LONDON: Bolton Wanderers will play on now that stricken midfielder Fabrice Muamba is reportedly showing “signs of improvement” after his cardiac arrest at Tottenham last Saturday writes KEIR RADNEDGE.

After discussions between manager Owen Coyle and his players Bolton will carry on with their shceduled  Premier League match against Blackburn on Saturday and then return to London to start  the FA Cup quarter-final against Tottenham all over again at White Hart Lane next Tuesday.

The original tie was abandoned after the incident in the 41^st minute when Muamba collapsed.

Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore has praised the life-saving speed with which medical staff and officials attended to Muamba. Today’s regulations owed much to changes instituted after concern about the speed in attending to Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech when he suffered a fractured skull at Reading six years ago.

But Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini is among critics of even the present health checks and Scudamore said: “We will look at every aspect of what happened and if there are ways and means of improving things – as we did after the Cech incident – we will do everything we can to improve.”

Mancini has demanded twice-yearly medical screenings for top-flight players. He said: “Here in England, the best championship in the world, everything is fantastic but we need to improve the medical side for the players. We need to screen the players often, maybe two times a year and they have to be more accurate because they don’t do this.

“When I saw our medical procedures two years ago, I was really worried. I said to our doctor that we need to do them better. In Italy it is much better.”

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