The Gunners – who made sweeping changes from the midweek Carling Cup semi-final win over Ipswich – took the lead when Nicklas Bendtner’s angled shot deflected off Terriers skipper Peter Clarke on 22 minutes.

However, influential midfielder Samir Nasri limped off with a hamstring problem, which could yet rule him out of the Champions League showdown with Barcelona, before Sebastien Squillaci was shown a red card by referee Mark Clattenburg for blocking Jack Hunt’s surging run.

Alan Lee headed a deserved equaliser for the Terriers, but Fabregas won it from the spot after Jamie McCombe was adjudged to have pushed Bendtner over.

The Barclays Premier League title challengers were on top soon after kick-off.

Bendtner, who netted a superb goal to open the scoring against Ipswich in midweek, charged into the right side of the Huddersfield penalty area.

The ball eventually broke to Andrey Arshavin at the far post, but the out-of-sorts Russian blasted his shot high into the stands.

Arshavin continued to see plenty of possession, and cut in from the left before his low centre across the six-yard box was turned just wide by Bendtner before his angled shot was pushed onto the outside of the post by veteran keeper Ian Bennett.

A stray pass from Squillaci suddenly set Kevin Kilbane clear, but as he played in Lee, Laurent Koscielny got across to cover.

Arsenal took the lead on 22 minutes via a deflection.

Bendtner collected the ball on his chest before charging toward the right side of the penalty area, where he fired in an angled drive which ricocheted off Clarke and flew into the bottom corner.

Huddersfield immediately went on the offensive and it needed a deft touch from Squillaci to poke the ball away from Lee as he looked set to net after a low ball into the Arsenal penalty area from the right by Anthony Pilkington.

There was concern for Arsenal when Nasri pulled up holding his hamstring after chasing a long drop-kick from Manuel Almunia.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger was taking no chances, immediately replacing the French playmaker with Tomas Rosicky.

It should have been 1-1 on 38 minutes when former Aston Villa midfielder Joey Gudjonsson floated a high ball into the Arsenal penalty area, which eluded the centre-halves and dropped for Pilkington, but he headed wide.

There was then high drama when Squillaci was shown a red card, adjudged last man by Clattenburg, after he blocked Hunt following a surging run from the Terriers defender, which had started in his own half.

With no other defensive cover on the bench, striker Marouane Chamakh was sacrificed as Alex Song came in alongside Koscielny for the second half.

Arshavin was played clear by Rosicky down the left channel and took the ball into the area before stabbing it into the side-netting.

Arsenal were forced to be both patient and cautious as Huddersfield looked to get forwards themselves at every opportunity.

Arshavin made a brave sliding challenge at the near post to take the ball away from Gudjonsson as he shaped to shoot.

The Terriers refused to lay down as they were cheered forwards by their army of supporters packed behind Almunia’s goal.

Jamie McCombe glanced a header just wide and then Almunia made a brilliant save at full stretch to push behind Lee’s header, which look destined for the bottom-left corner.

The equaliser, though, eventually came on 66 minutes when Lee crashed in a bullet header from Pilkington’s corner as the Clock End erupted in a sea of blue and white.

With 21 minutes left and Wenger desperate to avoid a replay, Abou Diaby was replaced by Fabregas, whose last-gasp spot-kick had kept his side in their third-round tie here against Leeds.

Bendtner sent a header just over as suddenly Arsenal found some fluency again.

The Gunners were handed a reprieve with five minutes left when Bendtner went down in the box under what looked minimal contact from McCombe, who received a yellow card.

Fabregas stepped up to send the keeper the wrong way and once again save his team’s blushes.

Source + Pic: football365.com

The striker’s sprained ankle is believed to be recovering far quicker than previously expected and he could yet feature against the Germans on Wednesday despite officially being ruled out of action for “two to three weeks” after being injured in last week’s first-leg tie.

According to The Guardian, ‘Rooney has responded well to treatment and could be in line for a surprise recall to Sir Alex Ferguson’s squad if he comes through a training session today.

‘Ferguson will not risk the England forward if there is a chance of aggravating the injury further and last night United’s medical staff attempted to play down the chances of a comeback by only rating his chances of playing as “40%”.’

The surprise, however, is that his chances have been rated as high as 40% and the disclosure has prompted a numberof newspapers to predict he will be named in United’s squad.

‘Ferguson and Rooney are quietly hoping he will be fit to make a sensational return at Old Trafford and increase United’s chances of progressing to the semi-finals,’ reports The Daily Mail, while The Daily Mirror says that Rooney is ‘poised to return’ after making ‘amazing progress’.

