GoalPlaza

Arsenal and Tottenham survived red cards Tuesday to reach the semifinal of the League Cup, with the Gunners winning 3-2 at Blackburn and Spurs 2-0 at Manchester City.

Arsene Wenger’s backup Gunners team played the 30 minutes of extra time with 10 men after Brazilian midfielder Denilson was sent off in the 90th minute.

But Eduardo da Silva scored his second goal of the game to make sure that the Gunners reached the semifinal for the fourth time in five years.

Tottenham’s Didier Zokora was ejected after 20 minutes at Rovers. But goals by Jermain Defoe (fifth minute) and Steed Malbranque (82nd) ended City’s streak of 10 straight league and cup home victories under Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Everton had already made it to the semifinal after winning 2-1 at West Ham last week. Chelsea hosts Liverpool on Wednesday.

Wenger again stuck with his young backup players in English soccer’s third-tier competition against a nearly full strength Rovers lineup at Ewood Park.

Chelsea hosts Liverpool at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday with a possible return for Michael Ballack after two ankle operations. The Blues are without captain John Terry, who broke his right foot during Sunday’s 1-0 loss to Arsenal.

Luca Toni scored four goals Wednesday to send Bayern Munich into the next round of the UEFA Cup with a 6-0 rout of Greece’s Aris.

Aris goalkeeper Konstantinos Chalkias made errors on Toni’s goals in the 25th, 38th, 64th and 66th minutes. Christian Lell and Philipp Lahm also scored for Bayern, which won its final group game and topped Group F. Bayern’s biggest UEFA Cup victory came in 1983 when it defeated Anorthosis Famagusta 10-0.

“We played with freshness and Toni showed great anticipation,” Bayern manager Ottmar Hitzfeld said.

Bolton, Braga, Getafe, Anderlecht and Galatasaray also advanced Wednesday. The six final games of the round are Thursday.

Everton, Panathinaikos, Atletico Madrid, Villarreal, Hamburger SV, FC Basel, Spartak Moscow, FC Zurich, Bayer Leverkusen, Tottenham, Bordeaux and Helsingborg already had qualified for the next round.

Twenty-four teams go into Friday’s draw, joined by the eight clubs that finished third in their European Champions League groups: Marseille, Rosenborg, Werder Bremen, Benfica, Rangers, Sporting Lisbon, PSV Eindhoven and Slavia Prague.

Playing on Friday
Hansa Rostock     v Bayern Munich       (1930)

Playing on Saturday
Arminia Bielefeld v VfL Wolfsburg       (1430)
Energie Cottbus   v Bayer Leverkusen    (1430)
Hamburg SV        v Hanover 96          (1430)
Hertha Berlin     v Eintracht Frankfurt (1430)
Karlsruhe SC      v Nuremberg           (1430)
MSV Duisburg      v Borussia Dortmund   (1430)

Playing on Sunday
Schalke 04        v VfB Stuttgart       (1600)
Werder Bremen     v VfL Bochum          (1600)

Sunday 16 December 2007 has been billed “Grand Slam Sunday” because the top four teams in the Premiership go head to head as they pull ever further from the rest of the league. Fourth placed Liverpool begin the action at lunchtime when they host champions Manchester United.

Liverpool have been doing well of late, bar a 3-1 defeat at Reading last weekend. They come into the match off the back of a 4-0 hammering of Marseille in France, a result which assured their place in the knockout phase of the Champions League.

Second placed United beat struggling Fulham and Derby County in their last two games but they will face a much sterner test in a Liverpool team in which Steven Gerrard has found the net in his last seven consecutive matches.

United have had the better of recent meetings and have won five of the last six Premiership matches against Rafa Benitez’s side. United have beaten Liverpool in their last three Premiership league matches and ironically the player who scored the winner against them last season, John O’Shea, was also the last person to score against United for Liverpool. He netted an own goal during United’s 2-1 victory against the Reds back in 2004.

You just about have time to catch your breath when the match ends to prepare for the second offering of the afternoon, Arsenal vs Chelsea. The Gunners took the Premiership by storm for most of the first half of the season but a couple of poor results against Middlesbrough and Newcastle has seen their lead at the top reduced to a single point. Arsenal are still undefeated at home this season and Chelsea need to become the first team this season to beat them on their own turf if they want to catch them.

Chelsea have been in great form in the Premiership of late and have won seven of their last eight matches, including the the last three in a row. They have also conceded just one goal in this sequence and coupled with Arsenal’s water-tight defence, a close, cagey encounter is expected. Arsenal have not managed to record a home win over Chelsea since October 2003 while the last two matches between the pair ended 1-1 last season.

More of the same is to be expected as indeed the first fixture between Liverpool and Manchester United as none of the four clubs will want to give anything away as the halfway stage of the season fast approaches.

You can watch Liverpool v Manchester United and Arsenal v Chelsea live online this Sunday.

 Check out this handheld footage of Ronaldinho when he first gets the gold Legend.