Premier League: Steven Gerrard scores two penalties as Liverpool beat Man Utd 3-0

Liverpool closed to within four points of Premier League leaders Chelsea after captain Steven Gerrard scored two penalties in a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Gerrard converted from the spot in each half before missing a third penalty after Nemanja Vidic was sent off before Luis Suarez scored a late third to keep Liverpool, who have a game in hand on Chelsea, firmly in the title hunt.

Though chances were scarce during the first half, Liverpool played with a far greater intensity and tempo, and took the lead on 34 minutes.

Rafael was fortunate not to be shown a second yellow card in as many minutes after handling the ball following Suarez's clever touch and Gerrard sent David de Gea the wrong way from the penalty spot.

United briefly woke from their slumber as Wayne Rooney tested Simon Mignolet just before half-time, but Liverpool were awarded another penalty in the opening minute of the second half.

Phil Jones was penalised for a nudge on Joe Allen and, though De Gea guessed correctly on this occasion, Gerrard's precise penalty was beyond the United keeper's reach.

The Red Devils saw two penalty appeals waved away in the ensuing 10 minutes before Liverpool were awarded a third spot-kick when Daniel Sturridge went down under Vidic's challenge which resulted in a second yellow card for the United captain.

Gerrard stepped up for his hat-trick, only to strike the post, while Liverpool could have had a fourth penalty moments later when Sturridge appeared to be tripped by Michael Carrick.

Suarez was thwarted by a brilliant save by De Gea before the Uruguayan did beat the United keeper on 84 minutes with a neat finish after controlling Sturridge's mis-hit shot.

Steven Gerrard talks to Sky Sports' Rob Palmer about Liverpool's season so far ahead of their clash with Manchester Utd on Sunday.

The manner of the defeat against their arch-rivals will be even more galling for United, who now have to lift themselves for the second leg of their UEFA Champions League tie at home to Olympiakos on Wednesday.

This time last year United were 29 points ahead of Liverpool. They are now 14 behind their bitter rivals with nine matches of the season left and the 11-point gap to fourth place looks insurmountable.

United were given an early warning sign after just two minutes when Sturridge sprinted past Vidic but shot wide.

Suarez then latched onto Jon Flanagan's cutting pass and sprinted into the United box but he did not go down when Marouane Fellaini pulled his shorts.

Sturridge again got the better of Vidic and Jones with a burst of pace, but he fluffed his shot, and De Gea made his first save from Allen.

Flanagan was booked for his third foul of the game and Rafael soon joined him for a pointless sliding tackle on Gerrard.

Nemanja Vidic speaks exclusively to Geoff Shreeves about his decision to leave Man Utd and his favourite memories from his eight seasons at the club.

Moments later and Rafael handed the Reds the lead when the ball struck the Brazilian's outstretched right hand as Suarez tried to guide the ball past him.

Gerrard made no mistake from the spot, tucking the ball inside De Gea's left-hand post.

United had a strong five-minute spell before the break which involved Rooney drawing a top save from Mignolet, but just 30 seconds after the restart they imploded.

Jones clattered into the back of Allen and the referee pointed to the spot and Gerrard placed the ball to De Gea's left again.

United thought they should have had two penalties for a handball by Glen Johnson and a foul on Rooney by Martin Skrtel but referee Mark Clattenburg disagreed.

Robin van Persie, the man who won United the title last year, glanced a free header feebly wide from six yards.

A nightmare afternoon plumbed new depths when Vidic was given a second yellow card for bringing down Sturridge, although replays suggested the England striker had dived.

The only crumb of comfort for United was that Gerrard missed his hat-trick opportunity by hitting De Gea's right-hand post.

De Gea saved well from Suarez with eight minutes left but the Uruguayan did not miss moments later to complete a miserable day for United.

Copyright : skysports.com

STAND LIEGE v ARSENAL MINUTE-BY-MINUTE

Mad football match that one. Hard to say if Arsenal deserved that. Thank you for your company. Cheerio.

90+2: Clichy makes a crucial intervention to prevent another dramatic twist.

90: Three minutes of injury time will be played. This has been a crazy match, if truth be told.

86: Wilshere is to make a cameo as he replaces Eduardo.

84: Traore is on for Witsel.

82: Goodness. I am struggling to keep up here! Eduardo completes Arsenal's comeback as he pokes home from a corner. Madness as my fingers cramp up. Bizarre yet brilliant entertainment.

