12:38pm Tuesday 19th December 2006
By Gordon Sharrock
HENRIK Pedersen is refusing to just step aside and let Ricardo Gardner stroll back into the Bolton back four.
For, while the Danish striker still does not see himself as a defender, if it's a choice between left-back and the bench . . . there is no contest.
"Every player wants to play and, if it has to be at left-back, so be it," Pedersen said.
"I hope to be in the team on Saturday."
By his own admission, Pedersen got a chasing when he came up against the quicksilver Gabriel Agbonlahor at Villa Park on Saturday. But he stuck to the task manfully, and consoled himself with the fact that Wanderers not only managed a victory, but a clean sheet.
And, if past form is anything to go by, he reckons he has good reason to expect his name to be on the team-sheet for the Eastlands derby. He was, after all, selected ahead of Tal Ben Haim at Villa Park and the Israeli international is widely regarded as Wanderers' best defender.
"I've been here so long I know a little bit about what the gaffer thinks," Pedersen said. "If you play well and keep a clean sheet, he normally keeps the same back four and he did that on Saturday, so I wasn't surprised.
"The game wasn't that good for us but we were happy with the three points. He (Agbonlahor) was a fast player and I tried to do my best against him, but the most important thing was the result.
"Personally, I don't consider myself a defender. I still prefer to play up front, but the gaffer thinks that, at the moment, I'm a left-back. So I try to do my best for the team, as all the players do.
"I still think I've got a lot more to learn about the position but the more games I get, the more experience I get and it's obviously better than being on the bench. So I'm happy."
Pedersen's versatility at least adds to Allardyce's options as Wanderers go into the busiest period of the season.
After City, they have home games against Newcastle United on Boxing Day and Portsmouth on Saturday week before travelling to Liverpool on New Year's Day. And, even if the fit-again Gardner was to reclaim the left-back shirt, the Dane could be back in the reckoning for an attacking role.
Allardyce has refused to set targets but hopes to still be in the top six at the turn of the year before the big push for Europe in the second half of the season.
Realistically, the UEFA Cup is the goal, but Pedersen sees no reason why Wanderers, having finished eighth, sixth and eighth in successive seasons, should not be challenging Liverpool and Arsenal for one of the Champions League places.
"I think we can," he said. "I think we've proved over the last three years that we can get amongst them and there's only been small things that have kept us out of the top four or five. This year the two at the top (Manchester United and Chelsea) have maybe gone a bit further away, but there are six or seven teams fighting for the other places and I think we have a good chance to be among them."
Wanderers go to City on the back of successive wins for the first time since mid-October. And, although they know they did not deserve their victory at Aston Villa, the manner of the victory was an echo of last season's smash and grab win at Eastlands - outplayed and under the cosh with a Gary Speed penalty snatching a 1-0 win.
"The same result as last year and everybody will be happy," Pedersen said. "And I remember I even played up front there, so you never know."
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