Week 21

A number of players have returned to Premier League action recently after prolonged absences and one or two have already started to make their mark, again.

Henry
The return of the legendary Thierry Henry was marked by one of those classic moments in football where you wonder if someone had written the world's most obvious yet charming script before the game as the man with his own statute outside the ground returned from New York, and with the FA Cup game against Leeds deadlocked, came on to the pitch, scoring a trade mark Henry goal to settle the game with in moments.

His celebrations would not have appeared to be one of man who had repeated the feat on 226 past occasions for his beloved Arsenal and it was touching to see them moment meant so much to the great man, a real classic football moment and one which will no doubt live long in the memory.

He missed last week's fixture with a niggle but is likely to get some game time this week with the Arsenal faithful having turned their back on Arshavin and Gervinho at the African nations one of Wnders wingers will eventually be subbed off during the game and Henry's undoubted class could make an impact on a leaky Bolton defence.

Keane
Robbie Kean's return to the top flight was marked with 2 cracking goals of the finest calibre, and he further showed his class by refusing to celebrate either against the club where he initially made his name. None the less it is evident that he is still sharp and capable and even though the excessive use of the word "sharp" in his post match interview might suggest his vocabulary isn't as pointy as it might be, his football skills speak for themselves and a home game against QPR may well give him a chance to add to the the 125 goals he has scored in 345 Premier League appearances.

He is currently the 10th highest all time scorer in the league and 2 more would take him up one place and over Hasslebaink and in to 9th, a position that does not flatter the Irishman's extraordinary abilities. With Agbonlahor lacking his early season form Keane could very well be a starter.

Donovan
Donovan is making his return to Everton. Having played just 6 games for the Toffees on a loan spell in 09/10 he became a bit of a Blue hero having managed 2 goals and 3 assists in that time. He's already played the full 90 minutes on 4 occasions this time around and his regular game time will give him a good chance of adding to his tally even if the opponents are Man City.

He does play in an advanced mid-field role for Everton and even though they are lacking goals, if they do manage to find the net you can bet Donovan will be involved somehow.

Another player who finally broke a year long goal scoring duck last week was Tim Cahill and the Everton supporters will be hoping it won't be another year before he strikes again. He has regularly contributed goals throughout his carrer and this unusually long drought had to come to an end sooner or later.

Gerrard
Having missed the vast majority of this season and most of the last one Gerrard returned to Liverpool by immediately netting their winner against Man city in the League Cup and then scored again against Newcastle the following week, he's now played in 5 consecutive games for the first time this season, and whilst it will take him a whole to get back to full match fitness he should now be getting close to that, and with Liverpool playing against Wolves Gerrard should really be looking to exert his influence on the game and start rebuilding his England credentials again before it's too late.