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Manchester United and Chelsea might pack a bigger punch in the transfer market and possess squads which are the envy of their rivals, but only Liverpool have Steven Gerrard and when the title race is decided, his desperation for a Premier League winners’ medal could just tip the balance away from the power and riches at Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge.

Personal desire can be a potent ingredient and Liverpool are beginning to make a habit of turning draws into victories this season, especially at Anfield. Gerrard has been central to all of those dramatic late wins.

Against Portsmouth, the Liverpool captain sent Tony Adams back to the south coast with nothing to show for his top-flight managerial debut thanks to a 76th-minute penalty that sealed a deserved three points for the league leaders.

But Gerrard did more than merely score from the spot. Just as this game appeared to be drifting towards a costly draw for the home side, Gerrard did what he did best and dragged his team to victory, one which maintains their three-point lead at the Premier League summit.

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez said: “After the victory at Chelsea, three points tonight was really important. We changed four or five players and still won, so that sends a message to the squad, the players and everyone that we can change players and win games.

“We are still top of the table and we want to try to be at the top for a long time, but the most important thing for us now is to win the next three points. When you are top, it shows the confidence you have in yourself.”

In previous campaigns, this could have been a tale of what might have been for Liverpool, but Gerrard’s penalty ensured that it was points won, rather than points lost against the FA Cup holders.

Portsmouth’s woeful record at Anfield, a ground where they last secured a league victory in 1951, did not bode well for the visitors, but after surviving an early scare when Dirk Kuyt struck a post on 10 minutes, they proceeded to take charge of the first half with their five-man midfield stifling Liverpool.

Unbeaten this season and having ended Chelsea’s 86-game unbeaten Premier League home record at the weekend, Liverpool could have no complaints with Adams adopting a defensive approach. Dropping six-goal top scorer Jermain Defoe to the bench underlined what Adams wanted to get out of the game.

But despite soaking up pressure and carving out dangerous counter-attacks, Portsmouth began to be pushed deeper and deeper as Gerrard propelled Liverpool forward in the closing stages.

The big, red clock at the side of the Kop appears to inject mysterious powers into Liverpool, and Gerrard in particular, as it ticks down towards the 90th minute and once again he came to the rescue when referee Steve Tanner pointed to the penalty spot following a needless hand-ball by Papa Bouba Diop.

David James has form for saving penalties, but Gerrard doesn’t miss many and, though his England team-mate almost reached the ball as it flew into the net, Gerrard did just enough to score.

Adams said: “It’s hard to be pleased when you’ve lost 1-0, but if those players continue to show that level of commitment to me, they won’t go wrong.

“Steven Gerrard is one of the best midfielders in the world, though, and if he stays fit, Liverpool are going to do very well this season.”  Source; telegraph

After becoming the first side in more than four years to secure a league win at Chelsea, Benitez knows that with every win he will face a growing avalanche of questions as to whether he can steer Liverpool to their first title of the Premier League era. And if he does, it will rank as a greater achievement than taking Valencia to their first Spanish title in 21 years – as he did in 2002.

"I think this is harder to win than La Liga," he said. "Here you have a lot of clubs with big money trying to be in the top four and you are competing against three teams – Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United – who are really, really strong. In England you have clubs run by an owner: in Spain the fans and the shareholders are the owners, and they elect a chairman.

"The Premier League is really difficult. Chelsea won the title with 91 points and since then [2006] it has been won with 89 and 87 points. For us to win, we would have to have a nearly perfect season because we know that Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United will not lose too many games. You can see one of them making mistakes but to imagine all three will is very difficult.

"When I was with Valencia we had an almost perfect balance when winning it for a second time [in 2004]. We scored more goals than any other team, including Real Madrid, and we conceded fewer. The press called us a machine."

Having broken one record by becoming the first team in 87 attempts to win at Stamford Bridge, Liverpool will defend one tonight. No Portsmouth side since 1951 have left Anfield with a victory and, although Fernando Torres is not scheduled to return until Saturday's game at Tottenham, Robbie Keane will start.

As he awaited the kick-off at Chelsea last Sunday, Benitez was flicking through a set of newspapers which all mentioned the one glaring weakness in his domestic record – Liverpool's inability to take points off fellow members of the big four. It is worth pointing out that immediately after overcoming United last month Liverpool were held to a 0-0 draw by Stoke. However, what should give the Kop confidence this evening is the ease with which Liverpool held Chelsea at bay – only at the very end did they mount any kind of threat.

