manchester derby in the WSL. We

want to make Manchester blue.’

÷

DIMINISHING RETURNS

2

DRINKWATER has only

scored two goals since

winning the title with

Leicester in May 2016.

549

HE hasn’t played a

Premier League

game in 549 days.

By CHRIS WHEELER

and MATT BARLOW

v3