81: GOAL EDUARDO. Eduardo scores for Arsenal

79: Change for Arsenal as Sagna comes on. Seconds later, Vermaelen sees a shot hacked off the line. Of the leveller, it appears Song hand-balled in the build up. Controversial...

78: Fabregas floats in a free-kick and it somehow ends up in the back of the net. There are cries for a handball from Liege but nothing is given. It appears that Vermaelen got the final touch to tap home.

78: GOAL VERMAELEN. Arsenal are level.

76: Nicaise is booked for a cheeky foul on Mannone.

73: Gallas makes a vital headed clearance to ensure Liege don't regain their two-goal lead.

71: Ramsey tries his luck with a daisy-cutter but it is easy for the keeper.

70: Ramsey enters the fray in play of the impressive Rosicky.

67: Booking for Witsel after a tug on Bendtner. Ref might have let the move play on there.

66: Arsenal win two consecutive corners but Eduardo's delivery from both is dreadful.

64: The Gunners have yet to really create anything of note in this second half. Wenger will no doubt take a draw now.

61: Liege are looking a little tired now, but their numbers behind the ball are causing Arsenal problems.

59: Jovanovic is replaced by Nicaise.

58: Eboue breathes a huge sigh of relief as his sliding clearance from a Dalmat cross goes over his own cross bar, instead of under it.

56: Song has been largely disappointing. A number of his forward passes have been extremely wasteful.

53: Mistakes are still abound for the Gunners. It will be interesting to see their pass completion come the end of the game.

50: Arsenal put together some neat passing with Rosicky involved. The move just breaks down. Better from the visitors.

48: Massive tackle from Mangala. Rosicky floats a brilliant pass into the path of Bendtner, who winds up to shoot but Mangala slides in superbly.

47: Another massive error as a short pass from Song allows Liege to attack. They should score but Clichy tracks back to block.

46: Arsenal get the second half under way.

Will that late goal hand Arsenal a much-needed boost? It couldn't have gone much worse for them in the first period. Expect the hair-dryer treatment from assistant Pat Rice.

Half-time. Standard Liege 2 Arsenal 1

45: GOAL BENDTNER> Bendtner scores for Arsenal. Just when Liege thought they had held out until half-time, Arsenal score. Diaby shows the good side of his game with a brilliant turn and run before sliding in Bendtner. The Dane finishes coolly across goal to pull one back for the Gunners.

44: Bolat has picked up a booking. No explanation for that one.

43: Appeals for a penalty from some of the Arsenal players. Nothing doing from the referee though.

41: Clichy is specifically having a torrid outing. His passing has been awful.

39: Fabregas sees a shot blocked and then Eboue slips when trying to cross. Nothing has gone right for Arsenal.

37: Arsenal take a quick free-kick and Clichy powers a cross in from the left but Bendtner is not there to meet it and Bolat claims.

34: Yellow for Clichy as he swings a boot through the back of his man.

32: Bendtner does well to skin his man down the left but his cross is rather hopeful and it finds no-one.

30: Arsenal again string some passes together but the move is over when Diaby's attempted cross zooms out for a goal kick.

27: Fabregas has a chance to deliver a dangerous free-kick but the ball is too floaty and easy for the Liege keeper, whose name I have yet to mention. His name is Bolat, by the way.

25: Arsene Wenger looks like he has been sucking on a lemon. His side's display so far has been just awful.

23: Arsenal finally enjoy some possession as they pen Liege back in their own half. The Gunners are not really getting anywhere near goal though.

21: Another mistake as Clichy passes behind Eduardo and then Gallas heads poorly under no pressure.

19: You will rarely see Arsenal misplace so many passes.

17: This really has been a rotten opening to the game for Arsenal. Their performance has been riddled with mistakes.

15: Dalmat bends in a cross from the right but Mannone is there to smother. Neat take by the Italian.

13: Arsenal finally get their passing game going but they just overwork it as the move breaks down only 15 yards from goal.

11: Arsenal are struggling. They cannot keep possession and look very rattled from their nightmare beginning.

9: Replays are inconclusive as to whether Gallas' foul for the penalty came just outside the area.

8: Mannone gets his first touch that doesn't involve picking the ball out of the back of the net. It is shaky as he slices out of play.

