Weaver worry for City

Nicky Weaver admits he is struggling to shake off a hip injury ahead of Manchester City's visit to Portsmouth.

The goalkeeper suffered a badly bruised hip after colliding with team-mate Richard Dunne in City's 2-0 defeat to Reading last Saturday.

He was forced off with the injury and concedes he is facing a fight to recover from the problem in time for this weekend's trip to Fratton Park.

"If I was an outfield player, I would be confident of making the match, but the fact I have to dive around on it makes the situation a bit different," Weaver told the Manchester Evening News.

Weaver has missed just one game for City all season and if he is forced to sit out the Pompey game, then Andreas Isaksson is likely to make his first start for the club.

Isaksson replaced his team-mate against Reading and his only previous action was in coming on as a substitute for Weaver in the Manchester derby at Old Trafford in December.

Trotters tipped to bag Cesar

Bolton are being tipped to wrap up the capture of Spanish defender Cesar.

The stopper cancelled his contract with Levante on transfer deadline day and this appears to have paved the away for him to secure a move to Bolton.

There had been confusion as to whether he would be able to sign for a team outside of the transfer window, but the stopper's agent has confirmed that Cesar is free to find a new club.

Cesar passed a medical at the start of the week and is expected to sign a deal which binds him to The Reebok Stadium until the summer of 2008.

The 29-year-old only joined Levante in the summer, having moved across Spain from Deportivo La Coruna, but the switch did not work out as planned as he made just one league start for the club.

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Fergie fumes at 'petty' Wenger

Sir Alex Ferguson has bristled at suggestions from Arsene Wenger that Manchester United lack stamina, branding the Frenchman's reputed comments as 'petty'.

Following Arsenal's late 2-1 win over United on Sunday, Gunners midfielder Mathieu Flamini claimed that Wenger had told his troops that their great rivals would tire in the final stages.

The implicit indication that his team cannot last the course has angered Ferguson, and the Scot has now reignited a war of words with Wenger which has largely lain dormant since the arrival of Jose Mourinho in England.

"Of course, after there was a big analysis that they concede more goals in the last 20 minutes - but most of the time, that is because they lead and teams have a go at them.

"Manchester United are top of the league - and if they are top of the league, that means they do not collapse."

Wenger frets over Hleb injury

Arsene Wenger admits Arsenal midfielder Alexander Hleb's hamstring injury 'doesn't look too good'.

Hleb picked up the problem during The Gunners' 2-2 draw at Tottenham Hotspur in the first leg of the Carling Cup semi-final on Wednesday night.

The Belarus international came on as a 56th minute substitute for Abou Diaby, but lasted just 25 minutes before being replaced by Mathieu Flamini.

Following on from the injury Robin van Persie suffered against Manchester United at the weekend, Wenger lamented the latest setback to his squad.

"We lost Van Persie on Sunday and now we have lost Hleb," Wenger told the club's official website.

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Football: Controversy robs Pardew of opening Charlton win

LONDON : Alan Pardew was robbed of a winning start as Charlton manager when Fulham snatched a controversial injury-time goal in a 2-2 draw in the English Premiership on Wednesday.

Fulham were awarded a free-kick three minutes into time added-on after Djimi Traore was wrongly penalised for a hand ball.

Michael Brown quickly took the free-kick which landed kindly for Frank Queudrue to score and secure a point for the Cottagers.

Fulham had gone ahead in the 12th minute through Brian McBride, but Darren Ambrose fired Charlton level six minutes later before Darren Bent took advantage of a mix-up in the Fulham defence to slot home on the stroke of half-time.

But their hopes of a fourth win of the season were cruelly dashed by Queudrue's late leveller.

Details can be found here.

Chelsea Edge Wigan Thriller

Wigan gave mega-bucks Chelsea a run for their money in a JJB thriller, refusing to throw in the towel despite conceding twice in the opening half hour.

But Arjen Robben hit the winner two minutes into injury time to condemn unlucky Wigan to their fourth home defeat on the trot.

More details about the match between Wigan and Chelsea, click here for full report.

