Tough test ahead for Wenger

LONDON, AUG 15: Arsene Wenger admits it is essential for Arsenal to avoid an early Champions League exit against Udinese as the Gunners boss tries to stop his club spiralling out of control.

Wenger has endured a miserable close season which consisted of desperate attempts to persuade Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri to stay and a total failure to sign the top-class players required to revive a squad that has now gone six years without winning a trophy.
In the circumstances, missing out on a place in the group stages of Europe's elite club competition could be disastrous for Wenger.
The French coach has looked increasingly vulnerable over the last 12 months and, while he is unlikely to be sacked on the basis of one result, there can be no doubt his position would be severely weakened if Arsenal have to spend a year playing in the Europa League.
Wenger has never been under such intense pressure and he acknowledges the importance of beating Udinese in the play-off round.
“I would say the draw is difficult but possible. Who would want to play against an Italian opponent? We know we will have to be at our best to qualify,” he said.
“Let's try to be at our best as quickly as we can because it is important for us to go through in the Champions League.”
A relatively solid display in Saturday's 0-0 draw at Newcastle was marred by Gervinho's foolish dismissal for slapping Joey Barton.
The Ivory Coast striker will be available when Udinese visit the Emirates Stadium for the first leg on Tuesday.
But Dutch forward Robin van Persie is suspended after his controversial red card for kicking the ball away in last season's defeat at Barcelona, while Wenger will be absent from the touchline as he serves a ban for “inappropriate language” directed at referee Massimo Busacca in the Nou Camp.
Nasri is also suspended but the French midfielder was unlikely to have featured anyway after he missed the Newcastle match while he tries to force through a move to Manchester City.
The Fabregas saga came to an end late Sunday when a deal was reached to sell the Spaniard to Barcelona for a fee of around £35 million.
With the distraction of Fabregas gone, Wenger can at least focus his attention on players who want to be at the club. Whether those players are good enough to lift the gloom surrounding the Emirates Stadium is another question entirely.
France right-back Bacary Sagna still has faith and he believes the defensive solidity shown at Newcastle proves his team-mates are up for the fight whatever the critics might say.
“I think it was very important to start the season with this kind of game,” Sagna told Arsenal's website. “We were very consistent throughout and I think we were all defensively aware, from the forward players to the back four.
“Even if we had setbacks during the game we fought hard until the end and we have to keep showing that kind of spirit if we want to win things. This is how we want to play all season and it was a good start.”
Udinese finished fourth in Serie A last season but Francesco Guidolin's side are likely to come to London intent on keeping it tight at the back with a view to putting Arsenal under pressure in next week's second leg at the Stadio Friuli.
Guidolin's squad has been weakened by the sales of three key players since last season, with star forward Alexis Sanchez joining Barcelona, while Cristian Zapata moved to Villarreal and Gokhan Inler left for Napoli.
Experienced defender Maurizio Domizzi could be sidelined with a thigh injury on Tuesday and Guidolin will need a dominant display from striker Antonio Di Natale, who has scored 57 goals in the last two seasons.

Villas-Boas backs Blues for EPL title charge

STOKE-ON-TRENT (UK), AUG 15: Andre Villas-Boas insists Chelsea can mount a strong challenge to regain the Premier League title even though his first match in charge ended in a frustrating 0-0 draw at Stoke.