Good grief. Okay, the first goal came following a shocking attempt at a flick by Eduardo on the edge of the area. Mangala gained possession and he fired home in the bottom corner. Then just a few seconds later Gallas committed a foul in the box and Jovanovic duly slotted home. Horror start for the Gunners.

5: GOAL JOVANOVIC. Jovanovic scores for Liege with Mannone going the wrong way.

4: PENALTY LIEGE. Just a few seconds later Gallas commits a foul in the box and Jovanovic duly slots home. Horror start for the Gunners

3: GOAL MANGALA. Mangala scores for Liege. A shocking attempt at a flick by Eduardo on the edge of the area. Mangala gained possession and he fires home in the bottom corner.

3: Bright start to the game regarding the tempo. Liege win an early corner as Song deflects wide.

1: Liege get the game under way, kicking from right to left as I see it.

UEFA say it wasn’t a dive

By CHARLIE WYETT

EDUARDO was celebrating last night after UEFA made one of the biggest U-turns in football history.

The Arsenal striker had his two-match Euro ban scrapped on appeal following accusations he dived in last month's Champions League tie with Celtic.

UEFA have now been branded 'stupid and incompetent.'

Eduardo, who can play against Standard Liege tomorrow, said: "I certainly feel relieved.

"I did not want to say anything until I was proved innocent. I am not a cheat. I don't dive. And I was very upset when people thought I had."

The UEFA backdown will shock Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson and Chelsea skipper John Terry who insisted Eduardo dived to win a penalty in the qualifier.

UEFA claim they could not be 100 per cent certain Eduardo had fallen to deceive the referee.

But Europe's governing body was slaughtered by former Gunners stars Perry Groves and Frank McLintock.

Groves said: "This makes UEFA look completely incompetent and it shows Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was right all along.

"He would have collected the evidence of every player diving in European games and would have demanded they were all banned.

"It would have opened a massive can of worms and UEFA weren't ready for it."

McLintock, Double-winning captain in 1971, said: "It probably makes UEFA look a bit stupid that they are giving out a ban one week and then reversing it the week after.

"But I am really pleased with the news. He's been a model pro and never puts a foot wrong.

"He suffered an horrific injury but managed to get back to full fitness and is one of the good guys in the game.

"I am not just saying that because I am an Arsenal man but because he is one of the players who always tries to do his best."

A statement from Arsenal said: "We are grateful the appeal body focused on the evidence and made the right decision. We were able to show there was contact between the goalkeeper and Eduardo."

Players' chief Gordon Taylor said: "The governing bodies have acknowledged the referee has to be the sole arbiter of events on the pitch at the time.

"Even if we were to use technology to make judgments, it should be during the game.

"There may well be cases when the referee does not see an incident and it is appropriate to make judgments afterwards.

"But when the ref has seen the incident, we have to take his word, otherwise we go down a very dangerous road."

Richard Scudamore says clubs will fight Uefa plans to limit spending power

• 'I can't imagine our clubs signing up' says chief executive
• Uefa expected to deliver detailed proposals by next summer

The Premier League has unveiled new rules that will ban clubs at risk of imploding financially from buying new players or increasing their wage bill, but vowed to fight Uefa plans to introduce budget caps.

The chief executive, Richard Scudamore, said the league would take a more proactive role in ensuring clubs were not in danger of tipping into administration if auditors flagged up fears they might be unable to continue as a going concern.

In March Liverpool's auditors, KPMG, said the impending expiry of credit facilities, since renewed by the club's owners, indicated "the existence of a material uncertainty which may cast significant doubt on the group's and parent company's ability to continue as a going concern". Other clubs that might have sounded alarm bells under the new rules include Portsmouth and West Ham. Clubs will be required to submit annual accounts and budgetary information for the year ahead every March.

"If, on assessment, the board believes the club is at risk of not being able to meet those obligations then it has to step in and agree a budget for the running of that club," said Scudamore. "And it has the ability to embargo any transfers or, and I think this is a first, to stop clubs renegotiating upwards any player contracts and remuneration. You can't add to the most significant of your cost bases, which is your talent base."

The Premier League, which has modelled the new tests on Uefa's existing requirements for entry into the Champions League or Europa League, believes the new rules will act as a brake on reckless spending. Scudamore has been forced to walk a fine line, balancing his own free-market tendencies and the natural distaste of his clubs for regulation with the shift in the political climate at Uefa and Fifa and the need to respond to government concerns about the future of the game.

