Premier League News

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Looks like Chelsea are close to making a signing of a new defender Jose Bosingwa who plays at right back is currently with Porto.  Its being reported that the 25 year old Portugal international has arrived in London to agree personal terms and undergo a medical, with a fee of around £16.2million being reported.

He's been the first choice right back at Porto for the last 3 seasons, and have earned him seven caps for Portugal and is widely expected to be in the squad for Euro 2008 when its announced next week.

Chelsea goal keeper Petr Cech may make a surprise return to the Chelsea squad by wearing a protective mask in tonights Premier League clash against Wigan.  The player has been training both with and without the protective mask although Chelsea head coach Avram Grant is waiting on medical clearance before risking him.

"We are testing a mask," said Chelsea manager Avram Grant. "We need to go again with it to see. In one training he wore a mask and in another he was without it. We are checking all the possibilities with him.

"I think for the moment it's a risk. But I have not spoken with the specialist. I'm not a doctor."

Que Sera Sera what ever will be will be, we're going to Wembley.....again.

In their first Wembley appearance since the War Cup in 1942, Pompey made Championship site West Brom pay for not taking full advantage of their superiority in the first half with former Albion player Kanu grabbing the only goal of the game.

With today being the 110^th anniversary of the formation of Portsmouth Football Club, the club and its fans received a huge birthday gift a place in the FA Cup final and being 90 minutes away from returning the cup to Fratton Park and the European place that goes with winning the cup.

Talking to The News Harry Redknapp said: 'We're over the moon.

'We knew how tough it was going to be and they did have a right go at us.

'We struggled to get hold of the ball in the first-half. They overloaded us in midfield and it worked for them.

'But we improved in the second-half and I was quite comfortable once we got the goal.

'It's a brilliant day for the club and a brilliant day for our fans.

'They were superb as they always are. It was for them really.

'I haven't done too bad in my career and it's another good day.

'Now I'm going to go out with my wife Sandra and have a nice night.

'We'll have some pasta and a glass or two of wine to celebrate.'

Newcastle winger Damien Duff has admitted that the players must take some of the responsibly for Newcastle's bad form and that the blame should not be purely attributed to Sam Allardyce the manager.

Talking to the Daily Mail Duff said "It's a massive club, but you cannot just blame the gaffer. We are the ones out on the pitch, so we are all in it together.

"We are right behind him [Allardyce] and we just want to put it right for him. He cannot take all the flak.

"We are the ones on the pitch - so don't hammer him, hammer us. The players have to stand up and be counted as well."

"As far as I'm concerned, he's a brilliant manager. I get on great with him. Up until recently, I was buzzing to get back on the pitch and starting working for him - so from that point of view, he has been great for me.

"Now we just need to knuckle down and start getting positive results - because we owe it to him."

Arsenal may listen to offers for their former #1 goal keeper Jens Lehmann, although manager Arsene Wenger says he wants the German keeper to stay at the London club.

Former club Borussia Dortmund and other German clubs are rumoured to have shown interest in the 38 year old keeper, with Manchester City also rumoured to be interested although so far no bids have been made.

"We will sit down together if an offer comes, but I believe first he has to make his own mind up if he wants to stay with us, or not," said Wenger.

So far this season Almunia has been the preferred choice with Lehmann only having made 2 league appearances this season it is looking unlikely he will regain the #1 position.

"I, personally, would prefer him to stay with us."

"I heard about Dortmund but I have had no contact with anybody," said Wenger.

"You must always go day by day - but if he says 'Listen, I have the only chance to play in the European Championship if I play somewhere' I will try to help him."

Former Tottenham Hotspurs manager Martin Jol today slammed his former club for buying players for the wrong reasons, confirming what most people already believed that big signings like Darren Bent and Younes Kaboul were not Jol’s choices but those of director of football Damien Comolli.

Jol told The Sun: "I felt the squad would be unbalanced with these signings and it proved to be the case.
"The funny thing is the new manager will probably come to the same conclusion and the club will go out in January and buy the two players I felt we needed.
"When Frank Arnesen was director of football we spoke together about the players to bring to the club.
"But I did not have the same relationship with the next man (Comolli).
"I think the club wanted to invest in younger players because they wanted to make money on them in the future. The decisions were not being made for footballing reasons.
"I knew that in the summer and I realised my position was becoming very difficult."

Midfielder Aaron Mokoena may be back in the Blackburn side sooner than expected, he was stretched off on Wednesday during the Carling Cup victory against Portsmouth where he had setup one of the Blackburn goals.

However following a trip to hospital its been confirmed the midfielder’s leg is not broken and could be back in team as soon as the Liverpool game on Saturday.

"He's okay thankfully," Hughes told the club's official website.

"He obviously got a bang on his leg, he has a plate in it from a previous injury and as he went back onto the field of play he felt a pain which probably frightened him more than anything.

"So obviously he came off, but I've seen him this morning and he is walking around. He's a little bit sore but we'll see how he is tomorrow.

Blackburn manager Mark Hughes has today been linked to the Tottenham managers job, even though Spurs still have a manager recent results have meant that Martin Jol is pretty much a dead man walking waiting for the axe.

A source at Blackburn Rovers told The Sun today "As far as we are concerned, Mark is very happy here.

"It is inevitable he will be linked with other clubs because he has done such a great job here over the last three years.

"But he recently said he sees his immediate future with us and we've no reason to believe that situation has changed. We hope he will stick around for a good few years yet."

