Daily Mail

Liverpool FC: Kenny Dalglish unsure whether England U21s appearance will ... Liverpool Echo Pearce has selected Carroll in a provisional 40-man squad for June's Under-21 European Championships in Denmark despite the fact the £35million man has already made two senior appearances for Fabio Capello. “For me the benefit of having younger teams ... Kenny queries Carroll call-upThe Sun Kenny Dalglish: No need for Andy Carroll at Under-21 Euro ChampionshipThe Guardian all 20 news articles »

"Believe," Kathy Swoboda, the full-time faculty member in the Kent State University East Liverpool physical therapy assistant technology program, always tells her students.

Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre is backing the push to play a Premier League global round.

Ayre, recently promoted from his role as commercial director at Anfield, said it was an issue which was likely to crop up again in the future.

"It's fraught with lots of issues but somehow we have a duty to fans around the world to give them access to the product," he told Management Today magazine.

"So never say never. What was unfortunate about last time was that the idea was created as some kind of reality before it had been thought through.

"Whatever's going to happen in football, it needs to have been absolutely thought through and every element considered - what's right and proper for the fans, the club, the league, the confederation, the local markets where you'd play.

"It all needs to be properly considered and I don't think last time that was the case."

 

Click here for the No1 coverage of all the gossip and transfer news around Liverpool.

Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp fears they've missed their chance to establish themselves as a top four club.

But he thinks that one or two additions to his squad would help fight off the other seven contenders that he thinks will be vying for a top-four finish next year.

Redknapp said: "Man City are going to spend God knows what this summer now that they have Champions League football to offer their players.

"Arsenal are going to be in it, Chelsea too, and Man United. We did it last year but it was so tough. Liverpool are going to be right in it again so it's getting tougher. Aston Villa and Everton have the players to come close too.

"We need to try and improve, juggle the squad about a bit and see if we can keep pushing and trying to do it."

 

Click here for the No1 coverage of all the gossip and transfer news around Tottenham.

Arsenal and Liverpool managers voice their concerns over possible burnout of some of their best young players.

When it comes to fashion in sport, World Football truly delivers, with kits that range from the beautiful, to the plain ridiculous. But with away jerseys, its a whole different story.

Away jerseys provide the opportunity for designers to throw off the shackles of the traditional club strip and go wild, to delight some and disappoint others. 

Today, I bring you the Top Five Liverpool FC Away Shirts and Euro Kits Of All Time: 

And please take note, I'm no fashion guru, so don't expect a stunning in-depth description of each shirt!

Begin Slideshow

Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp fears they've missed their chance to establish themselves as a top four club.

But he thinks that one or two additions to his squad would help fight off the other seven contenders that he thinks will be vying for a top-four finish next year.

Redknapp said: "Man City are going to spend God knows what this summer now that they have Champions League football to offer their players.

"Arsenal are going to be in it, Chelsea too, and Man United. We did it last year but it was so tough. Liverpool are going to be right in it again so it's getting tougher. Aston Villa and Everton have the players to come close too.

"We need to try and improve, juggle the squad about a bit and see if we can keep pushing and trying to do it."

 

Click here for the No1 coverage of all the gossip and transfer news around Tottenham.

Steven Gerrard - liverpool

Kenny Dalglish knattspyrnustjóri Liverpool blandaði sér í dag í umræðuna um enska 21-árs landsliðið. Hann sagði að Andy Carroll ætti ekki að spila með 21-árs liðinu í úrslitakeppni EM í Danmörku í sumar þar sem hann væri þegar orðinn A-landsliðsmaður.

Aston Villa have opened contract talks with Stewart Downing to fend off interest from Liverpool. The England winger has two years left on the deal he agreed when he joined from Middlesbrough in 2009.

There is a new name at the top of UK team chess after Pride & Prejudice demolished Wood Green 6-2 in the 4NCL decider on Monday in a heavyweight final round packed with England Olympiad players and overseas grandmasters. Both teams had won their previous 10 matches.

Michael Adams and Luke McShane, whose game settled the German Bundesliga a few weeks ago, drew their head-to-head while the young GMs David Howell, 20, and Gawain Jones, 23, scored key victories for P&P.;

Wood Green have been the team to beat since they took over from Guildford as champions, while P&P; has steadily climbed from the league's bottom division. As the name suggests, P&P; was originally an all-women team but it has gradually switched to a nucleus of England male internationals with a female manager, Claire Summerscale. Paradoxically it was Wood Green who included two of Europe's top female GMs.

Behind the leading pair, northern teams had a fine season with White Rose and Cheddleton finishing third and fourth while Bradford and Liverpool Atticus won promotion from the competitive third division.

Most of the final-round games were long struggles, but this earlier win by P&P;'s oldest player shows how to combat the tricky 1 c4 English where White aims at a Q-side advance. Black's unusual 9...Nd4 leads to an even battle until GM Hebden succeeds in exchanging the light-squared bishops after which the white king's defences collapse.

S Buckley v M Hebden

1 c4 g6 2 Nc3 Bg7 3 g3 Nf6 4 Bg2 O-O 5 Nf3 d6 6 O-O Nc6 7 d3 e5 8 Rb1 a5 9 a3 Nd4 10 Ne1 c6 11 e3 Ne6 12 e4 Ne8 13 Be3 f5 14 f4 Nd4 15 Nf3 Nc7 16 Ne2 c5 17 Nfxd4 cxd4 18 Bd2 a4 19 Bb4 Rf7 20 Rc1 fxe4 21 Bxe4 Bh3 22 Bg2 Bxg2 23 Kxg2 Qd7 24 fxe5 Rxf1 25 Qxf1 Rf8 26 Qg1 Qc6+ 27 Kh3 Ne6 28 Bd2 Qf3 29 Nxd4 Qh5+ 30 Kg2 Nxd4 0-1

The star individual 4NCL performance this season was by Jonathan Hawkins, who only took up serious international chess in his mid-20s and lives in Durham, far from most major tournament centres. Hawkins followed up his recent IM title by scoring his first GM result, and his polished style is sure to bring further success, The game which ensured his GM norm was one of his easiest, as Black blundered a pawn early and resigned at once.

J Hawkins v A Talbot

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 f3 O-O 6 Be3 e5 7 d5 Nh5 8 g4 Nf4 9 Qd2 c6 10 O-O-O Qa5 11 Kb1 cxd5 12 cxd5 Bd7 13 Nge2 Nxe2 14 Bxe2 b5? 15 Nxb5 1-0

3190 1...f2+! 2 Kxf2 Rf5+ 3 Kg1 Rf1+ and mates.

As the hit musical Dirty Dancing prepares to go on tour, our reporter joins young hopefuls at open auditions, and asks how a low-budget film became 'a cultural event that lasted decades'

You could probably argue that Flashdance is the better film, but it is Dirty Dancing that captured our collective heart. They call it "Star Wars for girls". It's not much on paper: a family goes on holiday, and its late-teenage daughters fall in love, one with a good'un – Patrick Swayze on career-defining form – and one with a bad sort. Steamy dancing occurs, that's the main thing. When the stage version opened in 2006, it had the highest pre-sell in West End history. Now, they're holding open auditions in the regions, for the national tour.

At 7.15 on Thursday morning, there is a snake of girls standing outside a dance studio in Edinburgh, standing in first position from muscle memory, wearing so much makeup that they look like those street performers in the festival who think it's entertaining to pretend to be a statue. I always thought the point of open auditions was just to drum up publicity for the show, but the Dirty Dancing tour has no need of publicity. It's already taken £8.5m in sales, when booking's only been open three weeks, and the show doesn't start until September. It sounds like a lot of money.

Guy Chapman is the most modest marketing man I've ever met, not just in theatre, but in any field. "Well, I come from opera. Everything sounds like a lot of money." Really, though, how does it compare to other musicals? "It is in a different league. Twenty-five per cent of people buying a ticket have never booked with that theatre before – so it's not people who go to Mamma Mia! or Sound of Music. It's the Take That/Kylie crossover, it's basically the pop audience. The theatre crowd are a bit more savvy, and they know they don't have to book straight away. The pop crowd will book the first day booking opens."

