Chelsea treble talk annoys Lampard

Frank Lampard last night attempted to banish all talk of a potential Chelsea trophy treble.

The England midfielder inspired the Blues to victory against Arsenal on Saturday to reach the FA Cup final with a 2-1 win at Wembley.

The Gunners had taken the lead in the 18th minute through Theo Walcott but Florent Malouda equalised for Chelsea, beating Arsenal keeper Lukasz Fabianski at his near post.
Didier Drogba then smashed his eighth goal in nine games to seal the win late on and leave the Blues still in the hunt for success on three fronts.

Chelsea face Barcelona in the semi-finals of the Champions League and remain in the race for the Premier League title.

But midfielder Lampard insists talk of three trophies only adds to the pressure.

'I hate talk of a treble,' he said. 'When you talk about it the pressure gets even more so we must keep our heads down and take each game and competition as it comes and if we do that then we will have a chance.

'It will be very difficult to win three trophies but if we can win something it would be great.

'We are now in a position where we can be very successful. We must keep doing the good things - playing together and with spirit.

'We want to keep going and keep putting the pressure on. We want to win all our games as you never know what might happen.

Bent admits his Spurs future is in the balance

Tottenham striker Darren Bent admits his future at White Hart Lane is likely to be decided in the next month and will depend on the role he plays in the club's late push for European football.

Bent is Spurs' top scorer this season with 16 goals but the return of Jermain Defoe and Robbie Keane has intensified competition for starting places.

Defoe has now recovered from his foot injury and it means Bent could be back on the bench after starting the last six Barclays Premier League games.

With five matches to go and Spurs chasing a seventh-placed finish, Bent agreed that who starts in those matches could point towards where his future lies.

'No-one likes to sit on the bench,' said the 25-year-old. 'I'll have to see what happens and take it from there. My season has been up and down. The end of the season is coming and we'll have to see what happens after that.'

Bent feels there is a World Cup place up for grabs next year with England if he is playing regular football.

'I would have liked to have played more games and scored more goals,' he said.

'The manager has got decisions to make. He's got fantastic strikers and you have to bide your time. 'If you don't play for your club regularly, you won't play for England. As long as I can keep working hard and scoring goals, hopefully I'll be in there.'

Bent has been encouraged by advice from England boss Fabio Capello, who was at White Hart Lane at the weekend to watch Bent score the winner against Newcastle.

'(Wayne) Rooney is obviously the number one, and there is always a fight for the other spot,' Bent admitted.

'As long as I can keep scoring goals and playing well when he's watching me, it's all I can ask for.

'Fabio is the best England manager we've had for a long time. He's told me on a personal level what he wants from me. He tells you face to face what he wants, which is what you need as a player.'

Van Persie and Adebayor out of Liverpool clash

Arsenal will be without leading scorer Robin van Persie (groin) and striker Emmanuel Adebayor (hamstring) for tomorrow's trip to Liverpool.

However, full-back Bacary Sagna has recovered from a virus and could feature at Anfield, along with fit-again Croatia forward Eduardo.

Despite his Wembley nightmare in Saturday's FA Cup semi-final, Lukasz Fabianski will again deputise in goal for Manuel Almunia (ankle), while defenders Gael Clichy (back), William Gallas (knee) and Johan Djourou (knee) are all sidelined.
Meanwhile, Liverpool will be without captain Steven Gerrard.
The England midfielder is expected to remain sidelined for another seven to 10 days with a groin problem having sat out the last two matches.

However, with a week's rest since their Champions League exit to Chelsea manager Rafael Benitez may not feel the need to rotate his side too much against the Gunners.

Wembley pitch needs sorted out, admit FA

The Football Association today accepted the much-maligned pitch at Wembley Stadium needs to be improved.

The debate over the surface has been rumbling ever since the new stadium was opened two years ago but it intensified over FA Cup semi-final weekend.

The turf proved problematic for Saturday's clash between Arsenal and Chelsea and again for yesterday's tie between Manchester United and Everton, with the top surface appearing spongy and giving way easily under players' feet.
Its harshest critics were the two losing managers. Arsene Wenger branded it 'a disaster' and 'laughable' while Sir Alex Ferguson said the soil looked 'dead' and withdrew three senior players from his starting line-up because of injury concerns ahead of the season's run-in.

The pitch has had to be re-laid five times in two years since the new £750million stadium opened. The standard of the turf even prompted the Australian Rugby Union to investigate whether it contributed to injuries to two Wallabies in an international against the Barbarians in November last year.