Villas-Boas watched his new team fail to secure an opening day victory for the first time in 12 seasons as Stoke produced a typically obdurate display at the Britannia Stadium on Sunday.
Stoke goalkeeper Asmir Begovic denied the visitors with a string of excellent second half saves, while Chelsea were convinced they should have had a 55th minute penalty after Frank Lampard fell in the area after a challenge from Marc Wilson.
A draw was a fair result in what was a predictably bruising battle but Villas-Boas saw enough to convince him that Chelsea's ageing stars are still hungry for silverware.
The former Porto boss took heart from the way the Blues improved in the second half and he believes they are capable of wrestling the title from Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United.
“Last year we finished second. We are here because we want to finish first. Regarding the transfer market, we don't know what we're going to do,” he said.
“Maybe we will, maybe we won't (sign more players). There's plenty of time to make those decisions. The market will get extremely frenetic in the last few weeks. That's the nature of it.
“But yes, winning the league is what we all want. I'd have enjoyed my first game better if I'd have won. I couldn't be pleased with a point but I think it's one of the most difficult grounds to play away from home.
“For our title challenge, I think one point at Stoke is not bad. It's not the greatest start to the Premier League, of course, but we're happy enough that we raised the level of the game in the second half. Now we just have to raise our level again.
“The situation is to win here. It would have been a massive win here, particularly given Arsenal and Liverpool's results.
“A point is not ideal, but not the end of the world in my opinion. It really is a difficult ground to play on. Let's try and build now on what we're doing against Norwich and West Brom.”
Stoke's abrasive style of play has irritated many other Premier League managers and Villas-Boas became the latest to bemoan what he perceived as aggressive tactics.
He added: “They push the boundaries on pushing and grabbing, for sure. It's difficult. You have to keep your eye on the ball, and be aware of certain situations.
“In this case, maybe the referee is in need of some help. I may raise thisday, but it's difficult.
“The point I want to make, when you play in difficult games like this one, is the amount of pushing and grabbing in the box. It's out of this world.
“We had to deal with Stoke's set-plays and were competent enough to avoid the dangers they create from those plays, but I think there's a limit to the pushing and grabbing that makes it impossible. Referees have to pay attention to these kind of details.” AFP

Barca share honours with Real

MADRID, AUG 15: Real Madrid and Barcelona drew 2-2 in the first leg of the Spanish Supercup on Sunday in front of 80,000 fans in Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu as the two bitter rivals kicked off the new season.

Mesut Ozil gave Real a 13th-minute lead before David Villa and Lionel Messi put Barcelona ahead at the break.
The Spanish and European champions then celebrated their interval advantage by announcing that they had finally agreed a deal with Arsenal to end their long-running pursuit of Cesc Fabregas.
But Real took a little shine off the news when Xabi Alonso levelled the tie nine minutes into the second half.
Barcelona boss Josep Guardiola, who remains unbeaten as manager in the Santiago Bernabeu, remained cautious over Wednesday's second leg.
“We hope that with our crowd we will have an advantage,” he said. “I'm satisfied with our efforts tonight, but they were dangerous.
“We have had a limited time together with some players only back training a matter of days. Dani Alves, Abidal and Adriano kept us in it at times so I am especially happy with them.”
Real Madrid captain Iker Casillas was pleased with Madrid's performance.
“We've played well, passed the ball around and we're happy, little by little we're getting there, we'll go to Barcelona to try and win the trophy,” he said.
In the build-up, Guardiola described the game as “a final against our strongest rival”.
That made his starting 11 all the more surprising with Gerard Pique, Xavi Hernandez, Sergi Busquets and Pedro all on the bench, the first three carrying slight injuries and the latter replaced by new signing Alexis Sanchez.
No summer signing started for Jose Mourinho's Madrid who fielded the same 11 that lost 5-0 to Barcelona in La Liga last season.
This however was a different Madrid.
After eight minutes, a close range Karim Benzema header produced a superb fingertip save from Victor Valdes.
Madrid's efforts were rewarded with the first goal as Ozil cooly slotted home with his right foot after good work on the right from Karim Benzema.
At this stage Madrid were dominating with Barca struggling to produce their usual passing game.
It wasn't until the 35th minute that the Catalans managed their first attack and from nowhere Villa equalised with a curling right foot shot from the left hand edge of the penalty area.
Madrid responded with the better attacking play and Cristiano Ronaldo shot high from wide left on 44 minutes.
It was Barca however who then went ahead.
Messi took advantage of defensive mistakes by Pepe and Sami Khedira to stroke the ball into the net in first-half injury time.
The second-half started slowly until Xabi Alonso equalised on 53 minutes with a low driven shot from just inside the area after Barcelona failed to clear a corner.
Ronaldo tried on a number of occassions to conjure up a winner for Madrid and Messi came close with a free-kick 12 minutes from the end for the Catalan side.
However neither team looked likely to win the game in the final minutes, with both content to keep possession and play down the clock.
Jose Maria Callejon and Fabio Coentrao appeared in the second half to make their Real Madrid debuts while Xavi, Pique and Pedro came of the the bench for Barcelona.
All should find themselves involved at some stage on Wednesday when the first
title of the season will be
decided.

Pakistan won't take Zimbabwe lightly

LAHORE, Aug 15: Pakistan cricket captain Misbah-ul-Haq on Monday urged his team's new talent to take advantage of the tour of Zimbabwe to rebuild the crisis-hit national side.

