Arsenal's explosive striker Emmanuel Adebayor has been included on a five-man shortlist for the 2008 African Player of the Year Award. The Togo frontman has been rewarded for his fine performances for club and country. He is up against Chelsea duo Didier Drogba and Michael Essien, as well as Wigan Athletic and Egypt striker Amr Zaki and another Egyptian, Mohamed Aboutrika.
Villa fans have the chance to win a pair of luxury hospitality tickets to Saturday's Barclays Premier League match against Portsmouth. Answer a simple question on the club's official website for your chance to win an exclusive trip to Villa Park to enjoy the top-flight atmosphere as a VIP guest in their Doug Ellis Stand Executive Box. Runner-up prizes are also available.
On-loan Stockport County defender Jaroslaw Fojut has returned to his parent club Bolton Wanderers for treatment on an injury. The Pole suffered trouble between his back and hamstring in County's 1-1 draw at Southend United on Saturday. But manager Jim Gannon is banking on him making a swift return to Edgeley Park. He said: "Jarek appears to have had a problem between his back and his hamstring. It's possible that it's not a muscle problem and could be a nerve problem. If that is the case, it could settle down quite quickly and he will return to County." 
Brett Emerton scored twice as Australia leapfrogged Qatar in their World Cup qualifying group with an impressive 4-0 victory in Brisbane earlier on Wednesday. Tim Cahill opened the scoring after just nine minutes and when the Everton midfielder was upended inside the box just eight minutes later, Emerton cooly converted from the spot. The hosts wrapped things up when Emerton netted his second of the night - his fourth goal in Australia's last two matches against Qatar - finishing off neat build-up play from strikers Scott McDonald and Josh Kennedy to ram the ball home just before the hour. Kennedy headed home the fourth late on. 
Young Chelsea centre-back Michael Mancienne could be handed a shock role at the heart of the Blues defence against Middlesbrough on Saturday because of their mounting injury crisis. Captain John Terry (back), Alex (hip and thigh) and Ricardo Carvalho (knee) are all doubts and England under-21 star Mancienne may be given his first Barclays Premier League start in order to shore-up the heart of the defence.
James Vaughan anticipates an exciting new era under David Moyes - with the current crop of players eager to repay the manager's faith in them. Moyes completed a five year contract extension on Tuesday, before watching Vaughan score twice in Everton Reserves' 3-2 win over Liverpool. Vaughan said: "The gaffer is massive for us. He has done a lot in the time he has been here and now it could be the start of a new era." 
The kick-off time for Fulham's match against Portsmouth at Fratton Park has been changed. The fixture, being played on Sunday 26th October, will now kick-off at 5:00pm. 
Phil Brown says that he hasn't had any approaches from other clubs regarding members of his squad. Speculation has surrounded several members of the Tigers' first team squad recently, the latest of which suggested Wayne Brown was set for a loan move to a Championship side, but the City manager has denied that there has been contact with other clubs. "We've got a squad of 25 or 26 players," Brown said. "As far as I'm concerned, every one of them can play Championship football and when they're not in the Premier League 18-man squad there is obviously going to be interest. But I haven't heard anything from any other football club with regards to any of our players." 
Spain striker Fernando Torres lasted less than 16 minutes of Wednesday's World Cup qualifier against Belgium before being replaced by Cesc Fabregas. Liverpool will be hoping it is not serious problem as they face Wigan Athletic and Chelsea in the Barclays Premier League next week, as well as a Champions League trip to Torres' former club Atletico Madrid. Ryan Babel was also injured on international duty for Holland and will undergo tests to determine the extent of the injury. 
Joe Corrigan believes Mark Hughes is the right man to dictate how Manchester City spend their vast new wealth. Hughes is expected to strengthen his squad in the January transfer window following the takeover by the Abu Dhabi United Group, headed by Prince Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Corrigan - now goalkeeping coach at West Brom - expects the former Blackburn and Wales manager to act wisely and not panic-buy. "Mark knows what players he wants, and I don't think he is the type who will spend money recklessly," said the former England goalkeeper, who spent 17 seasons at the club. 
After finding the back of the net twice in both of England's World Cup qualifying matches against Kazakhstan and Belarus, Wayne Rooney is determined to keep his good goal-scoring form going as he turns his attentions to United's visit of West Bromwich Albion on Saturday. "Goals are going in for me and I'm really pleased. I work every day on my finishing and it's going well," he said. "You can always improve, there are weaknesses there I can improve on. I've worked a lot on my finishing and it's starting to pay off on the pitch now which I'm happy about. I believe I'm going to score in any game anyway. I'm a confident person and I'm delighted they are going in at the moment. Hopefully I can keep it going." 