Source: football365.com

The 29-year-old, stripped of the armband following allegations involving Wayne Bridge’s ex-girlfriend that led to his former Chelsea team-mate turning his back on England, was subjected to jeers from a pocket of fans at Wembley when his name was read out before kick-off.

The boos from a minority of supporters continued in the first half but were forgotten by half-time, with England then coming back from a goal behind at the interval to record a victory in the friendly against Africa’s champions.

Terry is hoping a line is now drawn under the saga and Fabio Capello’s men can put the finishing touches to their preparations for the World Cup this summer with the backing of the fans.

“I showed my appreciation after the game. It means a lot the way they responded,” said the Chelsea centre-back. “As Wayne (Rooney) said in the week, it’s not about me, let’s forget about that now and concentrate on England in the World Cup.

“You could see against Egypt we have a really good chance if we keep playing like that and progressing. That is what we said 18 months ago, that we want to be in this position and keep improving and game after game we’ve seen that.”

Terry views the support from his team-mates as proof that the spirit in the England camp is still intact, with the performance against Egypt illustrating the point.

“Players have spoken publicly but privately I’ve had a lot of support from the lads as well which has been really nice,” Terry said. “The most important thing was the match and putting in the right performance.

“That fight and drive we have for each other will never go away. The spirit among the lads is fantastic and we showed that by coming from a goal behind against a really good side. We’re delighted with the result.”

He added: “We showed that (spirit) in Holland and other games as well. It’s really important, especially in front of our own crowd. We have two more games before the World Cup so it was important to come away from the Egypt game with a win and a good performance.”

Terry has also dismissed question marks over his personal form, after getting turned for Inter Milan’s opener in the Champions League clash at the San Siro, then being part of a defence that conceded four goals against Manchester City at the weekend.

“It’s a couple of bad results,” Terry added. “A couple of bad results sometimes means a bad performance from me surprisingly.

“I was pleased with my performance against Egypt. It was important to come out and play the way I did. The main thing was the team, collectively. Even when the players came on they made an impact and gave the manager food for thought.”

Chelsea team-mate Frank Lampard insists Terry’s England performances will not be affected by losing the captaincy.

The midfielder said: “It’s an old cliche but every player should act as if they have the armband, certain players act like that more than others. John does that and will continue to do that regardless of the armband or not.

“He played very well. It was a difficult game too because they are very sharp up front with top-drawer strikers. He did very well, like he always does for England.”

Lampard explained that jeering, if only from a small number of fans, can be counter-productive.

“Most fans understand that booing, whether about on-the-field issues or off-the-field issues, doesn’t help,” he said. “There is a feeling now that we’re in the zone where we have to concentrate on getting out the negativity because that can affect people and no-one needs that.

“It’s only been two or three days together and people are concentrating on their football and their rest in between times. We’ve tried to block out any negative feeling.”

Source: teamtalk.com

Pic: connect.in.com

The England international is expected to undergo a medical on Monday after City finally came up with a bid which met the Merseysiders’ valuation of the player. Having rejected two previous offers – the first about £18million – Everton are reported to have accepted £24million from City for Lescott.

Asked if the Lescott deal was well advanced the Everton boss said: “If they (City) say they are quite far on I’m sure they are.

“But we shouldn’t have been asked to wait this length of time for an amount of cash we think was the correct value for the player.

“Real Madrid came in with the money (£80million for Cristiano Ronaldo) for Manchester United the week after the end of the season.

“If the money had been offered in June it would have been a lot easier for us.

“The time is against us (to find a replacement).”

Source: football365.com

Jan Sillo

Sillo was a key member of the Usuthu team and had given a fine performance in the club’s opening league match against Bidvest Wits at Chatsworth Stadium on Sunday. He joined AmaZulu in the 2006-07 season and had previously featured for Bloemfontein Young Tigers and Zulu Royals.

“The club received the terrible news of right-back Jan Sillo’s passing in the early hours of this morning (Tuesday) through a report by the police to team manager James Dlamini. The details of ‘Lombo’s’ passing are still not clear but it is believed he was rushing back to Durban coming from his hometown, Bocabelo,” said the club on its official website.

AmaZulu said club directors immediately rushed to the training grounds on Monday morning to assist the players in receiving the tragic news. The news comes at a crucial time when the players were still nursing the pain of the untimely loss of Siyabonga “Benni” Mkhwanazi last season.

“At the moment we do not have the full information but during the course of the day we will be keeping all stakeholders informed. All we can confirm is that indeed Sillo did pass away, but it is only when we get full information from the police that we can issue out a full statement on our side, but it is sad news,” said club spokesperson Philani Mabaso.

