Pakistan Information & News

Hugo Rodellega

Wigan are believed to be paying in the region of £4.5million for Rodallega and he is set to become Bruce’s first signing of the January transfer window if he wins a work permit.

Chelsea

At least Avram Grant condescended to march up four flights of Goodison stairs to throw a tantrum. His response to a challenging period in the perennially challenging job of managing Chelsea, eight months ago, was to sit before the press here and refuse to talk.

Luiz Felipe Scolari failed to materialise at all last night, letting it be known through his head of media, Steve Atkins, that he would not be speaking as he had “a number of issues with a number of the decisions throughout the game.” The entire Chelsea management team, Atkins declared, “feel it better that they don’t say anything rather than cause trouble.”

The prime point of contention was the 35th-minute dismissal of Scolari’s captain, John Terry, and though resisting temptation to publicly criticise referee Phil Dowd is what the Respect campaign is supposed to be about, the peremptory way the club refused to enter any discussion on another tame display – this latest failure to take over at the top of the table means their points tally is now six in five games – pretty much reflected the way Chelsea had conducted themselves all night.

Terry’s dismissal came out of the blue, at a time when Chelsea seemed to have shown the temperament to maintain poise among some fairly rudimentary challenges from Phil Neville and Tim Cahill. But his tackle was a dire one, he and Leon Osman thundering towards each other to contest a ball near the halfway line on 35 minutes and Terry lunging in with his right boot. He caught the Everton midfielder at shin height and left him crumpled on the pitch with an ankle injury which makes him a doubt for the trip to Middlesbrough on Boxing Day. Dowd delayed, first taking directions from his linesman, but Terry’s fate was in little doubt from the moment he made the challenge. “I’ve not seen the sending off yet, but my first reaction was [that] it was reckless,” said Moyes, who was a few yards away when the tackle was made. “In my day [you] would have enjoyed a tackle like that but you [can't] now.”

The sending off, the third of Terry’s career, asks more questions of the temperament of an individual who does not conduct himself like an England captain on occasions and was considerably worse than the straight red, later rescinded on appeal, which he earned at Manchester City on 13 September. The club had not decided whether to appeal it last night and Terry looks likely to miss the games against West Bromwich, Fulham and Southend. But if and when Scolari comes around from his sense of bitter indignation it should his players’ response to the dismissal which alarms him most.

The initial protestations were long and loud, the indignation all the greater when Cahill jumped with his arms up into a challenge on Michael Ballack two minutes after Terry’s departure. When Dowd correctly desisted from booking Cahill, then awarded the Australian a soft free kick for Alex’s challenge on the edge of the Chelsea box, all hell let loose. First Frank Lampard, then Ashley Cole were booked for their unsavoury protests. Michael Ballack later joined them in the book, demanding of the referee that an Everton wall move back. Dowd marched out the ten paces to prove his point. Chelsea might have left Merseyside playing the high and mighty but Dowd had a good night.

Of course, all concerned might have reacted differently had Chelsea looked anything but a dislocated side. Their only win in the last six was against West Bromwich and they were unable to put Everton keeper Tim Howard under any pressure in the second half. Scolari looked like a man shuffling his pack and not finding any aces, starting the match with Nicolas Anelka, swapping to Didier Drogba at half-time and finding one as undynamic as the other.

Everton’s resources could barely have been lesser. Moyes currently has no fit strikers to speak of at all. He started with Cahill up front for a second week and it showed. Even by Moyes’ own admission, Everton’s routes through to goal were limited. “We tried to go around them because we couldn’t go through the middle of the park,” he said. “We got a lot of crosses in from the edge of the box. If anything we should have got to the byline more.”

The two accurate crosses Osman put up in the first half found tame headers from Cahill and the abundant mop of Marouane Fellaini and bore Moyes’ modesty out.

Chelsea offered minimal threat of their own, though. Their best chance was their first, Ashley Cole unleashing a punishing 20-yard shot only two minutes in after Hibbert allowed him a fraction too much time, which Tim Howard pushed over his bar. Everton lost Joseph Yobo to a hamstring injury, which makes him a doubt for Boxing Day too, but as the evening wore on Goodison justifiably sensed an upset.

