England striker Emile Heskey announced his international retirement on Thursday after his country's disappointing World Cup campaign.
James Collins came off the bench to rescue a point for Aston Villa who drew 1-1 at rivals Birmingham City in a feisty Premier League derby encounter on Sunday.
Sunderland have appointed Martin O'Neill as manager after sacking Steve Bruce earlier this week, the Premier League club said on Saturday
Chelsea scored twice in the last two minutes in a stunning comeback against Aston Villa on Sunday only to concede an injury-time equaliser in a 3-3 draw that severely dents their hopes of retaining the Premier League title.
Images from the English Premier League matches played on Wednesday night.
Ugly scenes marred Birmingham City's 2-1 League Cup quarter-final victory over local rivals Aston Villa on Wednesday with fans ripping up seats and throwing flares into the crowd after a post-match pitch invasion.
Manchester City's Premier League challenge continued along its spluttering, unconvincing path when they were held to a goalless draw at Birmingham City on Sunday, their fourth successive league draw.
Aston Villa returned to winning ways in stunning fashion as Ollie Watkins scored twice in a 3-0 away thumping of an abject Arsenal in drizzly north London on Sunday.
Burnley's 0-0 draw at home to Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League on Sunday completed a profitable weekend for the three clubs bidding to avoid a swift return to the second tier of English football.
A young Arsenal side delighted a near capacity crowd at the Emirates Stadium with a scintillating 2-1 victory over Liverpool to secure a place in the League Cup quarter-finals on Wednesday.
Manchester United defender Nemanja Vidic has been banned for two games following his sending-off during the 4-1 home defeat by Liverpool on Saturday.
Newcastle's worries deepened as they now remain at 19th in the table.
Aston Villa kept alive their slim hopes of Champions League qualification with an easy 2-0 Premier League win at relegation-threatened Hull City on Wednesday.
Theo Walcott and Nicklas Bendtner made goalscoring returns from injury on Wednesday as Arsenal thrashed Newcastle United 4-0 away to reach the last eight of the League Cup.
Champions Manchester United take on cross-town rivals Manchester City in a highly anticipated encounter on Sunday.
Manchester United threw away a 2-0 lead after a Patrice Evra own goal and an error by Edwin van der Sar saw them held 2-2 by West Bromwich Albion while Premier League leaders Chelsea drew 0-0 at Aston Villa Saturday.
Gabriel Agbonlahor's late header gave Aston Villa a 1-0 away win at Premier League rivals Birmingham City on Sunday.
Frank Lampard passed the 150-goal milestone for Chelsea on Saturday with four goals in a 7-1 hammering of Aston Villa as Carlo Ancelotti's side roared back to the top of the English Premier League.
If newly rich Manchester City wanted to rile Manchester United during the close-season they certainly went about it the right way -- and not just by spending over 100 million pounds on new players. The arrivals of Carlos Tevez from United, Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure from Arsenal, Roque Santa Cruz from Blackburn and Gareth Barry from Aston Villa should certainly see City improve in the new Premier League season starting this weekend.
Two goals for Roman Pavlyuchenko and two own goals helped Tottenham Hotspur advance to an FA Cup quarter-final meeting with Fulham after a 4-0 home win over Bolton Wanderers in their fifth-round replay on Wednesday.
Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa gained ground in the Premier League's increasingly tight battle for fourth place on Sunday as they beat Wigan Athletic and Burnley respectively.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday.
Liverpool diced with elimination before scoring two late goals to win 2-1 at Trabzonspor and squeeze into the Europa League on Thursday while Swiss second division side Lausanne came through with a shock win over Lokomotiv Moscow.
Striker Dimitar Berbatov will miss Manchester United's Premier League match at Aston Villa on Saturday (1730) after suffering a thigh injury, his agent said.
England manager Fabio Capello has given a surprise call-up to Chelsea defender Michael Mancienne for Wednesday's friendly in Germany and left out former captain David Beckham. Mancienne, who has performed well for England's under-21s but has never started a Premier League game, acknowledged the call-up had been unexpected.
Manchester City have grabbed the spotlight on the eve of the Premier League season, with Robinho named in their 25-man squad list on Friday and Mario Balotelli flying in for a medical.
Martin O'Neill has always been a man who put principle before profit so it is probably safe to assume that he did not walk out on Aston Villa five days before the start of the season because he was not offered a pay rise.
England's national team faces a bleak future, Blackburn Rovers manager Sam Allardyce warned after Wednesday's game between Portsmouth and Arsenal became the first in the top flight not to feature an English player in the starting line-up. Wednesday's match, which Arsenal won 4-1, featured players from 15 countries among the 22 starters with seven French players on the field.
Arsenal inflicted Liverpool's sixth Premier League defeat of the season with a 2-1 victory on Sunday, their first league win at Anfield since 2003.
Darron Gibson fired holders Manchester United through to the last four of the English League Cup on Tuesday with a 2-0 win at Old Trafford that ended Tottenham Hotspur's hopes of a third successive final.
Images from Saturday's action in the Premier League.
European champions Manchester United will probably have to rely on more than another winning goal from teenager Federico Macheda to eliminate Porto from the Champions League on Wednesday. Macheda, 17, came on as a substitute in the last two Premier League matches to score crucial winners against Aston Villa and Sunderland.
Manchester United midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger is unlikely to play for his club again season due to a knee injury, manager Louis van Gaal said on Friday.
England coach Fabio Capello said striker Peter Crouch would start Wednesday's 2010 World Cup qualifier against Ukraine after recovering from a knock in the weekend friendly win over Slovakia.
Chelsea's defensive frailties were exposed again on Saturday when they gifted Aston Villa two goals from corners in a 2-1 away defeat, their second loss in three league games after they had won their first six.
In recent seasons Benitez has made little attempt to disguise his feelings that the Premier League was strictly a second priority after the Champions League.
Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City set up a Champions League showdown for next Wednesday when they both won on Saturday to knock Aston Villa out of the race and leave Liverpool hopes of fourth place hanging by a thread.
Aston Villa blew a chance to go eight points clear of Arsenal in the race for England's fourth Champions League berth Sunday after conceding two late goals against relegation-threatened Stoke City. The 2-2 draw, with Stoke cancelling out their hosts' 2-0 lead in the final three minutes, left fourth-placed Villa six points ahead of Arsenal and three adrift of second-placed Chelsea and Liverpool in the Premier League.
Big-spending Manchester City fought back to draw 1-1 at Aston Villa on Monday and move ahead of Arsenal and Liverpool into fourth place in the Premier League table.
Arsenal bounced back from two successive Premier League defeats in emphatic style by thrashing Wigan Athletic 4-0 at the Emirates on Saturday.
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