The FA confirmed the state of the pitch is a concern and said they are focusing on improving it for the numerous fixtures in the next two months.

'Whilst recent changes to the surface have seen improvements in player traction, we accept there are still further improvements to be made,' a statement from the governing body read.

'Wembley Stadium will continue to work hard to address these issues for our next matches.

'The grounds team has made continual improvements to the pitch since opening in 2007, however, the stadium's unique environment continues to prove challenging.'

Before the end of the season, the turf will have to withstand three Football League play-off finals plus the Blue Square Premier play-off final, the FA Cup final and the finals of the FA Trophy and Vase. England then play a World Cup qualifier against Andorra on June 10.

Aside from football, there is an AC/DC concert on June 26 and, in July, three Oasis dates and four Take That concerts.

It will be re-laid again for the Community Shield in August and the FA's statement added that 'this new pitch will be of a different composition and from a different turf nursery'.

David Saltman, formerly in charge of Millennium Stadium pitch and now the managing director of www.pitchcare.com, said Wembley will never be as good as a Premier League club's surface.

'This pitch is the most spotlighted pitch in country if not the world,' he told BBC Radio Five Live.

'The number of events on the grass and off it is staggering.

'One of the problems with Wembley and the Millennium is they're not just pitches for football.

'Managers such as Ferguson and Wenger are used to playing on pitches which are just prepared for football week in, week out and the levels are superb. The pitch is cut short and the players know what they are going to be going on to.

'At Wembley and the Millennium the pitches are turfed - they have to be because of the other events - so you're never going to have the same sort of perfect level you have with an in-situ pitch you get in the Premier League and the Championship.'

Premier League and FA Cup - Who’s Hot and Who’s Not

The candidates are Chelsea, Everton, Tottenham, Manchester City, Portsmouth, Stoke and Sunderland. They all won, but look at who they were playing. Tottenham beat a desperately poor Newcastle, City beat a desperately poor West Brom, Portsmouth beat a desperately poor Bolton, Stoke beat a desperately poor Blackburn and Sunderland beat a desperately poor Hull.

It has to be one of the FA Cup finalists but look at who Everton beat - Van der Sar, Neville, O’Shea, Evans, Evra, Ronaldo, Carrick, Scholes, Giggs, Berbatov, Rooney. That’s the United team that didn’t start the game!

Through the process of elimination, the Hot team have to be Chelsea who beat a pretty good Arsenal team.
# Not Hot team

Basically all the losing teams, together with Middlesbrough who could only draw at home, are in the frame for this award.

The winner for me, by a mile is the Hull City team who went down at Sunderland to leave them with just one win in seventeen games.
# Hot keeper

To make a couple of fine penalty saves for your team is great for a keeper. To make them at Wembley to put your side through to an FA Cup final is even better. To do so against your old team, the World and European champions is just the icing on the cake.

There is no doubt that this week’s Hot keeper is Everton’s Tim Howard.
# Not Hot keeper

The good news for West Brom’s Scott Carson is that someone had an even worse game than him this week. It can’t be easy for a young keeper to step into a team and play in an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley. At least, I imagine it can’t be easy after watching the pretty poor efforts of Arsenal’s Lukasz Fabianski on Saturday!

The first goal beat him at his near post and the second goal…well, where on earth did he think he was going!?
# Hot defender

He’s had a great season and received England recognition. He has become one of the best defenders in the Premier League and yesterday, he struck home the penalty that took his team to Wembley.

Whilst Nemanja Vidic was absolutely immense for Manchester United, this award goes to Everton’s Phil Jagielka.
# Not Hot defender

Poor old Newcastle haven’t really had the type of reaction that many of us, including me, thought they would have to the appointment of Alan Shearer.

A defeat to Chelsea, a draw with Stoke and a pretty tame defeat yesterday at Tottenham has hardly been what Shearer must have been hoping for.

In amongst that performance yesterday was a particularly poor showing from one of this season’s signings, Ryan Taylor. The way he played sort of summed up Newcastle’s season so far. He was all over the place.
# Hot midfielder

I have been his biggest critic since he came to the Premier League, but I truly believe he has deserved it. Florent Malouda has been the biggest waste of money since Shevchenko or Alves…OK, there have been quite a few, but he has been rubbish!