Two Hibbert crosses had brought the best from Cech when seven minutes from time Fellaini crossed and Pienaar, who had stepped over the ball to allow Osman to shoot, followed the effort in to squeeze the ball home. He was offside and Cech had both hands on the ball when he forced it in the net and Dowd rightly called in Chelsea’s favour. It was with a mild sense of relief that Chelsea left the field, still one point behind Liverpool in the title race that no-one appears to want to lead.

Everton (4-4-1-1): Howard; Hibbert, Yobo (Baines, 61), Jagielka, Lescott; Osman, Neville, Arteta, Pienaar; Fellaini; Cahill. Substitutes not used: Nash (gk), Van der Meyde, Rodwell, Jutkiewicz, Gosling, Kissock.

Chelsea (4-1-4-1): Cech; Bosingwa, Alex, Terry, A Cole; Mikel; J Cole (Ivanovic, h-t), Ballack, Lampard, Deco (Bridge, 87); Anelka (Drogba, h-t). Substitutes not used: Malouda, Kalou, Cudicini (gk), Belletti.

Liverpool Vs Arsenal

LONDON —  Robbie Keane’s equalizer gave Premier League leader Liverpool a 1-1 draw at Arsenal on Sunday, with the Gunners playing short-handed after Emmanuel Adebayor’s 63rd-minute red card.

Keane collected a long ball to drive a shot into the roof of the Arsenal net in the 42nd minute. Robin van Persie had scored a quality solo goal for the Gunners in the 24th.

The draw gives Liverpool 39 points from 18 games, but second-place Chelsea (37 from 17 matches) can go on top by winning at Everton on Monday.

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez was not at the game because he is recovering from surgery to remove kidney stones. His assistant, Sammy Lee, said the Spaniard was able to relay messages to the bench.

Liverpool failed to take advantage of Arsenal playing the last 27 minutes with 10 men after Adebayor was sent off.

“I believe that staying with 11 men we would have won the game,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. “I think it was the wrong decision. I would love to have sendings off like that at home when we get kicked off the park. I believe that if Adebayor has to go off, then Keane has to go off in the first minute (for a foul on Gael Clichy).

Manchester City tumbled to 2-1 at last place West Bromwich Albion and Tottenham went down 2-1 at Newcastle in Sunday’s other games.

Roman Bednar headed home Albion’s winner in the third minute of injury time. Damien Duff scored Newcastle’s clincher in the final minute to push the Magpies up to 12th and leave Spurs down in 16th place.

Man City’s loss means the richest team in the Premier League after being bought out by business investors from Abu Dhabi, remains at 18th in the relegation zone.

Defending champion Manchester United missed this round of games because it was in Japan winning the Club World Cup. Wayne Rooney scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory over Ecuador’s Liga de Quito in Yokohama.

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) _ Georgios Samaras, Koki Mizuno and Scott McDonald scored second-half goals in Celtic’s 3-0 victory at Falkirk to keep the winner four points clear at the top of the Scottish league.

Gordon Strachan’s team now has 47 points from 19 games and second-place Rangers have 43, which means Celtic will keep the lead whatever the result when they meet next weekend.

MAN UNTD HERO

MANCHESTER: Carlos Tevez scored four times to lead Manchester United into the Carling Cup semi-finals.

Tevez headed in from close-range and then set up Nani to fire home, before Benni McCarthy’s shot pulled one back.

Tevez struck next from the spot after he was fouled by Martin Olsson, before tapping in another to seal his treble.

McCarthy set up Matt Derbyshire to slot in and McCarthy struck himself from four yards out, before Tevez hammered in a cracker to seal it in injury time.

Tevez’s magnificent display is sure to cause selection problems for boss Sir Alex Ferguson, who has left him on the bench for much of the season in the league.

As for Blackburn, their poor performance will not ease the pressure on under-fire manager Paul Ince, who has seen his sideslip into the Premier League drop zone in recent weeks.

United were rampant and Tevez completed his first hat trick in a United shirt with a quite wonderful team goal after 53 minutes.

Giggs was the architect of the move with a stunning pass to Anderson, who passed up the chance to score his first United goal to set up Tevez to tap into an empty net.

Ferguson gave Paul Scholes a run out, the midfielder’s first since picking up a knee injury on 30 September, and he twice shot wide.

Rovers did get on the scoresheet again as Derbyshire collected McCarthy’s pass to score and moments later Derbyshire returned the favour for McCarthy to make it 4-3.

