Butt has recovered from a bout of flu this week which forced him to miss the trip to Scunthorpe ... and not for the first time have we had him miss games when he has not been injured.
Is his heart at the club any more? I don't think it is.
He cannot play with Geremi, even though Hughton has tried it, and could even put them together against Doncaster.
The fact is neither of them can run when they are asked to play in wide areas and any team worth their salt suss that out very quickly. The Premiership teams certainly did last campaign.
Chris Hughton: “Geremi had been involved in two games before that at international level last week. I had a decision to make. Nicky Butt was initially going to be available for the game but he missed out because he felt unwell.
“He missed the day’s training the day before.
“Nicky is now in contention again.
“We’ll be looking for a reaction.
“The positive signs are that – apart from learning more and more about the league in every game – we’re still joint top.
“We’re where we want to be.
“We didn’t know what we would be confronted with, we need to take it forward.
“We need a good win.
“Criticism is part of the game.
“It was a Scunthorpe side that beat Sheffield United.
“Many people would have said that they were in for promotion.
“This is what this league is all about – we certainly won’t be the only ones who go to Scunthorpe and don’t come away with the points.
“What we have to remind ourselves is that we’re on the back of a good enough performance – we just couldn’t take our chances.
“If we had, we’d have won comfortably.
“Of course, we made two poor errors for the goal.
“We are in a position that we can push on from.”
Saturday 24th October 2009
Barnsley v Bristol City 15.00
C.Palace v Nottm Forest 15.00
Coventry v West Brom 15.00
Derby v QPR 17.30
Newcastle v Doncaster 15.00
Peterborough v Scunthorpe 15.00
Plymouth v Ipswich 15.00
Preston NE v Middlesbrough 15.00
Sheff Utd v Cardiff City 15.00
Swansea City v Blackpool 15.00
Monday 26th October 2009
Reading v Leicester 20.00