Source + Pic: supersport.co.za

Manchester United beat Wigan 1 – 0 last night to move up to the second spot on the Premier League table, but the win did not come without bad news since the goal scorer Wayne Rooney limped off with a hamstring injury in just the seventh minute that will keep him sidelined for 3 weeks.

Although Wigan had arrived at Old Trafford in fine form, having won six of their last seven league games, their record against United was a sorry six defeats from six meetings in the Premier League, so the form book was certainly on the champions’ side as they attempted to edge to within two points of leaders Liverpool.

Sunday’s 3-0 victory over Chelsea at Old Trafford emphasised the growing confidence within United ranks, however, and the determination to put pressure on Liverpool was evident as Ferguson’s team raced out of the traps at the start of the game. But even so, United’s lightning start took the breath away as they opened the scoring inside the first minute when Rooney pounced on Ronaldo‘s cross from the right flank.

The United winger easily beat his marker on the edge of the penalty area and his cross into the six-yard box was missed by defender Paul Scharner, allowing Rooney to stroke the ball home from close range. It proved to be Rooney’s last involvement in the game, though, with the England forward succumbing to injury just six minutes later.

Ferguson replaced Rooney with Carlos Tevez and the Argentinian forward – whose future at the club is far from secure – should have doubled United’s lead after being teed up by John O’Shea midway through the first-half. O’Shea’s header from Wigan goalkeeper Chris Kirkland’s clearance freed Tevez thirty yards from goal, but the former West Ham striker over-ran the ball after rounding the keeper and he could only aim his shot into the side-netting.

Wigan did not sit back, however, and they caused United a host of problems through Ecuadorian winger Antonio Valencia. Valencia, reportedly a January target for Real Madrid and Liverpool, delivered a series of dangerous crosses, but strikers Emile Heskey and Amr Zaki failed to take advantage.

United failed to heed the warning, though, and Wigan were the dominant team early in the second-half as United allowed themselves to drop too deep. Ryan Taylor and Zaki both had goalbound efforts blocked and Maynor Figueroa forced Edwin van der Sar into a difficult save with a swerving volley from 30-yards on sixty-seven minutes.

When Heskey directed a Valencia cross just wide of the near post seconds later, Ferguson raced to the touchline to berate his under-performing players. The manager’s rallying call went unheeded, however, and United continued to toil away. Fortunately for their title hopes, though, they were able to hold out to claim their fifth 1-0 win in seven league games.

“It is a hamstring injury,” Ferguson said after the match of Rooney’s early substitution. “That will be about three weeks. We hope it is no longer.”

Rooney’s replacement, Carlos Tevez, and young defender Jonny Evans – who has been receiving rave reviews while he has been deputising for the injured Rio Ferdinand – both suffered heavy knocks and are doubtful for Saturday’s trip to Bolton, where victory will see United go to the top of the table for the first time this season.

“Carlos limped through the second half and Jonny limped through virtually the whole game,” Ferguson said. “We will have to assess them and see how they are. We need our best team on Saturday because Bolton are a big side.”

Ferguson paid tribute to the way Wigan – managed by former United centreback Steve Bruce – battled after their early setback. “Wigan are the best side that has played here this season by far,” he said. “It was an outstanding performance from them. They really made us work. They are a very positive team.”

Source + Pic: supersport.co.za

Cristiano Ronaldo shrugged off the frustration of picking up an injury against Sunderland by collecting the Ballon d’Or on Sunday.

The Portuguese winger romped to the award last week, seeing off his peers to grab the most prestigious individual honor in football.

Upon collecting the trophy, Ronny told French TV station TF1: “I’m very happy. I’ve always dreamed about winning it. I’m very moved and I’d like to take this opportunity to dedicate this trophy to my family, they’ve helped me get here.

“I thank my mother, my father… my close friends. I had a whole list of people I wanted to thank but it’s difficult, I can’t remember as it’s too emotional. The trophy is splendid, marvellous, very beautiful. I’ve waited for this.”

Flanked by Sir Alex Ferguson at a glitzy ceremony in Paris, Ronaldo was keen to pay tribute to those who had helped him win the award.

“I’m very touched,” he said. “But I’d like to thank my fellow professionals especially my team-mates without whom I wouldn’t have been able to win the Ballon d’Or.

“It’s also thanks to them that I have this award. I was 18 when I came to Manchester. I always had great hopes of becoming a great footballer, in Europe and the world and that’s what I’ve always tried to do – to improve year by year. It’s not been easy but I don’t regret anything that I’ve done to get here.”

Post written for Soccer Pitch by Jaco van Dyk