SUNDAY, APRIL 19, 2015 SPORTS Preview Gerrard eyes one last bid for FA Cup glory LONDON: Steven Gerrard is gunning to would see former England captain Gerrard lead Liverpool against fellow Premier lifting the FA Cup in a Wembley final on League side Aston Villa in an FA Cup semi- May 30 — his 35th birthday. final at London’s Wembley Stadium today. Reds’ staff organised a behind-closed- The Reds captain, in his final season, doors friendly on Monday to help assess with the Anfield club, is available after Gerrard’s fitness but Rodgers was in no missing Liverpool’s last three matches doubt he could feature against Villa. through suspension, having been sent off “Steven is definitely ready. We had a for stamping on Ander Herrera during a 2-1 game here on Monday that he played in,” league defeat at home to bitter rivals said Rodgers. “He’s a special footballer. He Manchester United on March 22. has always produced big goals and big But now the question is how Liverpool moments. The most important thing is hav- manager Brendan Rodgers will deploy vet- ing him back for today,” the Northern eran midfielder Gerrard. Liverpool native Irishman added. Gerrard has been a one-club man in his 17- “He knows Wembley well. He’s got spe- year professional career so far, but he is set cial quality.” Liverpool also have a chance of to bring down the curtain on his time at finishing in the top four and qualifying for Anfield come the end of the season when next season’s Champions League but goal- he joins Major League Soccer’s Los Angeles keeper Simon Mignolet said they shouldn’t Galaxy. have to decide between dreams of Europe For Liverpool fans, the fairytale finish or FA Cup success. “The next game is the FA Cup semi-final so the focus is on that but you don’t really choose between your mum and dad so we still have two things to play for and we will try to do that from now until the end of the season,” Mignolet said. “We want to do both-let’s hope we can do both. We have the FA Cup and league still to play for and we want to do well in every single game.” Both Liverpool and Villa have won the LONDON: West Ham United’s English midfielder Kevin Nolan passes the ball during the English Premier League football match against FA Cup seven times, but whereas the Reds Stoke City. —AFP most recent success was in 2006, you have to go back to 1957 for the last of the Birmingham club’s Cup triumphs. Adam dents Saints’ Euro bid This has been a gruelling season for Villa, who sacked manager Paul Lambert and brought in Tim Sherwood but are cur- rently just six points above the bottom deserved in the 22nd minute when Schneiderlin empty net. Mane led the Southampton response three and still not safe from relegation Stoke 2 met Jose Fonte’s header and tapped in from vir- and he almost created a goal for Dusan Tadic However, they head into Sunday’s tually on the line. after skipping away from two defenders and match with key striker Christian Benteke, a Steven N’Zonzi had a golden opportunity to picking out the Serb, whose weak shot was Belgium team-mate of Mignolet, on a run equalise on the stroke of half-time when the ball cleared off the line. Yet it was Stoke who had the of nine goals in his last eight games for Southampton 1 dropped to him after a goalmouth scramble, but last word as Adam, on as a half-time substitute, club and country, including he winner in the Stoke midfielder could only scuff wide from bagged the winner in the 84th minute. Saints last week’s 1-0 victory over Tottenham close-range. Mark Hughes’s side drew level two claimed Ryan Shawcross was offside, but, after Hotspur. minutes into the second half thanks to a Jon Walters had a shot blocked, Adam’s deft “I still think I can do more, in everything. STOKE-ON-TRENT: Stoke midfielder Charlie moment of indecision from Southampton goal- touch bought him just enough time and space I can’t say I’m happy to be there now, I want Adam damaged Southampton’s challenge for a keeper Kelvin Davis. to send a bobbling shot trickling into the net. to do more and more and more,” said European place as his late strike secured a 2-1 When N’Zonzi chipped a pass into the penal- Peter Crouch had a chance to wrap up the points Benteke, who ruptured his Achilles 12 win at the Britannia Stadium yesterday. ty area, Davis misread the bounce and the ball late on, but the former Liverpool striker pro- months ago. He added everyone connect- Ronald Koeman’s side had hoped to climb