TOP 100 SOCCER SITES
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| Squad sheets: Sunderland v Everton Confidence could well be in short supply with Sunderland having managed just one win in their last nine league games and Everton one in 11. "I'm worried, we're at the wrong end of the table," says David Moyes, the visiting manager, whose injury ravaged side are two points above the relegation zone. Steve Bruce remains slightly brighter. "We're making progress," says Sunderland's manager. Ellis Short, the club's billionaire owner has stayed quietly supportive but will now be seeking clear evidence of an upturn. Louise TaylorVenue Stadium of LightTickets £10-27 (0871 911 1973)Last season Sunderland 0 Everton 2Referee M AtkinsonThis season's matches 14 Y54, R0, 3.86 cards per gamesportingbet odds Sunderland 13-10 Everton 9-5 Draw 11-5SunderlandSubs from Carson, Nosworthy, McCartney, Zenden, Malbranque, Campbell, Murphy, Healy, ReedDoubtful Malbranque (calf), Zenden (hamstring)Injured Ferdinand (ankle, 3 Jan), Gordon (broken arm, unknown)Suspended Turner (first of four)Form guide LLDLLWDisciplinary record Y39 R4Leading scorer Bent 10EvertonSubs from Nash, Osman, Vaughan, Duffy, Yakubu, Mustafi, Coleman, Agard, Baxter, Wallace, AkpanDoubtful Jô (knee)Injured Distin (hamstring, 28 Dec), Yobo (hamstring, 28 Dec), Rodwell (hamstring, 16 Jan), Neville (knee, 27 Jan), Anichebe (knee, 30 Jan), Jagielka (knee, Feb), Arteta (knee, unknown)Suspended NoneForm guide DDDLLLDisciplinary record Y27 R1Leading scorer Saha 10Match pointers• Sunderland have failed to score in their last four league meetings with Everton at the Stadium of Light• Everton have won nine and drawn one of their last 10 meetings with Sunderland in all competitions• Sunderland's biggest ever Premier League defeat (7-1) came against Everton in November 2007• Everton have conceded three goals in four of their last five away league matches• Sunderland's only wins in their last 11 league matches have come against Arsenal and LiverpoolSunderlandEvertonPremier Leagueguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Inter Milan's Chivu sustains fractured skull Inter Milan defender Christian Chivu will undergo surgery to fix a fractured skull suffered after a clash with Chievo Verona striker Sergio Pellissier on Wednesday. cbc.ca |
Liverpool director Tom Hicks Jnr sends fan abusive email Son of co-owner Tom Hicks and Liverpool director under fire for sending an obscene and abusive to a fan who inquired about the club's finances. telegraph.co.uk |
Arsenal have 16 games to hold their nerve A run of six wins in eight games has put Arsenal top in January for the first time in two years, almost despite themselvesThe neutral will feel that a winter run by Arsenal was what this title race needed. Too much of the attention has been on Liverpool's decline, Manchester United's debt and Manchester City's wealth. The campaign needed a pure footballing story: a revival for the claim that Arsenal would get there in the end, even if Arsène Wenger went geriatric trying.Two-nil down, then 4-2 winners. Top in January for the first time in two years. Here in the house of eternal promise they saw the future pay an early visit as ÂChelsea were knocked off their plinth on goals scored. These Arsenal Âgraduates sense the opportunity to exploit Âinstability and Âvulnerability elsewhere in the league. They have no excuse to deviate from the simple task of trying to play the best Âfootball in England. In this year more than any, sustained brilliance will carry a team past the faltering and the insecure. The prize for Wenger's men is a first English championship since 2004.Here in north London they found that seizing a chance is sometimes harder than not having one at all. Arsenal's unlikely return to the No1 spot would, Wenger said, have "psychological meaning" for the other contenders. But the thought of it had a mental impact on his own players too as the dark horses succumbed to dark thoughts.The concession of two first-half goals to a Bolton Wanderers side they had beaten comfortably four days earlier on northern turf showed that the dynamic has changed in Highbury and Islington. To be "written off" had its advantages. It removed the burden of expectation that was apparent when Arsenal made such a fretful start to this game and allowed Owen Coyle to put early gloss on his managerial move from Burnley to Bolton.But led by their redoubtable captain, Cesc Fábregas, who was about 18 years old at birth, Arsenal surged back into the Âreckoning with a curling first-half strike from Tomas Rosicky and then a ÂFábregas equaliser after the home side had showed they are not all poetry and pretty Âpatterns. The stamp by William Gallas on the standing ankle of Mark Davies escaped the attention of the referee, Alan Wiley, but put the Bolton midfielder on a stretcher. Gallas can expect to see endless replays of this unsavoury challenge and Wiley should be asked to explain why he waved play on for Fábregas to score.The main animating force of Arsenal's play was the desire not to let a chance go floating by. Wenger would not have wanted to spend the rest of the evening explaining that the class of 2010 were just too callow to beat a relegation-threatened opponent twice in four days. His half-time team talk would have been of the non-professorial variety. Sure enough, Arsenal took the lead through Thomas Vermaelen and then grabbed the fourth goal they needed to depose Chelsea courtesy of Andrey Arshavin.After their 3-0 thumping at home to Carlo Ancelotti's team at the end of November, Arsenal had demanded time and space to continue on the long path to maturity. The Champions League seemed their only major target as another title challenge fell down the well of youth and inexperience. But like the two Âunder-worked thespians in Withnail and I who went on holiday "by mistake", the Gunners have surged past Chelsea and United without really planning it, with a run of seven wins in nine games.Wenger's array of ball-sprayers were last No1 back in August after a 6-1 win at ÂEverton and a 4-1 demolition of Portsmouth. To lead the title race before 1 September hardly registers, though, and after defeats by the two Manchester clubs they dropped to ninth. So resounding was Chelsea's conquest in this stadium that another set of domestic hopes were packed away as Wenger began a new round of lectures on patience and faith."Everyone wrote us off, but we are back in it," he said. That sent tremors through his squad. But not for long. Fábregas, the team's top scorer with 14, has added Âcomposure in front of goal to his formidable repertoire. Arshavin is forever primed to inflict hurt and the absence of Robin van Persie has been concealed by mass artistry in midfield.Just when Wenger had persuaded us that the league title is not a life-defining obsession (or that any time would do), tomorrow showed up with snow on its boots. Only 16 games left for their nerve to hold.ArsenalPremier LeagueBolton WanderersOwen CoyleArsène WengerPaul Haywardguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Goal: New Coach Gives Red Bulls Hope Personnel changes for the Red Bulls have players and management alike excited about the team’s upcoming season. feeds.nytimes.com |