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After being rewarded with a permanent contract at his beloved Liverpool, manager Kenny Dalglish said his work has only just begun.Dalglish has been a revelation since assuming the caretaker manager role at Anfield after Roy Hodgson’s sacking in January, and the 60-year-old has now received a permanent three-year contract.

Liverpool has won 10 out of 16 their Premier League games during Dalglish’s tenure, putting them in good position to secure a Europa League, and the manager credited the club’s young players with helping to turn their season around.

“It is always refreshing for a football club to see young players coming through and I think the first team players enjoy seeing the youngsters coming through and training with them,” Dalglish said.

“It gives them a lift. We’ve been delighted with the Academy.”

“When I and my backroom team came in we never set any expectations except to do the best we possibly could in every game. I never set any targets, but obviously we had to improve and we have done.”

“We have not finished the season yet, there are still a couple of games to go and the same principles will apply. We have a game on Sunday that we want to get the most we possibly can out of.”

His permanent role will kick off at home to Tottenham on Sunday with Liverpool looking to cement fifth place with a positive result against the side two points below them in the table.

Last time out Liverpool thrashed Fulham 5-2 with Maxi Rodriguez scoring his second hat-trick in three games, and Dalglish said his players should be recognised for their efforts in the second half of the season.

“It would be nice to beat Tottenham. I think that, without saying we are not going to win, if the players do not get credit for what they have done so far – irrespective of what the next two results are going to be – then I think there is something wrong,” he said.

“They have done fantastically well and have probably gone over everybody’s expectations and so deserve huge credit. In the last two games we will be trying our best to get a positive result.”

Liverpool will be without defenders Martin Kelly (shoulder), Fabio Aurelio (thigh) and Daniel Agger (knee), midfielder Steven Gerrard (groin) and forward Milan Jovanovic (knee).

Manchester United captain Gary Neville has suggested he has more respect for Liverpool than Manchester City and Chelsea.

Neville, 35, claims the history of United's bitter rivals commands more respect than any club "who throw a load of money" at success.

City have spent an estimated £120million on new players during a record-breaking summer transfer window at Eastlands.

Meanwhile, Chelsea's recent success has been bankrolled by the billions of Russian oligarch owner Roman Abramovich.

"When I was younger there was no doubt about it, I was a United fan and they (Liverpool) were winning everything and it was a horrible time," he said.

"Jealousy, hatred, passion for your own club, you don't want them to win anything and you don't like the people who're winning.

"I suppose it comes from jealousy through my childhood but I have more respect for them as a club in a sense of their tradition and their history than I do for some other clubs who've been coming on the scene in the last few years, throwing a load of money at it.

"Liverpool have got a good history, you have to hand it to them, and they've been successful."

Meanwhile, Neville has admitted he may not be cut out for the life of a football manager when he finally decides to hang up his boots.

"I am a bit too emotional to be a football manager," he explained.

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"If you look at Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, they are quiet, considered and patient. They are probably more suited to modern-day management.

"I am doing my 'A' licence as a matter of course. It is what you should do.

"But at this moment in time, I haven't quite got the aptitude for it."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

Wales have unveiled Chris Coleman as their new manager, but the coach’s former club Larissa are set to challenge his appointment reports the Daily Mail.

Coleman has become the national side’s boss after the tragic suicide of Gary Speed, leaving Greek club Larissa to join up with his country.

The Greek team are unhappy with Coleman’s appointment however, saying he is still their boss and have threatened Wales with legal action.

“On January 8, 2012, Chris Coleman gave his last interview as head coach of Larissa, saying the causes of his departure were unrelated to the national team of his country; today, 11 days afterwards it has been announced officially that he will be the new national coach of Wales,” an official Larissa statement reads.

“Once it became known that Chris Coleman, who has a contract until next June, would be leaving, the club has been heavily criticised despite the president saying publicly he did everything to keep Coleman at the club.

“Instead of asking for an apology from all those who criticised us, we instead feel the need to apologise for our choice in appointing Chris Coleman.

“We have started legal proceedings in order to claim compensation from the Welsh FA.

“We are also prepared to take the matter to FIFA,” it concluded.

