Arsenal defeated Manchester City 3-1 thanks to two goals in six minutes by substitute Jose Antonio Reyes in the English Premier League on Thursday.
Arsenal's second win in three days ensured the race for fourth place in the standings -- and the last Champions League berth -- was wide open going into tomorrow's final round.
Tottenham has 65 points and Arsenal 64. Tottenham goes to London neighbor West Ham and Arsenal plays at home at Highbury against Wigan. The game will be the last at Highbury, with the Gunners moving to their new 60,000-seat Emirates Stadium next season.
PHOTO: AP
Arsenal welcomed back England fullback Ashley Cole after seven months out with a broken foot. He played all 90 minutes, and he and manager Arsene Wenger were relieved. Wenger wanted to see how Cole recovered before deciding whether he would play on Sunday and figure in the Champions League final on May 17 against FC Barcelona.
"I am happy to be playing now," Cole said. "I hope I can take my chance, be fit for Sunday and the Champions League final -- but I'm not thinking about the Champions League final."
Wenger had more ultimately in mind for Cole -- selection for the World Cup.
"The positives are he's not injured and Ashley got better and better during the game," the manager said. "Of course he is not at the top of his game yet as it was his first full match in a while.
"The good thing though is he is available and he can play. For England that is just right. We are at the beginning of May and the competition begins on June 10th. In five weeks you should see a perfect Ashley Cole."
Arsenal took a 1-0 lead after 29 minutes through Fred Ljungberg -- his first of the season -- off a pass from Thierry Henry. City equalized late in the first half on a goal by David Sommeil. Reyes scored his pair in the last 12 minutes.
If Arsenal fails to finish fourth in the Premier League, the Gunners can still make next year's Champions League by winning the final in Paris. That would knock Tottenham out of the Champions League.
In Thursday's other Premier League game, Sunderland won its first home league game of the season, beating Fulham 2-1. Sunderland has already been relegated next season to the League Championship, the level below the Premier League.
Chelsea has the title, and West Bromwich Albion, Sunderland and Birmingham are going down.
With one round of Premier League games to go, the title and relegation issues are all decided. Manchester United and Liverpool are battling for the runner-up spot.
Manchester United, which is one point ahead of Liverpool with a better goal difference, hosts Charlton tomorrow. Liverpool goes to Portsmouth, which avoided relegation and no longer needs the points.
Chelsea continues its title celebrations with a game at Newcastle, while tomorrow's other games are Arsenal-Wigan, Aston Villa-Sunderland, Blackburn-Manchester City, Bolton-Birmingham, Everton-West Brom, Fulham-Middlesbrough and West Ham-Tottenham
But who will come up to the top flight along with already promoted Reading and Sheffield United?
Four teams -- Watford, Preston, Leeds and Crystal Palace -- are in the running for the Football League Championship playoff spot. The sequence of games was to begin with Leeds vs. Preston at Elland Road, followed by Crystal Palace-Watford today.
Preston and Leeds play the return leg on Monday, while Watford hosts Palace on Tuesday. The winners of each matchup will face each other at the Millennium Stadium on May 21.
Leeds, a longtime powerhouse which won the league title in 1992 before it became the Premier League, was relegated two years ago amid financial turmoil.
The club almost went broke with debts of around ?100 million (146 million euros) despite selling the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka, Lee Bowyer, Robbie Keane, Robbie Fowler and Jonathan Woodgate. The club is now solvent again and has improved considerably on last season's 14th place in the League Championship.
Under manager Kevin Blackwell, fifth-place Leeds has strength throughout the team. Strikers David Healy and Rob Hulse have each scored 12 league goals.
Blackwell said it is the biggest game at Elland Road since the club reached the Champions League semifinals five years ago.
"All I know is Leeds is a Premiership club in every way bar status and we are trying to get back that status," he said. "I want to see this club back, the Premiership wants Leeds United back, but we have to earn the right against a quality side like Preston."
Preston's top striker, David Nugent, is struggling to regain fitness but manager Billy Davies, whose team finished fourth, will rely more on a solid defense and a standout goalkeeper in Carlo Nash.
"We've just got to carry on what we've been doing," Davies said. "The difference is we have very much hit form at the right time, our confidence is high and we've got some very big hitters coming into the squad which is great."
Marlon King scored 21 league goals for third-place Watford and was well supported by Darius Henderson (14) and Ashley Young (13). The Hornets also have a top quality young manager in Aidy Boothroyd, who appears destined for the Premier League before long even if Watford doesn't get there this time.
Palace hopes to bounce back after last season's relegation and has held on to the services of England striker Andrew Johnson. Iain Dowie is still the manager and both he and Palace have the experience of being promoted through the playoffs two years ago.
"There is a quiet resolution around the place," Dowie said. "Obviously the expectation levels are there but we've had them all season, and there is a determination to go out and show what we're capable of. Now is the time for us to deliver."
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
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Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
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