English Premier league and Cup news

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Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard scored a superb late winner against Aston Villa and then reflected on the satisfaction of getting the campaign off to the right start after the Reds' more frustrating opening days of recent seasons.


zoom - galleria Gerrard cracked a stunning free-kick into the net to seal a 2-1 Liverpool victory at Villa Park, immediately after Gareth Barry had hauled Villa level from the penalty spot when the ball was handled in the area by Jamie Carragher.
The Reds had taken a first-half lead after through a Martin Laursen own goal on the half-hour, the defender turning Dirk Kuyt's cut-back into his own net, but Villa levelled with a Gareth Barry penalty five minutes from time after Jamie Carragher handled in the box.
However, when Stilian Petrov fouled Gerrard 25 yards from goal, Gerrard curled in a stunner.
Gerrard stressed afterwards how important it had been to get off to a winning start, since he does not expect Manchester United or Chelsea, who both play on Sunday, to drop early points.
The Reds' skipper told Setanta Sports: "Over the last few seasons we have been frustrated with the start we've made, we've lost silly points and been playing catch-up, the idea this time is to come out of the blocks quickly and stay in the title race.
"We were pleased with the first 60 minutes, I thought we controlled the game. Villa came back into the game but we managed to pull it out of the bag late doors."
Asked about his free-kick, Gerrard said: "It's about time the lads let me take one, I managed to catch one right today, but the most important thing was three points.
"It was a great three points and nice to go into the Chelsea game with three points on the board."
Villa contested the decision to award Liverpool the free-kick for Petrov's challenge, but Gerrard said: "These things happen and some decisions you get, some you don't. I'm sure over the season decisions will even themselves out."
Meanwhile victorious Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez liked the character his players showed after conceding a late equaliser.
"The team deserved to win," he told Setanta Sports.
"We were really good and for me there were two or three positive things but thanks to their 'keeper [the impressive Stuart Taylor] we couldn't score."
Regarding the Villa penalty, Benitez commented: "The ball was going to the hand but you could see a little bit of movement of Carra's hand. After conceding the goal, to score ourselves tells me we are going forward.
"It was a fantastic goal [by Gerrard] and because the team deserved to win it was the right final [score] for us."
Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill disputed referee Mike Riley's free-kick award that enabled Gerrard to score the winning goal.
"I just think [Gerrard] has overrun the ball and he has played for the free-kick. I don't think it was a foul.
"[Petrov] has tried to get the ball himself, but it doesn't matter what 42,000 people think, the referee has given a free-kick and he has scored from it, so it is disappointing as far as we were concerned.
"We started off wanting to be as bright as they are. But when they scored the goal we lost a wee bit of self-belief and we were chasing the game, so I was pleased to come in just a goal behind.
"In the second half we matched them but there was always the possibility of them hitting us on the break."

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After a shock opening draw at Old Trafford, Sir Alex Ferguson was left rueing the chances his team didn’t put away. Reading on the other hand we’re openly delighted at getting a draw from being in a position of having only 10 men on the field.

Manchester United dominated the game but lacked a clinical finisher on the day, something to which Ferguson was quick to point out as the main reason behind the 0-0 result,
“Well its there for everyone to see, we had so much possession and we had to take our chances but it wasn’t our day”
“We had good movement in the 1st half and made good chances in the second half, but credit to [Reading] they battled, fought and scrapped”
Reading’s man of the match was goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann, who after battling back from a pre-season hand injury made a couple of crucial saves and was understandably elated,
“United are an unbelievable side and with only 10-men it is a great result to get a draw here"
Upon being questioned about Reading’s negative tactics the American responded by emphasising the situation his team faced
“No, we came to get a result, we think we could have got one, but it wasn’t our day up-front but we played well to get a draw”
Team-mate Michael Duberry was equally as happy with the result as he admitted the man-to-man system Reading used was hard to implement but paid off in the end,
“Going man-for-man is hard – I think I lost about 2 stone out there! – but it was frustrating going 10-men down because we had no outlet, but we stuck it out and luckily got a point.”
A further headache for Ferguson may be the extent of Wayne Rooney’s foot injury which worryingly occurred on his previously injured left-foot, but the Scot played down the fears of a long-term absence,
“We’ll send him for a scan, but I can’t tell you how long he will be out for – it doesn’t look like the metatarsal – but he couldn’t walk so we weren’t going to take any chances, but we have Ole and Tevez to come into the team so we won’t be looking for a new striker”
Ferguson also pointed to Rooney’s half-time substitution as a pivotal point behind his team’s inability to finish the chances they created
“If Rooney was on the pitch we would have won the match, but with him off injured we had no central striker”