Yours truly,
Bryanseb

Arsenal Thrash Rovers

Arsenal has crashed Blackburn Rovers FC by 6-2... The Gunners went down in the 3rd minutes when Blackburn striker Nonda scored from a penalty.

Gilberto scored the equalizer when he manage to shot past Rovers keeper, Brad Friedel.

Arsenal took the lead when Bulgarian International, Alexandre Hleb.

Eventually, Arsenal when on and beat Blackburn 6-2 during the match itself.

Disaster for Blackburn Rovers and Mark Hughes.

Reed goes back to basics

Under-fire Charlton head coach Les Reed has vowed to take the Addicks back to their roots in the battle to beat the drop.

Reed saw supporters at The Valley turn on his Premiership strugglers after they were dumped out of the Carling Cup by League Two side Wycombe Wanderers on Tuesday night.

Chants of "you're not fit to wear the shirt" rang out during the 1-0 quarter-final defeat and Reed has promised to revitalise the ailing club by recapturing the traditions put in place by former boss Alan Curbishley.

"This is a club which for many years, to get into the position we are in now with the stadium and the Premiership, depended on developing our own players," said Reed.

"That was either through our youth system or through picking up players from lower division clubs or players who had been rejected elsewhere, working with them and turning them into better players.

"When you do that you develop a kind of kindred spirit amongst them.

"For years we did that and for years Curbs managed to get to a certain level in the Premiership and the next thing was how do we push on?

"The way forward then was to bring in more experienced players - players who had played at the top and to try and bring another element to the club to try to take it to the next level.

"Maybe what has happened in the last few years is that in doing that we have lost a little bit of that Charlton blood in the veins of the players.

"It is something I am very conscious of trying to do something about."

AJ accepts Jose's apology

Everton striker Andrew Johnson hopes his spat with Jose Mourinho is over after the Chelsea manager apologised for the comments he made after Sunday's match between the two sides.

Mourinho suggested the England international had tried to win a penalty by diving but has since retracted his accusations.

Johnson was happy with the former FC Porto manager's words, telling Everton's official website: "I'm pleased that Mr Mourinho has apologised for the comments he made.

"I have the utmost respect for both Chelsea Football Club and Mr Mourinho as a manager.

"Everton Football Club and myself can now concentrate on the games ahead. I'd like to thank Everton Football Club, my manager David Moyes, my team-mates and my agent for all their support. This is now the end of the matter."

Mourinho said in a statement on Wednesday: "First I would like to say I have the utmost respect for Everton Football Club, David Moyes and their players.

"That's why I love to play them, and especially at Goodison Park where the atmosphere is magnificent.

"Secondly, after the match, I was clear and said Andy Johnson is a great player and I never used aggressive words, like some managers did against my players in previous seasons, or like some others recently said about him and Ronaldo. I never used the word cheat.

"After seeing it again on the video, Mr Halsey did wonderful work and both decisions for penalties were correct.

"Did Andy Johnson try to avoid a collision with my goalkeeper? It seems now the answer to that is yes so Everton, his manager and he deserve my apologies."

Moyes: No way, Jose

Everton manager David Moyes slammed the reaction of his Chelsea counterpart Jose Mourinho following the Blues' 3-2 victory at Goodison Park on Sunday.

Mourinho angered Moyes by calling for Andrew Johnson to be booked over a first-half penalty claim by the Toffees striker.

Afterwards the Blues boss was still incensed by the incident and claiming the England striker should be "embarrassed" by the incident with goalkeeper Henrique Hilario.

However, Moyes strongly refuted the allegation and cited the incident involving Petr Cech earlier in the season when the goalkeeper suffered a fractured skull after a similar challenge with Reading's Stephen Hunt.

"It wasn't a penalty but it certainly wasn't a dive either," slammed the Everton boss.

"There was a big complaint earlier in the season because a player went into a goalkeeper, are we now saying they have to go into them? Make your mind up.

"By acting the way he did Jose probably did inflame the situation, but then he has a 15-stone striker up there who is quite partial to doing it himself."