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March 09 2010

Steven Gerrard could find himself in trouble with the FA after he appeared to flash a V-sign at referee Andre Marriner.

Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas wanted to play through the pain barrier against Porto in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday.

Wigan picked up their first win in nine to beat Liverpool 1-0 and dent their hopes of a top-four finish.

William Gallas could be on the sidelines for another month after suffering a recurrence of his calf injury. The France international has not played since the 1-0 victory over Liverpool at Emirates Stadium on 10th February and could now miss another significant chunk of the remainder of the campaign after breaking down in training. Gunners boss Arsene Wenger admitted the centre-back's problem had gone back to square one and was unsure when the former Chelsea man would be fit to return. Sol Campbell has been passed fit for Tuesday night's meeting with Porto but Wenger has confessed he may have to rotate the ex-England defender with Mikael Silvestre on a match-by-match basis. Further disruption would be caused by Silvestre's preference to play on the left of any pairing, meaning that the left-footed Thomas Vermaelen would be required to shift to the right. "Gallas has been out for a month and now he has had a recurrence of his calf injury," Wenger said. "He felt very well on Sunday and went out but he has gone backwards again. We are at the starting point with Gallas unfortunately. At the beginning, it was a minor injury. We don't know how long it will be but for Hull, for example, he has no chance. We were impatient with him, we pushed him and he wanted to get on as well; that is why, maybe, it has happened. But there is no obvious sign as to why it keeps coming back. He has no pain at all, then he goes for a little jog and it goes again."

Portsmouth boss Avram Grant has accused the club's directors of lying to him and breaking promises.

Steven Pienaar has played down speculation linking him with a move away from Goodison Park.

Everton loan star Landon Donovan has informed LA Galaxy of his desire to extend his stay at Goodison Park.

Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas will miss Tuesday's UEFA Champions League second-leg tie at home to Porto due to a hamstring injury. Fabregas had been rated doubtful for the last 16 encounter at Emirates Stadium after picking up the hamstring problem in Saturday's 3-1 win over Burnley. The midfielder was substituted towards the end of the first half at the weekend, having earlier put the Gunners ahead in the Premier League fixture. Arsene Wenger had admitted that he would be prepared to take a risk on the Spaniard's fitness providing there was no more than a 50 per cent chance of Fabregas' hamstring going again. However, after the 22-year-old sat out training on Monday, Wenger has scratched his skipper from his plans as Arsenal seek to overturn a 2-1 deficit. Wenger said: "We cannot even take a gamble, so he is not available. I was hoping (he could be on the bench) after the game because we were quite cautious with him and he was not adamant about coming off, yet he still damaged his hamstring and we cannot take a gamble on him. Ideally you want him to be there. We want to qualify and the absence of Cesc is not any excuse at all. We have enough players and a strong enough squad to still get round that and have a very good chance to qualify."

Ashley Young insists Aston Villa have the stomach for the fight in the closing stages of the season.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger thinks Nicklas Bendtner will benefit from his horror show against Burnley.

Lokomotiv Moscow plan a new move for Tottenham striker Roman Pavlyuchenko at the end of the season. Pavlyuchenko, who has found himself back in favour at White Hart Lane in recent weeks, was strongly linked with a return to Russia during the January transfer window. However, Spurs boss Harry Redknapp decided to keep hold of Pavlyuchenko and instead allowed Robbie Keane to leave for Celtic on loan. Lokomotiv remain on Pavlyuchenko's trail and are confident of finally landing their man after a long pursuit. Lokomotiv president Nikolay Naumov claims his side are the only club that would tempt Pavlyuchenko to move back to Russia. "We have spoken to Roman about this. He still wants to return to Russia and if he does return, he will only come to our team," Naumov told RIA Novosti. Naumov added: "In the winter the president of Tottenham was ready to sell him, and we discussed everything with Roman. But Redknapp didn't agree at all. He feared that if he didn't finish in the top four, and Pavlyuchenko was sold to us, the club management would say to him: 'Why did you sell a striker?'"

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez was disappointed with his team's attitude after their defeat to Wigan.

Portsmouth's Hassan Yebda hopes to avoid any complications in his race to be fit for the World Cup.

