Source: Team_Talk
O'Neill boosted by Carew return
Striker Carew was sidelined for two and a half months after suffering a back problem and O'Neill was left with Gabriel Agbonlahor as his only experienced striker in a 4-5-1 formation.
The arrival of Emile Heskey in January from Wigan in a £3.5million deal eased some of the workload being shouldered by Agbonlahor.
But now Carew's availability and good form as a substitute - he has scored in two of the last three games against Stoke and Tottenham - gives O'Neill the option to make changes.
O'Neill said: "The great thing about it is that John Carew now is getting really properly fit.
"He played nearly a full game up at Everton in the absence of Emile Heskey in the FA Cup.
"Now, in the little training sessions that he has been doing recently, he has been really sharp. He is really raring to go, which is great.
"The two goals he has got after coming on as a substitute will also have given him a big boost of confidence.
"It is great to see him back when, in actual fact, you probably thought tat it might have been really hard work coming back from the injury.
"John coming back and firing and going well with confidence high is great. I think that will be a major boost to us."
O'Neill added: "We have never had this choice before this season. Early on we had John Carew and Gabby who started before John got injured.
"Now Emile Heskey has come in and started very brightly at Portsmouth. Yes, he is feeling his way a little bit but that is not a problem.
"To have the three centre forwards there and available can only boost us from now until the end of the season - if they stay fit."
O'Neill, whose side visit Liverpool on Sunday, is hoping they can capitalise in front of goal on the kind of service provided from the flanks by Ashley Young and James Milner.
He said: "Centre-forwards do like to score goals, there is no question of that, but I think we can share goals around. Last season we scored a lot of goals and we shared them around.
"In terms of being absolutely and utterly prolific, I think we can improve on that individually but we can get goals. We should score more goals than we do from the number of great deliveries that go into the box."
