Manchester City linchpin Yaya Toure has urged his team-mates to emulate Barcelona as they attempt to overhaul Manchester United in the Premier League's gripping title climax.
After leading the table for most of the season, City have slipped three points behind their bitter cross-town rivals in recent weeks with only eight games of the season remaining.
On paper United have by far the less demanding run-in, with City still facing demanding fixtures which include trips to in-form Arsenal and Newcastle as well as Saturday's home tie with Sunderland.
However Toure wants City to learn from his experience at Barcelona in 2009/10 season, when the club pipped Real Madrid for the title after mounting a sprint to the finish which included a win over Real at the Bernabeu.
"What we did at Barcelona was a perfect example of what we need to do now," Toure said, while acknowledging that City's task would be harder. "I think now will be more difficult because United are not the type of team who you can give anything.
"When you look at the programme they have, they have easier games than us. Maybe their only difficult game is away to us. So it will be very hard, but to keep up the pressure we have to win all of our games. We have to fight until the finish, and if we win the Premier League this year it would be amazing for the club and the fans."
City drew 1-1 with Stoke last weekend, but will be looking to maintain their astonishing 100 per cent home record against Martin O'Neill's Black Cats.
United left to muse
A victory on Saturday would see City return to the top of the table on goal difference, with United not playing until Monday's trip to relegation threatened Blackburn, one of only two teams to beat the Red Devils at home this season.
"Blackburn is always a difficult type of game," warned United boss Sir Alex Ferguson. "It's always a bit feisty and has a local derby feeling about it. Last season we came from a goal down to win the league. We expect a difficult game - that's the way all the games will be."
Elsewhere this weekend, Arsenal will seek to tighten their grip on third place by plunging Queens Park Rangers further into the relegation mire when the Gunners travel to Loftus Road.
Arsenal head into the game looking to notch their eighth consecutive victory in the league against a side who are fighting for their livelihoods according to Rangers captain Joey Barton. "This is more than a game of football now," Barton warned. "The next eight games govern our futures.
"We're as desperate for the points as they are - for totally different reasons obviously. But there are livelihoods on the line here. People's careers are on the line. I'm not sure that's the case at Arsenal to be honest."
A win for Arsenal on Saturday would leave Tottenham needing victory against Swansea at White Hart Lane on Sunday to avoid falling further behind their north London rivals in the race for third place.
Swansea have been one of the revelations of the season so far, winning plaudits for an attractive style of football that has been achieved with a squad built for a fraction of the cost of the Premier League front-runners.
"It should be a very good game of football," Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers said. "Tottenham will want the points because they are playing for the Champions League but we are here to fight as well. We will go there looking to perform on Sunday because we will be fighting for every single point right through until the end of the season."
Fifth-placed Chelsea meanwhile travel to Aston Villa on Saturday knowing that only victory will do as they attempt to claw back a five-point deficit between themselves and fourth-placed Spurs.
Chelsea boss Roberto Di Matteo is likely to rotate his squad once more with next week's UEFA Champions League quarter-final second leg against Benfica looming.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won 18 League titles, the second most in English football, as well as seven FA Cups and a record eight League Cups. Liverpool has also won more European titles than any other English club, with five European Cups, three UEFA Cups and three Super Cups.
Liverpool was founded in 1892 and admitted into the Football League the following year. The club has played at its home ground, Anfield, since its founding, and the team has played in an all-red home strip since 1964. The most successful period in Liverpool's history was the 1970s and '80s, when the club won numerous honours both domestically and in Europe. The club's supporters have been involved in two major tragedies. The first was the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985, in which charging Liverpool fans caused a wall to collapse, killing 39 Juventus supporters. In the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, 96 Liverpool supporters lost their lives due to a crush against perimeter fencing.
Liverpool has long-standing rivalries with city neighbours Everton and with Manchester United. The club's anthem is "You'll Never Walk Alone".
The HISTORY of The Reds
Liverpool F.C. was founded following a dispute between the Everton F.C. committee and John Houlding, club president and owner of the land at Anfield. After eight years at the stadium, Everton relocated to Goodison Park in 1892 and Houlding founded Liverpool F.C. to play at Anfield.Originally named "Everton F.C. and Athletic Grounds Ltd" (Everton Athletic for short), the club became Liverpool F.C. in June 1892 after the Football Association refused to recognise the club as Everton. The team won the Lancashire League in its début season, and joined the Football League Second Division at the start of the 1893–94 season. After finishing in first place the club was promoted to the First Division, which it won in 1901 and again in 1906.
