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Author: Sportinglife.com, 12 Dec 07 Roma captain Francesco Totti is poised to play in the Champions League for the first time since October 23 after recovering from a foot injury. Totti is expected to lead his team out to face Manchester United on Wednesday night at the Stadio Olimpico. "It has been a difficult wait," said Totti, who sustained the injury against Sporting Lisbon on October 23 and only returned to play on Sunday. "No player wants to be sidelined with injury. I always want to play, not only for myself but for the fans and for my team-mates. "It has taken me a while to recover from my foot injury but now I must look ahead." The hosts will be looking to extend their positive run which has seen them undefeated in all competitions since October 2 when they lost 1-0 at Old Trafford. Roma are second in Serie A and have clinched their place alongside Sir Alex Ferguson's side for the next round of Europe's elite club competition. The Italians will

Standing 1 Arsenal 16 11 4 1 19 37 2 Man U 16 11 3 2 21 36 3 Chelsea 16 10 4 2 15 34 4 Liverpool 15 8 6 1 18 30 5 Portsmo 16 8 6 2 14 30 6 Man City 16 9 3 4 3 30 7 Everton 16 8 3 5 13 27 8 Aston V 16 8 3 5 8 27 9 Blackburn 16 7 5 4 1 26 10 West Ham 15 6 4 5 8 22 11 Newcastle 16 6 4 6 -3 22 12 Reading 16 5 2 9-12 17 13 Tottenh 16 3 6 7 -1 15 14 Bolton 16 3 5 8 -7 14 15 Birmingh 16 4 210 -9 14 16 Middlesb 16 3 5 8-13 14 17 Fulham 16 2 7 7 -9 13 18 Sunderl 16 3 4 9-16 13 19 Wigan 16 2 311-18 9 20 Derby 16 1 312-32 6

Author: Sportinglife.com, 12 Dec 07 Jamie Carragher feels beating Manchester United would give Liverpool the belief to win the Premier League. Liverpool meet their old adversaries on Sunday, having already drawn at home to fellow title rivals Arsenal and Chelsea this season. Long-serving defender Carragher admits it is time for the Reds to prove their title credentials by taking three points off the current champions. "We haven't beaten either of our rivals this season and we need to change that," said Carragher in an interview with Zoo magazine. "The draws against Arsenal and Chelsea felt like defeats because in both games we took the lead. "Beating United would mean more than three points - psychologically we would really start to believe." Carragher also wants Liverpool to repeat last season's home performance against United, despite John O'Shea scoring an injury-time winner for the Red Devils. He added, in reference to United's players celeb

Fabio Capello will take charge of the England national team on a four-and-a-half year contract, the Football Association confirmed on Friday. The former AC Milan and Real Madrid CF coach replaces Steve McClaren, who was dismissed from the post last month following England's failure to qualify for next summer's UEFA EURO 2008™ finals. Challenge The 61-year-old Italian becomes England's second foreign manager, after the Swede Sven-Göran Eriksson, and the 15th man to hold the reins of the national side, temporary appointments included. Capello had been without a job since leaving Real Madrid last summer, the Spanish club sacking him despite their league championship triumph. The challenge now for the former Italian international is to revive an England team who finished third behind Croatia and Russia in their UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifying group. His first test will come when England play Switzerland at Wembley on 6 February although he will have to wait for the start of 2010 FIF