Hargreaves scores on debut: Manchester City 2-0 Birmingham City

Owen Hargreaves enjoyed a sensational Manchester City debut as he opened the scoring in his side's 2-0 Carling Cup triumph over Birmingham at the Etihad Stadium.

Hargreaves scored the opener

Released by Manchester United in the summer after three injury-ravaged seasons, the midfielder drove home a superb 25-yard shot after 18 minutes and was deservedly named man of the match.

Mario Balotelli added a second before the break to secure City's passage into the last 16 and end the holders' interest in a much-derided competition that will never be dismissed by Hargreaves, as long as the former Bayern Munich man draws breath.

After virtually three years on the sidelines, punctuated by a couple of very brief appearances, totalling only six minutes of actual playing time, Hargreaves took just 18 minutes to open his account for City.

Rooney plays like Pele; claims Sir Alex Ferguson

Sir Alex Ferguson has compared Wayne Rooney to Pele and claimed the Manchester United striker is on course for his best-ever goal haul.

Rooney, with eight goals in his first four Premier League games, is well on his way to breaking his personal best of 34, achieved two seasons ago.

The United striker will lead his side's attack in their Champions League opener against Benfica on Wednesday, after Ferguson placed him in the same bracket as the Brazil legend.

"If you look at Pele, for instance, he was a very aggressive attacker also who could look after himself - so can Rooney," said Ferguson.

 

"They have similarities that way in terms of strength, speed, determination."

Ferguson made the comparison with Pele after Benfica boss Jorge Jesus claimed Rooney had elements of the Brazilian and Argentine styles in his game.

"I disagree there," said Ferguson. "I think Wayne's a typical British player.

"But there have been British players over the years who've had similar qualities that make them great players, whether it's Paul Gascoigne, George Best, Bobby Charlton or Denis Law.

"The similarities [between them and Rooney] are that the boy has great courage, he wants to play all the time and he has incredible stamina. These are added extras to the talent he has.

Chelsea quiz Fernando Torres over criticism of 'slow', 'old' team-mates

Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas has confirmed the club are looking into an interview by Fernando Torres in which the benched striker appeared to criticise his own team-mates.

Torres and Villas-Boas

Torres, who has scored just one goal since his £50 million transfer from Liverpool in January, spoke to the official website of Spain's Primera Liga and appeared to hint at a lack of service from Chelsea's "older" and "very slow" players in an English translation that later appeared on his personal website.

Villas-Boas sought an explanation from Torres, who claimed his words were not translated accurately on his own website.

Chelsea are now seeking to obtain a copy of the interview in its original Spanish and Villas-Boas revealed he would warn Torres not to speak so candidly about the club in future if the translation did stand up.

I want to be the Maradona of City : Sergio Aguero

Sergio Aguero has vowed to do for Manchester City what Diego Maradona did for Napoli.

The dazzling striker arrived in Manchester this summer for £38million from Atletico Madrid and has already become a hero at the Etihad Stadium with six goals in his first four league games.

He knows the Argentine magician better than most as he began dating his daughter four years ago and they’re now married with a son.

And although he wasn’t even born at the time, he knows all about Maradona’s move from Barcelona to Napoli and how it changed his life and the team’s. Maradona helped the unfashionable club upset Italy’s established order of Juventus, AC Milan and Inter.

Rooney Scores another hat-trick as Manchester united thrashed Bolton 5-0

Manchester United eased to a 5-0 win at Bolton on Saturday with Wayne Rooney bagging his second hat-trick in as many games.

United were really in the mood in the first half as they romped to a 3-0 lead inside 25 minutes with a goal from Javier Hernandez and a brace from Rooney, whilst Bolton struggled to cope with their visitor’s attacking ability.

In the second period, both strikers grabbed another goal each, but could have added several more as the match neared the heights of United’s last league match, the 8-2 victory against Arsenal.

Rooney Celebrates his hat-trick with his team mates

It didn’t even take Javier Hernandez five minutes into his first start of the season before he opened his account for the year as he flicked the ball home from the near post, but a lot of credit should be given to Nani who delivered a brilliant low cross from the right.

The hosts almost hit back a minute later as Martin Petrov cross from the left, but United failed to clear it properly and Chris Eagles got a shot away, but the combination of Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand saved it on the line.

United came close to extending their lead in the 12th minute as the visitors hit Bolton on the counter-attack, but Rooney couldn’t quite reach Hernandez’ cross from the right and Gary Cahill conceded a corner.