Liverpool reached its first FA Cup Final in 1914, losing 1–0 to Burnley F.C. It won consecutive League championships in 1922 and 1923, but did not win another trophy until the 1946–47 season, when the club won the First Division for a fifth time. Liverpool suffered its second Cup Final defeat in 1950, playing against Arsenal.The club was relegated to the Second Division in the 1953–54 season. Soon after Liverpool lost 2–1 to non-league Worcester City F.C. in the 1958–59 FA Cup, Bill Shankly was appointed manager. Upon his arrival he released 24 players and converted a boot storage room at Anfield into a room where the coaches could discuss strategy; here, Shankly and other "Boot Room" members Joe Fagan, Reuben Bennett, and Bob Paisley began reshaping the team.
The club was promoted back into the First Division in 1962 and won it in 1964, for the first time in 17 years. In 1965 the club won its first FA Cup, before winning the First Division again in 1966. Liverpool won both the League and the UEFA Cup during the 1972–73 season, and the FA Cup again a year later. Shankly retired soon afterwards and was replaced by his assistant, Bob Paisley. In 1976, Paisley's second season as manager, the club won another League and UEFA Cup double. The following season, the club retained the League title and won the European Cup for the first time, but it lost in the 1977 FA Cup Final. Liverpool retained the European Cup in 1978 and regained the First Division title in 1979. During Paisley's nine seasons as manager Liverpool won 21 trophies, including three European Cups, a UEFA Cup, six League titles and three consecutive League Cups; the only domestic trophy to elude him was the FA Cup.
3 burgundy tablets with gold engraved writing. Below the tablets are flowers.
Hillsborough memorial, which is engraved with the names of the 96 people who died in the Hillsborough disaster
Paisley retired in 1983 and was replaced by his assistant, Joe Fagan. Liverpool won the League, League Cup and European Cup in Fagan's first season, becoming the first English side to win three trophies in a season.Liverpool reached the European Cup final again in 1985, against Juventus at the Heysel Stadium. Before kick-off, Liverpool fans breached a fence which separated the two groups of supporters, and charged the Juventus fans. The resulting weight of people caused a retaining wall to collapse, killing 39 fans, mostly Italians. The incident became known as the Heysel Stadium disaster. The match was played in spite of protests by both managers, and Liverpool lost 1–0 to Juventus. As a result of the tragedy, English clubs were banned from participating in European competition for five years; Liverpool received a ten-year ban, which was later reduced to six years. Fourteen Liverpool fans received convictions for involuntary manslaughter.
Fagan resigned after the disaster and Kenny Dalglish was appointed as player-manager. During his reign, the club won another three League Championships and two FA Cups, including a League and Cup "Double" in the 1985–86 season. Liverpool's success was overshadowed by the Hillsborough disaster: in an FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest on 15 April 1989, hundreds of Liverpool fans were crushed against perimeter fencing. Ninety-four fans died that day; the 95th victim died in hospital from his injuries four days later and the 96th died nearly four years later, without regaining consciousness. After the Hillsborough disaster there was a government review of stadium safety. The resulting Taylor Report paved the way for legislation that required top-division teams to have all-seater stadiums. The report ruled that the main reason for the disaster was overcrowding due to a failure of police control.
Liverpool was involved in the closest finish to a league season during the 1988–89 season. Liverpool finished equal with Arsenal on both points and goal difference, but lost the title on total goals scored when Arsenal scored the final goal in the last minute of the season.
Photograph of a stand full of people some of whom are waving flags. In front of the stand is a field and a goal.
The Kop before the Taylor Report recommended that standing areas in football grounds be outlawed following the Hillsborough disaster
Dalglish cited the Hillsborough disaster and its repercussions as the reason for his resignation in 1991; he was replaced by former player Graeme Souness. Under his leadership Liverpool won the 1992 FA Cup Final. Souness was replaced by Roy Evans, and Liverpool went on to win the 1995 Football League Cup Final. Gérard Houllier was appointed co-manager in the 1998–99 season and became the sole manager in November 1998 after Evans resigned. In 2001, Houllier's second full season in charge, Liverpool won a "Treble": the FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup. Houllier underwent major heart surgery during the 2001–02 season and Liverpool finished second in the League, behind Arsenal.
Houllier was replaced by Rafael Benítez at the end of the 2003–04 season. Despite finishing fifth in Benítez's first season, Liverpool won the 2004–05 UEFA Champions League, beating A.C. Milan 3–2 in a penalty shootout after the match ended with a score of 3–3. The following season, Liverpool finished third in the Premier League and won the 2006 FA Cup Final, beating West Ham United in a penalty shootout after the match finished on 3–3. American businessmen George Gillett and Tom Hicks became the owners of the club during the 2006–07 season, in a deal which valued the club and its outstanding debts at £218.9 million. The club reached the 2007 UEFA Champions League Final against Milan, as it had in 2005, but this time Liverpool lost 2–1. During the 2008–09 season Liverpool achieved 86 points, its highest Premier League points total, and finished as runners up to Manchester United.
