London. Manchester City will aim to turn the pressure back on their title rivals on Saturday by re-establishing their slender lead at the top of the Premier League table with victory over Fulham.
City have endured a wobbly start to 2012, exiting both domestic cup competitions while suffering defeats against Sunderland and Everton to leave Roberto Mancini’s side level on points with second placed Manchester United.
But with United facing a potentially tricky visit to Chelsea on Sunday, and third placed Tottenham travelling to Liverpool on Monday, City could well finish the latest round of fixtures with their noses back in front.
A dejected Mancini blamed himself for City’s latest setback, a surprising 1-0 reverse at Everton on Tuesday which allowed United to go level on points with their bitter cross-town rivals.
Mancini said he had made “several mistakes” in the build-up to the Everton game which would not be repeated as City aim to preserve their remarkable 100 percent home record against the Cottagers.
“I acknowledge my mistake. It is important for me to know this because, like this, I can’t do the same mistakes in the next game,” said Mancini, who nevertheless insisted City were still in the driving seat.
“We are on the top again. We have 15 games. It is important next Saturday we win the game at home. We have time.”
United meanwhile could welcome back Wayne Rooney, Nani and Ashley Young this weekend for their trip to Stamford Bridge, a venue that has been anything but a happy hunting ground for Sir Alex Ferguson’s side in recent seasons.
Although United defeated Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in last season’s Champions League quarter-finals, Ferguson is still riled by the memory of his team’s recent league meetings at the venue.
Last season a controversial Frank Lampard penalty gave Chelsea a 2-1 win while in 2010 United were left seething by a John Terry winner that Ferguson believed should have been disallowed.
“Games at Chelsea in the last few years have been tough and we’ve had terrible luck there which has caused us disappointing results,” Ferguson said.
The United manager has challenged his players to respond to a series of demanding away fixtures as they bid to overhaul City.
“We’ve done very well away from home this season and we need to be good from now on,” Ferguson said.
“We’ve got some really important away games in the run-in — Chelsea, Tottenham and City. They’re going to be crucial games.
“The players know what they need to do. They know their responsibilities and the standard and expectation at the club, and they have to carry those things with them when they go into games.”
Liverpool meanwhile will look to maintain their impressive recent run of results against Spurs at Anfield on Monday, where victory for the Reds would edge them ever closer to the Champions League qualifying places.
The Merseysiders have responded strongly since being lashed by manager Kenny Dalglish following a tame defeat at Bolton last month, squeezing past Manchester City to reach the League Cup final while knocking Manchester United out of the FA Cup last weekend.
A comprehensive 3-0 win at Wolves on Tuesday was the perfect preparation for the visit of third-placed Tottenham, which is expected to see Luis Suarez make his return from an eight-match ban for racist abuse.
Liverpool midfielder Jay Spearing said confidence was sky high at Anfield following their sequence of victories.
“The results we’ve had have brought the team closer together,” Spearing said. “We’ve always been a close-knit group and are starting to show that on the pitch. It was just going to take some time before it started showing.”
Fixtures (1500 GMT unless stated)
Saturday
Arsenal v Blackburn (1300), Norwich v Bolton, QPR v Wolves, Stoke v Sunderland, West Brom v Swansea, Wigan v Everton, Man City v Fulham (1730)
Sunday
Newcastle v Aston Villa (1330) Chelsea v Manchester United (1600)
Monday
Liverpool v Tottenham (2000)
English Premier League table ahead of this weekend’s matches (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points):
Man City 23 17 3 3 60 19 54
Man Utd 23 17 3 3 56 21 54
Tottenham 23 15 4 4 44 25 49
Chelsea 23 12 6 5 41 26 42
Newcastle 23 11 6 6 34 30 39
Liverpool 23 10 8 5 28 21 38
Arsenal 23 11 4 8 39 33 37
Sunderland 23 8 6 9 32 24 30
Stoke 23 8 6 9 23 35 30
Everton 23 8 5 10 23 26 29
Norwich 23 7 8 8 32 39 29
Aston Villa 23 6 10 7 28 31 28
Fulham 23 6 9 8 29 32 27
Swansea 23 6 9 8 24 28 27
West Brom 23 7 5 11 23 32 26
QPR 23 5 6 12 24 39 21
Bolton 23 6 2 15 28 47 20
Blackburn 23 4 6 13 33 47 18
Wolverhampton 23 4 6 13 25 43 18
Wigan 23 3 6 14 20 48 15
Agence France-Presse
Article source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/sports/football-manchester-city-aim-to-steal-march-on-rivals/495545
LONDON, Feb 2 (Reuters) – Tottenham Hotspur completed
the signing of New Zealand defender Ryan Nelsen on Thursday, the
Premier League club said.
The 34-year-old was released from his contract with
Blackburn Rovers on Tuesday, having missed most of the season
with a knee injury.
Nelsen, who made more than 150 appearances for Blackburn and
captained his country at the 2010 World Cup finals, will provide
defensive cover for Tottenham who loaned Sebastien Bassong to
Wolverhampton Wanderers on Tuesday.