A new-look Pakistan play a two-day practice match in Bulawayo from August 28, then a Test at the same venue from September 1. They also play three one-day internationals and two Twenty20s on the tour.
Misbah will lead Pakistan in all three formats of the game after Shahid Afridi retired when he was dumped as one-day captain two months ago.
Misbah said the new players must take their chances.
“All the new players who have taken the place of the seniors have performed at domestic level and this tour of Zimbabwe will give them a chance to show their ability at an international level,” Misbah told a press conference.
Pakistan have surprisingly rested frontline pacemen Wahab Riaz and Umar Gul, and dropped Tanveer Ahmed. The selectors recalled Sohail Tanveer and Sohail Khan, and included new fast bowlers Junaid Khan and uncapped Aizaz Cheema.
Left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman, Pakistan's successful bowler in the West Indies on their last tour, is also rested in favour of uncapped leg-spinner Yasir Shah.
“After a long time a number of seniors have left together, so every team comes across such times and then replacements are found by trying out some new players who can play like those seniors,” said Misbah.
Besides Afridi, Pakistan have lost three key players in opener Salman Butt and pacemen Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer-banned this year in a spot-fixing scandal.
The trio face criminal charges in Britain over charges stemming from Pakistan's tour of England last year.
Senior batsman Mohammad Yousuf lost favour with the selectors, while wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmal, former captain Shoaib Malik and seasoned leg-spinner Danish Kaneria were left out over fixing suspicions.
Misbah denied Pakistan were not taking Zimbabwe seriously.
“We are not taking any team lightly,” said the 36-year-old.
“If we relax then we are in trouble and by giving chances to youngsters we are not experimenting because all these young players have come into the team on merit.”
Pakistan fly out to Zimbabwe on August 25.
On their return to Test cricket after five years, Zimbabwe beat Bangladesh in the only Test and are 2-0 ahead in the ongoing five-match one-day series.
After Zimbabwe, Pakistan play Sri Lanka in three Tests, five one-dayers and one Twenty20 match in the United Arab Emirates in October and November.

England better equipped than in 2005: Pietersen

BIRMINGHAM , Aug 15: Kevin Pietersen believes the current England team are better equipped to rule the world than the team who defeated the all-conquering Australians in 2005.

England surged to the top of the world rankings on Saturday with a thumping innings and 242 run victory over previous world leaders India in the third test.
“We've got a real good structure in place and great people in place as well, the management and players, there are a lot of mature players,” Pietersen, who made his debut in the 2005 series, told reporters on Sunday.
“You look at the number of games people have played, you look at the number of hundreds we've scored, look at the wickets the boys have started to take.
“We actually look like one of the senior teams in world cricket right now, whereas two, three, four, five years ago there were a couple of players who were experienced but we had a lot of inexperience.
“So I think we've got all departments covered and as long as each individual, including the guys in the squad who aren't playing at the moment, keep striving to get better we'll be okay.”
The team captained by Michael Vaughan in 2005 threatened to climb the rankings after that 2-1 series win but injuries or illness to key players including Vaughan, Andrew Flintoff, Marcus Trescothick, Simon Jones and Ashley Giles wrecked any hope of progress.
Pietersen was full of enthusiasm for the current squad's drive to continually seek to improve. He also said the team's burning ambition was to seal a 4-0 series win when the fourth test starts at the Oval on Thursday.
“It's a target, a huge target because I played against Australia when we did get hammered 5-0 (in 2006-07) and it's a horrible to place to be,” Pietersen added. “So if we can inflict a similar defeat on India it would be amazing for us.”
Coach Andy Flower said the present England team did not compare to the West Indies' side who did not lose a test series from 1980-95 or the Australian team who twice won 16 consecutive tests, from 1999-2001 and then 2005-2007. Andrew Strauss' team have won six consecutive series to date.
“We are a good side there is no doubt about that,” former Zimbabwe batsman Flower said. “(But) I don't think we can compare ourselves to those sides to be quite honest.
“They dominated world cricket for lengthy periods. We have been playing well for a little while now but only for a short time in cricketing history terms. There is no way we can compare ourselves to those sides in my opinion.

Djokovic wins Montreal crown

MONTREAL, Aug 15: Novak Djokovic says a small shoulder niggle which bothered him en route to a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 defeat of Mardy Fish to win the Montreal Masters won't be a problem in next week's final tune-up before the US Open.