In the 2009–10 season, Liverpool finished seventh in the Premier League and failed to qualify for the Champions League. Benítez subsequently left by mutual consent and was replaced by Fulham manager Roy Hodgson. At the start of the 2010–11 season Liverpool was on the verge of bankruptcy and the club's creditors asked the High Court to allow the sale of the club, overruling the wishes of Hicks and Gillett. John W. Henry, owner of the Boston Red Sox and of New England Sports Ventures, bid successfully for the club and took ownership in October 2010. Poor results during the start of that season led to Hodgson leaving the club by mutual consent and former manager Kenny Dalglish taking over.
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world.The "FA Cup" is run by and named after the Football Association and usually refers to the English men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also held. Its current sponsored name is the FA Cup with Budweiser.
The FA Cup was first held in 1871–72. Entry is open to all teams who compete in the Premier League, the Football League and in steps one to five of the FA National League System, as well as selected teams in step 6. This means that clubs of all standards compete, from the largest clubs in England and Wales down to amateur village teams. The tournament has become known for the possibility for "minnows" from the lower divisions to become "giant-killers" by eliminating top clubs from the tournament and even theoretically win the Cup, although lower division teams rarely progress beyond the early stages. The qualification rounds and a system of byes mean that the very smallest and very biggest teams almost never meet.
The holders of the FA Cup are Manchester City, who beat Stoke City 1–0 in the 2011 final for their fifth Cup triumph and first since 1969.
FA CUP'S FORMAT :
The competition is a knockout tournament with pairings for each round drawn at random. There are no seeds and the draw for each round is not made until after the scheduled dates for the previous round. The draw also determines which teams will play at home.
Each tie is played as a single leg. If a match is drawn, there is a replay, usually at the ground of the team who were away for the first game. Drawn replays are now settled with extra time and penalty shootouts, though until the 1990s further replays would be played until one team was victorious. Some ties took as many as six matches to settle; in their 1975 campaign, Fulham played a total of 12 games over six rounds, which remains the most games played by a team to reach a final. Replays were traditionally played three or four days after the original game, but from 1991–82 they were staged at least 10 days later on police advice. This led to penalty shoot-outs being introduced. Replays are no longer held for the semi-finals or final.
There are a total of 14 rounds in the competition — six qualifying rounds, followed by six further rounds (the "proper" rounds), semi-finals, and the final. The competition begins in August with the Extra Preliminary Round, followed by the Preliminary Round and First Qualifying Round, which are contested by the lowest-ranked clubs. Clubs playing in the Conference North and Conference South are given exemption to the Second Qualifying Round, and Conference National teams are given exemption to the Fourth Qualifying Round. The 32 winners from that round join the 48 clubs from League One and League Two in the First Round (often called the First Round Proper). Finally, teams from the Premier League and Football League Championship enter at the Third Round Proper, at which point there are 64 teams remaining in the competition. The Sixth Round Proper is the quarter-final stage, at which point eight teams remain.
The qualifying rounds are regionalised to reduce the travel costs for smaller non-league sides. The First and Second Rounds were also previously split into Northern and Southern sections, but this practice vas ended after the 1997–98 competition.
The FA Cup has a set pattern for when each round is played. Normally the First Round is played in mid-November, with the Second Round on one of the first two Saturdays in December. The third round is played on the first weekend in January, with the Fourth Round later in the month and Fifth Round in mid-February. The Sixth Round (or quarter-finals) traditionally occurs in early or mid March, with the semi-finals a month later. The final is normally held the Saturday after the Premier League season finishes in May. The only seasons in recent times when this pattern was not followed were 1999–2000, when most rounds were played a few weeks earlier than normal as an experiment, and 2010–2011 when the FA Cup Final was played before the Premier League season had finished, in order to allow the stadium to be ready for the UEFA Champions League final.
As well as being presented with the trophy, the winning team also qualifies for the UEFA Europa League (formerly named the UEFA Cup). If the winners have already qualified for the UEFA Champions League via the Premier League, the UEFA Europa League place goes to the FA Cup runners-up. If the winners have also qualified for the Europa League through finishing fifth in the Premier League, the FA Cup runners-up do not qualify, with the sixth placed team in the league receiving the Europa League place. If the runners-up have also qualified for the UEFA Champions League or are not entitled to play in UEFA competitions for any reason, the place goes to the next highest placed finisher in the league table. The FA Cup winners also qualify for the single-match FA Community Shield against the Premier League Champions.
Chelsea Football Club are an English football club based in Fulham, London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Chelsea have been English champions four times, FA Cup winners six times and League Cup winners four times. They have also achieved European success, winning the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup twice.
Chelsea's home is the 41,837 capacity Stamford Bridge stadium, where they have played since their establishment. The club had their first major success in 1955, when they won the league championship, and won several cup competitions during the 1960s, 1970s, 1990s and 2000s. The past decade has been the most successful period in Chelsea’s history, capped by winning their first league and FA Cup "Double" in 2010. Since 2003 they have been owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.
