Premier League Latest

Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, has challenged Wayne Rooney to eclipse the 42 goals Cristiano Ronaldo scored for the club two seasons ago as the England forward’s devastating form shows no signs of abating.

The preliminaries are over. England get down to the real business today against Germany, their old rivals, in the semi-finals of the World Cup. The winners will play either Australia, the pre-tournament favourites, or the Netherlands — who also meet today — in the final on Saturday.

David Beckham cemented his hero status among Manchester United supporters last night by donning a green-and-gold scarf after Wayne Rooney produced another virtuoso performance to help to book his team’s place in the Champions League quarter-finals.

If the prevailing wisdom that it is advisable to spend one’s way out of recession holds true for football then Barclays Premier League clubs should brace themselves for another summer of pain from Spain after Real Madrid suffered the footballing equivalent of a sudden bankruptcy last night.

Brian Laws, the Burnley manager, sought the positives from last night’s draw, but his side will have done little to strike fear into their fellow teams at the wrong end of the Barclays Premier League.

In some quarters this has been dismissed as a mismatch: Gulliver in the land of Lilliput. One writer even went as far as to say that Bangladesh were a danger to England’s future planning precisely because of how bad the home team are.

His legs are not what they were when last he played at Old Trafford, but no one could accuse David Beckham of losing the ability to work a crowd.

One of the defining features of Rafael Benitez’s tenure as Liverpool manager is that his team always has something to play for in the closing weeks of the season.

Fabio Capello fears a disrupted build-up to the World Cup this summer because of interference from the Champions League and FA Cup finals.

Robbie Savage has regularly been in the line of fire, but never when between the posts before. The midfield player slipped on the goalkeeping jersey for the first time last night after Derby County lost Stephen Bywater to injury and Saul Deeney, his replacement, was given a red card for a foul inside the penalty area, both in the opening half.

It will be little comfort to the 85 Portsmouth employees made redundant yesterday that Peter Storrie, the chief executive, has agreed to take a pay cut.

If there was one thing that seemed to matter almost as much as victory for Manchester United’s supporters last night, it was that the job got done quickly.

Portsmouth have been forced to make 85 staff redundant as a result of ongoing cost-cutting measures.

Sol Campbell is refusing to give up hope on an England recall for the World Cup this summer.

Chester City have today been wound up in the High Court over an unpaid tax bill.

Injury news and squad lists will be posted below as soon as the managers reveal them but in the meantime watch our video previews, above.

Predictions that Manchester United fans would boycott the opening ten minutes of tonight's Champions League fixture against AC Milan at Old Trafford failed to materalise, but a study today suggested they are planning to hit the Glazers where it hurts - in the pocket.

Rafael Benitez has leapt to the defence of Steven Gerrard after the Liverpool captain appeared to make a two-fingered gesture to referee Andre Marriner during the 1-0 defeat by Wigan Athletic on Monday night.

Graham Onions has been ruled out of the first Test against Bangladesh with a back injury.

It took them 108 days, but Sunderland again experienced the heady sensation of victory in the Barclays Premier League last night.