The word number one Djokovic, winner of his ninth ATP title this season, admitted he had a small physical worry in Sunday's final.
“Throughout this tournament I carried little problems with the shoulder. But it's okay. Nothing major,” he said.
The Serb confirmed the world number one ranking which he claimed after winning Wimbledon as he beat Fish for the seventh time without a loss.
Djokovic has now won nine titles in 2011 in nine attempts. He stands a phenomenal 53-1 this season, with his only loss coming against Roger Federer in the French Open semi-finals.
“It was a close match, for sure,” Djokovic said. “A couple of points, one good return game in the third set, decided the winner.
“But it's a final. You can somehow expect that the players are evenly matched and they both want to win the title badly.
“I knew that I had to fight for it. Up to the last moment, you didn't really know who is going to win, but I believed I could do it. This was a big satisfaction.”
Djokovic becomes the first man to win five Masters 1000 titles in the same season having also claimed trophies at Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid and Rome.
The 24-year-old is the first player to win an ATP title in his debut as number one since Pete Sampras in Hong Kong in April 1993.
Djokovic now stands 27-13 in career finals while Fish, winner of the Atlanta title last month, was competing in his third straight final of the pre-US Open summer.
Djokovic blew through the opening set in 38 minutes as he broke the last two Fish serves. But the dangerous American found his range in the second, finally earning a break on his ninth opportunity of the afternoon and taking a 3-2 lead.
That margin was enough to give Fish hope as he levelled the match at a set each.
But Djokovic showed the class that has characterised his season, breaking for a 3-2 lead to love and then producing a love game on serve for a 5-3 margin.
Fish made life tough until the end as he saved three match points from Djokovic errors. With Djokovic firing an unreturnable serve to clinch the victory in front of a crowd sprinkled with flag-waving Serbs.

Ponting powers Australia to win

HAMBANTOTA (SRI LANKA), Aug 15: Ricky Ponting cracked an impressive 90 not out to steer Australia to an easy eight-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the second one-day international on Sunday.

Ponting hit one six and eight fours in his 106-ball knock and skipper Michael Clarke made an unbeaten 58 as Australia surpassed Sri Lanka's total of 208 with more than 11 overs to spare for a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.
The duo had also scored half-centuries in their team's seven-wicket win in the previous match.
Fast bowler Doug Bollinger led Australia's disciplined attack with three wickets to restrict Sri Lanka to a modest total before Ponting and Clarke ensured victory with their 107-run stand.
“It was a fantastic innings from Ricky,” said Clarke.
“The bowlers did a great job. They are executing their plans really well. Full credit to them.”
Clarke, playing his 200th one-day international, hit two sixes and four boundaries in his 67-ball knock.
Ponting also added 94 for the second wicket with in-form opener Shane Watson (43) after the early dismissal of Brad Haddin.
“The game was set up by our bowlers who kept taking wickets,” said former captain Ponting, who was named man of the match.
“I am getting a few runs, so not being captain must be working all right.”
Watson, who became the first batsman to complete 1,000 runs in one-dayers this year, was bowled by paceman Lasith Malinga after hitting one six and four boundaries in his 51-ball knock.
Bollinger was earlier superbly backed by fast bowlers Mitchell Johnson and Brett Lee, who bagged two wickets apiece.
“It was not a great day for us,” said Sri Lanka captain Tillakaratne Dilshan.
“We didn't get enough runs. This was a 250 pitch. We have to work things out as a batting unit. Ponting and Clarke batted really well.”
Former captain Kumar Sangakkara top-scored for Sri Lanka with a patient 52, hitting just one six and one four in his 85-ball knock. He added 63 for the fifth wicket with Angelo Mathews (35).
Lower-order batsman Nuwan Kulasekara helped Sri Lanka cross the 200-mark with a brisk 31-ball 34.
Sangakkara fell just when he looked like stepping up the run-rate, caught by Johnson at long-on while attempting a big shot off spinner David Hussey in the 37th over.
Australia gained the upper hand when they reduced Sri Lanka to 77-4, with Lee, Johnson, Bollinger and left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty taking one wicket each.
Dilshan (24), Mahela Jayawardene (17) and Upul Tharanga (13) all got starts, but none could play a big knock. AFP