The Take That reference hits this demographic squarely on its head: women born between 1970 and 1980 are obsessed with this film. I have a theory about this. I stole it off a friend who is into Freudian psychoanalysis: the whole theme, the eponymous dirty dancing, is sublimated sexual energy, that much is obvious. That memorable moment when Swayze finally manages to heave, sorry, lift Jennifer Grey off the ground (to recap, they've tried the lift before, for a competition, and not pulled it off … after much ill-fortune, his holiday camp-dancing career seems to be over, and she's been relegated back to childhood … ) is a metaphor for losing your virginity. And it's clearly a female-crafted metaphor, proceeding not with a clear narrative urgency, as straight as a die to the irreducible explosion, but rather, with mis-starts and damp squibs and dance routines that don't go right because both people weren't doing the right thing at the right time and didn't have the right feelings for each other.

But that's just background: the edge comes from the fact that the metaphor is more embarrassing than the simple sexual awakening it's trying to sublimate. The audience is bound together by the shame of having enjoyed something so heavy-handed, and the more bonded you are, the more you enjoy it; the more embarrassed you are about enjoying it, the more bonded you are, until it has become more than a film, it's a cultural event that has lasted decades. There is one moment like this every generation: the swing scene in Sons and Lovers, and almost any scene with a horse in it in International Velvet. Sex substitution is a much darker art than actually writing a sex scene.

Having said all that, I am still surprised to see such a lot of girls queuing up to audition. When this film was released in 1987, almost none of these people were born. If we take as given that they wouldn't have been allowed to watch it before they were 10 (it has "adult themes"; even now the producers aren't encouraging schools to book), the film would have been 15 years old by the time a lot of them saw it. Was it really still iconic by the turn of the century?

"It was absolutely iconic," Adiza Shardow tells me. "I grew up watching this film". Alice Wilkins and Amy Harrison both say the lift is iconic. Their friend Leeanne Dobbie says the watermelon scene is iconic. They all say the watermelon scene is iconic, apart from the one who thinks it's a pineapple, while 21-year-old Adelle Burn distilled something else about Dirty Dancing, a subdivision within the sexuality umbrella: "It's on a par with Chicago, but that's raunchy sexy. This is more feel-good sexy". Elizabeth Pick, also 21, refines it further: "It's not your average dance routine, where everything's spot-on and perfect. It's quite grimy."

"Grimy, like, dirty?"

"No, grimy, like messy."

She is here with Kayleigh LeMay, Rebecca Clarke and Gemma Cutler, all 21, all from the Liverpool Theatre School and College. They all, variously, say they fancied Swayze, which is quite moving, given his premature death in 2009 from pancreatic cancer. It dawns on me that they're all convinced I have some kind of sway with the production, even though I keep telling them I don't. They think this is some kind of pre-audition, where someone tests your passion for the work before you're allowed to dance it, like in Miss World when they test your personality. But let's assume that they're telling the truth.

Apparently, at the Cardiff auditions a bloke turned up in a suit and danced in his socks, but most people here seem semi-professional, or at the least, ex-stage school. It's quite Darwinian, and incredibly hard. Two minutes in, the good ones are already at the front because the crap ones already don't know which way they're facing. I thought it would be like picking a horse in the Grand National, the differences would be minor, a couple of unlucky ones would fall over, and sooner or later, someone would end up winning. It's a bit more human than that. Dancing suggestively, besides being technically difficult, is challenging in some other, elemental way. That's why "dance like there's no one watching" is a well-known phrase. That's why you have to be drunk.

But this film hasn't just lasted because of the dancing. It was political for its time – and set against our neutered, advert-whipped Hollywood, it looks almost radical. Chapman says: "It's not like in Verdi, where the political reference is there, but no one ever thinks about it. This is explicit, if you listen." Since the abortion is what everybody talks about, that is not a bad place to start. Unwanted pregnancies are the main staple of teen drama, and you can tell a lot about a film from the way they're dealt with. In a straight feel-good event, such as Grease, they will vanish of their own accord; in something modern, such as One Tree Hill or Dawson's Creek, abortion won't even be on the table, there will just be a bittersweet adoption or an incredibly photogenic single parenthood. In Dirty Dancing, not only does Penny get pregnant, but she can't afford to get rid of it (who talks about the economics of reproductive health in films now?); she has to borrow cash from the heroine's father (class issues abound – if you can't tell a posh American from a regular one, just remember their doctors are incredibly well paid); she nearly dies getting a backstreet operation (again raising the politics of access to healthcare); even the unpleasant relationship that created the pregnancy feels like it's more about class than a gender point about how men are bastards. "Some people count, some people don't," says Max Cantor, whose film career was truncated by his death from a heroin overdose in 1991.

When they originally screen-tested the film, however, 39% of people didn't realise abortion was the subplot. History doesn't relate whether this is because they didn't notice it at all, or that they thought it was the main plot. That famous line about putting "Baby in the corner" ends with Swayze saying: "Somebody who taught me about the kind of person I want to be: Miss Frances Houseman", which refers us obliquely back to Baby's namesake, Frances Perkins, the first woman in the US cabinet. You'd almost have it as the Thinking Teen's teen movie, if it wasn't for all that ridiculous grinding.

Back at the auditions, I am amazed how stoic these girls are: they spend two hours cha-cha-chaing urgently in front of a huge mirror, trying to remember to look as if they're enjoying themselves without staring directly at anybody, trying to remember not to grin, trying not to give in to the humiliation of getting a high kick wrong, or just not high enough. Then they're handed back their CVs and invited breezily to leave, and they back out smiling graciously, as though leaving a tea party.

By the time they get further along, though – having been pulled out of the fray for a singing audition, and then failed that – emotions are a bit closer to the surface. All four of the Liverpool dancers (they were my favourites) got through the first round, and all four were turned down at the second. Someone told Kayleigh that she was perfect, but she looked too young. She took it on the chin, but looked distraught. "They know who they want. It's nobody's fault, it's just like interviewing for a job and not knowing one particular thing about a computer." I think the truth is that she didn't look, erm, dirty enough. But I didn't know whether or not that helped, so I didn't say it.

Other musicals that matter

Cabaret

Nobody needs a musical to tell them the Holocaust was bad, nor even that reasonable people might be bisexual. But one is so used to Weimar Germany as an impossibly distant place, and suddenly you have a VIP pass to its throbbing epicentre. And: Liza Minnelli (pictured). OK, it's still a musical. You can't watch this instead of reading Primo Levi.

Hair

There are political messages here, but they're so buried in hippie claptrap that this is a better example, not of a musical with a message, but of the power of a soundtrack. Would the Vietnam peace movement have been so popular without this album?

Rent

It seemed at the time that this was the fastest trajectory of disease-to-stage in epidemiological history, but now that I check, it was devised in 1994, by which time HIV had been known about for more than a decade. Still, if you look at La Boheme, upon which its plot is based, that was first performed in 1896. TB was identified in the 1020s. Things are definitely speeding up.

Footloose

Not such a political moment, but it has something of the Dirty Dancing about it: a plot in which the dance is almost a character in its own right. Kevin Bacon is a teen in a town where dance is banned. I know! Imagine!

Points and goals are down on last season but no real challengers to the Premier League top two have emerged

Chelsea have gone backwards this season, but that will offer only limited comfort to Manchester United ahead of the encounter at Old Trafford. While the supply of goals has been cut drastically, the side have been reverting to old ways and making the most of whatever impact the forwards can deliver. The 2010 title-winning campaign, garnished with the FA Cup, therefore turns out simply to have been a marvellous oddity.

The team scored 103 times in the Premier League then, entertaining everyone unaffected by a constitutional antipathy towards Chelsea. No side can stay at that level for long, least of all one in the process of being reshaped. Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard provided 51 of those goals. Their combined tally in the League this season is 20.

It would have been unnatural for them to sustain the former impact even if Lampard had avoided injury towards the end of last year and malaria had not struck the Ivorian. Drogba is 33 and the midfielder will hit that birthday next month. Apart from the individual factors, Chelsea as a whole have drooped. With three matches left, the club has 66 goals to its name. United, on 71, have done a little better, but Sir Alex Ferguson and, if he should somehow keep the job, Carlo Ancelotti will know there is more rebuilding ahead.

