Sligo Rovers moved nine points clear at the top of the Premier Division table with a 0-0 draw at St. Patrick's Athletic.

QPR 0 Swansea 5

Joey Barton has been stripped of the QPR captaincy and fined six weeks wages following an internal club investigation into his sending off against Manchester City on the final day of the Barclays Premier League season.

John Terry has played down his latest knee scare and is confident of being fit for Chelsea's Premier League game against Sunderland on Saturday.

Manchester City 2 Chelsea

Birmingham 0 Manchester City 0

Manchester City 2 Celtic 1

Manchester City's latest recruit Kolo Toure believes he was right to swap the Emirates for Eastlands because Arsenal have failed to replace too many big names.

Manchester City will face Hamburg in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup.

Schalke 0 Manchester City 2

Hull 2 Manchester City 2

Cork City and St Pat's have missed out on a lucrative but daunting tie with Manchester City in the first qualifying round of the UEFA Cup.

Blackburn 0 Chelsea 1

Blackburn 0 West Ham 1

Blackburn 2 Larissa 1 (agg 2-3)

Blackburn 1 Chelsea 2 (after extra-time)

Blackburn 1 Newcastle 3

Blackburn 1 Wigan 1

BLACKBURN and Republic of Ireland midfielder Steven Reid is anxious to sign a new deal with the Ewood Park club, despite speculation linking him with a summer move to Manchester United.

MANCHESTER UNITED’S rollercoaster season is in danger of being thrown off the rails completely by an acute midfield injury crisis that has decimated Alex Ferguson’s squad.

ALEX FERGUSON has pencilled Patrice Evra in for his Manchester United debut in Wednesday’s Carling Cup semi-final at Blackburn.

RAFAEL BENITEZ has launched a fierce defence of Peter Crouch and insisted that if you do not like the £7million striker you do not understand football.

RYAN GIGGS still intends to see out his career at Manchester United despite finding himself consigned to the Red Devils' substitutes bench so far this season.

NEWCASTLE rebel Craig Bellamy will be ordered to turn up for pre-season training on June 22 as the Magpies up the stakes for potential buyers.

Newcastle will face Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-finals while Arsenal will face Mark Hughes' Blackburn side.

Ryan Giggs will miss the opening two matches of Wales’ 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign after being found guilty of misconduct by UEFA.

Republic of Ireland manager Brian Kerr has slammed the decision to make Georgia play a match behind closed doors following the knife-throwing incident when the two teams met in Tbilisi last month.