That afternoon, I drove to the training ground for a light recovery session. The players who had started against Stoke were on a reduced programme: gentle jogging, stretching, pool work, and massage.
No contact, no intensity, no risk. The players who hadn't featured: Dann, Mandanda, Navas, Tarkowski, Ward, Digne, Nya Kirby, Connor Blake, and Tammy did a full session with Sarah, sharp and competitive, keeping their edge.
I stood on the sideline, watching both groups, my mind already running through the Fenerbahçe puzzle. But my eyes kept drifting to one player. Zaha.
He was in the recovery group, doing his stretches, but he was moving gingerly. The ankle. The one Pieters had gone through in the twelfth minute yesterday.
Rebecca had cleared him after the match minor bruising, no structural damage, available for Thursday but I could see the way he was favouring it.
