[Slick_Footwork]

Varela has not been able to start matches because he has been lacking match fitness which is obvious given that he hasn't played proper competitive football since the World Cup. Morrison has been in the team most of the season so it is easier for him to come back in after 2 weeks.

I think we can only speculate on if Varela is fit enough to start a game or not.

While I'd agree you only get 'match fit' by playing games, I can cite some managers who choose to
throw players straight in after injury and others who prefer to ease them in.

Irvine has shown already with the likes of Lescott, he's more than happy to throw a player straight in
if he likes him.

However, based on the evidence of Irvine's selections so far, he's shown that he doesn't favour
attack minded midfielders.

Even Sessegnon wasn't Irvine's first choice at the start of the season and has been dropped a few times
since then too.

Let's look at the evidence prior to Varela's surgery. The guy had 10 mins against Hull in the cup, the
same game that Ben Arfa played a full 90 for Hull, despite signing at the same time as Varela, having
no pre-season and apparently being several stone over weight.

Then, in terms of Varela's comeback, it took several weeks after his comeback friendly for Irvine to even
put him on the bench. Surely, if his long term intention was to pick the guy, he would've been easing him in with
5 and 10 minute appearances as soon as possible.

Then, we he finally throws him on the bench, the West Ham game, it's after a run of several consecutive
defeats. IMO he was just there is we ended up chasing the game (Irvine couldn't care less about easing him
in). Sure enough the guy gets a good 30 minute stint when we're in the doldrums.

However, whether he would've featured had Brunt not been injured remains to be seen.

Personally I hope you're right and Varela does start on Saturday but I wouldn't bet on it. And if he does, I'd
bet he's starting in place of Sess. Irvine surely couldn't select two attack minded midfielders on the pitch at
the same time.