If the Manchester clubs were hoping for simple-looking Premier League games to ease themselves back into domestic action after Champions League woes, the duo have failed to strike it lucky with tricky matches awaiting the top two.
Leaders Manchester City, beaten at Napoli on Tuesday to leave their European adventure out of their hands, tomorrow travel to a Liverpool side who are on cloud nine after a 2-1 win at Chelsea last time out re-energized their top-four push.
Wayne Rooney is a doubt for today when Manchester United host Newcastle United, who have the joint-meanest defense this term and were unbeaten in the top-flight before last weekend’s loss to City.
United, five points behind City after 12 games, gave away two sloppy goals in Tuesday’s 2-2 home Champions League draw with Benfica, which meant Alex Ferguson’s men need a draw in their final group game in Basel to reach the last 16.
One positive from the match for United was striker Dimitar Berbatov scoring, after making a rare start with Rooney ruled out because of a hip problem.
If the England striker has not recovered to face Newcastle, who challenged United for the league title twice in the 1990s, Berbatov could be called into action again for the champions.
“There’s always a goal in Dimi, always the ability to turn a game. He’s always in my thoughts,” Ferguson told reporters despite the Bulgarian being largely a substitute this term after last season’s emergence of Javier Hernandez.
Center back Nemanja Vidic, suspended against Benfica, will return to add steel to a flimsy-looking back four as United aim to negate a largely unheralded, yet effective Newcastle front line which has helped Alan Pardew’s side into fourth.
Phil Jones could make way or shift to right back following his early own goal on Tuesday, while goalkeeper David De Gea was mentioned by Ferguson as making a mistake with his clearance for Benfica’s second goal.
Liverpool also found their form in a battling display at Stamford Bridge last weekend, but the counter-attacking verve which marked that win will be difficult to replicate at home — albeit against the league leaders.
Chelsea welcome struggling Wolverhampton Wanderers today, with the perfect chance to end a run of three league defeats in four and the last-gasp Champions League loss to Bayer Leverkusen which have put manager Andre-Villas Boas under pressure.
Tottenham Hotspur, in third, travel to West Bromwich Albion.
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
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB