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{ Cesc Fábregas will not face action over claims he abused match officials. Photograph: Clive Rose/Getty Images

Cesc Fábregas will not face disciplinary action over claims that he abused match officials during half-time of Arsenal's 2-1 win over Everton.

The Everton manager, David Moyes, claimed after the match that Fábregas should have been shown a red card for the comments, but the referee, Lee Mason, made no mention of the alleged incident in his post-match report.

Arsène Wenger later denied that Fábregas had even spoken to the officials, and the Football Association has now confirmed that it received no extraordinary incident report from Mason regarding any confrontation with Fábregas.

Fábregas, meanwhile, said the battling 2-1 victory proves Arsenal have the character needed to push Manchester United all the way in the race for the Premier League title.

Arsenal rallied after going behind to what looked an offside goal from Louis Saha, scoring twice in the space of five minutes during the second half.

The victory kept them five points behind Manchester United, who extended their unbeaten run this season to 24 league matches after a 3-1 win over Aston Villa at Old Trafford.

Fábregas said: "We were not up for it at the start against Everton and we were very sloppy. We know that we could have paid for it, but fortunately the team stepped up.

"We realised that if we kept playing like that, we would be going nowhere. It is a very inspiring comeback and maybe we needed something like that to lift us and see that even with injuries and suspensions, we can still have a really strong squad.

"Now we have three days to recover for what will be a big game on Saturday [at Newcastle]."

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Algeria's friendly internationalagainst Tunisia scheduled for next Wednesday has been called offbecause there is not a suitable stadium available to stage thematch, the country's soccer federation said.


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Le capitaine de la sélection algérienne, Abdelkader Laïfaoui a indiqué que le match face au Gabon, sera une rencontre «piège et difficile».
«C'est un match piège, qu'il faudrait aborder soigneusement et avec la même détermination affichée contre l'Ouganda. Le Gabon va tout donner lors de cette rencontre pour se ressaisir de son premier échec. De notre côté, nous allons faire le maximum pour remporter un second succès dans le tournoi». Le défenseur de l'ESS, qui se remet d'une «grosse brûlure» au pied, contractée lors de la première rencontre face à l'Ouganda, s'attend à un match difficile contre les Panthères du Gabon. «Ce sera un match difficile pour les deux équipes. Le Gabon possède une bonne équipe avec un milieu du terrain entreprenant et un attaquant de pointe qui travaille beaucoup. Mais je pense que nous avons les arguments pour nous imposer», dira Laïfaoui, qui estime que l'équipe d'Algérie est la meilleure du groupe A.

«Il faut confirmer face au Gabon et fournir un grand match. Lors de notre première sortie, nous n'avons pas réalisé un match de haute facture à cause des conditions climatiques difficiles, mais le plus important c'était la victoire», a-t-il estimé. D'autre part, le défenseur central des Verts se dit prêt à prendre part à la rencontre de mardi contre le Gabon après les examens rassurants passés à l'hôpital de Khartoum. «Je commence à récupérer de ma grosse brûlure à la jambe. J'ai passé une radio qui n'a rien décelé de grave. Je ne ressens plus de douleurs, Dieu merci. Je suis à la disposition de l'entraîneur».

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Abou Diaby hopes to follow the example of Patrick Vieira in inspiring France to major honours.

The Arsenal midfielder, whose red card in the 4-4 draw with Newcastle on Saturday when his team were 4-0 up was arguably the pivotal point in the match, offers a similar presence in the centre of the field to Vieira, formerly of Arsenal but now with Manchester City.

Vieira was part of the France squad which won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 titles, and has tipped Diaby to be his successor at club and national team level. The 24-year-old is flattered by Vieira's comments and is determined to put his injury problems behind him to follow in Vieira's footsteps.

"(Vieira's comments) are an honour for me," Diaby told L'Equipe. "But it will require some work to reach his level and achieve what he did. I hope to get there one day, and perhaps even achieve more.

"Above all I admired his performance in the France team. He won everything. For now, I have gained nothing. So, if I can start winning some trophies, it would not hurt."

Asked if he could play a leadership role for Les Bleus, Diaby added: "Yes of course, why not? At one point, I think we should be ready to take the lead. If I was asked to do that, I would assume my responsibilities."

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Labels: Diaby, Eurosport, feats, match, Vieira, Yahoo