Whether or not the Chelsea manager is retained, he has shown resilience and there is doggedness in the squad. Arsenal, by contrast, had excellent prospects of taking the title until quite recently, but Arsène Wenger, possibly in a misconceived attempt to reduce the pressure, chose to speak like a man with no real hope of landing the prize for the first time in seven years.

The tone adopted by Ancelotti and Ferguson is utterly different. At Chelsea there has been a knitted-brow level of concentration that smacks of the José Mourinho days in its efficiency. Eight victories and a draw have been extracted from the past nine League matches. In the midst of that sequence, United eliminated them from the Champions League, but Chelsea's focus on the domestic campaign intensified when a lesser group of players would have let their attention wander.

We may not get the chance to see Ancelotti remodel Chelsea, delightful as it would be if he had acquisitions in mind to compare with David Luiz, as much pure footballer as centre-half. The Italian will most likely be gone before we learn whether the £50m Fernando Torres would be galvanised if he had a pre-season in which to work with the manager.

It does not take much to be more stable than Chelsea, but Ferguson is so secure at Old Trafford that he can go about his work methodically since it will require far more than a bad afternoon or two to inspire misgivings. With a place claimed in the Champions League final there ought to be even fewer grumbles than usual, but on broader terms they can also be seen to have dipped. Come what may, United will finish with their lowest points total in the Premier League since 2005, when they came third.

By the same token, Chelsea will have 79 at best, their poorest return since reaching that same mark in 2004. The trend is to be welcomed since it means that results have been less monotonous, but no one can claim with a straight face that the competitiveness has been caused by an influx of thrusting new challengers. Manchester City might almost exist to confirm that affluence does not necessarily create allure.

When it comes to laying on goals in home League matches, City have been outdone by, among those below them in the table, Liverpool, Bolton and Newcastle. For the time being, it is Chelsea who have enough impact and solidity to meet United on an equal footing. Any disquiet among fans will lie with long-term considerations.

It remains to be seen how much more Roman Abramovich wishes to spend before the gradual tightening of regulations compels clubs to live within their means. As with other owners, he is said to be looking forward to rules that will save him from throwing his money away. That, though, cannot stop him from expecting a return on his outlay at Old Trafford on Sunday.

• Stuart Pearce wants striker for Under-21 tournament
• Dalglish says emphasis should be on development, not winning

Kenny Dalglish has challenged Stuart Pearce's assertion that he needs Andy Carroll if England are to win the European Under-21 Championship this summer.

The England Under-21 manager has indicated that he wants to take the Liverpool striker to Denmark next month to give a cutting edge to their bid to win the tournament for the first time since 1984.

However, the Liverpool manager responded by arguing that player development rather than trophies should be the main thrust of youth football.

"Winning tournaments is all very well and good but if you don't get any players to come through I don't think it is successful," said Dalglish, who pointed out that the £35m forward has already broken through to full international football.

"If you cast your mind back to 1993 to the Leeds-Manchester United [FA] Youth Cup final, it was won by Leeds and two years later they had one player in the first team. Manchester United got [Ryan] Giggs, [Paul] Scholes and the Neville brothers [Gary and Phil] from their youth team, so who got the best deal? Sheffield United are in the Youth Cup final this year and have been relegated. I think they would have swapped that for a place in the Championship."

Dalglish has called for the international fixture list to be synchronised to avoid a repetition of a confused and cluttered summer that sees the Under–21s playing in the European Championship in June with the possibility of the Under–17 and Under-19 sides travelling to Mexico and Colombia for the Under–17 and Under–20 World Cups scheduled to run from 18 June–10 July and 29 July–20 August respectively.

Liverpool, who are planning a major tour of east Asia, are also likely to lose Lucas Leiva and Luis Suárez to the Copa América, which will run until 24 July.

"We have seven kids who will be playing with the Under-19s, if they qualify," said Dalglish. "Would it not be logical, if there is an international break, to have every age group playing at the same time? Instead we are being punished for developing players. If you ask John Flanagan and Jack Robinson to go away with England, how do we benefit when we are the ones that have groomed them?"

Manchester United have dropped only two points at home this season as they go into crucial match against title rivals

It was when Sir Alex Ferguson was reminded that his Manchester United side had held a 15-point lead over Chelsea barely two months ago that his face hardened a little and, briefly, there was the sense he had taken it as a personal affront.

"I don't know how many points we were in front of Chelsea at any given time," he replied, and it was here that his voice picked up speed and he made sure to keep eye contact. "It doesn't matter. Where we are today is exactly where we are. It doesn't matter what happened last Sunday, four Sundays ago, four months ago, four years ago, we are where we are. We have three games left, we're three points ahead, same goal difference, playing at home, two home games and one away. That's where we are. Nothing can change it."

He was sitting in the same room at United's training ground where, in one of those epic tussles with José Mourinho a few years ago, Ferguson interrupted one press conference to point at the blue skies over Carrington. "The birds are whistling here and the sparrows are waking up at Stamford Bridge coughing." It was here, too, around the same time, that Ferguson's mobile phone went off in another conference. United had just moved to the top of the league. "It's José," he said, scrabbling around in his top pocket and grinning mischievously. "He's panicking already."

On this occasion, the mood was not so light. United have never surrendered a 15-point lead to lose the title and they will be acutely aware that Chelsea won this corresponding fixture 2-1 in April last year. Another win at Old Trafford on Sunday will mean Carlo Ancelotti's team move to the top of the league for the first time since December, with two games to go.

Ferguson, maybe not coincidentally, spoke for the first time about the importance of United overtaking Liverpool by winning a record 19th league title. "It's not important for me, but it is for the history of the club." The alternative, by his own admission, would be unbearable, comparable to any of the disappointments he has encountered in almost a quarter of a century in charge.

Ferguson, nonetheless, was emphatic when he was asked whether United should still be considered as the favourites. Away from home, it has been a strangely unproductive time for United with only five wins, meaning they could be the first team since Liverpool in 1976-77 to win the league with fewer than eight victories on the road. "Our record has been – how would you put it? – ordinary," Ferguson conceded. At Old Trafford, however, it has been a remarkable story of success, the 2-2 draw against West Bromwich Albion in October being the one occasion when they have dropped points. "We've had a lot of criticism about our away form and rightly so because I've not been happy myself sometimes because I've not been happy myself sometimes," Ferguson said. "But the realisation of that has made us really step up to the mark at home. The home form has been fantastic, probably the best in Europe."

It certainly feels like a long time now – 398 days, to be exact – since Joe Cole and Didier Drogba scored past Edwin van der Sar to condemn United to their last home defeat. In all competitions, United have played 30 home games since. They have won 27 and drawn three, scored 68 and conceded 15. Most remarkable of all, Cole's effort 13 months ago was the last time an opposing player has scored a first-half goal at Old Trafford in the league.

Ferguson spoke about the improvements to the Old Trafford pitch, which has not been relaid since 2003, when it was once the bane of his life. "By December, January, February, the bad winter months, that was when the pitch used to break up. It's no longer that way now. It's absolutely perfect, the best we've ever had."

Another conclusion would be that many of United's opponents appear to consider trips to Old Trafford as an exercise in damage limitation, just as was once the case at Liverpool during their period of domination. Blackburn Rovers sieved seven goals, Birmingham City five. Others, notably Sunderland and West Ham United, have meekly raised a white flag and that has left United on course to go through an entire league season unbeaten at home for only the eighth time in their history.

Ferguson (1999-2000 and 1995-96) and Sir Matt Busby (1955-56 and 1966-67) have both done it twice. There were two occasions in the Newton Heath era, in 1894-95 and 1896-97. Ron Atkinson also managed it in 1982-83, the last time United went unbeaten at Old Trafford in all competitions. There has never, however, been a home record in United's history as formidable as the current set of results.

"Everyone comes here knowing they are going to get a hard game," Ferguson said, and the manager's ethos could be summed up when it was pointed out that a draw would be a decent result. "We won't be going for a draw. Everyone knows that. Chelsea know that. Our fans know that. Everyone sitting in here knows that. There's no point discussing draws."

