D Wednesday, January 27, 2010 SPORT 2321 SOCCER PREMIER LEAGUE PREMIER LEAGUE RESULTS SOCCER (7.45pm unless stated) Carling Cup semi-final, second leg Man Utd v Man City .........(8pm) TV Sky Sports 1 Barclays Premier League Aston Villa v Arsenal........................ Blackburn v Wigan ................ (8pm) Chelsea v Birmingham .................... Everton v Sunderland.......(8pm) TV Sky Sports 2 The Coca-Cola Football League Championship Newcastle v Crystal Palace............. Scunthorpe v Sheff Wed.................. Coca-Cola Football League Two Burton Albion v Lincoln City............ Clydesdale Bank Premier League Celtic v Hibernian ............................ Dundee Utd v St Johnstone............ Falkirk v Motherwell......................... Hearts v Aberdeen........................... St Mirren v Rangers....................TV Sky Sports 3 Scottish Cup fourth-round replay Airdrie United v Raith....................... barclays premier league Bolton ..........1 Burnley ........0 Lee 35 Portsmouth .1 West Ham....1 Webber 76 Upson 52 Tottenham ...2 Fulham.........0 Crouch 27 Bentley 60 Wolves .........0 Liverpool .....0 P W D L F A Pts Man Utd 23 16 2 5 53 19 50 Arsenal 22 15 3 4 59 25 48 Chelsea 21 15 3 3 52 18 48 Tottenham 23 12 5 6 44 24 41 Liverpool 23 11 5 7 40 26 38 Man City 21 10 8 3 42 30 38 Aston Villa 21 10 6 5 29 18 36 Birmingham 21 9 6 6 21 19 33 Fulham 22 7 6 9 26 26 27 Everton 21 6 8 7 30 34 26 Stoke 21 6 7 8 19 26 25 Blackburn 22 6 6 10 23 39 24 Sunderland 21 6 5 10 30 38 23 Wigan 20 6 4 10 23 44 22 Bolton 21 5 6 10 29 42 21 West Ham 22 4 8 10 29 38 20 Wolves 22 5 5 12 17 38 20 FIXTURES Stalemate costs Reds in race for fourth spot wolves 0 liverpool 0 By David Kennedy LIVERPOOL lost ground in the race for fourth place after they failed to break down a resolute Wolves at Molineux. Although the point moves Rafael Benitezs side up to fifth in the table, the deficit to fourth-placed Spurs has now grown to three points after the London- ers beat Fulham last night. And with sixth-placed Manchester City, level with the Reds but with two games in hand, Benitezs men face an al- mighty battle to finish in a Champions League place. Liverpool did have captain Steven Ger- rard back after a two- match absence with a hamstringinjury,how- ever he looked off the pace and is clearly lacking full fitness. Maxi Rodriguez, making his first start since his free trans- fer to Anfield from Atletico Madrid, also failed to impress. But Wolves boss Mick McCarthy will be happy with the point his side gained and may even think they could have gained all three. They were not outplayed in this match and striker Kevin Doyle (pictured) actu- ally had the best chance of a tight first half when he poked a Matt Jarvis cross just wide. The second half was much more open with Albert Riera and Dirk Kuyt going close for Liverpool, and Doyle doing likewise for the hosts. But neither side could break the deadlock. Wolves: Hahnemann, Zubar, Craddock, Berra, Ward, Foley, Henry, Mancienne, Jarvis (Guedioura 88), Milijas (Jones 73), Doyle. Liverpool: Reina, Carragher, Skrtel, Kyrgiakos, Insua, Maxi, Mascherano, Lucas, Riera (Ngog 66), Gerrard, Kuyt. Booked: Skrtel. Att: 28,763. Referee: Peter Walton MATCH FACTS CRiSTiANo Ronaldo has been hit with a two- match ban following his dismissal in Real Madrids La Liga game with Malaga at the Bernabeu on Saturday. The former Manchester United winger was shown a straight red in the 70th minute after his elbow caught Patrick Mtiliga, leaving the defender with a broken nose. Madrid are set to appeal but if unsuccessful Ronaldo, who scored both goals in the 2-0 victory, will miss matches against Espanyol and Deportivo La Coruna. SunDERLAnD boss Steve Bruce has told striker Kenwyne Jones to put speculation about a move to Liverpool behind him and focus on finding the form which made him an in-demand striker. Bruce believes the Trinidad and Tobago international has been unsettled by talk of a loan switch to Anfield. Maybe with all the nonsense which has been written about him his focus has been elsewhere, said Bruce. We want to see Kenwyne play the way we know he can. CRySTAL Palace have gone into administration with estimated debts of 35million and today begin a battle against