| Red Sox Owners Pledge to Remove Liverpool's Debt The owners of the Boston Red Sox got approval from Liverpool's board Wednesday to buy the storied but struggling Premier League club, pledging to wipe out the team's debts if their bid withstands a court challenge. feeds.nytimes.com |
Arsenal buoyed by imminent return of Cesc Fábregas and Theo Walcott • Fabregas expected to play after Euro 2012 qualifiers• Walcott, Manuel Almunia and Nicklas Bendtner also due backArsenal are set to be boosted by the return of their fit-again captain Cesc Fábregas after the international break, while the England forward Theo Walcott may also be available for the trip to Manchester City in two weeks' time. The pair are among a number of players expected to return to full fitness for Arsène Wenger's side in the near future.Fábregas has not featured since injuring a hamstring when scoring a bizarre goal at Sunderland on 18 September, while Walcott's fine early season form was halted by a badly sprained ankle during England's Euro 2012 qualifier win in Switzerland at the start of September. However, the Spain midfielder Fábregas has now declared himself fit, although he will not be involved in Spain's games against Lithuania or Scotland. Walcott is also making good progress but will not rush his recovery, with the trip to Eastlands on 24 October perhaps a more realistic target than when Birmingham visit the Emirates Stadium in the first match following the internationals.The goalkeeper Manuel Almunia is also expected to have recovered from the elbow injury which forced him out of the last two matches, while the Denmark forward Nicklas Bendtner, who has not played this season because of a niggling groin problem after the World Cup, hopes to be back in contention by the end of the month and in the "best shape ever".Bendtner said: "Now I am ready [to train]. Some of the boys have time off because of their internationals, but otherwise I train together with the other first-team players at Arsenal and I have enjoyed myself so much. I have no pain in the groin and have trained so hard physically that maybe I am in my best shape ever."I need only a couple of reserve team matches to be quite sharp in football terms. It is my hope that I can be with the first team in 14 days."The full-back Kieran Gibbs, who was suffering from a calf injury, is also set to return after missing the England Under-21s European Championship play-off against Romania, but Wenger admits that Thomas Vermaelen's achilles injury suffered on the last international break is proving slow to heal.The Holland striker Robin van Persie is expected to be available again by the start of November following an ankle injury, while the Wales midfielder Aaron Ramsey should also be back well ahead of the Christmas programme nine months after breaking his leg against Stoke.With Arsenal's forward line hit by injury, Marouane Chamakh has been handed an extended run in the side. The Morocco striker has settled quickly following a free-transfer summer move from Bordeaux, scoring four goals so far. But the 26-year-old feels there is more to come. He told Sky Sports: "I am extremely happy with my choice and I am surprised how well it has started for me. I have settled very well on and off the pitch and I have been made very welcome by everyone at the club. I have a margin of progress to make and I think Arsène can make me a better player."I feel my game is well suited to English football and all I want to do is help Arsenal. English football is much more athletic and goes much quicker and the supporters are very impressive."ArsenalCesc FábregasTheo WalcottPremier LeagueArsène Wengerguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Man U push on, Tottenham fall Manchester United, without Wayne Rooney, defeat Bursaspor 1-0 while Inter Milan beat Tottenham Hotspur in a seven-goal thriller. foxsports.com.au |
Remembering the top second-tier teams There is a heady list of contenders, ranging from Alf Ramsey's Ipswich through to 02-03 Pompey, via Leeds and LiverpoolThese are heady times for Queen's Park Rangers, the Championship's current early-season hare. A second consecutive goalless draw, the latest against Swansea City on Tuesday night, might have stilled their boisterous momentum; but if Neil Warnock's team can avoid defeat at Bristol City on Friday night they will have equalled a club record of 13 matches unbeaten from the start of the season.The larger picture is even more feverishly hopeful. Lakshmi Mittal, the world's fifth richest man, owns 20% of the club. With the likelihood of money to spend in January should they remain in the running for promotion to the Premier League, there has even been some cautious talk about Rangers finding themselves transformed before long into one of the strongest teams to have emerged at this level for some time.This may be a little premature. Against Norwich on Saturday, Rangers looked solid and sprightly rather than captivating, lacking in the excess of attacking options that marks out the best teams. Warnock still sounds a little nonplussed by the efforts of his main centre forward, Heidar Helguson. And while much has been made of Adel Taarabt's subtle talents, the Moroccan seems often to decorate games rather than dominating. Rangers may – technically - be the richest club in the history of English football's second tier. But they are still some way short, as yet, of registering as one of the best at this level.There is a heady list of contenders for that particular title. Any attempt to identify the greatest second-tier teams is fraught with handicaps, requiring as it does a comparison between disparate eras and also an awareness of the temporary nature of these things: success can often lead to the dismantling, or at least, derailing of even the finest promoted team. A flush of second-tier success can often be tarnished by travails at the higher level. But it is still worth celebrating in its own right.In recent times the Portsmouth team of 2002-03 stands out. Inspired by an Indian summering Paul Merson, Harry Redknapp's team went top of the table in the autumn and stayed there for the rest of the season. Two years earlier Fulham, in the first flowering of their brief Manchester-United-of-The-South period had topped 100 points by the end of the season, with Louis Saha scoring 27 times.Kevin Keegan's title-winning team of 1992-93 is worth a mention, as is, from a personnel point of view, the promotion-winning Newcastle United of 1983-84, who could field Chris Waddle, Peter Beardsley and Keegan himself, soon to depart his playing career via post-match helicopter.Howard Wilkinson's Leeds United demand consideration by their achievements alone: champions of the second tier in 1990, Leeds won the last Football League top tier title two years later with pretty much the same group of players. The 1981 West Ham United champion team was a delight: Billy Bonds, Alan Devonshire, Paul Goddard and Trevor Brooking had also played a part in winning the FA Cup from the second division the previous year.Beyond that, things become a little fuzzed by the passing of time. There are those who will be able to make a case for Bill Shankly's Liverpool or Don Revie's Leeds, both of whom topped the second tier in the early 1960s.My own preference, based solely on their enduring legend, would be for Alf Ramsey's Ipswich Town, champions of the Second Division in 1961 and then champions of the top tier a season later fielding an almost identical team. Under Ramsey, Ipswich came pretty much from nowhere, propelled by the benevolent chairmanship of the eccentric John Cobbold and inspired by Ramsey's innovative tactics that involved deploying the one-paced, one-footed but sublimely talented inside forward Jimmy Leadbetter in an unusual roving attacking role.There are, no doubt, many unforgivable omissions in this list. The only thing that seems certain is that – club records and sub-continental fortunes aside – the current QPR team has some illustrious forbears to live up to in its pursuit, not just of promotion, but of extreme second-tier excellence.QPRBarney Ronayguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Stretford End congregation has little sympathy for their prodigal son Wayne Rooney Old Trafford congregation have already begun to turn on their former idol after his contract dispute. telegraph.co.uk |