"Our view is the current owners are just the current custodians and the clubs will be there before them and long after them. It's absolutely right that the clubs are sustainable and that they are able to meet their obligations to fans and the competition," Scudamore said.

He said the new rules, allied to the new regulations regarding home-grown players, were the "end of a chapter" following a period of intense debate over the future governance of the game. But that book is set to be reopened as early as tomorrow, when Uefa will begin the process of introducing new financial controls that it hopes will limit the ability of rich benefactors to artificially inflate the market.

Uefa's executive committee will convene in Nyon to discuss the new rules, which from 2012 would require clubs to break even and spend only what they earn from football-related income such as ticket sales and television deals. Money spent on developing infrastructure, stadiums and youth academies would be exempt.

Uefa's president, Michel Platini, said last month that the Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich, was among "85-90%" of club owners who told him they wanted new controls. Uefa is expected to establish several working groups to deliver detailed proposals by next summer.

But Scudamore said he expected Premier League clubs to fight the proposals. "What Uefa are doing are ratifying concepts at this point. No one has seen the manual that contains any of this. I can't imagine that our clubs will be signing up to the detail," he said. "They may well be making warm noises when it comes to the principle but they won't sign up to the detail if it comes to an absolute regulation of their income."

He said the Premier League supported "80-90%" of Uefa's stance on financial fair play. "The clubs are not looking to move to a regulated space that links spend to income. It's that last 10% of the detail that we're not supportive of and I'm not sure necessarily that individual clubs are."

He said that Uefa's proposals would be counter-productive because they would simply mean the biggest clubs getting bigger and leave the rest unable to catch up.

"The biggest clubs are the biggest clubs because 121 years of history has made them that big. But we do not buy into the idea that you chop away the ladder from those who have got a legitimate benefactor who can afford to break into the top group," he said.

"If AFC Wimbledon make it all the way back through the ranks and somebody wanted to attach their money to that club, then why shouldn't they be able to reach the top and get into the Champions League? You have to keep the dream alive."

BANS ADD TO CHELSEA ABSENT LIST

Chelsea defender Ricardo Carvalho insists the Blues must forget about the absence of banned Didier Drogba and Jose Bosingwa and concentrate on ending their Champions League hurt.

Chelsea's squad has been ravaged by suspensions and injuries as they prepare to begin their Champions League campaign against Porto at Stamford Bridge tonight.

Midfielders Deco, Joe Cole and Yuri Zhirkov are all missing through injury as are defenders Paulo Ferreira and Alex.

But Carvalho, who will partner John Terry at the heart of the defence once again, insists they must forget about the bans handed out to Drogba and Bosingwa by UEFA.

They were both suspended for their parts in the unsavoury scenes that followed the semi-final exit last season when Barcelona scored a last-minute away goal at Stamford Bridge.

Drogba, who screamed foul-mouthed abuse straight down the cameras after Norwegian referee Tom Henning Ovrebo rejected four penalty appeals, was banned for four games while Bosingwa received a two-match suspension.

"It is important for us to have all the players available for games but we cannot use this as an excuse if we don't do well," said Carvalho.

"It is our responsibility to win this game. Someone like Didier Drogba is an important player for us, he is doing very well and it is good for the other side that these players are going to miss this game.

"But it is better for us to miss them now than later in the competition."

Carvalho also denied there was a 'siege mentality' at the club after FIFA recently slapped a transfer ban on them until 2011.

The Portugal international is more concerned with ending the heartbreak of narrowly missing out on the Champions League crown in the last two seasons.

"Maybe the fans think it is unfair but the players just think about playing every game and trying to win the games," said Carvalho.

"It hurt a lot when we arrived once in the Champions League final and missed that great opportunity. We were a little bit unlucky and you need a little bit of luck and you need to work very hard.

"To win the Champions League with Chelsea would be really great. I hope this time we get to the final and after that we win it."

Carvalho won the Champions League with Porto back in 2004 and he is looking forward to playing against his old team once more.

"It is always very special to play against Porto because I spent wonderful years there and grew as a player and as a man and I always support them for that," added Carvalho. "It is rewarding to see them do so well in the Champions League and also to be always at the top of the Portuguese League."