Birmingham through to League Cup final

LONDON (AP): Birmingham rallied to beat West Ham 3-1 after extra time Wednesday and set up a meeting with Arsenal in the League Cup final, while Liverpool climbed to seventh in the Premier League by edging past Fulham 1-0.

Craig Gardner was the match winner for Birmingham in a dramatic semifinal second leg at St. Andrew's, firing home from 25 yards in the fourth minute of extra time to earn the Midlands club a 4-3 aggregate win.

Carlton Cole scored a stunning goal in the 31st to put West Ham 3-1 up in the two-legged series but Birmingham took the game into extra time thanks to second-half goals by Lee Bowyer and Roger Johnson.

The Blues, whose only major trophy came when they won the League Cup in 1963, will be underdogs when they play Arsenal at Wembley on Feb. 27.

Arsenal qualified for the final by beating second-tier side Ipswich 3-0 in the second leg of their semifinal, winning 3-1 on aggregate.

Arsenal upset in cup, Liverpool beaten in league

LONDON (AP): Arsenal conceded a late goal to lose 1-0 at second-tier club Ipswich in the League Cup semifinals on Wednesday, and Liverpool went down 2-1 at Blackpool in the Premier League.

Tamas Priskin's goal gave Ipswich the first-leg advantage, holding off a defender before sliding the ball past goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny in the 78th minute.

Kenny Dalglish's first Premier League match back as Liverpool manager ended in the club's second loss this season to Blackpool, which returned to the top flight after a 39-year absence.

Fernando Torres scored after three minutes, but Blackpool's Gary Taylor-Fletcher leveled nine minutes later and teammate D.J. Campbell's second-half goal inflicted Liverpool's 10th loss of the season.

Ipswich has had a turbulent week with Roy Keane leaving as manager and Paul Jewell appointed as his successor. The team is only three points above the League Championship relegation zone, and had been thrashed 7-0 at Chelsea in the FA Cup on Saturday.

Chelsea's problems deepen with 1-0 loss at Wolves

LONDON (AP): Chelsea's dismal form worsened Wednesday when it slipped to a 1-0 defeat at last-place Wolverhampton Wanderers for one of its most embarrassing defeats in the Premier League.

While Manchester City fell two points behind Premier League leader Manchester United with a 0-0 draw at third-place Arsenal, a fifth-minute own-goal by Jose Bosingwa left defending champion Chelsea outside the Champions League qualifying places after two wins in its past nine matches.

Early season leader Chelsea has now taken just 10 points from the last 11 games.

Chelsea's defeat meant that Tottenham kept fourth place despite a 2-1 loss at Everton, which completed a good night for United, which beat Stoke 2-1 on Tuesday to maintain the league's only unbeaten record. United has 44 points from 20 games as it pursues a record 19th English championship.

Liverpool's poor form also continued with a 3-1 loss at Blackburn, which only led to more chants from fans for manager Roy Hodgson to be fired.

Manchester United 1 Liverpool 4

by Philip Smith 

I must have dozed off in front of the telly yesterday because I had the strangest dream. Well, you could say it was a bit of a nightmare really.

There was this team, they’re nearly always dressed in red, big and tough and they really can be devils at times. You don’t mess with them unless you want a right slapping.

And there was this other team. Now I’ve seen them before and they sometimes try to make themselves look like the first team because they usually wear red, but they’re not as good.

But this time they were like big giants in grey suits of armour, and they seemed to have these jets attached that made them faster than anything I’ve seen for a long time. Jeez, they were like lightning.

Funny thing was, though, that these first tough guys who play like the very Devil, were dressed like little red jelly babies. True! Jelly babies! Never seen anything like it; they couldn’t run, they couldn’t kick the ball – and when they did they kept falling over – and they just hadn’t a clue what was going on.

The big guys (the ones with the jet-packs on their backs) must have felt sorry for the jelly babies because they gave them a goal start. But it didn’t make any difference because they were just having a laugh

[more]

Source: Sportingo.com

Everton 1-0 Liverpool

Dan Gosling celebrates his winner against Liverpool Everton teenager Dan Gosling struck a dramatic winner two minutes from the end of extra-time to settle the FA Cup fourth round replay against Liverpool. Liverpool, who lost Steven Gerrard to injury early on and saw Lucas Leiva sent off in the second half, looked to be surviving for a penalty shoot-out. But Gosling, 19 last Monday, showed remarkable composure to curl home a clever finish past Pepe Reina. Leon Osman hit the post for Everton, who meet Aston Villa in the next round. Everton deserved victory for their more positive approach in a typically abrasive encounter that turned into a war of attrition. [more]

Uefa.com Team of The Year 2008 - Spain Dominates The Best of 2008

The uefa.com users’ Team of the Year 2008 has been announced, with players from UEFA EURO 2008™ winners Spain dominating the selection.

More than 3.3 million votes were cast by about 256,000 users, whose resulting dream team features six members of the Spain side that conquered Europe last summer.

Goalkeeper : Iker Casillas (Real Madrid)

Right Back : Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid)

Central Defender : John Terry (Chelsea)

Central Defender : Carlos Puyol (Barcelona)

Left Back : Phillip Lahm (Bayern Munich)

Right Midfield : Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)

Central Midfield : Xavi (Barcelona)

Attacking Midfield : Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal)

Left Midfield : Frank Ribery (Bayern Munich)

Forward : Fernando Torres (Liverpool)

Forward : Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

Coach : Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United)

Preview Uefa.com Team of The Year 2008 here.

Fernando Torres struck a hat-trick in a surprise start for Liverpool

Fernando Torres struck a hat-trick in a surprise start for Liverpool as they edged an entertaining Carling Cup third-round clash at Reading 4-2.

While Manchester City and Arsenal both came through with narrow victories in tough encounters.

There are also two games in extra-time - follow the latest LIVE by clicking the link below the picture.

Yossi Benayoun broke his Liverpool duck with a goal of the highest quality to give the Reds the lead at Reading, scoring past Adam Federici from distance in the 23rd minute.

Bobby Convey levelled four minutes but Torres made the most of his run-out by firing Liverpool back in front early in the second half.

John Halls equalised in the 64th minute but Torres put Liverpool in front for a third time with another fabulous finish in the 71st minute, before converting a one-on-one for his hat-trick.