Roy Keane is back. And it seems management suits him. Substitute Michael Chopra superbly tucked away an injury-time strike to beat Tottenham Hotspur as hard-working Sunderland had looked headed for a deserved draw. But on came former Newcastle striker Chopra to write a fairy-tale beginning to Sunderland's Premier League return.
Match Summary:
Sunderland 1 - 0 Tottenham
90" M. Chopra
Full Report: Soccernet.com
English Premier League 2007/08 will be kick off today, stay tune for more updates!
United have announced their squad numbers for the forthcoming 2007/08 Premier League campaign.
Among the Reds' summer signings, Owen Hargreaves will wear the No.4 shirt, with Gabriel Heinze moving to 14. Anderson will wear No.8 and Nani has been given No.17.
It has also been confirmed that Carlos Tevez, who was registered as a United player by the Premier League on Friday afternoon, will wear the No.32.
United squad numbers 2007/08
1 VAN DER SAR (GK)
2 NEVILLE
3 EVRA
4 HARGREAVES
5 FERDINAND
6 BROWN
7 RONALDO
8 ANDERSON
9 SAHA
10 ROONEY
11 GIGGS
12 FOSTER (GK)
13 J.S. PARK
14 HEINZE
15 VIDIC
16 CARRICK
17 NANI
18 SCHOLES
19 PIQUÉ
20 SOLSKJAER
21 DONG
22 O’SHEA
23 J. EVANS
24 FLETCHER
27 SILVESTRE
28 GIBSON
29 KUSZCZAK (GK)
30 MARTIN
32 TEVEZ
33 EAGLES
35 LEE
36 GRAY
37 CATHCART
38 HEATON (GK)
39 CAMPBELL
Source: ManUtd.com
Rafael Benitez wants goals, goals, goals and an immediate return for his £40million summer spending spree.
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Benitez is well aware he is under intense pressure to produce a genuine title challenge and that, as Jose Mourinho points out, he cannot play the pauper any longer.
But he goes into the new campaign at Aston Villa brimming with confidence and positively gloating over the quality and options he now has.
Benitez said: 'If you want to be contenders then you have to score a lot more goals than we did.'
To that end Benitez has challenged his four-pronged strike force to hit 60 goals between them.
He sees no problem in accommodating Fernando Torres, Andriy Voronin, Dirk Kuyt and Peter Crouch and is relishing the chance to see them produce a feast of goals.
He said: 'I am not thinking about Torres scoring 20 or more goals. What I would like would be to see is Voronin scoring 10 to 15 goals, Crouch, Kuyt and Torres all the same.
'If we can score goals too from midfield to add to that, that is my aim and that would make me happy.
'I am not sure you need one player who can score 20 goals, you need more options and goals from everywhere in the team.
'When we play against teams like Manchester United, we must win. If you can take six points from them, and points from your other close rivals, then that can make a really big difference.
'It is something we have to learn. Of course you must continue to beat the smaller sides, but taking points from your close rivals is very important.
'I am happy now with my squad. We have two players for every position, that will make things easier for me as we play on four fronts.'
Benitez is determined to make an impact in all four competitions rather than having to virtually choose two because of the size and quality of previous squads.
He added: 'Of course we want to win the Champions League, the Premier League, the FA Cup and the Carling Cup. That goes without saying.
'Obviously the Premier League is the main priority. We will not just try for the main one and forget the rest.
'We will try to do our best in every game, now we have enough players to do a better job on all fronts.
'My first year here I was looking at a subs bench full of young lads. Now we could have Torres, Voronin, Crouch or Kuyt there, that means we can compete in all the competitions.
'Watching the players you can see they are ready. We have pace and are organised. You must be like that in the Premier League. 'I feel we have better players, more offensive players and a good team spirit. I have a lot of confidence, but we have to start by winning now.
'I have had money to spend, I prefer that because I can buy better players and that is better for the club.
'The difference now is that I have a much bigger squad than when I arrived. Now we have more players and more quality.
'This is the best squad we have had in four seasons, hopefully it will be even better the season after. The only thing that might concern me is whether they are ready for this competition.'
Benitez is expected to give new signings Torres, Voronin and Yossi Benayoun their league debuts at Villa Park, adding: 'We can do better this season. We knew we were good in defence but we needed to score more goals, so we have signed more offensive players.