Despite this, Coleman’s appointment has been widely stated as a positive move for the country, with fellow Welsh coaches Mark Hughes and Tony Pulis hailing his arrival.

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By Gareth McKnight

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Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho launched a remarkable outburst at the ‘power’ of Barcelona over referees after Wednesday’s 2-0 defeat.In the third of four El Clasicos, Barcelona took the advantage after the first leg of the Champions League semi-final tie at the Bernabeu, courtesy of a stunning Lionel Messi brace.

Messi’s masterclass ensures the task of Mourinho guiding Real through the second leg at Camp Nou next Tuesday and into the final at Wembley is a tough one.

“The return game is mission impossible,” former Chelsea and Inter Milan manager Mourinho said.”Barcelona has qualified for the final.”

But while he conceded the tie to Pep Guardiola’s side, Mourinho launched a vicious tirade over the performance of the match officials, accusing them of handing his opponents preferential treatment.

The Portuguese suggested Pepe’s sending off in the 61 minute for an untimely lunge on Dani Alves was a result of outside forces gifting the Catalans an upper hand.

“Sometimes I feel disgusted about this football world of ours. (And) yes, we have already been knocked out,” said Mourinho, who himself was sent to the stands for his protests over Pepe’s dismissal.

“No one has any chance against Barca. Where does all this power come from? To win like this is very nasty.”

“We had the intention to keep the game at 0-0, then bring on a striker, then a third phase with a number 10 behind three forwards. But the ref didn’t allow it.”

The reigning Champions League winning coach also alluded to the controversial circumstances with which eventual 2008/09 champions Barca qualified for the final after knocking out Chelsea in the semi-final, likening his former side’s plight to his own.

“I would be ashamed if I was Barca, how they won Champions League in 2009 – (it) was the scandal of Stamford Bridge,” he said.

“(And now) this is the scandal of the Bernabeu.”

“But I just do not understand why Barcelona always receives the help of the referee. All my life I will be asking myself this question, and one day I hope to receive an answer.”

“I don’t understand why Barcelona have this power. It happened two years ago to Chelsea (in the 2009 semi-finals), almost to my Inter last year, and also to Arsenal this year.”

“Why do the opponents of Barcelona always have a man sent off? Where does this power come from? Maybe it is to give more publicity to UNICEF, maybe because of the power of (Spanish federation president Jose Angel) Villar in UEFA.”

Sunderland have shown that they are serious about making an assault on the European places by completing a record deal for Ghanaian international striker Asamoah Gyan. The £13 million signing from Ligue 1 side Rennes was one of the stand-out performers in this summer’s World Cup as he led the Black Stars to a quarter-final tie against Uruguay which they lost in heartbreaking fashion.

Gyan’s eye-catching displays in South Africa will have left Sunderland fans relishing the prospect of seeing the Ghanaian form a deadly partnership with England striker Darren Bent. Like Bent, Gyan has an eye for foal. He scored in Ghana’s opening group fixtures against Serbia and Australia as well as an extra-time winner against the USA in their second round match-up. What was most impressive about Gyan’s performances in the World Cup is that he isn’t just a goalscorer. He was the focal-point of much of Ghana’s attacks. His mere presence in the team seemed to inspire confidence in the players as he could produce something out of nothing. And so it proved against the USA. He latched on to hopeful long ball from Kevin Prince Boateng, held off the challenge from defender Carlos Bocanegra and lashed a left-footed volley past Tim Howard in the USA goal.

Sunderland boss Steve Bruce has said he had been tracking Gyan for more than two years so he must have been familiar with Gyan’s ability prior to the World Cup. He started his career at Liberty Professionals in Accra who are famous for producing some of the nation’s top talent including Michael Essien, Sulley Muntari and John Pantsil. Gyan’s potential was spotted early on by Serie A club Udinese who snapped up the 17 year old in 2003. Gyan’s move to Italy resulted in him being called up for the national side and he became his country’s youngest goalscorer at 17 when he scored for the Black Stars in a World Cup qualifier against Somalia in November 2003.

