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Bruised Arsenal cruises to 3-0 win over Sunderland

Middlesbrough's Lee Cattermole, right, celebrates with keeper Bradley Jones after he saved the Ruud Van Nistelrooy penalty that Cattermole had provoked by touching the ball during their English Premiership soccer match against Manchester United at Old Trafford, Manchester, England, on Monday. PHOTO: AFP

Thierry Henry and Arsene Wenger joined forces to slam Sunderland as Arsenal left the Stadium of Light battered and bruised after cruising to a 3-0 Premiership victory.

But France Under-19 international Abou Diaby was ruled out for the remainder of the season with a fractured, dislocated ankle, according to a statement later released on the Arsenal Web site, after he was carried off following an ugly challenge by Dan Smith and taken to hospital.

Diaby is now set to miss the Champions League final against Barcelona in Paris on May 17.

Arsenal skipper Henry led by example, scoring one and making the other two as Arsenal kept the pressure on fourth-place rivals Tottenham Hotspur. But the Frenchman was unhappy with the approach adopted by the Gunners' already-relegated opponents.

"Some of the tackles I saw, there was one on Cesc Fabregas and I don't know what the Sunderland player wanted. I hope Diaby can recover as quickly as possible. The poor kid, it's not every day you get a chance to play in the Champions League final," he said. "What happened to him at the end was a pity. Sunderland players were not interested in kicking the ball, they wanted to kick the player the whole time. Some of the tackles clearly weren't for the ball."

Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann denies Sunderland's Kevin Kyle a goal during their English Premiership soccer match at The Stadium of Light, England, on Monday. PHOTO: AFP

Manager Wenger admitted the injury took the gloss off victory as Henry's 30th goal of the season in all competitions added to a Danny Collins own goal and another from Fabregas killed the contest before half-time.

Wenger said: "It looks a very serious ankle injury, and I'm down for Diaby. He's worked hard to come back from previous injuries and this takes away from the victory.

"It was a bad kick and an unnecessary one, not nice to see. He will be going to hospital tonight and it's a big blow to lose a player like that," Wenger added before the full extent of Diaby's injury was known.

"We can accept an accident but not the way this happened. It's sad because some players are on the pitch not trying to play football. That's just not acceptable. The only one who didn't see the Smith incident as a red card was the referee," he said.

Sunderland caretaker manager Kevin Ball defended substitute Smith, who was sent off on his Sunderland debut earlier this season.

"If Arsene Wenger's upset then that's his prerogative, let him say what he wants to say. Dan's not a dirty player, he went for the ball and has caught the player. We wish him a speedy recovery. I think it's a little unfair on Dan, he's not malicious," Ball said.

Ashley Cole is likely to start at Manchester City tomorrow night after boosting his hopes of making England's World Cup squad by making only his second appearance in seven months as a second-half substitute following ankle and foot injuries.

Victory can take Arsenal to within a point of their North London rivals in the pursuit of the fourth Champions League place ahead of Sunday's final round of fixtures, and Wenger added: "Ashley did well and physically he looks sharp.

Manchester United 0, Middlesbrough 0

Sir Alex Ferguson has blasted England's plans to take an injured Wayne Rooney to the World Cup as "folly" and insisted the striker will not be going anywhere near Germany if he has not recovered fully from his fractured metatarsal.

England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson has said he will name Rooney in his squad for the finals in the hope that the 20-year-old will have recovered in time for the quarter-final stages of the tournament.

But Manchester United manager Ferguson, speaking after his side's goalless draw with Middlesbrough on Monday, described Eriksson's plan as "a wild dream."

"We have to make sure we don't build up peoples' expectations which is what's happening at the moment," the Scot said.

"Sven is going on saying he will take the lad in six weeks and then he will have two weeks to play in the quarter-finals of the World Cup. That is a wild dream. It's important Wayne gets a good recovery time. It's folly to say Wayne could be out there in six weeks and then play in the World Cup quarter-finals. If Wayne's not ready he's not going to go," Ferguson said.

Ferguson's angry blast, which will come as a severe blow to the England management, came after his side failed to win for the third time in four games.

The United manager was equally unhappy with Ruud van Nistelrooy, who squandered a second half penalty which could have won United the match and virtually secured second place in the Premiership.

Instead, United will go into their final match of the season on Sunday knowing they must beat Charlton or risk missing out on automatic qualification for the group stages of next season's Champions League to Liverpool, who are away to Portsmouth in their final match.

Van Nistelrooy spurned a glorious chance to grab his 25th goal of the campaign when Australian goalkeeper Brad Jones dived to his right to save a spot-kick that was tame by the Dutch striker's normal standards.

The miss typified a listless performance from United on a frustrating night which saw tempers boil over between supporters and players at the end of the game.

Gary Neville had to be pulled away from a fan who berated the United captain as he made his way towards the players' tunnel.

Rio Ferdinand and Wes Brown acted as peacemakers as England defender Neville became embroiled in a slanging match with the supporter.

United have now failed to score in three of their last four games and Ferguson could not hide his disappointment at van Nistelrooy's second-half miss from the penalty spot after Lee Cattermole had handled inside his own area.

West Ham 1, West Brom 0

West Ham ensured they would finish their first season back in the top flight in the top half of the Premiership by beating relegated and demoralized West Brom 1-0 on Monday.

The victory was secured by England under-21 skipper Nigel Reo-Coker's low shot just before half-time.

But it came at a high price with midfielder Matt Etherington and striker Dean Ashton both suffering injuries which could threaten their participation in the FA Cup final against Liverpool a week on Saturday.

Etherington was forced to withdraw after injuring himself in the warm-up and Ashton limped off with a hamstring strain after only 23 minutes.

The Hammers were already without Anton Ferdinand, Marlon Harewood and Paul Konchesky, all of whom did not start but the latter two came on in the second-half, while Baggies boss Bryan Robson restored forward pair Nathan Ellington and Nwankwo Kanu to his starting side.

The home supporters taunted Robson's men with a display of white flags before the kick-off, but the early exchanges did not give the impression of a team with a tendency towards easy surrender.
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