Wayne Rooney's best gift for his 18th birthday would be a goal today at Aston Villa.
Rooney gave a rare television interview and posed for cameras outside him home yesterday, showing off a beaming smile and a blue and white cake with "18" on top to celebrate the big day.
The Everton striker has scored only one league goal in nine games this season, scant output for a player billed as the most talented player of his generation.
"I haven't played as well this season as I can do," Rooney said. "But obviously if I score another goal -- a few goals -- I'll get my confidence back and hopefully we can win a few games and get up the table."
Asked if the pressure was getting to him, Rooney replied: "No. No. It's just I haven't scored enough goals, and as soon as I score I'll be all right."
After threatening last season to land a place in Europe, Everton has won only two games and is mired in 13th place with only nine points -- just four more than last-place Leicester.
"So far this season Wayne's form has not been too good, and I would imagine every Evertonian you speak to would say the same thing," Everton coach David Moyes said.
"With maybe the exception of the game at Charlton, I think Wayne has been a little bit below the standards he has set. And he is very aware of that. I think that is why there has been a lot of frustration in his play. This year players have decided to get stuck right into him."
A lack of goals has also plagued Leeds, which plays today at bitter rival Liverpool. Strikers Mark Viduka and Alan Smith have not scored since August and Leeds has been shutout in five of nine matches.
Leeds lost its last match 1-0 to Manchester United; solid defense but no offense.
"Defensively we have done well," manager Peter Reid said. "But as well as we did against Manchester United, I don't think we attacked them enough when we had the ball. We never created anything from open play.
"I am hoping we can now keep the ball better against Liverpool and put pressure on their defense. It's something we have chatted about and worked on."
Liverpool has only 11 points and is languishing in 11th place. Leeds is even worse off in 17th with only eight points.
The match unites former Leeds strikers Harry Kewell and Michael Bridges. Kewell has moved to Liverpool.
"We were best mates at Leeds and I was sad to see him go," Bridges said. "But that's football. We still keep in touch. But come Saturday he [Kewell] will not be a friend for the 90 minutes. There'll be no favors."
At the top, Manchester United and Chelsea can build on hard-fought victories in the Champions League. League-leader Arsenal must overcome yet another loss in Europe's top club competition.
With all clubs having played nine games, Arsenal leads with 23 points followed by Man United (22), Chelsea (20), Birmingham City (16), Man City and Fulham (15 each), and Charlton (14). Leicester (5) is on the bottom just below Wolves (6) and Middlesbrough (7).
Chelsea plays today at Manchester City, Manchester United is home to Fulham, and Arsenal plays tomorrow at crosstown London rival Charlton.
Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri may be close to finding his best 11 -- or at least his top five or six -- after Wednesday's 2-1 come-from-behind victory over Lazio at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge.
In what was possibly Chelsea's best match of the season, Ranieri used Claude Makelele, Damien Duff, Frank Lampard and Juan Sebastian Veron at midfield with Adrian Mutu and Eidur Gudjohnsen up front. Key striker Hernan Crespo was injured.
Man United got Phil Neville's goal after only four minutes to beat Rangers 1-0 in the so-called "Battle of Britain." The victory pulled Man United back into Champions League contention with Rangers playing at Old Trafford in the return in two weeks.
Despite the goal, Neville could be on the bench with Cristiano Ronaldo and Darren Fletcher possible as starters on the wings.
Following a 2-1 loss to Dynamo Kiev, Arsenal could have trouble against surprising Charlton.
Arsenal will be without captain Patrick Vieira, who will be out for at least two weeks with a thigh injury. The French midfielder aggravated the injury in Tuesday's loss in Kiev.
Arsenal's problem is defending.
"We are playing well in the Premiership, but in Europe, for whatever reason, we just can't seem to get going at the moment," central defender Sol Campbell said.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
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