But Tevez rifled in another belter from the edge of the box and it was the Argentine who deservedly secured United’s place in Saturday’s semi-finals draw alongside Tottenham, Burnley and Derby County.

Ronaldo: Baloon d

24. Edwin van der Sar (Netherlands, Manchester United), Ruud van Nistelrooy (Netherlands, Real Madrid), 2 pts.

Wayne Rooney

Wayne Rooney was delighted after he scored the only goal to give Manchester United a vital 1-0 derby win over City.

The England striker put the Red Devils in front on 42 minutes before Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off in the 68th minute but the Blues could not capitalise.

The goal was Rooney’s 100th club career goal but he was more concerned with helping his team earn a valuable win which takes them to within five points of leaders Chelsea with a game in hand.

He told the club’s official website: “It was a massive win. Not necessarily because it was against Manchester City, but because three points are vital, especially with Chelsea and Liverpool playing after us.

“We simply had to win and I thought we produced a good performance.”

He believed United held their own after Ronaldo had been sent off.

Christiana Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo limped out of Villa Park on Saturday evening after one of the more infuriating performances of his Manchester United career and is a doubt for tomorrow night’s Champions League tie away to Villarreal. As Ronaldo hobbled along the touchline, following his 82nd-minute substitution, he involved himself in a spat with supporters who were, remorselessly, barracking him. Ronaldo responded by pointing to the No 7 on his shorts and angrily waving his figure in the air to indicate he was “number one” – presumably in reference to his expected inauguration as Fifa’s World Player of the Year.

Not on this display he wasn’t. Although the game’s major issues were United’s failure to capitalise on Chelsea and Liverpool dropping points; Villa’s march into the top four and, above all, Martin O’Neill’s accusation that the referee, Chris Foy, lacked the courage to send off Nemanja Vidic, after the United defender fouled Gabriel Agbonlahor, Ronaldo was at best quixotic, at worst uninterested. It was as if a chilly November on the West Midlands was beneath him.

But first Vidic’s challenge on Agbonlahor. As England’s latest international player appeared to have rounded the defender, he was pulled back and grappled before, finally, Vidic brought him down just inside the area. He probably also took the ball first in that instance but O’Neill’s argument was that if it was not a penalty then it was certainly a sending-off as Vidic, the last man, had denied Agbonlahor a goalscoring chance.

“It was a foul and a sending-off offence,” O’Neill maintained. “The major decision of the game. It was too big a decision for him [Foy]? The referee thought of the consequences and decided not to give it. It doesn’t matter if it was a penalty kick or not even though I think it was.”

Interestingly, Vidic agreed that he had impeded Agbonlahor but, obviously, refused to concur that it was a penalty. “The referee could have given the foul 30 yards from goal, but once we reached the box I touched the ball and I’m sure it wasn’t a penalty,” he said. If Villa felt aggrieved over that, with their frustrated manager sailing close to the window in terms of the Football Association’s Respect campaign, then United will ponder on Ronaldo’s contribution.

In the sixth minute he was challenged by Steve Sidwell and writhed around theatrically, he then had a fierce shot pushed away by Brad Friedel, gestured to the crowd after being penalised for fouling Gareth Barry and – three times – lay on the ground long after play had continued after being tackled. The final challenge, by Stiliyan Petrov, led to his withdrawal, but long before then he had lost interest, emerging for the second half with his sleeves pulled down over his hands looking for all the world that this was the last place on earth he wanted to be. “His leg’s in a mess, to be honest with you,” Sir Alex Ferguson later said. “He’ll be doubtful for Tuesday, I’m sure of that.”

Medical bulletins from United’s manager are not to be trusted – Rio Ferdinand played despite being described as a “major doubt” – but with Dimitar Berbatov also absent and other injuries biting and with Wayne Rooney not at his best and missing the game’s best chance by blasting over, leaving him stranded on 99 club goals, it was a frustrating encounter.

Not that Villa cared. Having beaten Arsenal they pressed and harried and it was clear that O’Neill did not want a repeat of last season’s humiliation and a prolongation of United’s ridiculous supremacy at Villa Park which had run to 11 league games.

There’s grit there. With a mix of self-deprecation and deflection, O’Neill continues to dance around the subject of whether or not Villa can finish in the top four – Ferguson stated they could – but defender Luke Young betrayed his manager’s ambition.

“The manager is desperate to break into the top four. He’s made that clear to us,” he said.