Nor did he want to consider the prospect of losing yet, for once, Ferguson was happy to expand on what it would mean to overtake Liverpool on 19 titles. "I certainly didn't think we could do that when I took over," he said. "The target was to win the title. I got it and, since then, the club has taken off."

• Wenger warns Wilshere could miss matches for seniors
• 'It should not be Jack Wilshere's decision,' says manager

Arsène Wenger will urge Fabio Capello to intervene in the debate over Jack Wilshere's participation in the forthcoming European Under-21 Championship, warning that if the midfielder takes part in the tournament he could miss important matches for Arsenal and the senior England team next season.

Wenger has repeatedly warned that Wilshere, 19, risks suffering burnout if he plays in next month's tournament in Denmark, but the Under-21s manager, Stuart Pearce, included the player in the 40-man provisional squad this week.

Wenger says that Wilshere is already feeling the strain of his first full season at senior level and taking part in the tournament will delay his recuperation, meaning he could miss the senior England friendly against Holland on 10 August and the European Championship qualifier in Bulgaria on 2 September. Capello has been reluctant to get involved in the debate, seemingly preferring to leave the decision to Pearce, but Wenger says the Italian would be well advised to veto the player's call-up for the Under-21s.

"I have spoken to Stuart Pearce and I think he will speak to Fabio Capello and I will too," said Wenger. "Indirectly it is his issue because he will lose a player at the start of the season, as I will. He continues to play at the moment but we know from our stats that he has hit the wall a little bit.

"Using him after such a long season can make Jack not available in August or maybe until the beginning of September. No matter what happens I will have to give him at least four weeks' holiday after the tournament – they finish at the end of June and he will not come back until the end of July and then he needs three to four weeks at least to prepare the season. That means he will not be able to play in August."

Wilshere is eager to play in the tournament but Wenger suggested the FA is being irresponsible in allowing the teenager to influence the decision. "It should not be Jack Wilshere's decision. Only the FA can master this decision and they have to react in a responsible way. You cannot ask JW does he want to play because do you really think he will say no? I don't think that's realistic. I would ask the FA to consider the consequences of a boy who is 19 and who has already played around 50 games and then has to play a tournament on the back of that."

Meanwhile, Kenny Dalglish also challenged Pearce's assertion that he needs Andy Carroll, with England set to call up the £35m striker for this summer. The Liverpool manager argues that player development rather than trophies should be the main thrust of youth football. "Winning tournaments is all very well and good but, if you don't get any players to come through, I don't think it is successful," he said.

Germany's recent success at youth level is regularly cited as one of the reason why England should field as strong a team as possible in youth tournament. However, Wenger says that citing the likes of Mesut Ozil and Thomas Muller, who were Under 21 champions with Germany before starring for the senior team in the last World Cup, is fallacious. "I hear many times a comparison with the German players but I find this completely inaccurate," he said.

"First of all the German players had not played the number of games that Wilshere has played this season when they went to the tournament. Secondly, in Germany there is a massive winter break until February that allows everybody to rest well before the World Cup. You cannot compare the two situations."

Liverpool F.C. lost ã20 million in part because the club turned down a company that offered the most sponsorship money in favor of one with more exposure in Asia.

Liverpool striker Andy Carroll may have to settle for a place among the substitutes again for Monday's trip to Fulham.

Eighteen-year-old Jake Morrison beat former council leader with almost 40 years' experience

Jake Morrison, an 18-year-old hospital care worker, took a seat in Liverpool from the veteran former Liberal Democrat council leader, Lord Mike Storey.

Morrison said: "Obviously I hope to follow in some of Mike's footsteps. He's been a councillor for over 38 years and is respected by residents in Liverpool and I wish him well." Storey himself was elected as a 21-year-old.

Morrison was the youngest Labour party candidate in the city and fought the campaign on the basis of rebuilding communities in and around Wavertree. The Lib Dems lost 11 of the 13 seats they were defending in Liverpool.

The opening of the Liverpool and Manchester railway is marred by a grisly accident

The train that struck William Huskisson was Stephenson's Rocket, making the return part of the historic journey between Liverpool and Manchester. George Stephenson was on board at the time, but the driver was his young apprentice, Edward Entwhistle.

West Bromwich Albion manager Roy Hodgson is angry that he was sacked so early on in his Liverpool career.Hodgson had a poor six months in charge at Liverpool before being relieved of his duties in January. The 63-year-old's Anfield failure has been followed by a successful second half of the season where he has guided West Brom to Premier League safety

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish has credited the club's strong finish to the season to the enthusiasm of Luis Suarez.Liverpool dipped into the bottom three during Roy Hodgson's doomed reign in charge which ended in January but Dalglish and 22.5-million-pound man Suarez arrived shortly afterwards and the club has climbed to fifth place. Dalglish's men occupy a Europa League qualification spot ahead of Monday's visit to Fulham.

  The Metro is reporting that Italian giant Juventus is looking to move ahead of various English teams to sign highly rated duo Connor Wickham and Phil Jones. Premier League outfits such as Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea have been monitoring both Blackburn defender Phil Jones and Ipswich Town striker Connor Wickham. However, it now [...]

From Bristol to Brighton the festival season is in full swing

With the fabulously eclectic Mayfest kicking off in Bristol yesterday, Norfolk and Norwich starting today and the Brighton festival and Brighton fringe beginning tomorrow, the festival season is in full swing. The month will round off with Pulse in Ipswich. I'm particularly looking forward to Hilary Westlake's Dining With Alice and Graeae's The Iron Man at N&N; and will be heading to the Basement in Brighton for 5x5. There's also another chance to see Hydrocracker's The New World Order, five short Pinter plays played out in Brighton Town Hall that were a hit at the 2007 festival. I'm going to dip a toe in the Brighton fringe, too, with Billy Bud Sailor, a story of obsession and revenge performed in a bathroom.

There's plenty else happening down south. This year's Chichester festival begins with a rare revival of the lusciously scored musical She Loves Me and there is much to look forward to, including Trevor Nunn's revival of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Max Stafford-Clark revisiting Caryl Churchill's Top Girls and Jonathan Kent directing Sweeney Todd. At the Nuffield in Southampton, Sandi Toksvig considers the pressures on soldiers involved in military occupation in Bully Boy, which stars Anthony Andrews. The Globe's As You Like It heads out on a nationwide tour from the City Museum Gardens in Portsmouth. You've still got time to catch the superb Comedy of Errors at the Northcott in Exeter. Pants on Fire's irreverent Ovid's Metamorphoses is at the Drum in Plymouth until Saturday and then heads to Salisbury Arts Centre on Wednesday as part of an ongoing tour. The lives of those serving in Afghanistan is considered in Josh's Monsters which is out on tour and then heading to Pulse later in the month.

Let's head straight to Scotland where Mike Bartlett's viciously funny Love, Love, Love is at the Citizens in Glasgow. Good to hear that Headlong are reviving Bartlett's Earthquakes in London which will go out on tour in the autumn. The Mayfesto season of political work is underway at Glasgow's Tron and this week the main draw should be David Harrower's Slow Air about an estranged brother and sister. David Greig's Dunsinane, first seen at Hampstead theatre, is revived by National Theatre Scotland at Edinburgh's Royal Lyceum from next Friday. This week's A Play, a Pie and a Pint lunchtime theatre at Oran Mor is Andrew Dallmeyer's Thank God for John Muir about the aftermath of an industrial accident. There is some fantastic work for children in the Imaginate festival which takes over the Traverse and other Edinburgh venues from Monday.

In the north of England, John Ford's extraordinary tragedy of obsession and incest 'Tis Pity She's a Whore is revived at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds. At York Theatre Royal there's a revival of Arthur Miller's witch-hunt play, The Crucible. A Walk-On Part – The Fall of New Labour at Live in Newcastle is a dramatisation of Chris Mullins's diaries. Terry Hands directs Taming of the Shrew at Theatr Clwyd in Mold, and the popular 60s drama Spring and Port Wine is at the New Vic, Newcastle under Lyme. David Morrissey is in Macbeth in Liverpool. The Price plays Hull Truck, while David Lodge's Secret Thoughts opens at the Octagon in Bolton. An early Ibsen play, previously unperformed in this country, The League of Youth, opens at Nottingham Playhouse, while in Stratford-upon-Avon at the RSC Dominic Hill directs 1632 satire, The City Madam, and Patrick Stewart and Rupert Goold are previewing The Merchant of Venice. For something rather more contemporary, try Reckless Sleepers who are reviving one of their most celebrated shows, Schrodinger, at the Curve in Leicester. At the Royal and Derngate in Northampton, Hamlet the Musical should raise a smile. In Corby at the new Cube, Thickskin's Blackout is an adrenaline-fuelled examination of a young life gone wrong.

