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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Sunday.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Arsenal bounced back from two successive Premier League defeats in emphatic style by thrashing Wigan Athletic 4-0 at the Emirates on Saturday.
Holders Chelsea beat Aston Villa 3-0 to sweep into the FA Cup final for the third time in four seasons on Saturday and keep alive their dream of a first FA Cup and League double. All three goals came late in the game with Didier Drogba breaking Villa's resistance after 67 minutes before Florent Malouda (89th) and Frank Lampard, deep in stoppage time, gave Chelsea an ultimately comfortable victory.
Frank Lampard hit four goals for Chelsea in a 7-1 demolition of Aston Villa to put the Londoners briefly on top of the English Premier League with 71 points before United responded with a 4-0 win in an evening game at Bolton Wanderers -- Dimitar Berbatov scoring twice for the champions.
Aston Villa moved into the thick of a four-way battle for fourth place in the Premier League with a 2-1 win at struggling Wigan Athletic on Tuesday.
Manchester United striker Michael Owen will miss the rest of the season with a hamstring injury, manager Alex Ferguson said on Friday.
Wayne Rooney continued his remarkable scoring streak with his 28th goal of the season to seal Manchester United's 2-1 win over Aston Villa in the 50th League Cup final at Wembley Stadium Sunday.
Wayne Rooney continued his remarkable scoring streak with his 28th goal of the season to seal Manchester United's 2-1 win over Aston Villa in the 50th League Cup final at Wembley Stadium on Sunday.
Arsenal defender Thomas Vermaelen suffered a suspected broken leg during the goalless draw at Aston Villa in the Premier League on Wednesday.
Aston Villa reached the League Cup final after coming from 2-0 down to beat Blackburn Rovers 6-4 in a thrilling semi-final second leg on Wednesday.
Aston Villa became the latest of the Premier League's top-four challengers to miss an opportunity when they were held to a disappointing goalless draw by West Ham United on Sunday.
Aston Villa took a step towards next month's League Cup final at Wembley when a James Milner goal gave them a 1-0 win over Blackburn Rovers in the first leg of a lively semi-final at Ewood Park on Thursday.
Fernando Torres struck in stoppage time to give Liverpool a desperately needed 1-0 win at Aston Villa in the Premier League on Tuesday.
A cruel own goal by Damien Duff condemned Newcastle United to relegation from the Premier League after they slipped to a 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa on Sunday.
Wayne Rooney was involved in every goal as Manchester United beat struggling Hull City 3-1 on Sunday to slash Chelsea's lead to two points in the Premier League. The result lifted champions United back ahead of Arsenal, who defeated fourth-placed Aston Villa 3-0 with Spain midfielder Cesc Fabregas coming off the bench to score two second-half goals, into second place.
Wayne Rooney gave away a goal but redeemed himself to inspire Manchester United to a 3-1 win over struggling Hull City which slashed Chelsea's lead to two points at the top of the Premier League on Sunday. The result lifted champions United back ahead of Arsenal, who beat fourth-placed Aston Villa 3-0 with Spain midfielder Cesc Fabregas coming off the bench to score two goals, into second place.
Cesc Fabregas scored twice to send Arsenal second in the Premier League, four points behind Chelsea but with a game in hand, after brushing aside Aston Villa 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.
Liverpool opened up an eight-point lead at the top of the Premier League with an emphatic and hugely impressive 3-1 win over defending champions Manchester City.
Aston Villa kept Tottenham Hotspur bottom of the Premier League on Monday with a deserved 2-1 victory at White Hart Lane. Villa scored after five minutes through Nigel Reo-Coker and again early in the second half when Ashley Young's shot squirmed under Tottenham's Brazilian goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes.
Liverpool are sweating on the fitness of key players Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres ahead of Tuesday's Champions League encounter away to Marseille.