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Manchester City are today top of the Premiership with a 100% record after three matches, while Manchester United are in the bottom five. That is the strange state of affairs after Sven Goran Eriksson's side withstood a barrage of pressure to edge a 1-0 victory at a jubilent City of Manchester stadium.







Eriksson's new look side had defeated West Ham and Derby in their opening two matches of the season, but they started this afternoon looking like a team of strangers as United dominated in terms of possession at least.
However, Sir Alex Ferguson's, who had started the season with two draws, lacked the cutting edge with their own new-look side including Nani, Owen Hargreaves and Carlos Tevez in the absence of the injured Wayne Rooney and suspended Cristiano Ronaldo.
They were made to pay for their failure to be decisive in attack as out of the blue Geovanni, who famously scored against United when at Benfica, struck on 35 minutes from just outside the box. His effort took a slight deflection of Nemanja Vidic, who had turned his back to the ball, and it curved the shot around Edwin van der Sar.
United then continued to dominate, but ironically were frustrated by Peter Schmeichel's son Kasper in City's goal, although the youngster was not as tested as much as the visitors would have hoped given their domination, but they could not manage to put the ball in the back of the net despite all of their pretty football.
The star of the show was not Schmeichal but young defender Micah Richards, who has previously interested Manchester United and today produced one of the best defensive performances from a teenager in recent times.
It was Richards that came to the rescue of Schmeichel in the closing minutes of the first half as the keeper spilled a routine effort, but the youngster was at hand to clear the ball away with an instinctive and brave lunge.
Vidic, who would likely have got a telling off from his manager at half time, almost made ammends at the start of the second half, but the defender was denied by the cross bar as frustrations continued for United, who did everything but score.
United pressed and pressed and in stoppage time it looked as it Tevez had stolen a precious point, but he was unable to react quick enough at the far post and headed a cross into the side netting from just one yard out. It capped what was a frustrating afternoon for the Argentine, who will have better days in his United career.
Many thought that Tevez, who earlier missed the target by inches, had scored a dramatic equaliser, including Ferguson who was just about to set off on wild celebrations before he realised the ball had not settled in the back of the net.
Manchester United have now made their worst start to a season in 15 years and will be under intense pressure to get a result at home to Tottenham in a weeks time.
City on the other hand will now have massive expectations of what is to come this season as Eriksson seems to have worked instant miracles with three wins on the spin with no goals conceded. Amazing!

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Aston Villa's new signing Zat Knight was arrested during a drug raid just hours before being unveiled at Villa Park.

The defender, who has been released on bail, completed his £3.5m move from Fulham to his boyhood heroes.

West Midlands Police said officers executed a warrant under the Misuse of Drugs and Firearms Act at an address in Poppy Lane, Erdington.

A force spokesman said: "Two men, aged 26 and 27, were arrested on suspicion of Class A drugs offences.

"The 27-year-old man has since been released on police bail."

A quantity of controlled drugs was seized during the raid, which is said to have occurred at around 5.30am.

The Sun has reported that the 27-year-old was Knight and a spokesman for Villa has acknowledged that Knight had been arrested, but stressed that he had not been charged with any offence.

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Joe Cole Reportedly Clashes With Mourinho

Joe Cole has reportedly fallen out with Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho over his lack of first team action so far this season.