They did however, extend their lead just shy of the 20 minute mark as Wayne Rooney got on the end of a Phil Jones cross, poking the ball out of the reach of Jussi Jaaskelainen into the bottom far corner.

Minutes later, United had their third, owing much thanks to a sublime run from Phil Jones as he skipping past several tackles as he charged down the right before eventually having a shot blocked, but Rooney was on hand to smash home the rebound from six yards.

Despite just a few minutes after, Hernandez thought he’d added a fourth, however he was flagged offside and the score remained as it was until the second half with Bolton barely registering a shot on the United goal in the first period.

The second half started with Bolton actually looking to pressurise David De Gea in the United goal, but at first he was equal to Mark Davies’ shot from just outside the box, and soon after he rose well to catch a Kevin Davies header.

Hernandez should have got his second of the day as he gambled on Jaaskelainen to make a heavy first touch from De Gea’s clearance, but after getting the ball, instead of hitting it first time, Chicharito opted for a touch and when he eventually got a shot away, it was tame, allowing Bolton to find safety.

However, two minutes later, he did get his second as Michael Carrick shot from the edge of the box, but a deflection took it straight to the little Mexican was left with the simplest of finishes.

Still with 23 minutes to go, Wayne Rooney claimed his hat-trick, smashing a Nani pass into the bottom left corner after the Portuguese winger received a brilliant pass from Ryan Giggs and picked out the England international in the D of the penalty area.

That goal consolidated a remarkable feat with Rooney becoming the first player in Premier League history to score eight goals in four matches.

United came close to adding a sixth five minutes from time as Nani found Hernandez in the box with a clver pass, but when through on goal, the Mexican tried to square the ball to Anderson, but the pass was just too far ahead of him.

In all honesty, Bolton were never really in the game with United's lightening quick start effectively ending the match as a contest minutes after starting as the Premier League champions completely outclassed their hosts.

Sunderland 1 - Chelsea 2 :- Sturridge Shines as Chelsea wins the match

Chelsea starlet Daniel Sturridge showed Fernando Torres exactly how to do it with an outrageous strike in a 2-1 win over Sunderland.

With the £50 million man sitting on the bench, Sturridge produced an outrageous back-heeled finish to wrap up a comfortable victory at the Stadium of Light.

Skipper John Terry had opened the scoring with an 18th-minute shot after Juan Mata's free-kick had hit the woodwork, but it was left to the former Manchester City man to complete the job in style six minutes after the break with substitute Ji Dong-won's injury-time strike counting for little.

Sturridge scores an amazing goal by back heal

The win extended the Blues' uneaten start to the season and left Sunderland still looking for their first victory and having scored only two goals in five games.

That statistic will not have been lost on the club's fans as news of Asamoah Gyan's loan move to United Arab Emirates club Al-Ain emerged shortly before kick-off, although they will have been buoyed by Nicklas Bendtner's performance on his debut in front of a crowd of 36,699.

All the talk in the hours immediately prior to the game was about strikers and in particular, two who were not involved this afternoon.

Gyan's departure will no doubt have been a topic of conversation between Steve Bruce, Niall Quinn and Ellis Short as manager, chairman and owner met on the pitch before kick-off, and when the team-sheet arrived, Torres, who had scored just once in his previous 21 appearances for Chelsea, was named only among the substitutes.

The upshot was that Bendtner made his first appearance for the Black Cats playing as a lone striker and not alongside the Ghana international, while Juan Mata, Nicolas Anelka and Sturridge lined up in attack for the visitors, for whom Raul Meireles made his debut.

Sunderland might have got off to the perfect start with just 12 minutes gone when Bendtner got his header to a Sebastian Larsson free-kick, but glanced the ball agonisingly wide with keeper Petr Cech rooted to the spot.

However, that proved a rare excursion into enemy territory until a late flurry as Chelsea dominated possession and created a series of chances.

Mata was a livewire as he and full-back Ashley Cole exploited space down the left with Meireles and Frank Lampard prompting from the middle.

The opening goal arrived with 18 minutes gone, although it did so in slightly controversial circumstances with Lee Cattermole unhappy with Anelka's reaction to his challenge 20 yards out.

Mata curled the free-kick over the wall and saw it come back off the post with keeper Simon Mignolet beaten.

But the Black Cats failed to make the most of their escape and when the ball was eventually recycled to Terry beyond the far post, he fired in a shot which was blocked, but Phil Bardsley could only help his follow-up into the roof of the net.