Tottenham, who are third in the Premier League, have Younes
Kaboul, Ledley King, Michael Dawson and Willam Gallas as their
senior central defenders, although King is often unable to train
because of a knee condition.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
Article source: http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=reu-englandtottenham
Note: This review does not include transfers/signings made during the month
Tottenham Hotspur are within five points of league leaders Manchester City on February 1. This particular Spurs fan isn’t doing much complaining. Sure, Tottenham could have done better during the middle of January. We learned over the past few weeks that no team is perfect, and Spurs did well to bounce back from what could have been the most devastating defeat of the campaign.
2012 Tottenham Hotspur January review: Best game
Not all of the 2-0 win over Everton on January 11 was enjoyable to watch. Both goals of the contest were memorable, and the second half strike from Benoit Assou-Ekotto, one buried from 30 yards out, was a goal of the year candidate. Spurs entered the new year as a team toying with title contention, and this victory put them within one weekend of the top two. Granted, that didn’t last for long, but Tottenham supporters were on top of the world that Wednesday evening.
2012 Tottenham Hotspur January review: Worst result
The loss to City haunts to this day, and not just because it could be the difference between Tottenham having a championship season and Spurs finishing the campaign somewhere lower in the top four. Watching Gareth Bale and Jermain Defoe complete a 2-on-1 run down the field in stoppage time only for Defoe to miss sending home the game winner by inches was heartbreaking. The converted Mario Balotelli penalty that followed just minutes after Defoe’s miss crushed the souls of a Tottenham fan base that had just watched Spurs rally back from a 2-0 deficit. That one is going to hurt for awhile.
2012 Tottenham Hotspur January review: MVP
Luka Modric was solid throughout January, but I have to go with Gareth Bale here. Bale played his best football of the season in the second half of the month, curling in a magnificent equalizer in the City match, and scoring twice against Wigan. Spurs looked like a completely different squad when facing Watford without the reliable Bale in the lineup. The Welshman has, not shockingly, become Tottenham’s most important player as they prepare for a stretch that includes away days at Liverpool and Arsenal.
2012 Tottenham Hotspur January review: A question
When is it OK to become concerned about the play of Emmanuel Adebayor? He hasn’t scored since the draw against Chelsea back on December 22, and he has, outside of a few kinda/sorta memorable moments, been mostly invisible in the past month. Some critics would argue that this, not the guy who scored nine goals in the first half of the season, is the Adebayor that Tottenham supporters should have expected all along. I’m still holding out hope. We’ll see for how long.
2012 Tottenham Hotspur January review: Grade
Five points. Spurs are but five points from the top, and they are, as of February 1, seven points clear of Chelsea. Arsenal are in seventh place, 12 points behind Spurs. Can somebody please remind me why I’m supposed to feel so disappointed this winter? Sure, the games against Stoke, Wolves and City could have, and some would argue should have, gone differently. It’s also possible that I could be less enthused about the club 27 days from the typing of this sentence. At the conclusion of another “could have been better, could have been worse” month for Spurs, I’m choosing to keep the faith.
Ask me again about Tottenham’s title chances after Monday’s contest at Anfield.
Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.
Article source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/sports/rss//SIG=11mghb9lg/*http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=ycn-10917083
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Article source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1047974-arsenal-fc-the-10-best-arsenal-defenders-of-all-time
Jack Wilshere, the soon to be saviour of Arsenal‘s season has suffered more than what Arsene Wenger would call a “minor setback.” It has been confirmed by the Daily Mail that Wilshere is now in fact out for the remainder of the season through injury.
Last Friday it was revealed that 20-year-old Wilshere, who has not played a competitive game this season due to a stress fracture ankle injury he sustained in a friendly against New York Red Bulls in July, was to have a scan after worsening the injury in training.
Wenger came out and produced his usual PR drivel to the press:
I spoke to Jack today. We have no real news yet. The first news we have had is better than expected. He is not in a boot, but I don’t know more. His morale looks quite good and I hope it will only be a short setback. There will be more tests this week.
Unfortunately for Wenger, the scan has revealed another stress fracture which will force Wilshere out of contention for a return to the Arsenal first team this season. This may also affect his inclusion into the England squad for Euro 2012 which will be held in Poland and Ukraine.
This is not the first time this has happened and angry fans will question Wenger’s knowledge of the facts. Last season the same announcement came out about Thomas Vermaelen just after the January transfer window had closed. Wenger refused to buy a replacement whilst perhaps knowing the extent of his injury. Christopher Samba was then up for grabs but the deal fell through. Arsenal’s campaign collapsed weeks later.
In my opinion once again too much pressure has been heaped on young shoulders to carry the burden of this club. Many truly believe that Wilshere has been the biggest miss of the season. Those many are speculative believers who are not looking at the real picture.
The myth that Jack Wilshere is some great attacking midfielder with bags of creativity and goal-scoring ability is simple sensationalism. He is more a box to box midfielder but he could never really take over from the likes of Cesc Fabregas. That would be asking too much.
It seems Wenger’s gambles will come back to haunt him again. All history has to do is repeat itself. The problem for Arsenal is it gets worse every year.
Twitter: @SamuelMensahLDN
Article source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1048209-arsenal-fc-injury-news-jack-wilshere-confirmed-out-for-the-rest-of-the-season
