Late Crouch goal rescues Reds
Africa Cup of Nations
FIFA and UEFA to compensate clubs
SFA announce friendly
FAW arrange Under-21 friendly
Hibbert and Osman staying put
Blues sign Zarate
Davenport in hospital
Leeds to sue Football League
An 88th minute strike by Peter Crouch salvaged a 2-2 draw for Liverpool against Aston Villa at Anfield. Yossi Benayoun had given the home side the lead on 18 minutes but Villa equalised through Marlon Harewood after 69 minutes and three minutes later Fabio Aurelio put through his own net. Liverpool staged a late onslaught and just when it seemed as if the visitors might hold on, up popped Crouch. However, the draw leaves Rafa Benitez’s men 14 points behind Manchester United and Arsenal in fifth place - and two behind Merseyside rivals Everton, who are fourth.
In League Two, Chesterfield beat visitors Hereford United 4-0.
In today’s Africa Cup of Nations matches, a first-half hat-trick from Soufiane Alloudi helped Morocco beat Namibia 1-5 in their Group A match while in Group B Ivory Coast beat Nigeria with Chelsea’s Salomon Kalou scoring the only goal of the game after 66 minutes. Mali beat Benin 1-0 in the other Group B game.
If you are one of those who doesn’t believe the old adage that “luck evens itself out over the course of a season”, we are sure you’ll be interested in the league table that shows the Premiership standings should the refs had called it right more often.
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FIFA and UEFA will pay an estimated £130m in compensation over the next six years to clubs with players on international duty in a bid to put an end to long running club v country rows. UEFA calculate that Euro 2008 will be worth more than £32m to clubs from the 53 national associations in Europe. As a result, the G14 group of Europe’s 18 most powerful clubs plans to drop legal disputes with FIFA and UEFA.
The Scottish Football Association have announced that Scotland will face Croatia in a friendly at Hampden Park on March 26.
The Football Association of Wales have announced a friendly Under-21 international between Wales and England at Wrexham’s Racecourse Ground on May 15.
Tony Hibbert and Leon Osman have both penned new long-term deals keeping them at Everton until 2012.
Birmingham City have signed 20-year-old Argentine Mauro Zarate on loan from Qatar club Al-Saad with a view to a permanent move.
West Ham United’s Calum Davenport is in hospital after fracturing a bone in his neck during his first match on loan at Watford. The 25-year-old was hurt after team-mate Darius Henderson landed on him during the 1-1 draw with Charlton Athletic at Vicarage Road. The injury spells an immediate end to Davenport’s loan spell and he will return to the Hammers.
Leeds United are to sue The Football League over their 15-points deduction, despite a signed agreement stating they would not take legal action against them. Speaking in the Yorkshire Evening Post, chairman Ken Bates said:
“We’re suing the Football League for our 15 points because we believe, as we always have, that there was no justification for the penalty. The agreement we had saying we wouldn’t take legal action was signed under duress. We were a couple of days from the start of the season and we wouldn’t have been able to fulfil our fixtures without regaining our share in the Football League. In that situation, we either signed the document or we let ourselves be booted out of the League. But EU law says Person A cannot prevent Person B from going to court if it’s to right a wrongful decision. We did ask the FA for independent arbitration but we’ve been waiting five months for them to do anything, and the whole thing is a shambles. We want an open and independent review of this decision, and the only way of ensuring that is by going to the High Court.”
Nathan Davies