While Mark Hughes himself has said that he is proud of his work and won't leave it behind lightly, "I'm at a club where I've got great backing," Hughes told The Mirror.

"It has taken me three years to put things in place, you don't walk away from that lightly."

After refusing permission for Bolton to talk to Gary Megson, Milan Mandaric has let the wanted manager leave Leicester and hold talks with Bolton.

A statement on the Leicester official site explains.

It is with disappointment and great reluctance that I have today agreed to allow Gary Megson to open talks with Bolton Wanderers regarding their vacant managerial position.

Despite my best efforts to retain his services and turning down two formal approaches from Bolton, Gary left me with no choice last night when he informed me he wanted to leave Leicester and talk to the Premiership club.

I made it abundantly clear that Bolton's interest was neither welcome or invited but it was evident to me that following a meeting requested by Gary following last night's home defeat by Sheffield United that his loyalties and heart lay elsewhere.

Naturally, I am very disappointed. My objectives were to stand firm in the face of mounting interest from Bolton and intense media speculation over Gary's future, but in the end these completely undermined my firm determination to retain his services.

In point of fact it was abundantly clear to me that if I stood in Gary's way it would have a detrimental effect on the club and I was not prepared to allow that to happen.

Needless to say our objectives to win promotion this season remain the same. The search for a new manager begins in earnest.

In the meantime assistant manager Frank Burrows and Gerry Taggart will assume temporary control of first-team affairs until we are in a position to announce a significant appointment.

While a compensation package has been agreed between the clubs, it is not certain that Megson will be appointed Bolton manager, and he could be left out of work again after a year and a half layoff before joining Leicester .

Bolton fans calling up national sports station Talk Sport were mostly unimpressed with their potential new manager, while most Leicester fans were glad to see the back of him.

Sammy Lee today agreed to part company with Bolton Wanderers by mutual consent, the clubs general manager Frank McParland also left the club.

Bolton Wanderers Chairman Phil Gartside states: "This has been a difficult decision for all parties but we have agreed that the time is right.

"Sammy has played an important role in the Club's recent history. We wish Sammy and Frank well for the future.

"Our efforts will now be to look for a replacement manager and concentrate on the future."

Bolton are current 19th in the Premier League and have only won once under Lee, who was promoted to the position when Sam Allardyce left the club in the summer.

So far the bookmakers have made former Wigan boss Paul Jewell favourite with Real Sociedad and former Fulham manager Chris Coleman second.

West Ham and Wales defender Danny Gabbidon has recently been criticised over his poor performance in the Wales’s Euro 2008 qualification defeat against Cyprus.  

The player has responded these criticisms by stating that he although he felt his performance was sub standard, no-one can say he doesn’t care about his country and that he always tries to give 100 percent in every game.

"Nobody can say I don't care," stated Gabbidon. "Obviously I was disappointed with the game and my performance but we have to dig ourselves out of this hole.

"I can't really complain about what has been said about us. It is all fair comment and we know we were poor.

"You hear things said about my place being under threat but I have to accept that and, if the boss thinks there is someone else who can come in and do better than that, it is his decision.

"But for people to say that I don't care is nonsense. I have shown every time that I try to give 100 percent. People can say what they want, I am not worried about that.

"I always want to play for Wales and win. It is not as if I do not care or there is something wrong with my body language, quite the opposite.

"I don't believe anyone could say I was not trying.

"I was just disappointed with the goals we conceded. I hold my hands up because I was at fault along with everyone else.

"We could have done a lot better. Maybe I should not show it and react the way I did.

"But I showed my emotions. That is how I felt at the time."

Man of the match in yesterdays England Vs Estona game Gareth Barry put in a fantastic performance, however admits he still isnt sure if he will have a starting place for the Russia game on Wednesday or whether Chelsea's Frank Lampard will return to the squad. 

"I'm not sure about Wednesday.

"The manager will have his own ideas about what sort of team and formation he wants. We'll have to wait until Monday to get an idea. Things are good at the moment, but obviously it's only half a job done."

Everton manager David Moyes believes that forward James McFadden is starting to show his potential for both club and country this season. The Scotland international has scored six goals for his club and country with the effort in the recent Euro 2008 qualifier against France the pick of the bunch.

"We're getting bits of the best out of Faddy just now. There's a bit of him which infuriates you, but there's certainly bits of him that get you out of your seat and at the moment I think he's got an eye for goal." Moyes told the Daily Post

"He is happy to take on the opportunities like he did against France for Scotland, and even in the game before against Lithuania.

"Not only that, he's scored a couple of different goals, like the header at the back post then a tap-in against Sheffield Wednesday.

"When he gets opportunities like that now you think 'he'll probably score here', so that's good.

"He's showing more maturity with his decision-making on the field, so I think he's doing better this year. It's coming on, which we always thought it would do with age and experience."

Manchester City defender Micah Richards believes he has done enough to keep Manchester United full back Gary Neville from reclaiming his place when he returns from injury.

Richards has performed well at right back and has now recieved 7 England caps.  While Neville is on the road back to fitness he has not played since March and his Manchester United reserves return this week was delayed as it was felt he still wasnt fully fit. 

"I have got seven caps now and I think I have performed well in all seven games.

"It is up to the manager who he wants to pick and I will respect his decision.

"Gary is a legend. He gets a bit of stick but you cannot dispute what he has done.

"But I hope that when he is fit I do get back in."