All of a sudden, under Guus Hiddink, he has started to look like an international footballer. He scored Chelsea’s first goal on Saturday and had an all round good game. At last, we are beginning to see what Chelsea paid for.
# Not Hot midfielder

I love Paul Scholes. He is a true legend of the game and a true great. However, when he came on a substitute yesterday I was really pleased because I thought we might see a bit of quality that had been sadly missing from the game. The one thing you know about Scholsey is that he will just never give the ball away.

Yesterday, and against Porto in the first leg of their European tie, Paul did very little other than give the ball away. Form is temporary and class is permanent, so they say, but Scholesy is suffering a terrible blip in his form. He will always be a class act but I wonder if his days are numbered.
# Hot striker

He has had a very poor season by his standards and he has never been far away from controversy. Didier Drogba has looked like a shadow of his former self for much of this season.

He has become another player who seems to have blossomed under the guidance of Guus Hiddink and his performances against Liverpool in Europe and against Arsenal on Saturday, where he scored the winning goal, were right up there with his best.

When he is in form he is a frightening prospect for any defender. Nobody will fancy marking him between now and the end of the season.
# Not Hot striker

I am fed up with defending Dimitar Berbatov. He is a great player with a wonderful touch and outstanding vision.

He came on as a substitute yesterday and offered his team-mates absolutely nothing. He then took a penalty in the shoot out that must have been one of the worst penalties ever taken by a so-called international footballer.

Beckham stars for Milan on return from injury

AC Milan surged up to joint second in Serie A thanks to Filippo Inzaghi's hat-trick in a 5-1 home thrashing of lowly Torino on Sunday.

Carlo Ancelotti's in-form side moved level with Juventus on 64 points but are still 10 behind leaders Inter Milan with just six games left in the season.

Stuttering Juve drew 1-1 at home with Inter on Saturday and Milan quickly made sure they took advantage, Inzaghi nodding in David Beckham's corner after 13 minutes.
Beckham, returning to the starting lineup after two games on the bench, caused havoc and Inzaghi soon flicked in another of his crosses with fourth-bottom Torino completely powerless.

Inzaghi, 35, converted Ronaldinho's pass in the second half before Kaka netted a penalty, Ivan Franceschini grabbed a consolation and Massimo Ambrosini finished off a good move.

Ancelotti, linked with Chelsea and Real Madrid, had been warned by club bosses that third place was the minimum requirement after limping in fifth last season.

Second spot now looks a distinct possibility with the San Siro meeting with Juve on May 10 especially important given head-to-head records separate teams on the same points.

Real target Liverpool star Alonso

Liverpool face a fight to hang on to their key central midfielder Xabi Alonso this summer, according to reports.

Spanish giants Real Madrid are due to hold their presidential elections soon and Florentino Perez is favourite to succeed.

Should he win, he has made Alonso his No.1 target, reports today's Daily Telegraph.
Although Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez insists the player is not for sale, the Spaniard has limited transfer funds available this summer and could be tempted to cash in on the player in order to boost his own spending kitty,

Alonso would fetch a price of around £20million.

Chelsea treble talk annoys Lampard

Frank Lampard last night attempted to banish all talk of a potential Chelsea trophy treble.

The England midfielder inspired the Blues to victory against Arsenal on Saturday to reach the FA Cup final with a 2-1 win at Wembley.

The Gunners had taken the lead in the 18th minute through Theo Walcott but Florent Malouda equalised for Chelsea, beating Arsenal keeper Lukasz Fabianski at his near post.
Didier Drogba then smashed his eighth goal in nine games to seal the win late on and leave the Blues still in the hunt for success on three fronts.

Chelsea face Barcelona in the semi-finals of the Champions League and remain in the race for the Premier League title.

But midfielder Lampard insists talk of three trophies only adds to the pressure.

'I hate talk of a treble,' he said. 'When you talk about it the pressure gets even more so we must keep our heads down and take each game and competition as it comes and if we do that then we will have a chance.

'It will be very difficult to win three trophies but if we can win something it would be great.

'We are now in a position where we can be very successful. We must keep doing the good things - playing together and with spirit.

'We want to keep going and keep putting the pressure on. We want to win all our games as you never know what might happen.'

Wenger's Lukasz aid for Arsenal's blunderman

Arsene Wenger has defended rookie Lukasz Fabianski and claimed he will go on to become one of the world's best goalkeepers.

The Pole had a difficult evening at Wembley on his 24th birthday on Saturday, making a succession of mistakes before rushing out of his goal and gifting Chelsea's winner to Didier Drogba as the Gunners lost the FA Cup semi-final 2-1.