AC Milan star Ronaldinho hopes to continue his renaissance in form in order to eliminate Man Utd.

Roberto Martinez was understandably delighted after watching Wigan overcome Liverpool at the DW Stadium. The Latics, who entered the game boasting a torrid record against the big four, emerged victorious on Monday courtesy of a solitary strike from Hugo Rodallega. The memorable success helps to edge Martinez's men away from the Premier League drop zone, with a four-point cushion now established on the bottom three. While they are not able to breathe easy just yet, their latest outing does represent a positive step in the right direction. Martinez knows there is still a lot of hard work to be done before Wigan can consider themselves safe, but for now the Spaniard is happy to bask in the glory of a well-earned win. He said: "Today the things you needed to beat a top-four club were there. Character, responsibility, desire, the 'over my dead body' mentality. It was very pleasing but on top of that we scored a very good goal from open play against a very tough side and we limited Liverpool to very little. That is probably the biggest compliment of the night. They have a real threat with Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres, Dirk Kuyt, Yossi Benayoun and to keep them quiet we made the fans proud. This is one of the days to be very, very proud of Wigan. Today the players showed great composure, great understanding. If anything we looked dangerous on the break and with the right decision could have got the second goal. We need to carry on this standard till the end of the season."

Chelsea assistant manager Ray Wilkins is hoping the abuse of captain John Terry will now stop.

Manuel Almunia admits Arsenal will be a weaker side without talismanic skipper Cesc Fabregas. The Spanish playmaker picked up a hamstring injury in the 3-1 victory over Burnley on Saturday and will sit out Tuesday's crucial UEFA Champions League with Porto as a result. In Fabregas' absence, the captain's armband is set to pass to experienced shot-stopper Almunia. He is honoured to be handed such responsibility, but admits he would rather have been following Fabregas out of the tunnel. "Cesc is the spirit of this team - he is our captain, he is a fantastic player and every time he is not on the pitch we miss him a lot," said the Gunners keeper. "But all the players are convinced and 100 per cent committed to get through."

Rafa Benitez insists that Liverpool midfielder Alberto Aquilani will be picked when he thinks it is right. The Liverpool boss splashed out £20million on the Italian international, who was heralded as the big-name replacement for Xabi Alonso after he was sold to Real Madrid. Aquilani, though, has played less than 10 games for the Reds, mainly due to injury, but now fully fit he is still not holding down a regular first-team berth. "When you have been injured for a while, it's not easy for a player," said Benitez. "Then when you are available and the team isn't doing well, it makes it even more difficult. You have to decide if you can afford to give him two or three games when you know he's maybe not at the level he could be, so you could end up losing some of them. Alberto isn't stupid. He knows the priority now has to be the team and what's best for that. All he can do is keep training and making sure he is ready when we need him."

Alex McLeish has warned that he will need to spend big over the summer in order to enhance Birmingham. The Blues have already broken through the 40-point barrier in their first season back in the Premier League and are guaranteed to be strutting their stuff at that level again next term. McLeish's success has been achieved while working to a tight budget, with the Scot resisting the urge to eat into a reported £20million war chest in January. He hopes his stringent approach will see owner Carson Yeung dig deep in the summer, but admits the £20.5million loss suffered during the final year of the David Sullivan-David Gold regime could affect his plans. McLeish said: "Nobody has said last season's losses would affect things. We were talking about spending £20million in January and I only spent £6million of that. I would imagine that remaining £14million, plus whatever there is available to be spent this summer, means we should be reasonably healthy. But, if we want to remain a Premier League team and certainly get to where we are now, season after season, then you have got to keep up with the Joneses. Do I have to spend quite a bit to keep up with them? Yes, we need to improve again and enhance the squad." McLeish added: "In forward areas we need to add to the quality - and these areas are not cheap. You don't get cheap players coming in there. We have spent, I think overall, during the season, about £15million or £16million. But that was for about six or seven players. To get six or seven players for £16million this summer, I think will be well-nigh impossible, unless we can get four or five Bosmans."

Arsene Wenger believes the away goal scored in the Champions League tie against Porto will be crucial.