Gyan was loaned to Serie B outfit Modena for two years to gain some first-team experience and he scored 15 goals in 53 appearances for the club. After his two year stint in Modena, Gyan was ready for first-team action with Udinese and the Ghanaian forged a good understanding with Italian forward Fabio Quagliarella. While not as prolific as Quagliarella, Gyan contributed 10 goals in the 2006-2007 season to help Udinese finish 10th in Serie A. Despite sealing a long-term contract with the club, Gyan found himself frozen out at the club after his 2007-2008 campaign was plagued by injury and he was sold to Rennes for €8 million in the summer of 2008.

Last season at Rennes was Gyan’s most successful club season to date, with the forward scoring 13 goals in 27 appearances as Rennes finished 9th in the Ligue 1 standings.

When you look at the number of goals Gyan has got in his club career (50 goals in 156 appearances for 4 different clubs), it doesn’t seem all that impressive but once you start to analyse at his game, you start to realise his importance to the team is much more than his goals. He is a highly unselfish player who works hard for the team. He brings a subtlety of movement that will open up space for other attackers. This would be ideal for a player like Bent at Sunderland as he would thrive in the space that Gyan would create and get more shots in on goal.

With the signing of Gyan, Sunderland may possess one of the most explosive attacking duos in the Premier League. Gyan needs time to adapt to the pace and power of the Premier League but I doubt it would take him long. His signing for £13 million does represent a gamble on the part of manager Steve Bruce but I believe it is a gamble worth taking as Gyan has all the necessary tools to help Sunderland become a contender for a European spot in the not too distant future.

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Newcastle recorded an impressive 3-0 win over Manchester United on Wednesday night, with Demba Ba continuing to impress his boss Alan Pardew and all other onlookers.

The Senegal international scored the opening goal, before a superb Yohan Cabaye free kick doubled the Toon’s lead; Phil Jones put through his own net late in the game to compound the Premier League champions’ misery.

Newcastle manager Alan Pardew will now be without Ba, as the striker goes to compete in the African Cup of Nations, but was happy with his team’s performance.

“We won because we controlled the game in terms of what we wanted to do, we wouldn’t let them play,” he told Sky Sports.

“Physically and aerially today we had an advantage. It was a great victory for us – we beat the champions 3-0 and we probably deserved that scoreline.

“You’ve got to have brave players who are going to push on – we had some outstanding performances individually,” he stated.

The result leaves United three points behind cross-town rivals Manchester City at the top of the Premier League, but Sir Alex Ferguson refuses to panic after the defeat.

“It’s advantage to City, of course. But it’s not a time to panic – we have the experience to cope with that,” he commented.

“We started reasonably well. But they scored a fantastic goal and it really picked everyone up in the stadium.

“The second was a killer for us. We didn’t make enough of our possession,” he concluded.

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By Gareth McKnight

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Two teams with extremely different situations but both managers could be out the exit door as Wigan travel to Stamford Bridge. Chelsea will be seething from the 1-0 defeat to Manchester United mid-week in the Champions League and may take out their frustrations on bottom placed Wigan.

Carlo Ancelotti could name Alex on the bench following his return from injury, whilst Yossi Benayoun could feature in the team as Chelsea desperately seek a creative playmaker in their team.

With Fernando Torres starting on the bench in the last league game at Stoke, Ancelotti could opt to rotate his team again and rest some players for the 2nd leg battle at Old Trafford next week. With the title ambitions now an outside chance, all focus may be on the game against United if the Italian is to save his job and Chelsea’s season.

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Wigan boss Roberto Martinez will be looking for his side to pick up as many points away from home if they are to get out of the drop zone, but with only 2 away wins all season, another one is highly unlikely to come at Chelsea.

The Latics have no fresh injury news which will help their chances of perhaps causing an upset, while the Chelsea team may be distracted by their European commitments. Although if Chelsea’s 8-0 destruction of Wigan last season is anything to go by, this might be another drubbing, who knows, maybe Torres will get his first goal for the Blues!?

Match Prediction: Chelsea 3-0 Wigan Athletic

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Chelsea are 6/1 to win 3-0 against Wigan and Fernando Torres is 15/4 to score first!