"Chelsea needed to score and in the back of their minds they were thinking of the 86 unbeaten games," Benitez said. "It made them more direct than they usually are and they used John Terry as a striker. We put on Sami Hyypia in the 88th minute and, when I checked the statistics, he cleared the ball four times – the same number or clearances that Jamie Carragher made in the whole match."

When it was pointed out that this was not a Liverpool squad with much experience of winning championships, Benitez replied that he had won titles and so had his assistant, Sammy Lee. "And we have players who have won the Champions League," he said.

"If we're still top in three or four weeks, the papers will really start to push us, the fans will be thinking: 'Maybe, maybe' – and then you have to handle the pressure." 

source telegraph

Manchester United and Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo has been named FifPro World Footballer of the Year, beating 54 other top players on the shortlist.

The honour, voted for by professional footballers from all over the world, was widely expected after Ronaldo scored 42 goals for United last season.

Ronaldo was also named in the FifPro team of the year, alongside his United team-mate Rio Ferdinand.

"To be recognised by my fellow players is amazing," said the 23-year-old.

"I would like to thank my team-mates and coaches and everyone involved at United and the national team, as well as my family and friends for their support."

Liverpool's Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres and Chelsea and England captain John Terry also made the team, along with AC Milan midfielder Kaka and Barcelona star Lionel Messi.

Ronaldo, who was the driving force behind United's Premier League and Champions League double last season, is also a strong contender to win the Fifa World Player of the Year award and the Ballon d'Or.

"The number of goals he scored last year was absolutely phenomenal"
Sir Alex Ferguson on Ronaldo

He was linked with a move to Real Madrid during the summer but the winger is looking to put that episode behind him, while revealing United boss Sir Alex Ferguson was the major factor behind his decision to stay.

"Sir Alex has been a big inspiration to me," he said. "He believed in me enough to buy me. I have learned so many things from him and I am continuing to learn because he is a great manager.

"Of course, he was the main factor in keeping me here. But what happened in the summer is finished. Now my head is on the club. My focus is solely on playing well for Manchester United and winning the Premier League and Champions League again."

Ronaldo has three goals to his name this season after missing the start of the campaign through injury, but Ferguson has backed the star to come good.
source BBC

Hamilton, who is seven points ahead of his nearest rival, Ferrari's Felipe Massa, only needs to finish in the top five to take the title and become the sport's youngest champion.
With prize money in F1 awarded for where each team finish in the constructors' race, a one-two for the British team could see them overhaul their Italian rivals.

But that could lead to Hamilton taking unnecessary risks and McLaren chief Ron Dennis has insisted that the prestige of winning the drivers' title is far more important than the financial reward for being top constructor.

His team are 11 points behind Ferrari.

'The primary goal in grand prix racing is the drivers' championship, the secondary is the constructors', and we run the team according to those objectives,' said Dennis. 'We don't balance the two.'

Dennis also suggested criticism of Hamilton's driving style by other drivers and team principals before the last race in Shanghai was an attempt to 'destabilise' the 23-year-old.

Massa has claimed all the pressure is now on the McLaren star, who finished seventh at Interlagos last season to lose the title by a single point to Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.

'For sure, Lewis will try and put pressure on me, but I have zero pressure, because I have nothing to lose,' Massa said.

'All the pressure will be on Lewis, especially when you think about what happened at this race last year.'

Even former McLaren team boss Eddie Jordan advised Hamilton to get ruthless in the event of a repeat of his collision with Massa in the Japan race.

'If Massa tries to take him out, as he did in Fuji in order to steal the title, then Lewis has to turn his wheel into him to ensure he does not finish the race either,' Jordan told Autosport.

But Dennis insisted Hamilton will 'rise above the comments', and the manner in which he ignored the snipings to lead from start to finish at Shanghai was evidence that his driver had learnt from the experience of last season.

'Lewis has matured. Anyone or anything that's subject to forces normally tempers or hardens the individual or material concerned. Through that hardening, you become wiser,' Dennis said.

One of the issues facing Hamilton is that his McLaren will be running its engine for the second race, whereas the Ferrari pair of Massa and Raikkonen will have new engines for Brazil.

That will see Hamilton give away one-tenth of a second per lap. And while he has never yet suffered an engine failure during a race, just such a fate befell teammate Heikki Kovalainen in the Japan GP and McLaren are taking no chances.

The team's chief executive Martin Whitmarsh said: 'We'll be looking at the possibility of running Lewis' engine in a safer setting so it has a bit more margin than normal.'