ricocheted onto the crossbar before falling per- duced a candidate for miss of the season as he LIVERPOOL: Lverpool’s English midfield- ed with the club was desperate their Cup above Liverpool into fifth place in the Premier fectly for Senegal striker Diouf to lash into the sliced wide of an open goal. —AFP er Steven Gerrard (left) and Liverpool adventure didn’t end today. League and also put pressure on Manchester manager Brendan Rodgers (right) arrive “I think when you play a semi-final you City as the race heats up for places in the for a memorial service at Anfield on the want to get to the end. You can’t say you’re Champions League and Europa League. They EPL results/standings 26th anniversary of the Hillsborough just happy to be there even if you lose, you made the perfect start when French midfielder Disaster, where 96 Liverpool supporters want to go until the end.” Today’s winners Morgan Schneiderlin opened the scoring mid- Chelsea 1 (Hazard 38) Manchester United 0p; Crystal Palace 0 West Bromwich Albion 2 (Morrison 2, Gardner 53); died at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final will play either Arsenal, currently second in way through the first-half. Everton 1 (Mirallas 29) Burnley 0; Leicester 2 (Ulloa 15, King 89) Swansea 0; Stoke 2 (Diouf 47, Adam 84) between Liverpool and Nottingham the Premier League or Championship side But Mame Diouf levelled soon after the inter- Southampton 1 (Schneiderlin 22). Forest. —AFP Reading. —AFP val and Scotland midfielder Adam struck with six minutes left to hand Southampton their second Playing today defeat in their last three matches. Manchester City v West Ham, Newcastle v Tottenham To make matters worse for Southampton, Pakistan body score first victory defender Toby Alderweireld needed an oxygen English Premier League table after yesterday’s matches (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): mask as he was carried off on a stretcher after a over government in power play nasty fall in the final moments. Sixth placed Chelsea 32 23 7 2 65 26 76 Crystal Palace 33 11 9 13 42 45 42 Saints are now five points adrift of City and one Arsenal 32 20 6 6 63 32 66 Everton 33101112414341 KARACHI: Sardar Naveed Haider was elect- Nation. behind Liverpool with six games remaining. Man Utd 33198 6593165 West Brom 33 9 9 15 32 46 36 ed president of the Pakistan Football “We want to move ahead with positive Koeman’s team appealed in vain for an early Man City 32 18 7 7 65 34 61 Newcastle 32 9 8 15 33 51 35 Federation’s largest regional body late on approach and want just development and penalty when Sadio Mane went down under a Liverpool 32 17 6 9 47 36 57 Aston Villa 33 8 8 17 24 45 32 Friday after a chaotic election which FIFA progress of football.” Pakistan are ranked challenge from Stephen Ireland, then Graziano Southampton 33 17 5 11 45 24 56 Sunderland 32 5 14 13 25 48 29 were dragged into and a government- 172nd by FIFA and were knocked out last Pelle fired into the side-netting as the visitors Tottenham 32 16 6 10 50 46 54 Hull 32 6 10 16 29 45 28 Swansea 33 13 8 12 38 42 47 Leicester 32 7 7 18 34 51 28 backed candidate barred from. month by Yemen in the first round of the pressed for the opener. Haider, who told the Dawn newspaper joint qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup and Stoke 33 13 7 13 38 41 46 QPR 33 7 5 21 38 59 26 After dominating the early stages, West Ham 32 11 10 11 42 40 43 Burnley 33 5 11 17 26 51 26 his phone line had been hacked and he 2019 Asian Cup. —Reuters Southampton finally got the goal their pressure had suffered threats if he did not withdraw from the race, was elected head of the Punjab Football Association until 2019 “with a majority”, the PFF said in a brief Matches on TV statement. (Local Timings) The election win for the PFF’s marketing consultant was a win for PFF President English Premier League Faisal Saleh Hayat, who is expected to face a strong challenge from another govern- Man City v West Ham 15:30 ment-backed candidate for his position in beIN SPORTS 1 HD July, possibly from Prime Minister Nawaz beIN SPORTS 11 HD Sharif’s son-in-law. Newcastle v Tottenham 18:00 Hayat, a member of the Asian Football beIN SPORTS 1 HD Confederation’s executive committee, was beIN SPORTS 11 HD at the centre of the row after being accused of nepotism in the build-up to the vote by England FA Cup government-backed candidate Ali Haider Aston Villa v Liverpool 17:00 Noor Niazi.