csconstantine.com

BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) - Ashley Young struck a fine equalizer in front of England coach Fabio Capello to give Aston Villa a 1-1 Premier League draw with relegation-threatened Wigan Athletic on Saturday.

England winger Young beat Wigan keeper Ali Al-Habsi from 20 yards (meters) - his ninth goal of the season - to cancel out Wigan’s lead at Villa Park.

The visitors scored after 10 minutes when Victor Moses burst forward from midfield and played in striker Charles N’Zogbia, who found the corner of the net with an angled shot.

The point left Wigan fourth from bottom, one point above the relegation zone, with two games to play. Blackpool, in 18th place, was playing later Saturday.

Villa is in 14th, seven points clear of the bottom three, and should be guaranteed top-division survival.

Wigan face bottom club West Ham United next weekend in a game that will have a major impact on both teams’ hopes of retaining their Premier League status.

“When you are in this position you cannot rely on anyone, just yourselves,” Wigan’s manager, Roberto Martinez, said. “The game against West Ham is a final in a league campaign.”

Villa’s former England striker Emile Heskey was fortunate not to be sent off after making contact with referee Mike Jones after 33 minutes. Heskey lost his composure after not winning a free kick and appeared to barge into the official, but he escaped with a yellow card and was substituted at half-time.

Both sides had chances to win it in the second half.

Hugo Rodallega’s shot in the 77th minute flashed just wide of Brad Friedel’s post, and then Al-Habsi blocked well from Darren Bent late on.

Labels: Aston, SportsTicker, Villa, Wigan

BIRMINGHAM, England (AP)—Ashley Young struck a fine equalizer in front of England coach Fabio Capello to give Aston Villa a 1-1 Premier League draw with relegation-threatened Wigan Athletic on Saturday.

England winger Young beat Wigan keeper Ali Al-Habsi from 20 yards (meters)— his ninth goal of the season—to cancel out Wigan’s lead at Villa Park.

The visitors scored after 10 minutes when Victor Moses burst forward from midfield and played in striker Charles N’Zogbia, who found the corner of the net with an angled shot.

The point left Wigan fourth from bottom, one point above the relegation zone, with two games to play. Blackpool, in 18th place, was playing later Saturday.

Villa is in 14th, seven points clear of the bottom three, and should be guaranteed top-division survival.

Wigan face bottom club West Ham United next weekend in a game that will have a major impact on both teams’ hopes of retaining their Premier League status.

“When you are in this position you cannot rely on anyone, just yourselves,” Wigan’s manager, Roberto Martinez, said. “The game against West Ham is a final in a league campaign.”

Villa’s former England striker Emile Heskey was fortunate not to be sent off after making contact with referee Mike Jones after 33 minutes. Heskey lost his composure after not winning a free kick and appeared to barge into the official, but he escaped with a yellow card and was substituted at half-time.

Both sides had chances to win it in the second half.

Hugo Rodallega’s shot in the 77th minute flashed just wide of Brad Friedel’s post, and then Al-Habsi blocked well from Darren Bent late on.

Labels: denies, Villas, Wigan, young

LONDON (AP)—Tottenham’s focus on its biggest match in years has left Saturday’s Premier League game at Wigan looking like an unwelcome distraction for manager Harry Redknapp and his injury-hit squad.

Tottenham’s rivals for a top-four spot—Chelsea and Manchester City—are each expected to pick up three points each this weekend against Stoke and Sunderland respectively, so Tottenham is desperate to beat Wigan and maintain its fading attempt to finish in the Champions League places for a second straight season.

But Redknapp must weigh the risk of fielding those players he needs for Tuesday’s Champions League quarterfinal match at Real Madrid—the north London club’s biggest game since at least the 1984 UEFA Cup final.

While the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea play regularly in the Champions League, Tottenham may never get another chance after this season.

“You can’t start thinking about how we are going to beat Real Madrid because we have to play Wigan on Saturday,” Redknapp said. “It’s farcical. You play Saturday, you recover on Sunday. You’re not going to have your 11 ready on Sunday because you are going to have aches and pains and knocks.

“It’s going to be very difficult to prepare for Real Madrid because Wigan are in the way.”

Winger Gareth Bale is in doubt for both matches because of a hamstring injury, while Michael Dawson and Sebastien Bassong are the only fit central defenders since William Gallas has a knee problem, Ledley King is out for the rest of the season because he needs groin surgery, and Jonathan Woodgate and Younes Kaboul are injured.

Wigan is last in the Premier League but is the only side to have beaten Tottenham at White Hart Lane in this season’s Premier League.

“We started the year with six central defenders and now we have two,” Redknapp said. “It’s a nightmare.”

Tottenham trails fourth-place Manchester City by four points. Third-place Chelsea is a point further ahead and is at Stoke on Saturday.

The Blues also have the Champions League quarterfinals to prepare for, but have an extra day and no distance to travel before Wednesday’s European meeting with Manchester United at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea’s squad is also in better shape than Tottenham’s, with midfielder Yossi Benayoun on course to play his first game for the Blues in six months after making his comeback from an Achilles’ injury in Israel’s 1-0 win over Georgia on Tuesday.