Middlesbrough fans will now find buying their match tickets online easier than ever after the club relaunched its Online Ticket Office. More than 1,500 fans utilised the service, accessed through the club's official website, for Boro's opening day match against Tottenham, a 138% increase on last season's opening match against Blackburn. And a record number of almost 7,000 - including many season card holders - booked online for last season's FA Cup quarter-final. Chief Operating Officer Neil Bausor said: "We want to make our systems and processes as customer-friendly as possible so that supporters find it simple to book a seat for the Riverside Stadium. A thorough review of our online booking process has helped to highlight several problems that we are confident have now been ironed out." 
Striker Xisco came from the bench to spark an amazing Spanish escape act during their European Under-21 playoff showdown against Switzerland in Murcia. Trailing 2-1 from their first-leg tie, the Spaniards fell further behind when midfielder Shkelzen Gashi netted after 25 minutes. Magpie man Xisco was introduced during the interval and halved the Swiss aggregate lead within six minutes of his arrival with a looping header. The visitors held on to their slender advantage until the fifth minute of injury-time when Recreativo Huelva winger Sisinio volleyed home. The tie looked destined for a penalty shootout until Raul Garcia completed the comeback with eight minutes left on the clock. 
On-loan Portsmouth winger Matt Ritchie has revealed he is keen to extend his loan spell with Dagenham and Redbridge following an impressive start to life at Victoria Road. The 19-year-old is on a one-month loan deal from the FA Cup holders and has helped the Daggers climb to second in League Two. And asked if he would consider extending his stay Ritchie, who has scored twice in two appearances for the club, responded positively. "Definitely. I'm really enjoying it. All the boys are good lads and they've made me feel very welcome," he said. "Reserve football (with Portsmouth) is a high standard and completely different football but playing in League Two is intense, it's fast and it's good." 
Stoke City midfielder Salif Diao has described his four-hour terror when Senegal fans went on the rampage following the country's elimination from World Cup qualifying. Diao, along with Potters team-mates Abdoulaye Faye and Ibrahima Sonko, was caught up in crowd trouble in Dakar after their side's 1-1 draw with Gambia on Saturday. The result means Senegal will not play in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa or the African Nations Cup in the same year. Senegal's fans were furious at their failure to qualify and hurled stones and metal bars on to the pitch before rioting in the streets. 
Dwight Yorke scored the winner in Trinidad & Tobago's 2-1 victory over the USA in a World Cup qualifier on Wednesday night. Yorke fired a 79th-minute penalty to put T&T second in CONCACAF Group A. Carlos Edwards, currently on loan with Wolverhampton Wanderers, also played, along with ex-Sunderland striker Stern John. 
The club's first match in the group stages of this season's UEFA Cup is away to Italian side Udinese at the Stadio Friuli on Thursday 23th October. Spurs have been given an allocation of 1,700 tickets for this match. Applications are currently open to all season ticket holders until this Friday (10th October) at 5.00pm. After this point Hotspur Bronze and Lilywhite members are then able to apply for tickets until 5.00pm on Tuesday 14th October. 
West Bromwich Albion manager Tony Mowbray does not believe Jonathan Greening has anything to prove when he returns to Manchester United on Saturday. The midfielder was signed by the Old Trafford club as a teenager and went on to play for the first team 27 times. He never really established himself at Old Trafford, however, and was sold to Middlesbrough in 2001 before moving on to the Baggies three years later. "I don't think going back to your former club helps you raise your game and sometimes you can get over-hyped because you want to do so well so badly. Sometimes it affects your performance," Mowbray said. "Jonathan just has to go there and show everybody what a good player he is - as he does every week - and not try and over-impress." 
Academy director Tony Carr is excited about the form his youngsters have shown so far this season, and is confident that some will soon get their first taste of Barclays Premier League action. "I think a lot of young players will blossom with Gianfranco Zola and Steve Clarke with the way they are working them," Carr said."Speaking to Gianfranco, he's very much youth-orientated and wants the young players to do well and to give them opportunities. It's my responsibility to ensure that they are good enough and hopefully we are taking steps in that direction." 
Wigan Athletic striker Amr Zaki believes manager Steve Bruce has turned the Lancashire team into one of the Barclays Premier League's most entertaining sides. "Wigan may be a small city but they are definitely not a small team," he said. "We play some of the best football in the league and we have superstar players like (Emile) Heskey and (Antonio) Valencia," he said. "Even in the games we lost this season, we were the better side but were just unlucky."
1 comment:
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lisa and kristen
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