Heading into London, the excellent revival of Journey's End is at the Theatre Royal in Windsor. The big opening this week is Imelda Staunton and Penelope Wilton in Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance at the Almeida. I'm looking forward to Naomi Wallace's And I and Silence, a tale of segregation in the US southern states that premieres at the Finborough and the Simon Stephens-translated Jon Fosse play I Am the Wind at the Young Vic. At the same venue this week, you can also see Talawa's Flipping the Script project that features Walking to Obama about the pre-civil rights era in the US, and book your Michael Sheen Hamlet seats. The Edinburgh 2010 hit, Reykjavik, a multi-sensory exploration of memory, heads out on a UK tour from the Albany on Tuesday. The plays in Convictions at Soho have been written by ex-offenders, and Soho also plays host to Theatre Uncut this Sunday, which provides another opportunity to see the plays that premiered at Southwark Playhouse last month. The London Bubble's Blackbirds in Southwark Park from Monday tells the stories of Londoners who lived through the blitz and sounds pretty special.

Lib Dem leadership accused of putting councils in position of having to defend cuts they did not believe in

Hundreds of Liberal Democrat councillors have been ejected from England's town halls as they paid the price for their national leadership's deficit reduction programme in Westminster.

The leader of the Liberal Democrats in local government, Richard Kemp, blamed the Tory communities secretary, Eric Pickles, for frontloading cuts to councils' budgets and forcing them to slash services just weeks before the poll. But he also accused his own party's leadership of failing to stand up for councils, and putting them in a position where they had to defend cuts they did not believe in.

He called on the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, to lobby to have the cuts scheduled for the next three years backloaded, so that they could make efficiency savings instead of slashing services in order to avoid another rout in the local elections next year.

Gary Long, the ousted leader of the Lib Dems on Nottingham city council, who lost all their six seats, called on Clegg to step aside. "I'm in favour of the coalition, but I think he's run it very badly and in my view he should resign immediately," he said.

The Lib Dems' pain at losing 619 seats, after 249 of the 279 councils in the elections had declared, was made worse by the fact that their senior partners in the coalition, the Conservatives, confounded all expectations by winning 48 extra seats.

The Tories won control of North Norfolk from the Lib Dems, and North Lincolnshire, South Devon and Ryedale in north Yorkshire from no overall control. They fought off Labour's challenge in Trafford, not conceding a single seat, and in Dover, which Labour had targeted heavily.

Labour have won 569 seats so far, reversing many losses made when the seats were last up for re-election in 2007. But it falls short of predictions that they should take 1,300 and they also appear to have failed to make significant inroads into the Tory south.

The Labour wins and Conservative resilience saw the north-south divide between the two harden and the Lib Dems pushed out to the periphery. The Lib Dems lost control of a swath of northern towns won during Labour's unpopularity over Iraq.

In Sheffield, where Clegg is MP for Sheffield Hallam, Labour took control from the Lib Dems. It also won Hull from the Lib Dems, where the council leader, Carl Minns, lost his seat.

In Manchester, the 10 Lib Dems who stood all lost, as did 12 in Liverpool, where the former council leader, Lord Storey, was beaten in Wavertree by Labour's 18-year-old candidate, Jake Morrison.

In Birmingham, England's biggest council currently controlled by a Lib Dem-Conservative coalition, the combination of seats up for re-election made it impossible for Labour to seize control this year, but they are now on course do so in 2012.

Labour took control of Leeds, Bolton, Stoke, Telford and Newcastle, where there was a 22% swing to Labour. Labour took control of Bury after a crucial seat, Ramsbottom, was determined by drawing lots.

Labour dipped a symbolic toe into the south with a win in Gravesham, which Ed Miliband had visited twice during the campaign and where he spoke to reporters today, and in the east, where they took Ipswich. But the party failed by one seat to take Thurrock, and lost a concerted attempt to win in Dover.

In Bristol, where the Lib Dems lost control of the council, the group leader Barbara Janke told the BBC: "Obviously there is a huge national factor, it's been a very bad night for the Liberal Democrats and there's no escaping that.

"We really feel that Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats have been rather unfairly blamed for anything that's wrong with the coalition, but then there is a challenge for us to explain the policies, communicate them and make sure people understand the very positive things that we are doing."

There were small pockets of hope for the Lib Dems though. In Eastleigh, where the increasingly rebellious energy secretary Chris Huhne is MP, the party gained three seats, including one from Labour.

Paul Scriven, the Liberal Democrat leader of Sheffield council up until Labour seized control today, said: "Maybe in three or four years' time, people will look back and say they were a little bit harsh to the Liberal Democrats."

Kemp has called a national meeting of Lib Dem group leaders next month to assess the damage done to the party's morale and campaigning grassroots. Clegg has been invited. There are warnings the losses in the local elections will not only weaken the Lib Dems' power locally, but decimate its activist base, making it harder for MPs to campaign for Westminster elections.

Kemp said: "We in local councils have paid the price of the cuts. One of our problems was that we were defending things that we thought were indefensible. I'm not a deficit denier, but Eric Pickles and the Department for Communities and Local Government have behaved badly and frontloaded disproportionally high cuts for councils.

"We as a party got it wrong. We allowed that to happen. They've taken 28% out of our grants. If you do it 7% a year we could manage that, they chose to put 11.5% in the first year and another big cut next year. You can't make efficiency savings, you have to slash and burn. I'm not asking for less cuts, just more intelligent cuts."

SNP triumph in Scotland must end Labour party complacency, warn shadow cabinet members

Ed Miliband is to be warned by senior Labour figures that he must work hard to fight a sense of complacency among many MPs after the party was rebuffed in Scotland and failed to make a breakthrough in the English local elections.

Shadow cabinet members were disappointed by results across Britain, with some saying the only hope was that the elections would jolt the party into appreciating the scale of the battle ahead.

The greatest blow came in Scotland where the SNP became the first party to win an overall majority in the parliament's 12-year history – a result widely described as an unmitigated disaster for Labour.

Miliband announced that he would launch a review of the Labour party in Scotland as Iain Gray, its Scottish leader, announced he would resign in the autumn. "While we have seen good results today, gaining councils and councillors across England and winning in Wales, this is clearly a very disappointing election result in Scotland," Miliband said.

"We need to learn the lessons of that result, both political and organisational. That is why I, with Iain, am today putting in place a root-and-branch review of the Labour party in Scotland. This will bring together all elements of the Scottish party to renew it for the future."

One Labour source said: "It was a total disaster at all the key levels of policy, organisation, personnel and message."

There was better news in the English council elections, where Labour gained more than 700 seats – at the upper limit of the party's official projections. But shadow ministers believe Labour should have done much better because the same seats were last contested in 2007, a month before Tony Blair handed over to Gordon Brown, when the party lost more than 500 seats and only just beat the Lib Dems.

The Tories are on course to secure about 38% of the vote, down two points on their strong performance in 2007. Labour is up 11 points on its weak performance of 2007 on about 37%. The Lib Dems are down seven points on about 17%.

One Labour source said: "It was good enough but it was not a knockout."

Unease on the left was reflected by Neal Lawson, of the Compass group, who said: "These results show that Labour is flatlining from its terrible result at the general election. It still looks, feels and acts too much like New Labour."

Labour officials tried to put a brave face on the results as they said successes in Gravesham, North Warwickshire, Lincoln and Sheffield showed the party could succeed across England. "We were worried until we heard the results in North Warwickshire and Gravesham. These are the sorts of places we need to win."

Miliband travelled to Gravesham to hail the result.