'We have tried to improve in the areas we know we had to improve in, and we now we are ready.
'We will try to attack more. I like to attack more and create chances, but we were missing them. What we needed to do was to improve on that.
'The top four will again be the ones contesting the title, plus now Spurs, they have spent well.
'It will be a harder league to win than before, it is always the best and always the most difficult.'
Source: Soccernet.com
Sir Alex Ferguson has insisted Gabriel Heinze will still have a future at Manchester United even if the Premier League reject his proposed move to Liverpool.
Heinze has a letter he believes entitles him to join the Anfield club, who have matched United's stipulated desire for a £6.8million transfer fee.
United officials contend the letter, signed by chief executive David Gill, does not over-ride the Argentina defender's contract, which still has two years to run.
Currently sidelined with a minor knock sustained during the Copa America, Heinze will have his future determined by the Premier League, who are due to assess the situation on August 20.
Yet, despite his stated desire to join the Red Devils' fierce north-west rivals, Ferguson does not believe there will be a problem with Heinze turning out for United again.
'Nothing has moved as far as Gaby is concerned,' said the United boss.
'We have a meeting on August 20 which will settle the issue once and for all.
'We think our case is strong and we are depending on that.
'And, if it goes our way, Gaby definitely has a future here. He still has another two years left on his contract.'
Ferguson remains quite laidback over the future of Heinze's international team-mate Carlos Tevez too.
The Scot had expected Tevez to have completed his move to Old Trafford by now.
However, while the transfer is edging closer to being completed, it is still not done, meaning the 23-year-old will not figure on Sunday when the Premier League champions begin the defence of their title against Reading.
'It is completely understandable the Premier League want to scrutinise every detail,' said Ferguson.
'I am happy with that because then we know we are getting a player in the right circumstances, with everything clarified and cleared by the appropriate authorities.
'We know he is our player but even if it was all done today, I wouldn't use him on Sunday. It would more likely be against Manchester City next weekend.'
Source: Soccernet.com
Birmingham City have signed Arsenal defender Johan Djourou on loan until January.
The 20-year-old centre back has become Blues boss Steve Bruce's 10th signing of the summer.
Djourou will go straight into the squad for Sunday's opening Premier League clash at Chelsea.
Bruce believes he has signed a player of 'genuine quality' in Djourou.
He said: 'I honestly think that Djourou can be an Arsenal defender for 10 years.
'He has got strength, pace, great ability on the ball, is a very good footballer and is comfortable at the back and in midfield
'We have a good relationship with Arsenal having taken Nicklas Bendtner, Fabrice Muamba and Sebastian Larsson on loan last season, and I am delighted Arsene Wenger has allowed Johan to join us.'
Source: Soccernet.com
Liverpool goalkeeper, Scott Carson, has agreed to join Villa on a season-long loan from Liverpool in a deal costing around £2million.
Carson's England Under-21 colleague, Villa striker Ashley Young, also welcomed the arrival of the 21-year-old.
The former Leeds goalkeeper spent a similar spell with Charlton last season. He is expected to make his debut for Villa in next weekend's Premier League game at Newcastle.
Full Report: Soccernet.com
Manchester United has just sign their long waiting striker, Carlos Tevez from West Ham. After more than one month of transfer saga, Tevez has completed the transfer to Manchester United.
The 23-years-old striker, will wear no. 32 jersey for United, and might be making his debut for United's first match in the new Premier League season. But Sir Alex Ferguson said on Friday morning that he will not use the Argentina international in the match.
Instead, the former West Ham forward, who has been training with United recently, is likely to make his debut against Manchester City a week on Sunday.
“Carlos surprised us in the training sessions last week,” Sir Alex said. “After the Copa America, and with only a short holiday, I thought he might need more training. But he did very well and looked in great shape.
“He’s likely to be involved the following week against Manchester City. But it’s difficult to assess what part he'll play because if you put somebody into a derby game, you have to make sure they’re spot on. It’s not a game in which you get time. It’s always frenetic against your local rivals. We’ll measure it. Once we get clearance and we know he can play, we can make the decision quite easily.”
Source: ManUtd.com
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