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Saturday, August 29, 2009

Liverpool travel to Bolton on Saturday knowing they desperately need a victory to get their Premier League title challenge back on track.


Liverpool travel to Bolton on Saturday knowing they desperately need a victory to get their Premier League title challenge back on track. Rafael Benitez's side have lost two of their opening three matches to raise major doubts about their prospects of a first league crown since 1990.

The Reds finished just four points adrift of Manchester United last season and lost only two matches in the whole campaign. But, while Benitez's team ran Sir Alex Ferguson's team close last term, there is a concern among their supporters that if they allow an early gap to develop to the likes of Chelsea and United they will not be able to close it.

They can console themselves with the fact that in three of the last five seasons, the champions have lost a total of five games. The Anfield team accept there is now little margin for error if they are to end their long wait for a title. Pepe Reina has already conceded five goals in his side's 2-1 defeat at Tottenham and shock 3-1 loss to Aston Villa at Anfield on Monday.

But the Spanish goalkeeper believes that three consecutive wins would put Liverpool right back in the race for the championship. "The fans can trust us until the end because as a team we have always been strong," Reina said.

"Obviously we are disappointed because it is not normal for us to play three games and lose two of them, but we have to look forward, try to improve and carry on with our title challenge. "We are the same team as last season - the same team that won 86 points in the league.

"Nothing has changed except that some players have left and some have come in, but we are still a strong team. "We have plenty of good players in the dressing room and we have to look forward because as soon as we win two or three games in a row things will change a lot."

Liverpool picked up an impressive total of 86 points last season but Reina believes that improvements by Manchester City, Tottenham and Aston Villa will make it a more open division this time around. And he feels that will translate to the champions requiring fewer points this season.

He added: "Teams like Villa, Tottenham and Man City will be involved in the title race and I think the eventual champions will probably win no more than 82 points this season. "Tottenham are playing at a good level. They were probably better than us in the first game of the season, especially in the first half.

"But it is too early to speak about teams. We have to wait a little bit longer." The Reds are still without Italian midfielder Alberto Aquilani due to an ankle problem, but Greek defender Sotiros Kygiakos could make his debut after joining from AEK Athens last week.

Bolton have started the season with two defeats - to Sunderland and Hull - and have not managed to score. Defender Gary Cahill is hopeful that his team's improvements in performances will be translated into results following the 1-0 League Cup win over League One Tranmere in midweek.

He said: "We were better against Hull and kept a clean sheet against Tranmere. "We're at home and they'll be hungry. They've lost two out of three which is poor for them and they'll be looking to make that right.

"We've got nothing to lose and everything to gain. They're coming in needing to win to put their season back on track. "It's unheard of them starting this slowly. They've got quality players throughout but two teams have beaten them already so why can't we?"

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Arsenal outclass Celtic in Champions League playoff


Arsenal eased into the group stages of the Champions League on Wednesday, outclassing Celtic 3-1 to enter Thursday's draw where they will be joined by Fiorentina, VfB Stuttgart, Olympiakos and APOEL Nicosia.

A harshly-awarded penalty converted by Eduardo after 28 minutes allowed Arsenal to build on their 2-0 victory in Glasgow in the first leg of their final playoff round tie last week. Emmanuel Eboue and Andrei Arshavin both scored after the break while Massimo Donati salvaged a little pride for the Scottish side with a stoppage-time volley.

The 5-1 aggregate victory for Arsenal by no means flattered the north London club who have started the season in impressive style, winning all their four games and scoring 15 goals in the process.

Serie A side Fiorentina squeezed through on away goals against Portugal's Sporting after a 1-1 home draw left the tie level at 3-3. Steven Jovetic equalised for Fiorentina on the night after Sporting had gone ahead on aggregate through Joao Moutinho.

Stuttgart were held 0-0 at home by Timisoara of Romania but progressed courtesy of their 2-0 away win last week. APOEL beat FC Copenhagen 3-1 for a 3-2 aggregate win while Greek side Olympiakos ended the dreams of Moldovans Sheriff Tirsaspol, completing a 3-0 aggregate win.

The 10 winners of the playoff ties will join the clubs who automatically qualified for the lucrative group stages, including holders Barcelona and runners-up Manchester United.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Liverpool slump to home defeat by Aston Villa


Liverpool lost for the second time in three Premier League matches on Monday, slumping to a 3-1 home defeat by Aston Villa. An own goal by Lucas Leiva and a glancing header from Curtis Davies gave Villa a 2-0 interval lead before Fernando Torres pulled one back for Liverpool in the 72nd minute.