"North, south, east and west, Labour is making gains and coming back," he said. "I say this to David Cameron and Nick Clegg: you must listen to the people. The Conservative party does not have a majority in parliament and has only been able to govern because of the Liberal Democrats' willing participation in a Tory-led government."

But there was concern at senior levels of the party after the Tory vote held up in England and Labour failed to show it was making major inroads across the south.

There was an acknowledgment that Labour performed well against the Lib Dems and humiliated them in the strongholds of Sheffield and Hull and former stronghold of Liverpool. But there are fears that these successes could give Labour a false sense of security and mask the scale of the challenge ahead. "You cannot build a majority just by beating the Lib Dems," one source said.

The Tories delighted in pointing out that Labour only just hung on in the Birmingham city council ward of Kingstanding – after a 9% swing to the Conservatives – where Miliband launched Labour's local election campaign. They also reminded Labour that Miliband announced that his fightback would start in Scotland.

Party figures hope the lacklustre results will silence the likes of Kelvin Hopkins, the Labour MP for Luton North who told Cameron in the Commons on Wednesday that Labour was bound to win the next election. "Will the prime minister enjoy saying goodbye to most of his colleagues and sitting on this side of the house," Hopkins said, prompting the prime minister to tell him he was in Benny Hill's "fairy dairy land".

One source said: "If there is one silver lining it is that some of the complacency will hopefully be knocked on the head."

West Bromwich Albion boss Roy Hodgson hopes that outsiders and critics do not judge him on what happened at Liverpool earlier this season.

The humble 63-year old joined the Reds in July last year, taking over from Rafael Benitez, but was unceremoniously dumped from the position in early January after a horror beginning at Anfield.

What the former Fulham boss wants to get across that there is so much accomplishment in his extensive career that a bad spell at one club should not be a time in his coaching lifetime that should remembered.

"I'd like to have thought that people who studied my career during 36 years would not have made judgement on good or bad in the space of months,” he said.

"I always remain positive in that respect. With a career as long as mine, I'm very satisfied with it myself and I don't follow the headlines.

"If there were headlines suggesting I'm not very good or suggesting I'm very good I take them with the same pinch of salt.

"I think it's a sad indictment of a 36-year career that after one period (at Liverpool) which is less than successful, people are making judgements about your ability.

"It makes it a pretty sad world for us people and professionals working in it."

Amongst the honours achieved by Hodgson are: Two Swedish Allsvenskan championships with Halmstad in the 1970s, five further Swedish titles with Malmo in the 1980s, a UEFA Cup final with Inter Milan in 1997, one Danish Superliga victory with Copenhagen in 2000/01, UEFA Cup runners-up with Fulham last year and the League Association Manager of the Year award in 2010.

 

Click here for the No1 coverage of all the gossip and transfer news around West Bromwich Albion.

Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish says he is extremely proud of young midfielder Jay Spearing after he penned a new deal with the club.

The 22-year old former Reds youth team captain has signed a contract extension at Anfield, making club legend Dalglish a very proud manager.

“It is great news for us and great for him and everyone concerned," said the Scot.

"It is just reward for the performances he has put in and he deserves what he has got.

"He is a great asset to have. I suppose this is an extension of the work which has been put in by Jay not only to get a game but to get a new contract.

"Jay has started the last few games for us, which is progress in itself," he added.

"He was never in the starting XI unless there were injuries or suspensions but he is in there now and is there on merit.

"He has reached a higher level than he has before. I don't know if he knows what level is expected of him but we are delighted with what he has done."

 

Click here for the No1 coverage of all the gossip and transfer news around Liverpool.

Aston Villa caretaker manager Gary McAllister says the club is not reading into media speculation that star winger Ashley Young is certain to leave the club this summer.

The 25-year old England international’s future at Villa Park continues to be a talking point among many with the likes of Tottenham, Manchester United, Liverpool all believed to heavily interested.

But Villa are not resigned to the fact that the former Watford starlet’s time with the club is up despite reports suggesting otherwise.

“I don’t think it is inevitable Ashley will go and we will do everything we can to keep him here,” McAllister said.

“All players have ambition to play in the Champions League. We can’t give them that at the moment. It’s a goal but we all know how difficult it is to get up there.

“You can always understand the lure of playing in that competition. I managed to get a touch of it as a balding old man and it’s a great experience.

“But we cannot fault Ashley because he has been very focused. The fact is that he could have been distracted with all the talk.

“There’s not a day passed when he hasn’t been linked with somebody but he is a good professional.”

 

Click here for the No1 coverage of all the gossip and transfer news around Aston Villa.

Liverpool arrive on the banks of the Thames having spanked Birmingham and Newcastle in their last two games to thrust them into contention for Europa League qualification, and with the clamour for confirmation that Kenny Dalglish is to oversee the continued renaissance at fever pitch. That will surely come given the galvanising effect he has had, though the visit to Fulham represents an awkward occasion. Mark Hughes has challenged his players to secure their highest ever points tally in the top flight by winning their final three games, securing a top-10 finish en route. The Cottagers have lost only three league games since new year's day and, even without Damien Duff, will test the Dalglish inspired revival. Dominic Fifield

Venue Craven Cottage, Monday 8pm

Tickets Sold out

Last season Fulham 3 Liverpool 1

Referee Lee Mason

This season's matches 21 Y90, R3, 4.43 cards per game

Odds Fulham 2-1 Liverpool 6-4 Draw 23-10

Fulham

Subs from Etheridge, Stockdale, Pantsil, Kelly, Greening, A Johnson, Dembélé, Senderos, Kakuta, Etuhu

Doubtful Dempsey (hamstring), Hangeland (illness)

Injured Gera (ankle, 15 May), Halliche (leg, 22 May), Duff (achilles, Aug)

Suspended None

Form guide WWDLWL

Disciplinary record Y41 R0

Leading scorer Dempsey 12

Liverpool

Subs from Gulacsi, Cole, Jovanovic, Kyrgiakos, Rodríguez, Wilson, Ngog, Poulsen, Shelvey, Robinson, Hansen

Doubtful Aurélio (thigh), Jovanovic (knee)

Injured Kelly (hamstring, 15 May), Agger (knee, Aug), Gerrard (groin, Aug)

Suspended None

Form guide WWDWLW

Disciplinary record Y58 R2

Leading scorer Kuyt 12

Match pointers

• Fulham have failed to score in six of their last seven league meetings with Liverpool

• 59.2% of Liverpool's passes this season have been played in or into the opposition half, the lowest ratio in the division

• Aaron Hughes has played more Premier League matches without being sent off (396) than any other defender

• Lucas Leiva has attempted a tackle every 16.5 minutes this season – more regularly than any other player

• On average, Fulham have conceded their first goal after 31 minutes, quicker than any other side in the top flight

Chelsea will never give thanks for elimination from the Champions League, but they have at least had a period of rest recently. United, on the other hand, showed the first symptoms of fatigue when losing on away goals to Bayern Munich after taking the lead last season. There is a test here for Sir Alex Ferguson to come up with a line-up that has sufficient vigour while also containing the essential experience for a game that could go far towards determining the outcome of the 2010-11 Premier League title. Kevin McCarra

Venue Old Trafford, Sunday 4.10pm

Tickets Sold out

Last season Manchester Utd 1 Chelsea 2

Referee Howard Webb

This season's matches 26 Y82, R2, 3.23 cards per game

Odds Manchester Utd 7-5 Chelsea 9-4 Draw 12-5

Manchester Utd

Subs from Kuszczak, Lindegaard, Nani, O'Shea, Fletcher, Anderson, Rafael, Gibson, Owen, Smalling, Obertan, Evans, Berbatov, Brown, Scholes

Doubtful Evra (thigh)

Injured Hargreaves (shoulder, Aug)

Suspended None

Form guide LWDWWW

Disciplinary record Y54 R3

Leading scorer Berbatov 21

Chelsea

Subs from Hilário, Turnbull, Ramires, Torres, Benayoun, Zhirkov, Ferreira, Alex, Bertrand, Anelka, McEachran

Doubtful Zhirkov (calf)

Injured Bosingwa (hamstring, 22 May)

Suspended None

Form guide WWWWWD

Disciplinary record Y49 R1

Leading scorer Malouda 13

Match pointers

• No opposition player has scored a first-half goal at Old Trafford in the League since Joe Cole did so in this fixture in March 2010

• Chelsea have won their last three Premier League games against United – Liverpool (between December 2000 and January 2002) are the only side to have beaten them four times in a row

• United need to win their final two home games to equal the record of 55 points (P19 W18 D1 L0) set by Chelsea during the 2005-06 campaign

• Howard Webb has awarded United a penalty in three of the last four games he has officiated at Old Trafford

West Bromwich Albion manager Roy Hodgson is angry that he was sacked so early on in his Liverpool career.