Villa too, had chances. Ashley Young, who had brilliantly tracked back to tackle Park Ji-Sung , also narrowly failed to meet James Milner’s cross and although Ferdinand had a point in saying United had done most of the attacking – they had 62 per cent of possession – he was wrong to claim “we were the only team out there trying to score” especially after Villa stepped things up in the second half. It was then that United needed Ronaldo most. Unfortunately, he decided to absent himself.

Aston Villa (4-1-4-1): Friedel; Reo-Coker, Laursen, Davies, L Young; Petrov; Milner, Sidwell (Carew, 81), Barry, A Young; Agbonlahor. Substitutes not used: Guzan (gk), Harewood, Knight, Salifou, Shorey, Gardner.

Manchester United (4-4-2): Van der Sar; O’Shea, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra; Park, Carrick, Giggs, Ronaldo (Anderson, 82); Tevez (Nani, 71), Rooney. Substitutes not used: Kuszczak (gk), Wellbeck, Rafael, Evans, Gibson.

William Gollas

Arsenal have yet to confirm the news but there is speculation that goalkeeper Manuel Almunia will lead out the side against City.

Lincolin City Jackson

Lincoln City boss Peter Jackson has reopened the rift with Kettering Town in the build-up to the FA Cup first round replay between the two sides by insisting Poppies chairman Imraan Ladak apologises to him.

Earlier this month Ladak criticised the Red Imps after Jackson had claimed some of his black members of staff were racially abused by a supporter at Rockingham Road.

Ladak also launched a fierce assault on Jackson’s touchline behaviour in the first round clash which have prompted Lincoln to seek legal advice.

The City boss told the Lincolnshire Echo: “I was only being honest with what I saw and, faced with the situation, I’d act in exactly the same way again.

“A lot has been made of it and their chairman blew it all out of proportion with what he said. I might not see him (Ladak) after the game, but it’s up to him to find me and apologise to my face.

“I was driving home last week and he rang to give me a half-hearted apology - if you can call it that. But more importantly, my club deserves an apology and the fans deserve an apology.”

Steven Gerrard

Steven Gerrard has been ruled out of England’s friendly with Germany on Wednesday because of a torn leg muscle.  The Liverpool midfielder picked up the injury in Saturday’s 2-0 win at Bolton and will be out for seven to 10 days.

Manchester United pair Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand are missing with calf and back injuries, respectively, while captain John Terry is also a doubt.

Goalkeeper Joe Hart is out with an ankle injury and is replaced by former England number one Paul Robinson.

Manchester City’s Hart was hurt after falling awkwardly as Hull striker Daniel Cousin scored during Sunday’s 2-2 draw at the KC Stadium. He will be sidelined for up to four weeks.

Blackburn’s Robinson, who has 41 caps, joins fellow keepers David James of Portsmouth and West Brom’s Scott Carson.

Gerrard and Terry joined up with the England team on Sunday and will be assessed by medical staff on Monday.

England vice-captain Gerrard played the full 90 minutes at the Reebok Stadium, but a Liverpool spokesman said: “A scan has confirmed a tear in the adductor magnus muscle in his right leg, and he is expected to be out between seven to 10 days.”

Terry, who picked up his injury during the Blues’ 3-0 win at West Brom on Saturday could yet feature, but Chelsea defender Michael Mancienne - currently on loan at Wolves - was a surprise inclusion in Fabio Capello’s squad.

Mancienne told the Wolves website: “It’s a great honour. I was expecting to join up with the under-21s and my head was focused on that, but this is obviously great news.

“It’s a great game to be picked for and just to be in and around the squad will be superb.”

There was no place, however, in Capello’s line-up for former skipper David Beckham - one cap away from equalling Bobby Moore’s tally of 108 caps.

The 33-year-old LA Galaxy midfielder has not played since the Major League Soccer season finished on 26 October.

Capello has made it clear he will only pick players who are playing regularly, and Beckham will be inactive until he joins Italian side AC Milan on loan in January.

Ferdinand and Rooney both missed Manchester United’s 5-0 drubbing of Stoke and leave Capello with shortages in defence and attack.

Mancienne, who is yet to play for the Chelsea first team, joins uncapped Aston Villa duo Curtis Davies, 23 and Gabriel Agbonlahor, 22, in a youthful England setup.

Martin O’Neill’s teams have four representatives in all, with Ashley Young and Gareth Barry completing the Villa quartet.