a winding-up order. Eagles chairman Simon Jordan has been trying to sell the club for more than a year with no success. The Eagles have been late in paying their players and staff twice this season, but rose to ninth in the Championship. However, a ten-point deduction, set to be imposed by the Football League, would see them plummet to just two places above the relegation zone. CHELSEA midfielder Joe Cole is set to return for tonights Premier League game at home to Birmingham. Cole came off the bench in Saturdays FA Cup win at Preston while keeper Petr Cech also returns after being rested. Ricardo Carvalho is in for Alex while Ashley Cole comes back after missing the Preston game with an ankle injury. Ivory Coast pair Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou are not in the squad as they return from the Africa Cup of nations today. footballdigest unsettled: Jones Coyle smiles better after fan fury Standing firm: Liverpools Albert Riera holds off Ronald Zubar Picture: Action Images Fans target: Coyle Bolton: Jaaskelainen, Steinsson, Cahill, Knight, Ricketts, Lee (Weiss 90), Muamba, Cohen, Taylor (Gardner 77), Klasnic (Elmander 52), Davies. Burnley: Jensen, Mears, Duff, Carlisle, Kalvenes, Elliott, Alexander (Paterson 16), McCann (McDonald 12), Nugent, Fletcher, Eagles (Nimani Ngalou 65). Att: 23,986 Ref: Martin Atkinson bolton 1 burnley 0 OWEN COYLE had the last laugh over his old club as Bolton dumped Burnley into the relegation zone at the Reebok Stadium. Coyle was jeered and booed throughout by Clarets fans smarting from his departure from Turf Moor earlier this month. Visiting supporters also held up banners branding Coyle a Judas for defecting to their rivals. But Chung-Yong Lees strike in the first half lifted Wanderers up to 15th while Burnley slipped into the drop zone. A game of few chances saw Fabrice Muamba fire over when well placed. However, Lee latched on to Kevin Davies flick-on to fire home off the underside of the crossbar on 35 minutes and increase the visitors woes. TOTTENHAM kept a firm hold on fourth place in the Premier League table after goals from Peter Crouch and David Bentley gave Harry Redknapps side maximum points against Fulham at White Hart Lane. Fulham defender Chris Smalling may have been the main talking point ahead of the kick-off after agreeing a deal to join Manchester United in the summer, but the youngster could do little to prevent Crouch (pictured) opening the scoring on 27 minutes. Fulham had struggled to contain a determined Spurs attack and when Bjorn Helge Riise failed to deal with Bentleys deep cross Luka Modric slipped the ball inside to Crouch who escaped the attention of Smalling before stabbing the ball home. It was little more than the hosts deserved and they were looking comfortable long before Bentley, making only his fourth Premier League appearance of the season, added a second on the hour, the wingers free-kick from the edge of the penalty area taking a deflection off Riise to leave Mark Schwarzer stranded. Modric almost added a third as Spurs continued to press but Fulham held firm to limit the damage. DAViD SuLLiVAN and David Gold began their tenure as West Ham owners with a draw after substitute Danny Webber (pictured) denied them victory at Fratton Park. Portsmouth had their transfer embargo lifted earlier in the day and they were poor for the first hour of this game. Only the heroics of goalkeeper Asmir Begovic kept his side in it as the Bosnian stopper kept out Frank Nouble, Alessandro Diamanti and Jack Collison. Matthew upson put the Hammers ahead from a 52nd-minute corner. Pompey levelled through striker Webbers cool finish from John utakas pass on 76 minutes. Bentley takes advantage of rare selection Hammers owners denied debut win Burnley 22 5 5 12 22 44 20 Hull 22 4 7 11 20 46 19 Portsmouth 21 4 3 14 19 33 15 portsmouth 1 west ham 1 Tottenham: Gomes, Corluka, Dawson, King, Bale, Bentley, Huddlestone, Palacios, Modric, Crouch, Defoe (Keane 81). Booked: Dawson. Fulham: Schwarzer, Hughes, Hangeland, Smalling, Baird, Riise (Davies 64), Dikgacoi, Murphy, Gera (Kamara 72), Duff, Zamora (Elm 79). Booked: Kamara. Att: 35,467 Ref: Mike Dean tottenham 2 fulham 0 index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html