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish has credited the club's strong finish to the season to the enthusiasm of Luis Suarez.

Liverpool midfielder Jay Spearing extends his contract with the club.

Aston Villa want West Brom winger Chris Brunt this summer as a replacement for the Liverpool bound Ashley Young.

Liverpool weigh up offer for Sporting Gijon defender Jose Angel

Apparently there are games going on this weekend that aren't Manchester United vs. Chelsea, which is a bit of a shocker. Wigan and Blackpool are both looking to wriggle away from the relegation zone, while Tottenham and Manchester City fight for their future European lives on Saturday before their titanic midweek battle. All in all, we're shaping up for this to be the climax of the most up-and-down Premier League season in recent memory.

Saturday

Aston Villa vs. Wigan Athletic
3:00 PM GMT, 10:00 AM EST

Aston Villa are safely in mid table while Wigan Athletic are fighting for their Premier League lives. This, I'm thinking, means that Villa will absolutely destroy the poor Latics just because they can, It would be a fairytale escape if Roberto Martinez and his marry band of mini-Arsenalites escaped relegation, and this is football. If you want a magical elven forest you'll have to go to Catalonia.

Pick: 3-1 Aston Villa

Bolton Wanderers vs. Sunderland
3:00 PM GMT, 10:00 AM EST

It's a team with no strikers against a team with Danny Sturridge. Advantage: Sturridges. Not even the signing of Michael Dawson will save Steve Bruce's men from the blisteringly powerful force that is the England U-21 man at the Reebok Stadium.

Pick: 2-0 Bolton

Everton vs. Manchester City
3:00 PM GMT, 10:00 AM EST; Fox Soccer Channel

This could actually be quite an interesting match for Manchester City, as they could virtually secure the fourth Champions League spot with a win at Goodison Park. However, should they fail to pick up points they could leave themselves badly exposed to the prospect of being beaten by Tottenham in midweek, which would put the race for 4th well and truly back on. Roberto Mancini is said to be experimenting with a 9-1-0 in accordance with his team's need to win this match at all cost.

Pick: 0-0 Draw

Newcastle United vs. Birmingham
3:00 PM GMT, 10:00 AM EST

Newcastle only lost 3-0 to Liverpool while Birmingham lost by eight (goals scored against you by Maxi Rodriguez count as double per Premier League rule P.1g, which comes after 'haha Heurelho Gomes'). Therefore, Newcastle will win by five. It's maths. It works. Don't doubt it.

Pick: 5-0 Newcastle United

West Ham United vs. Blackburn Rovers
3:00 PM GMT, 10:00 AM EST; ESPN 2

West Ham United are once again looking for a miracle to take them off the bottom of the table and towards safety, while Blackburn are looking uneasily towards the precipice themselves. Intergalactic superhero Scott Parker is off fighting the bug-aliens of Omega-268 on a mission of critical importance, and although he's planning to defeat their evil leader Emperor Zorkoria in time for the match he's making no guarantees. Without their inspirational midfielder, West Ham will have trouble picking up all three points.

Pick: 1-1 Draw

Tottenham Hotspur vs. Blackpool
5:30 PM GMT, 12:30 PM EST; Fox Soccer Channel

Any game that could reasonably be considered a must-win for both teams is interesting. Blackpool travel to White Hart Lane to face suddenly sixth place Tottenham Hotspur, with the game having huge ramifications at each end of the table. Blackpool need three points to have much hope of continuing their Premier League story into next season, while Tottenham may see themselves overtaken by a resurgent Liverpool for the Europa League spot unless they win this one.

Pick: 2-0 Tottenham

Sunday

Wolverhampton Wanderers vs. West Bromwich Albion
12:00 PM GMT, 7:00 AM EST

This would have been so much more interesting with West Brom staying in the relegation zone, but as it is it's a side that's totally safe vs. a team that's a) not too shabby at home and b) fighting tooth and claw to stay in the preview league. That's a recipe for a narrow, tense home win.

Pick: 2-1 Wolves

Stoke City vs. Arsenal
2:05 PM GMT, 9:05 AM EST; Fox Soccer Channel

Arsenal are now more or less out of the title race and they're missing a slew of their biggest names, which means that with no pressure whatsoever they'll handily obliterate Stoke, win their next three games, and everyone will proclaim that the squad has matured and is ready to make a real run for trophies next season.

Pick: 4-0 Arsenal

Manchester United vs. Chelsea
4:10 PM GMT, 11:10 AM EST; Fox Soccer Channel

This game could very well decide the title race. If Manchester United win on Sunday they'll be six points clear with two matches left to play, but if Chelsea sneak an away win (and it's happened before) they'll go top of the table on goal difference. This is the single most important game in English football for the last several years. Watch it.

Pick: 1-1 Draw

Monday

Fulham vs. Liverpool
8:00 PM GMT, 3:00 PM EST; ESPN 2

This isn't a very important game, but it does feature Luis Suarez so you should watch it too. Liverpool are pushing hard for a Europa League spot, and Fulham are pushing hard for nothing at all. It might be interesting. It might not.

Pick: 2-1 Liverpool

Norwegian left back open to Merseyside move. Former Liverpool favourite John Arne Riise has sparked talk of a possible Anfield return after suggesting that he would be open to a move back to the Merseyside club he represented from 2002 to 2008. The Norwegian international is currently at Roma but has been linked with a [...]

Transfer Rumour Round-Up. The run-down on the latest rumours and speculation. Liverpool Target £22m Rated World Cup winner. Full Story: Sportingo Arsenal Chase £25m Centre Back Pair. Full Story: CaughtOffside Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor is set to return from his loan spell at Real Madrid with the Spanish club unwilling to match City’s £14m [...]

Eurosport.com ASIA

De Jong set for City fitness EatSleepSport Nigel de Jong is set to overcome a hip injury ahead of Manchester City's trip to Everton, while Micah Richards could be on the bench. City boss Roberto Mancini should be able to call on Netherlands international midfielder, De Jong, who has shaken off ... Rodwell: Under-21 Championship won't affect the fitness of our playerstalkSPORT.co.uk Everton v Man CityBBC Sport Everton v Manchester City: Big Match previewGiveMeFootball.com Liverpool Echo -Yahoo! Eurosport UK all 127 news articles »

· Salma Hayek debuts Nuance cosmetics at CVS [HuffPo] · Agyness Deyn cast as strong-minded stripper in film [The Cut] · Karl Lagerfeld's scandalous new fashion film [FFL] · Kate Moss, the exhibit, opens in New York [Racked NY]...

Liverpool midfielder Jay Spearing has signed an extension to his contract with the Anfield club.The 22-year-old joins Lucas Leiva and Dirk Kuyt in signing new deals.

Last weekend Liverpool cruised past Newcastle 3-0 at Anfield. While Newcastle fans were disappointed by the result, they were angered even further by seeing former striker Andy Carroll play against them in a Liverpool shirt. You might have thought that the Magpies’ frustration at losing Carroll in the January transfer window was dampened somewhat by [...]

Mirror Football is reporting that WBA manager Roy Hodgson is ready to offer Chris Brunt a bumper new contract in a bid to kill off interest in the player from Liverpool and Aston Villa. Hodgson is keen to tie West Brom skipper Brunt down to a longer contract and prevent his exit from the Hawthorns [...]

It was back in early 2008 when we last featured Liverpool based studio Uniform. Since then, they’ve launched a truck-load of new projects, and a beautifully executed video on their philosophy.

Thanks to @WeAreRaw for the heads up

Ghost Stories will shutter at the West End's Duke of York's Theatre June 19, after a run of a week short of a year. First seen at the Lyric Hammersmith and the regional Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse last year, it transferred to the West End, where it began performances June 25 prior to an official opening July 13, 2010.