Chelsea team-mates Ashley and Joe Cole are missing with hamstring injuries, Manchester United defender Wes Brown is also missing as is Wigan striker Emile Heskey.

Despite the injuries to Heskey and Rooney, Capello has opted not to recall striker Michael Owen, who scored for Newcastle in their draw with Wigan on Saturday.

However, Spurs striker Bent, revitalised under new boss Harry Redknapp, earns a recall, while Manchester City’s Joe Hart and Micah Richards also return.

The Manchester City pair, team-mate Shaun Wright-Phillips, plus Joleon Lescott and Stewart Downing must all come through Premier League fixtures for their clubs on Sunday first.

Capello said he will take a careful look at the youngsters in his new-look England squad in the international friendly at the Olympic Stadium, home of Hertha Berlin.

“Our opponents Germany are always a very strong team, and when they play at ho Steven Gerrard has been ruled out of England’s friendly with Germany on Wednesday because of a torn leg muscle.

The Liverpool midfielder picked up the injury in Saturday’s 2-0 win at Bolton and will be out for seven to 10 days.

Manchester United pair Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand are missing with calf and back injuries, respectively, while captain John Terry is also a doubt.

Goalkeeper Joe Hart is out with an ankle injury and is replaced by former England number one Paul Robinson.

Manchester City’s Hart was hurt after falling awkwardly as Hull striker Daniel Cousin scored during Sunday’s 2-2 draw at the KC Stadium. He will be sidelined for up to four weeks.

Blackburn’s Robinson, who has 41 caps, joins fellow keepers David James of Portsmouth and West Brom’s Scott Carson.

Gerrard and Terry joined up with the England team on Sunday and will be assessed by medical staff on Monday.

England vice-captain Gerrard played the full 90 minutes at the Reebok Stadium, but a Liverpool spokesman said: “A scan has confirmed a tear in the adductor magnus muscle in his right leg, and he is expected to be out between seven to 10 days.”

Terry, who picked up his injury during the Blues’ 3-0 win at West Brom on Saturday could yet feature, but Chelsea defender Michael Mancienne - currently on loan at Wolves - was a surprise inclusion in Fabio Capello’s squad.

Mancienne told the Wolves website: “It’s a great honour. I was expecting to join up with the under-21s and my head was focused on that, but this is obviously great news.

“It’s a great game to be picked for and just to be in and around the squad will be superb.”

There was no place, however, in Capello’s line-up for former skipper David Beckham - one cap away from equalling Bobby Moore’s tally of 108 caps.

The 33-year-old LA Galaxy midfielder has not played since the Major League Soccer season finished on 26 October.

Capello has made it clear he will only pick players who are playing regularly, and Beckham will be inactive until he joins Italian side AC Milan on loan in January.

Ferdinand and Rooney both missed Manchester United’s 5-0 drubbing of Stoke and leave Capello with shortages in defence and attack.

Mancienne, who is yet to play for the Chelsea first team, joins uncapped Aston Villa duo Curtis Davies, 23 and Gabriel Agbonlahor, 22, in a youthful England setup.

Martin O’Neill’s teams have four representatives in all, with Ashley Young and Gareth Barry completing the Villa quartet.

Chelsea team-mates Ashley and Joe Cole are missing with hamstring injuries, Manchester United defender Wes Brown is also missing as is Wigan striker Emile Heskey.

Despite the injuries to Heskey and Rooney, Capello has opted not to recall striker Michael Owen, who scored for Newcastle in their draw with Wigan on Saturday.

However, Spurs striker Bent, revitalised under new boss Harry Redknapp, earns a recall, while Manchester City’s Joe Hart and Micah Richards also return.

The Manchester City pair, team-mate Shaun Wright-Phillips, plus Joleon Lescott and Stewart Downing must all come through Premier League fixtures for their clubs on Sunday first.

Capello said he will take a careful look at the youngsters in his new-look England squad in the international friendly at the Olympic Stadium, home of Hertha Berlin.

“Our opponents Germany are always a very strong team, and when they play at home even more so,” he said.

“Everyone has told me that it is not a friendly game against Germany, but I think this will be a friendly game. We will do some experiments and after this game I will know better some different players.”

me even more so,” he said.

“Everyone has told me that it is not a friendly game against Germany, but I think this will be a friendly game. We will do some experiments and after this game I will know better some different players.”