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Wolverhampton Wanderers midfielder David Jones remains confident that he will be able to agree a new contract to extend his stay at Molineux beyond the end of the season.

The 25-year-old started the campaign with a superb free-kick strike in a 2-1 win over Stoke City, having seen talks over a new deal hit the buffers in recent weeks.

Jones told the Birmingham Mail:"I'd love to get it sorted.

"I live locally, five minutes from the training ground, I like the area, I like the club, the manager has told me he wants me to stay, so there's definitely a chance and I'm still optimistic.

"There are a few sticking points, but it's a long process – I don't think there's a major problem and hopefully it will get sorted.

"Playing like that, people might say it's a bargaining tool for the contract, but I always give 100 per cent anyway and I hope people saw that on Saturday.

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"Even though the contract talks were in the press the last few days, it hasn't affected me at all.

"It just makes me hungry to want to stay at this club. This club is going to progress."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

Wigan’s mini-revival was brought a stuttering halt as Arsenal scored four without reply to run out convincing winners at the DW Stadium and move to within two points of the Premier League top four.

Following last week’s dramatic late win at Sunderland the Latics went in search of back-to-back victories for the first time season but were brought thumping back down to earth by the clinical Gunners. A promising start from Roberto Martinez’s side gave way to an Arsenal side who are still undergoing an renaissance of their own and they displayed their class with Mikel Arteta and Thomas Vermaelen scoring within a minute of each other to send the visitors into the break with a two goal advantage. Gervinho extended that lead in the second half before Robin Van Persie continued his prolific form in 2011 with his 37th goal in all competitions during the calendar year. The win saw Arsene Wenger’s men climb to fifth in the table behind Chelsea who beat Newcastle earlier in the day.

The home side will be disappointed that they were beaten in such a manner on their home turf as they slipped back into familiar territory with this defeat sending them back to the bottom. Still brimming with confidence following their first win in 10 games Wigan looked bright in the opening stages with Victor Moses and Connor Sammon causing the away side a few problems. Still they look impoverished in attack and were made to pay for some substandard finishing as the Gunners raced into a two goal lead before the hosts even had time to blink. Firstly, Arteta opened the scoring on 28 minutes lashing a long range a shot towards goal that passed through the hands of goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi. The Oman stopper really should have done better and he found himself picking the ball out of the net just a minute later after Vermaelen powered in a header via the post to give his side a nice cushion going into the second half.

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Wigan briefly threatened a comeback after the break with Moses flashing a shot across goal before Mohamed Diame went close with an effort. Arsenal started to dominate again and felt they should have had a penalty after Aaron Ramsey was fouled by Steve Gohouri in the penalty area. They didn’t have to wait long to increase their lead with Gervinho making it 3-0 just after the hour stabbing home from close range after Al Habsi had spilled Van Persie’s effort. There was still time for the Dutchman to grab a goal waiting till the 78th minute before scoring his 13th of the season sweeping the ball home after being set up by Theo Walcott to make it six wins in seven games since their defeat against Tottenham in October.

Previously heavily linked with Chelsea, Neymar showed yesterday exactly why he is one of the world’s most wanted players and would be a great addition to the Premier League. Playing in an international friendly between Brazil and Scotland at the home of Arsenal, The Emirates Stadium, Neymar scored twice in a 2-0 victory. However, there was also an incident that soured the contest somewhat.

Neymar has accused supporters of racially abusing him after a banana was thrown onto the pitch, which was removed by Liverpool’s Lucas. After the match, Neymar said “I feel great and scored two but what happened with the banana is sad. I don’t want to make a big deal of it. I was running down the touchline in the second half and saw it but I didn’t see where it came from.” The Brazilian further stated “They were jeering me a lot, even when I was about to kick the penalty. The entire stadium was jeering. This atmosphere of racism is totally sad. We leave our country to play here and something like this happens. It’s sad. I’d rather not even talk about it, to keep the subject from escalating.”

So is racism in football still a big problem in England despite the excellent work done by campaigns like Kick it Out? Hopefully this incident won’t have a major bearing on his decision about whether to come to the Premier League or not in the future. Here is footage of the action in question…