Posts Tagged ‘Guardian News’

Gerrard admits title Liverpool’s hopes are slim

• Captain says they must focus on getting back into the top four
• Midfielder sees win over Everton as platform for a winning run

Steven Gerrard has admitted a top-four finish is now a more realistic aim for Liverpool than winning the Premier League this season as they lie 13 points behind the leaders, Chelsea, after a poor run of form throughout October and November.

Gerrard said: “I think we have to be realistic. At the moment we’re out of the title race, but we will keep trying to get back in it. There is still a lot of football to be played and it is possible to turn it around, but I think Chelsea are looking really strong at the moment.”

Liverpool have not won the league since 1990 and Gerrard said: “It’s been too long without a league title and because it is missing from my collection it is one that I’m most desperate for going forward.”

However, he said their target now was “to get back into the top four. We’re coming off the back of a fantastic win at Everton and we want to continue that against Blackburn and try and go on a run of games where we can get closer to the teams above us.”

Gerrard, 29, is due to make his 500th appearance for Liverpoool in Saturday’s match against Blackburn Rovers at Anfield and said: “It means everything to me personally. I’m a local boy and my dream when I was young was always just to play one game for Liverpool. So to reach this milestone is a really proud moment for my family and myself.”

Ireland won’t be at World Cup, says Fifa

• Jérôme Valcke says it is ‘impossible’ that Ireland will feature
• ‘There’s no hope that there will be any more than 32 teams’

Fifa has dashed any lingering hopes that the Republic of Ireland could play in next year’s World Cup finals, stating that it would be impossible to add a 33rd team to the tournament. Fifa’s general secretary, Jérôme Valcke, told a news conference three days before the draw for the finals in South Africa that Ireland should not entertain hopes of being given an extra place because of France’s controversial handball goal against them.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a nonsense but it is impossible,” said Valcke. “There’s no hope to give that there will be any more than 32 teams at the World Cup in South Africa.”

The Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, revealed on Monday that Ireland had requested a place at the finals in addition to the 32 qualified teams because they felt cheated by Thierry Henry’s controversial goal for France in their play-off match. Valcke said that, as Ireland had made an official request, the matter would have to go before Wednesday’s organising committee meeting in Cape Town.

But he said Blatter, who runs football’s world governing body, had told the Irish very clearly they had no chance of success. Valcke said there would be too many organisational problems to overcome and that other teams who felt penalised by wrong refereeing decisions could also come forward and make similar claims.

“We had 853 qualifying matches,” Valcke said. “It’s sad that we are talking about just one game.”

Arsenal ‘have not bid for Chamakh’

• Selling Chamakh ‘out of the question,’ says Jean-Louis Triaud
• Arsenal looking to strengthen after Robin van Persie’s injury

The Bordeaux president, Jean-Louis Triaud, has rejected reports that Marouane Chamakh is set for a January move to Arsenal as cover for the injured Robin van Persie. Arsenal are expected to be active in the winter transfer market after it emerged that Van Persie faces up to five months on the sidelines after rupturing ankle ligaments during Holland’s friendly against Italy.

Chamakh was strongly linked with a move to Arsenal before the start of the season and Arsène Wenger angered the Ligue 1 champions in September by hinting he would make a renewed effort to bring the Morocco striker to England in January. Bordeaux face losing the 25-year-old for nothing in the summer when his contract expires but Triaud insists they will fend off any fresh offers.

“I have no information on this matter,” he told L’Equipe. “In any case it’s out of the question. Marouane is such a decisive player, while we also have important challenges ahead of us, in the league and in the Champions League.

“If we miss out on our objectives, then we will also lose money. In any case, we would not do anything against Laurent Blanc’s wishes.”

Chamakh finished as Bordeaux’s leading goalscorer last season as he fired them to their first Ligue 1 title in 10 years.

Arrest over ‘racist abuse’ of Bent’s mother

• Bent’s mother was allegedly abused by a Sunderland fan
• Striker wrote about the incident on his Twitter page

A man has been arrested on suspicion of racially abusing the mother of the Sunderland striker Darren Bent, police said today. Bent’s mother was allegedly picked on by a Sunderland fan in a pub following the side’s 1-0 defeat at Wigan on Saturday.

Bent wrote about the incident on his Twitter page, saying: “So we get beat by Wigan and to make matters worse my mum gets racially abused by a SUNDERLAND fan. I won’t stand for that.”

Greater Manchester police and their counterparts in the Northumbria force launched a joint investigation.

A 26-year-old from Chester-le-Street, County Durham, was arrested at 6.50pm yesterday, Northumbria police said. The force said the man was arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated harassment at an alleged incident in Wigan on Saturday, on behalf of Greater Manchester police.

He was released on police bail until 12 January.

Bent claims mother was racially abused by fan

• Sunderland liaising with police over alleged incident
• Bent: ‘The offender needs to hope I don’t find out who he is’

Darren Bent has claimed his mother was racially abused by a Sunderland fan during his side’s 1-0 defeat at Wigan.

The Sunderland striker posted the claim on his Twitter feed shortly after the match, which was settled by Hugo Rodallega’s 76th-minute goal. Bent’s original post read: “So we get beaten by Wigan and to make matters worse my mum gets racially abused by a Sunderland fan. I won’t stand for that.”

In later posts replying to other users of the site, Bent labelled the abuse “an absolute disgrace” and warned: “The offender needs to hope I don’t find out his name or who he is.”

The matter has been reported to the police, with a club spokeswoman confirming to BBC Sport: “Sunderland are liaising with Northumbria Police to fully investigate this matter. Behaviour of this kind is totally unacceptable to our football club.”

Bent was a club-record signing from Tottenham in the summer – after another Twitter post criticising the Spurs chairman Daniel Levy over the handling of the move – and has since scored nine goals and earned an England recall.