Mark Hughes has given his Fulham players three more tests before the end of the season.

The Cottagers boss has guided the London club into the top half of the table with a good recent run but he wants the squad to continue working hard as they prepare for their final three matches of the season, beginning with Liverpool at Craven Cottage on Monday night.

“We’ve still got challenges with three games to go," Hughes told the club’s official website.

"If we get maximum points in every game we have left we will achieve the highest point tally that any Fulham side has reached in the Premier League.

“That’s a challenge for us and something we’ll use as motivation going into these last remaining games. It would have been easy to switch off after the Bolton game to be fair because we were safe but I didn’t get an inkling that that was what the players were feeling when we went up against Sunderland. In the second half I thought we were excellent and we took the game away from them.

“We look strong and fresh – the enjoyment in our play is there for everyone to see. We don’t look tired, jaded or mentally strained. We look forward to every game we’ve got left and it’s a shame the season is close to finishing because we’re really playing some great stuff and getting some positive results.

“We’re going into games expecting to play well and expecting to win. Everybody now understands their responsibilities and the demands that are placed on them. They’re producing at the moment. It was difficult at the beginning of the season but as we come to the climax of the season we’re really pleased with what we’ve produced. “It’s about making sure we’re still achieving. To finish in the top ten would be outstanding and I’ve always felt we’ve got the quality to do that.”

 

Click here for the No1 coverage of all the gossip and transfer news around Fulham.

Birmingham qualified for the Europa League by beating Arsenal in the Carling Cup final, but boss Alex McLeish has warned of the need for the Blues to have the necessary strength in depth to cope with the demands of participating in the competition next season.

The former Rangers boss admits he has taken heed of advice from former Dutch international Jan Wouters who was part of his coaching staff when manager of the Gers.

He is currently assistant manager at FC Utrecht whose exertions in the competition have taken their toll as the current campaign has progressed.

McLeish said: "We are looking also to build this summer. We've got Europe coming up as well.

"I spoke to my friend in Holland, Jan Wouters, and he said his team, FC Utrecht, ran out of steam after a brilliant start to the season when they played great stuff.

"They beat Celtic over two games, did quite well against Liverpool and Jan says they ran out of steam because of the Europa League campaign.

"That tells you we are going to have the resources to cope with all competitions, especially with the intensity of the Premier League.

"But, listen, I'm not even thinking about the recruitment stuff just now until we are mathematically safe."

 

Click here for the No1 coverage of all the gossip and transfer news around Birmingham City.

• Gruelling nature of competition could affect league form
• 'Liverpool are right in it again so it's getting tougher'

Harry Redknapp fears playing in next season's Europa League will severely hamper Tottenham Hotspur's chances of qualifying for the Champions League the following year. Spurs have enjoyed a successful debut season in the Champions League but it now looks likely that they will miss out on competing in Europe's top club competition next year.

Last weekend's defeat at Chelsea saw Redknapp's team slip to sixth and they could be 10 points behind fourth-placed Manchester City by the time they face Blackpool at White Hart Lane on Saturday evening, with City away at Everton in a 3pm kick-off.

With four matches of the season remaining, it appears the best that Tottenham can hope for is to overcome tricky games at Liverpool and City to beat Kenny Dalglish's team to fifth. That would mean earning a place in the Europa League – a competition that Redknapp has never hidden his dislike of. The Spurs manager watched City play 12 games in the competition this year, hoping they would stay in it so Spurs could capitalise on the distraction and fatigue that playing in such a tournament brings, and pip them to fourth.

Redknapp's team would have to play 17 times to make the Europa League final and he concedes that would have a huge impact on his long-term goal of bringing Champions League football to White Hart Lane on a regular basis.

"Teams who get into the Europa League want to get out of it," Redknapp said. "Half of them put reserve teams out in the early stages and it's difficult to play every Thursday and Sunday. It disrupts things.

"We didn't have European football last year and we finished fourth. That was a big advantage to us. If there are teams around you in the Europa League, you want to keep them in it. If we were in it next year, and you were one of the other clubs around us, you'd want us to stay in that competition because it takes its toll.

"I wanted Man City to stay in it this year because they were playing every Thursday night, slipping off to Azerbaijan to play a team out there. It's unreal, but that's how that competition is."

Redknapp believes that making the top four will be much harder next year given the rejuvenation of Liverpool and the determination of Roberto Mancini's team to establish themselves as one of the continent's heavyweights. He thinks that one or two additions to his squad would help fight off the other seven contenders that he thinks will be vying for a top-four finish next year.

Redknapp said: "Man City are going to spend God knows what this summer now that they have Champions League football to offer their players. Arsenal are going to be in it, Chelsea too, and Man United. We did it last year but it was so tough. Liverpool are going to be right in it again so it's getting tougher. Aston Villa and Everton have the players to come close too. We need to try and improve, juggle the squad about a bit and see if we can keep pushing and trying to do it."

• United have won 49 of a possible 51 points at home
• 'Our home record is probably the best in Europe,' he says

Sir Alex Ferguson is banking on "the best home record in Europe" to shove Manchester United over the Premier League title finishing line.

Although United cannot clinch a record 19th championship this weekend, few believe Sunday's Old Trafford encounter with Chelsea to be anything other than a title decider.

If Chelsea win they will go top on goal difference with two games remaining. If United win they will be six points clear and needing a single point from fixtures against relegation candidates Blackburn and Blackpool to win the title. Even a draw would not be a bad result for United, as it would leave them just four points off their target.

Chelsea's impressive recent form – 25 points from the last 27 – plus victories in their last three league meetings with Ferguson's men, ensures they cannot be taken lightly. However, Ferguson's faith is reinforced by back-to-back wins in the Champions League quarter-final, plus that brilliant record on home soil, where they have dropped just two points – in a home draw with West Bromwich last October – all season.

"Our home record is probably the best in Europe," Ferguson said. "It is the reason we are there. Some of the performances at home this season have been absolutely terrific. Hopefully it will get us the result we want on Sunday because this is a big game. If we win, we should win the league."

Ferguson could hardly have expected to be in this situation at half-time at Stamford Bridge on 1 March. Ahead thanks to Wayne Rooney's impressive strike, United looked set to extend their advantage over the Blues to 18 points. Instead, a couple of debatable decisions from the referee, Martin Atkinson, assisted Chelsea in their recovery, Carlo Ancelotti's side eventually claiming a 2-1 win that has triggered a stunning return to form.

"That result was the change for them," added Ferguson, whose brutal assessment of Atkinson's performance brought him a five-match touchline ban. "We all know the circumstances of that game and I don't need to get into that. But the outcome gave them a lift. They were out of the game and they had won it."

As Chelsea's roll gathered momentum, United continued to struggle away from Old Trafford. They lost at Liverpool, dropped points at Newcastle and then lost to Arsenal last Sunday.

"Us losing to Arsenal has opened the door for them," Ferguson added. "But we always said it is a very difficult league. The Premier League is hard to win. We know because we have been involved in the championship races for 19 years."

The sight of his team struggling at the Emirates confirmed in Ferguson's mind that changes had to be made for Wednesday's Champions League semi-final with Schalke. Part one of the plan worked to perfection as United's second-string side eased through to a Champions League final meeting with Barcelona at Wembley on 28 May. Now he can only hope the concluding effort is just as effective.

"Everyone is aware of the magnitude of Sunday's game," Ferguson said. "It is one of the reasons why I picked the team I did on Wednesday. I wanted to give us a real chance. We will have a fresh team and that makes a difference at this time of the season."

It does mean the bulk of United's starting XI will not be difficult to guess. The same cannot be said of their opponents. Not even a spying mission to Stamford Bridge last week for Chelsea's controversial win over Tottenham unearthed any clues. Instead, Ferguson will expect his own players to do their jobs no matter who they end up facing.

"I have no idea what to expect from Chelsea," he said. "I was at their game last week and couldn't get anything from that. Drogba played the whole game so you would expect him definitely to play. But he started off wide right, then Torres went there. Whether they start with both of them on Sunday is difficult to say. But no matter what they do, we have the players to handle it."