But Fabianski is set to deputise for No.1 Manuel Almunia at least until after the Champions League semi-final, first leg against Manchester United at Old Trafford on Wednesday week.
Wenger said: 'It would be unfair to put too much responsibility for this defeat on Fabianski.

'I do not want to speak too much about what he has done, I just want to see him recover because I firmly believe he will be one of the best keepers in the world.

'He has the talent. He is brave, he is intelligent and technically he is very good. He was not at his best, we have to accept that. It can happen to anyone, just as it did to [Chelsea's] Petr Cech on Tuesday.'

Robinho back on goal trail

Robinho re-ignited his Manchester City career with his first goal of the year as Mark Hughes' side edged West Brom nearer to the drop.

Brazil playmaker Robinho had not found the net since December 28 but opened the scoring at Eastlands yesterday after just 12 minutes.

And Hughes said: 'We are pleased Robby is back on the goal trail. It is his first in 2009 and important for him. As he has not been scoring, people have been highlighting that fact. But hopefully he will now go on a run again.'
Nedum Onuoha, Elano - with a penalty - and substitute Daniel Sturridge wrapped up City's win while Chris Brunt scored both for the Baggies.

And Hughes defended his decision to replace Elano late on. 'It was no reflection on his play,' he added.

Newcastle must win home games or we're down

ewcastle boss Alan Shearer has told his players they need to win their remaining three home games to save their season and stay in the Barclays Premier League.

After losing to Tottenham yesterday, with Darren Bent scoring the only goal of the game at White Hart Lane, Shearer's men are four points from safety with five matches left.
Three of those are at St James' Park, against Portsmouth, Middlesbrough and Fulham - and Shearer believes maximum points from those clashes will ensure survival.
He said: 'We'll be expected to win those and we have to win those starting with next Monday against Portsmouth. My attention is now on that must-win game.'

Shearer was angry with his players for leaving it too late against Spurs before raising their game.

'I've just said to them, very pleased with the second half but give me an explanation why there's no urgency like that from minute one,' he said.

'We have our own ideas, our own theory as to why but we have to start games in the first minute like we finish them in the last 30 minutes.'

Another concern for Shearer is Steven Taylor, who was taken off at half-time with an ankle injury. That changed Newcastle's shape, as did Shearer's substitutions when he brought on Obafemi Martins and Mark Viduka.

Martins provided an attacking spark and went close with two gilt-edged chances, while also having an effort chalked off for handball and a penalty shout turned down by referee Mark Halsey following a challenge by Jonathan Woodgate.

'I felt at the time it was a penalty,' Shearer said. 'That's three decisions we haven't got in three games.'

Redknapp targets Europe as Spurs win again

Tottenham Hotspur boss Harry redknapp has set his sights on Europe after Sunday's

'It would be a good achievement, fantastic. It's not as important as staying up, that's all they were talking about.

'Mr Levy (chairman Daniel Levy) hadn't slept for weeks because he thought we were going to get relegated. I bet he's sleeping now.'

The win came at a price though and Spurs are waiting to find out the results of a scan after Michael Dawson injured his ankle in the first half.

'I'm not sure if it's ligaments or a fracture but it looks quite nasty,' Redknapp added.

Everton knock out United to reach FA Cup final

Sir Alex Ferguson's gamble backfired at Wembley yesterday as his shadow side lost their FA Cup semi-final on penalties to Everton.

United's hopes of an unprecedented five trophies in a season are over after the Scot left Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Edwin van der Sar and Ryan Giggs in Manchester and named four teenagers in a side shorn of eight first-team regulars.

But in a revelation which will embarrass the Football Association, Ferguson insisted his selection was down to the poor state of the Wembley pitch.
He said: 'When I saw the pitch in the Chelsea v Arsenal semi, what I didn't want was to go into extra-time with my strongest squad. It looked spongy and dead and difficult to move the ball quickly. So we had to go with the bold decision of playing the younger ones.'

Ferguson also felt referee Mike Riley may have been influenced by Everton counterpart David Moyes, who last week intimated Riley was possibly a United fan. The official denied Ferguson's side a penalty in the second half when Phil Jagielka brought down Danny Welbeck.

Ferguson added: 'I have no idea if that affected the decision but you never know. It may have. It can prey on a referee's mind.'

Moyes admitted he thought referee Riley got it wrong as well, adding: '"I thought it was a penalty kick too and if I'd have been the United manager I'd have been shouting for a penalty kick.'