Anelka and Ramires both went close as the Londoners eased into top gear, and it took good blocks from Mignolet and Wes Brown to deny the Frenchman.

Bardsley was fortunate to escape without punishment after he appeared to stamp on Mata as the clock ran down and may yet have to face the repercussions, although his side finished the half in positive fashion.

Stephane Sessegnon forced Cech to beat away a well-struck shot at his near post and Larsson mistimed a header from Kieran Richardson's injury-time cross to at least suggest the contest was not over.

Craig Gardner headed tamely at Cech from another Richardson cross as Sunderland resumed in determined fashion, but the game was effectively over within six minutes as Chelsea hit back.

Anelka had already fired wide after running away from Titus Bramble and Cattermole was relieved to see a volleyed clearance from Cole's cross fly over his own crossbar when the visitors doubled their lead.

Meireles' ball over the top allowed Sturridge to run away from Brown and as Mignolet came to meet him, he audaciously back-heeled his shot past him and into the bottom corner with the former Manchester United defender's efforts to keep it out coming to nothing.

Sunderland might have reduced the deficit with 25 minutes to play when Branislav Ivanovic made a mess of clearing Jack Colback's left-wing cross and the ball fell to Bendtner, but Terry was on hand to block his shot at source.

Anelka forced a 73rd-minute save from Mignolet as the visitors eased into cruise control, and although Ji side-footed home at the death to give the home side some reward for their efforts, the points were safe.

Manchester City 3-0 Wigan: Sergio Aguero hits hat-trick

Manchester City maintained their perfect start to the season with an impressive 3-0 over Wigan Athletic at the Etihad Stadium.

A Sergio Aguero hat-trick wrapped up the three points to leave Roberto Mancini's men at the top of the Premier League table with 15 goals in their opening four games.

Sergio Aguero Celebrates after scoring the Hat-trick

The Italian gave Carlos Tevez a starting berth in place of the Premier League's leading scorer Edin Dzeko with the Argentine looking to re-establish his reputation with the Eastlands faithful following a summer of transfer speculation that only served to damage his reputation. Samir Nasri, who was at his first game in City colours, started on the bench.

Latics boss Roberto Martinez was equally hesitant with his potential debutants, leaving Spanish winger Albert Crusat on the bench as well as Patrick van Aanholt and Shaun Maloney out of the squad completely.

The home side started with the greater endeavour and should have taken the lead within the opening five minutes, with Adam Johnson blazing over from inside the area after controlling Gael Clichy's deep cross.

The pressure from City was becoming impossible to contain and the Wigan resistance was broken after only 13 minutes when David Silva, in irresistible form, playing in Aguero after a fine bit of skill and the former Atletico Madrid man drilled home.

As has been their wont so far this season, the home side were unwilling to rest on their laurels and had a marvellous opportunity to double their advantage less than five minutes later when the blistering Silva was brought down by his compatriot Adrian Lopez in the area. Carlos Tevez was given the chance to make it two from the penalty spot but tamely scuffed his effort into the arms of Al-Habsi. It was a moment befitting the striker, who had started the clash somewhat meekly.

The visitors, to their credit, were refusing to go into their shell but as each attack mounted from Martinez's men, an ominous counter was invariably forthcoming from their hosts. Chances for Johnson and Aguero were wasted but not quite as embarrassingly as a spurned effort from Micah Richards, who conspired to hit the bar from seven yards out after breaking the offside trap wonderfully.

The chances were stacking up for the hosts and having seen Vincent Kompany rattle the post with a fine headed effort from Milner's corner, Toure looked all the world to have played Lescott in but failed to get a strong enough touch and the Latics, somehow, went in at half-time only a goal behind Mancini's men.

The visitors seemed willing to make the most of City's profligacy and came out in the second period with impressive movement going forward. Ben Watson, breaking from midfield, so nearly latched onto a Rodallega through-ball but was beaten to it by Joe Hart.

It was an impressive showing of endeavour from the visitors but any chance they had of getting back into the game was soon quashed by Aguero, with the Argentine finishing off some sublime build-up play from Toure, Silva and substitute Samir Nasri with a neat finish past Al-Habsi.

With the ruthlessness of true title contenders, the hosts turned the knife with another shortly after and it was Aguero once again, profiting from a magnificent ball from Silva to all but end the contest. It was a performance worthy of a hat-trick from the Argentine, who has taken his tally to six goals in four City appearances.