The Daily Mail has claimed that the England international confronted Mourinho after Saturday's win against Portsmouth as Cole was only introduced as a late substitute and is yet to start a league match this season.

It is believed Cole has attempted to seek assurances that he is part of Mourinho's plans at Stamford Bridge but the Portuguese boss told the 25-year-old he has not merited a place in the starting-line up so far this season.

The confrontation is said to have become heated and Chelsea's chief executive Peter Kenyon had to act as peacemaker, but it is still not believed that the Blues are looking to sell the player.

However, it has alerted Cole's former club West Ham, who would love to bring back the player that was sold for £6.6m four years ago, although any move would have to take place quickly with the transfer window about to close.

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Cole is not the first one to get into a clash with mourinho...Alot of players have been there before...

Only recently Robben, that has transferred from Chelsea to Real Madrid, has bashed Mourinho becuase of his bad treatment towards his players...

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Anelka extends Bolton deal until 2011




Nicolas Anelka has ended speculation about his future by signing a new four-year contract with Bolton.
The highly-rated France striker had indicated he might be prepared to leave the Reebok Stadium.
However, with the transfer window due to close tomorrow he has put pen to paper on a new improved deal until the end of the 2011 season.
Bolton chalked up their first win of the season at the weekend by beating Reading with Anelka making it three goals in four games.
He said: 'I seem to have been linked with every club in the country of late but my heart is with Bolton.
'I am very happy with my form, the club and the manager so signing a new contract was not a difficult decision.
'Hopefully we will prosper together because I would not have remained at Bolton if I had thought we could not win trophies.'
Anelka's decision is a marvellous boost for manager Sammy Lee ahead of the home game against Everton on Saturday.
Lee said: 'We have worked tirelessly behind the scenes to get him to commit his long-term future to us.
'Nicolas is one of the world's best strikers and I am immensely proud and happy that he has shown such commitment to the club.
'It is also a boost for the dressing room because a team never wants to lose anybody of Nicolas's stature and presence.'
Lee added: 'This shows our ambition to be among the top clubs, not just in this country but across the world.
'Nicolas is one of the most sought after strikers in the world and I am delighted that he will continue to wear the Bolton shirt.'

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Chelsea step up push for Barcelona's Dos Santos

September 06, 2007

Chelsea are accelerating their push for Barcelona superkid Giovani dos Santos.

AS says sources close to the player indicate that a representative of Pini Zahavi, who is acting on Chelsea chief Peter Kenyon's behalf, has been in contact. The approach prompted Giovani's Dad, the former Brazilian footballer Zizinho, to sign with Portuguese super agent Jorge Mendes, which has further fueled talk of a move to London for the 18 year-old Mexican. Dos Santos is currently tied to Barca until 2010, but his £400,000-a-year contract carries a relatively affordable £20 million buyout clause, which has sparked the interest of Premiership clubs.

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Liverpool's Benitez has new battle over Torres

September 05, 2007

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez faces a new club v country row - with his native Spain.

Torres, 23, cannot take part in full training because of agonising pain in his right knee following a training ground collision while with Spain.
He said: "I thought nothing of it at first but later it started aching. And when I took a shot I felt a sharp pain.
"I've got a lot of pain but we'll see how it goes over the next few days."
Spain's doctor Genaro Borras said: "Torres has bruising on the sciatic nerve in his right knee.
"We'll go easy with him but it shouldn't be anything to worry about." Benitez is already at odds with England over the handling of his captain Steven Gerrard.

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Aquilani flattered by Chelsea, Arsenal interest

September 06, 2007

The agent of Roma midfielder Alberto Aquilani admits the youngster is flattered by interest of Chelsea and Arsenal.

Franco Zavaglia said: "Of course, to be watched by Barcelona, Valencia, Chelsea and Arsenal does appeal to him. "But Aquilani has not ever had doubts on his future, ever since he was a child, he has wanted only Roma."