City hosts Sunderland on Sunday, when Blackpool is at Fulham.

Manchester United, which leads second-place Arsenal by five points, resumes its bid for a record 19th English title by returning to West Ham and the scene of its biggest loss this season.

West Ham’s 4-0 win in November in the League Cup quarterfinals was one of only four losses for United this season.

Defenders Rio Ferdinand, Rafael da Silva, Jonny Evans and John O’Shea are all out, but United manager Alex Ferguson should be able to call upon Nemanja Vidic after the captain recovered from a calf problem.

“I grew up an Everton fan, so to be part of the team to overtake Liverpool’s record would be brilliant,” United striker Wayne Rooney said. “It would mean so much to us players as well as the fans.”

Also Saturday, Arsenal hosts Blackburn, Liverpool is at West Bromwich Albion, Aston Villa is at Everton, Bolton is at Birmingham and Wolverhampton Wanderers is at Newcastle.

Labels: heads, Injuryhit, reluctantly, Tottenham, Wigan

LONDON (AP)—Javier Hernandez scored twice in a 4-0 victory at Wigan on Saturday, helping first-place Manchester United restore a four-point lead over Arsenal in the Premier League.

The Mexico striker scored off Nani’s low cross after 17 minutes and took a pass from Wayne Rooney in the 74th for his 12th goal of the season. Late goals by Rooney and Fabio da Silva completed the rout.

United now awaits important games against Chelsea and Liverpool.

“To win 4-0 away from home at a place like Wigan is very good. … It’s an acid test going to Chelsea and Liverpool,” United manager Alex Ferguson said.

United has played the same number of games as the rest of the top four. Second-place Arsenal plays in the League Cup final against Birmingham on Sunday when Manchester City hosts Fulham in the league.

Tottenham and Chelsea, who are fourth and fifth, have the weekend off because they were to play the League Cup finalists.

In the race against relegation, Wolverhampton climbed out of last place and the drop zone with a 4-0 victory over Blackpool. The match was overshadowed by the death of former Wolves and Tottenham defender Dean Richards at 36 on Saturday. Richards, who played for the Wolves between 1995 and 2001, died after a long illness.

Victories for Aston Villa and Everton put them five points further ahead of the relegation zone. Villa beat Blackburn 4-1 and Everton defeated Sunderland 2-0. Wigan is now only being kept off the bottom by West Ham, which is two points behind and hosts Liverpool on Sunday.

MADRID (AP)—Lionel Messi scored on a rare header, and Barcelona won 3-0 at Mallorca to open a seven-point lead over second-place Real Madrid in the Spanish league despite missing four regulars.

Barcelona has 68 points and Real Madrid has 61 following a 0-0 draw at Deportivo La Coruna.

Mesi looped the ball over goalkeeper Dudu Aouate in the 38th minute. Messi leads the league with 26 goals, two more than Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo. Of Messi’s 169 goals for Barcelona, this was just his seventh on a header.

David Villa scored in the 57th and Pedro Rodriguez in the 66th. The three Barcelona forwards have combined for 82 goals this season, with Villa and Pedro scoring 20 apiece.

Barcelona was missing midfielder Xavi Hernandez, defender Carles Puyol and goalkeeper Victor Valdes because of injuries and right back Daniel Alves because of yellow card accumulation.

ROME (AP)—Bologna won 2-0 at Juventus in the Italian league behind goals by Marco Di Vaio in the 49th and 66th minutes.

Bologna is 11th with 35 points, while Juventus is seventh with 41 following its second loss in seven days.

First-place AC Milan, which has 55 points, hosts second-place Napoli, which has 52, on Monday. Third-place Inter (50) is at Sampdoria on Sunday.

BERLIN (AP)—Lukas Podolski scored a late goal, giving Cologne a 1-0 win over Freiburg in the Bundesliga. Cologne has won five in a row at home and moves up to 11th place.

Podolski lifted the ball over Oliver Baumann for his 12th goal of season.

Christian Schulz scored in the last minute for Hannover, which won 1-0 at St. Pauli. Hannover moved into third place, but can be overtaken if Bayern Munich beats first-place Borussia Dortmund in the late game.

Mainz won 2-1 at Hoffenheim, Kaiserslautern drew 1-1 with Hamburger SV, and Raul Gonzalez equalized to earn Schalke a 1-1 draw at home to Nuremberg.

PARIS (AP)—Rennes beat Lens 2-0 for its fourth straight win and moved into first place in the French league.

Razak Boukari put Rennes ahead with a powerful shot into the top corner of the net in the 14th minute. Victor Hugo Montano added a second goal in the 70th, beating the offside trap to collect a pass from Jerome Leroy and score with a low shot.

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP)—Hearts was held to a 0-0 draw at Aberdeen, squandering a chance to take second place in the Scottish Premier League.

Hearts is a point behind Rangers, which plays St. Johnstone on Sunday in the first of three games in hand over the third-place club.

First-place Celtic goes to Motherwell on Sunday, eight points ahead of Rangers. Celetic has played two more matches than its Glasgow rival.

Hibernian beat Inverness 2-0 for its fourth straight league win but remains 10th in the 12-team league.

Labels: defeats, league, PREMIER, United, Wigan