Chelsea's regular kit colours are royal blue shirts and shorts with white socks, the combination used since the 1960s. The club crest has been changed several times in attempts to modernise or re-brand; the current crest, featuring a ceremonial lion holding a staff, is a modified version of one first adopted in the 1950s. The club has sustained the fifth highest average all-time attendance in English football. Their average home gate for the 2010–11 season was 41,435, the sixth highest in the Premier League.
HISTORY OF CHELSEA
Chelsea were founded on 10 March 1905 at The Rising Sun pub (now The Butcher's Hook),opposite the present-day main entrance to the ground on Fulham Road, and were elected to the Football League shortly afterwards. The club's early years saw little success; the closest they came to winning a major trophy was reaching the 1915 FA Cup Final, where they lost to Sheffield United. Chelsea gained a reputation for signing big-name players and for being entertainers, but made little impact on the English game in the inter-war years.
Former Arsenal and England centre-forward Ted Drake became manager in 1952 and proceeded to modernise the club. He removed the club's Chelsea pensioner crest, improved the youth set-up and training regime, rebuilt the side, and led Chelsea to their first major trophy success – the League championship – in 1954–55. The following season saw UEFA create the European Champions' Cup, but after objections from The Football League and the FA Chelsea were persuaded to withdraw from the competition before it started..
They challenged for honours throughout the 1960s, and endured several near-misses. They were on course for a treble of League, FA Cup and League Cup going into the final stages of the 1964–65 season, winning the League Cup but faltering late on in the other two. In three seasons the side were beaten in three major semi-finals and were FA Cup runners-up. Chelsea won the FA Cup in 1976, beating Leeds United 2–1 in a final replay. Chelsea took their first European honour, a UEFA Cup Winners' Cup triumph, the following year, with another replayed win, this time over Real Madrid in Athens.
The late 1970s through to the 1980s was a turbulent period for Chelsea. An ambitious redevelopment of Stamford Bridge threatened the financial stability of the club, star players were sold and the team were relegated. Further problems were caused by a notorious hooligan element among the support, which was to plague the club throughout the decade.] In 1982 Chelsea were, at the nadir of their fortunes, acquired by Ken Bates for the nominal sum of £1, although by now the Stamford Bridge freehold had been sold to property developers, meaning the club faced losing their home. On the pitch, the team had fared little better, coming close to relegation to the Third Division for the first time, but in 1983 manager John Neal put together an impressive new team for minimal outlay. Chelsea won the Second Division title in 1983–84 and established themselves in the top division, before being relegated again in 1988. The club bounced back immediately by winning the Second Division championship in 1988–89.
After a long-running legal battle, Bates reunited the stadium freehold with the club in 1992 by doing a deal with the banks of the property developers, who had been bankrupted by a market crash. Chelsea's form in the new Premier League was unconvincing, although they did reach the 1994 FA Cup Final. It was not until the appointment of former European Footballer of the Year Ruud Gullit as player-manager in 1996 that their fortunes changed. He added several top-class international players to the side, as the club won the FA Cup in 1997 and established themselves as one of England's top sides again. Gullit was replaced by Gianluca Vialli, who led the team to victory in the League Cup Final and the Cup Winners' Cup Final in 1998, the FA Cup in 2000 and the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals in 2000. Vialli was sacked in favour of another Italian, Claudio Ranieri, who guided Chelsea to the 2002 FA Cup Final and Champions League qualification in 2002–03.
In June 2003, Bates sold Chelsea to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich for £140 million, completing what was then the biggest-ever sale of an English football club.Over £100 million was spent on new players, but Ranieri was unable to deliver any trophies, so he was replaced by Portuguese coach José Mourinho. Under Mourinho, Chelsea became the fifth English team to win back-to-back league championships since the Second World War (2004–05 and 2005–06),[in addition to winning an FA Cup (2007) and two League Cups (2005 and 2007). In September 2007 Mourinho was replaced by Avram Grant, who led the club to their first UEFA Champions League final, which they lost on penalties to Manchester United. Grant was fired days later and succeeded by Luiz Felipe Scolari in July 2008.
Scolari spent only seven months in the job before being dismissed after a string of poor results. Russia coach Guus Hiddink was appointed caretaker manager until the end of the 2008–09 season, and guided Chelsea to a second FA Cup triumph in three years. Two days later, former Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti was confirmed as Chelsea's new manager.In his first season, Ancelotti led Chelsea to their first league and FA Cup "Double"; in addition, Chelsea became the first English top-flight side to score over 100 league goals in a season since 1963.Ancelotti parted company with Chelsea in May 2011 and was replaced by then Porto coach André Villas-Boas.
