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Distin won´t go easy on returning Saha

SoccerNews in English Premier League 8 Mar 2012

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Everton defender Sylvain Distin has promised not to go easy on former team-mate Louis Saha when Tottenham travel to Goodison Park.

Saha spent three-and-a-half seasons at Everton before making the surprise January move to Spurs, and has gone on to make an immediate impact in north London, scoring three times in as many appearances.

Distin, who formed a strong friendship with Saha during their time together in Merseyside, insists any catch-up will have to wait until after Saturday’s game.

“He’s a great guy, a really good friend. I’m quite close to him and I know his family really well, but it’s football so for 90 minutes, I’m going to have to kick him,” Distin told the club’s official website.

“Louis is a strong guy and I’m sure he feels the same. For me, it’s a pleasure to play against players that I already know, that I’m friends with or close to.”

“That doesn’t change much for me. It’s a game – we know that for 90 minutes we have to put all the friendships on the side and it will all be okay.”

The defender has warned his team-mates that just because the striker is well known at Goodison Park, it does not mean he will be predictable in his approach.

“Louis is far from an average player,” Distin said. “I’ve been training against him most days for the past three years. That doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy for me to stop him.”

“If people believe that training and working with him every day for three years means that I know him that well that I can anticipate all of his moves, they are really wrong and it would be really unprofessional for me as well to believe that because it’s not the case. It’s going to be a tough game.”

“He’s got really good qualities – he is powerful, strong, he is really good with both feet and his finishing is great as well.”

Saha was in a poor run of form at Everton before switching to White Hart Lane, scoring just once in 18 Premier League appearances but Distin always thought the former Manchester United striker would rediscover his best form.

Distin added: “For the few people that thought he would fail, he proved them wrong.”

“He has the quality as I say – maybe he doesn’t score during the games, but as a player who saw him every day, we can see that he has the quality.”

“He’s just doing what he’s been doing for Everton for so long, but when you have a little gap of not scoring goals, people tend to forget the past three or four years when you’ve been scoring goals for fun.”

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