John Carver: “He was still down physically on his stats, and we were concerned about him.
“People might ask why I’m talking about stats, but I know (Arsenal manager) Arsene Wenger looks at the physical stats of his players.
“I remember when we went Highbury for a game, and Robert Pires was playing.
“Wenger told Sir Bobby before the game that Pires was at his limit physically, and he didn’t want to play him.
“I’ll never forget it, because the ball went down past the dugout at our end, and Pires fell over and tore his hamstring.
“The physical data on Ayo was quite low, and it was a worry.
“I didn’t want to throw him in.
“He’s picked it up again, and he could feature this weekend."