NEMANJA VIDIC will miss the start of the Barclays Premier League season, Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson revealed yesterday.

ROY KEANE is famous for his focus. As a player he claimed he forgot about what he won within seconds of winning it. The target was always the next match, the next season, the next trophy.

ARSENAL and Celtic could be set to meet for a place in the lucrative Champions League group phase.

ARSENE WENGER believes Jack Wilshere can be Arsenal’s Wayne Rooney.

DARREN BENT has admitted his career had come to a standstill at Tottenham and expressed his relief at leaving a club that he claims was rife with “politics”.

MANCHESTER UNITED goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar will miss the start of the season after undergoing surgery on a broken finger and bone in his left hand.

MICHAEL BALLACK is set to return to action for Chelsea against old rivals Manchester United in the English season’s curtain-raiser in the Community Shield on Sunday.

LIVERPOOL manager Rafael Benitez expects his “big names” to lead by example and drive the club on to Champions League qualification. A difficult season has seen captain Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres’ form affected by injuries while the ever-consistent Jamie Carragher had an uncharacteristically poor start to the campaign.

JOHN OBI MIKEL admits the Chelsea players need to pull together if they are to keep their dreams of the double alive.

LIVERPOOL’S failure to qualify for the Champions League next season could cost the club upwards of £25 million (€27.8m), according to a leading football finance analyst.

LIVERPOOL manager Rafael Benitez remains confident his side can secure Champions League qualification but accepts he is relying on their rivals making mistakes.

RIO FERDINAND is looking forward to the intensity of a three-pronged title battle – just as long as Manchester United emerge the victors.

IT IS fair to assume that Eidur Gudjohnsen is not the player he once was.

RAFAEL BENITEZ, the beaten Liverpool manager, voiced his dissatisfaction at the manner in which his team was beaten 2-1 by Manchester United at Old Trafford yesterday, suggesting opposition winger Antonio Valencia had dived to win a penalty.

MANCHESTER United maintained their quest for a record 19th league title, their fourth in a row, as goals from Wayne Rooney and Ji-Sung Park earned them victory in an eventful encounter with Liverpool.

CARLO ANCELOTTI refused to dismiss Chelsea’s title chances despite watching his side drop two vital points at Ewood Park, but admitted his side had lost their composure and now conceded the advantage to close rivals Manchester United at the top of the table.

ARSENE WENGER suggested after the victory over West Ham that Arsenal’s status as the least fancied of the three contenders in the Premier League title race would play into his side’s hands.

YOU could almost hear Arsene Wenger’s football brain ticking as he analysed his team’s title chances following a 2-0 victory over West Ham that has catapulted his team from outsiders to serious and deserved contenders.

DARREN FLETCHER is confident Manchester United will not get ahead of themselves by believing they are assured of a Champions League final berth.

IF YOU don’t want to know the results of the Champions’ League quarter-finals, look away now...