Any hopes of a storming comeback were shortlived as Steven Gerrard rashly brought down midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker and Ashley Young beat keeper Pepe Reina from the penalty spot with 15 minutes remaining. With the season a week old Liverpool, runners-up to Manchester United last season, have already lost as many matches as they did in the whole of the previous campaign. It was also their first league defeat at Anfield since December 2007.

"The first 20 minutes we were alright but an own goal and another goal in (first half) extra time and then a penalty when I thought we were playing better and pushing hard, there were too many things against us," Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez told BBC radio.

Villa, who for much of last season looked capable of a top-four finish before running out of steam, were booed off after losing to Wigan Athletic at home last week but manager Martin O'Neill was delighted with their response. Liverpool dominated early but fell behind after 34 minutes when Young's free kick was headed into his own net by Lucas.

Worse was to follow on the stroke of halftime when Davies lost his marker in the area to glance in a corner that Liverpool protested should not have been awarded. The home side piled on the pressure in the second half and Dirk Kuyt hit the post with a header before Torres beat Villa keeper Brad Friedel with a sharp finish.

Gerrard's rush of blood to the head completed a miserable night for Liverpool as his tackle allowed Young to seal Villa's first league win at Anfield for eight years.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Rooney and Owen get five-star United back on track


Manchester United made amends for their humbling by Burnley as Wayne Rooney's double and Michael Owen's first goal for the Premier League champions inspired a 5-0 win at Wigan on Saturday. Sir Alex Ferguson reacted to Wednesday's shock 1-0 loss at newly-promoted Burnley by making seven changes and the United manager was rewarded with a superb second half display. It took the revamped United line-up a while to find their rhythm but, after a goalless first half, Rooney struck in the 56th minute when he met a cross from former Wigan winger Antonio Valenica with a perfect header.

That was Rooney's 100th goal for United and it opened the floodgates. Dimitar Berbatov put United in complete control in the 58th minute. The Bulgarian finished a flowing move by chipping over Chris Kirkland and shooting into an empty net. Rooney ended any doubts about the result in the 65th minute when his shot deflected off Mario Melchiot and flashed past the wrong-footed Kirkland.

Owen, signed from Newcastle in the close-season, came off the bench to score for the first time since Janaury with a sublime clipped finish. Nani, who set up Owen's goal, got on the scoresheet himself in the 90th minute. Arsenal maintained their impressive start to the season with a 4-1 victory over struggling Portsmouth at the Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners had confounded critics who wrote off their title hopes by thrashing Everton 6-1 last weekend, then winning at Celtic in the Champions League in midweek. Wenger still made four changes to the side that beat Celtic, but it proved a successful move as French midfielder Abou Diaby, brought into the team for his 100th Arsenal appearance, opened the scoring in the 18th minute from Eduardo's pass.

Diaby converted Emmanuel Eboue's cross for his second goal three minutes later but Portsmouth reduced the deficit when Younes Kaboul, out-jumping keeper Manuel Almunia, headed home in the 37th minute. Any hopes of a fightback from Paul Hart's team were ended in the 51st minute through William Gallas's scrambled effort. Aaron Ramsey confirmed Portsmouth's third successive defeat in the 68th minute with his first league goal for Wenger's team.

Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor repaid another slice of his 25 million pounds transfer fee as the Togo star's cool finish sealed a 1-0 win over Wolverhampton at Eastlands. City handed Carlos Tevez his full debut and the former Manchester United forward's cushioned 17th-minute pass picked out Adebayor, who drove in his second goal in two games since joining City from Arsenal. Trinidad and Tobago forward Kenwyne Jones fired Sunderland to a 2-1 victory over Blackburn.

Sam Allardyce's Rovers, without defender Stephen Warnock as rumours of a move to Aston Villa gathered momentum, took the lead in the 21st minute when French defender Gael Givet smashed a long-range effort past Marton Fulop. But Sunderland equalised after 32 minutes as Jones took advantage of a slip by Christopher Samba to slot home.

Jones wasn't finished there. In the 53rd minute he met Lee Cattermole's cross with a bullet header to seal the points for Steve Bruce's team. Hull won the first time in 13 league matches as Algeria striker Kamel Ghilas's first goal for the club earned a 1-0 victory over Bolton at the KC Stadium. Ghilas was making his first start for the Tigers after signing from Spanish club Celta Vigo earlier this month.

He marked the occasion in the 61st minute goal with a blistering volley from Jozy Altidore's pass. Stoke recovered from their midweek thrashing by Liverpool by grinding out a 0-0 draw at Birmingham. Tony Pulis's side went down 4-0 at Anfield but they were far more resilient in a scrappy encounter against newly-promoted City.

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