THOUGHTS ARE WITH YOU

The West Ham central defender Calum Davenport required emergency surgery today on his injuries after the knife attack in the home in Bedford.

Doctors described the Bedford-born player’s injuries as severe, but it is too early to speculate whether they have curtailed or could damage the 26-year-old’s career. His mother was also described by police as being in a serious condition.

Two men have been taken in to custody in connection with the incident. A 25-year-old man was arrested in Derby on suspicion of attempted murder, while a 19-year-old man arrested earlier remains in custody, said Bedfordshire police. Detectives from Scotland Yard have also been notified of the incident. In addition, West Ham’s medical team are liaising with hospital staff over the extent of the wounds.

EUROPEAN UPDATES

Arsenal v Celtic - 2-0 (Gallas, Caldwell)

Fiorentina v Sporting - 2-2(Vargas, Gilardino, Vukcevic, Veloso)

Copenhagen - Apoel Nicosia - 1-0(Pospech)

Sheriff Tiraspol - Olympiakos - 0-2(Dudu, Mitroglou)

Timisoara - Stuttgart - 0-2(Gebhart, Hleb)

The game looked to be heading to the interval still deadlocked, however minutes before the break the home side were dealt an agonising blow.

A free-kick from distance was fired goalwards by Fabregas which Boruc looked to have covered.
However, the ball took a vicious deflection off William Gallas and completely wrong-footed the stopper to hand the visitors a fortunate lead.

The home side must have felt aggrieved to be behind after a strong first half showing however they nearly lost further ground within minutes of the restart.
Some strong running by Arshavin found Van Persie but his strike across goal was off-target and Celtic survived.

Moments later, however, and Wenger’s men went even closer with Denilson having time and space to try and curl a shot on the edge of the box but, unlike at Goodison Park on Saturday, the Brazilian couldn’t find the back of the net.
With the Gunners beginning to click into gear and threatening to put the game out of reach manager Mowbray responded with a double substitution sending on Scott MacDonald and Marc-Antoine Fortune.

Yet it was to be to no avail as with 20 minutes of the game remaining, the Gunners put one foot into the next round.

Substitute Abou Diaby did superbly to beat Hinkel before feeding Clichy down the left flank.
The full back then delivered a devilish cross which Caldwell attempted to deflect wide and simply managed to put past his own goalkeeper.

THREE LOINS AND ORANJE ENTERTAIN

Defoe's second-half double allowed England to come from two goals down at the break to snatch a draw in their friendly against Holland.

England seemed certain to start the World Cup season with a morale-sapping defeat as basic blunders from Ferdinand and Barry gifted the already-qualified Dutch their interval advantage.

Instead, Fabio Capello managed to inject some life into his troops, with Defoe supplying the killer finish to passes from the excellent Lampard and eye-catching youngster James Milner, to take his personal tally to four England goals in two games.

SILVA TO UNITED??

Valenica winger David Silva is looming as the big-name deal Manchester United boss wants to close before the summer market shuts.

The Manchester Evening News says the United boss tried and failed to sign the Valencia star last summer, but hopes to make him his marquee capture following the departures of Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez.

Silva, however, is seen as a more than useful recruit with United still in the hunt for a world class left-sided midfielder.

ARSENAL IN PURSUIT OF KALOU

Arsenal have made a bid for Chelsea striker Salomon Kalou.

The Gunners have offered £6million for the Ivory Coast striker with boss Arsene Wenger dangling a five-year contract in front of him.

Chelsea are believed to want £8million for the 28-year old, but either way it looks as though a deal is increasingly likely.

“He is a very great coach and I know that every single player in the world dreams of playing for him,” Kalou said of Wenger.

Has Wenger lost the plot? Kalou is 28 and for a manager who does not buy "mature" players this is somewhat of a suprise.

Arsenal fans are dying for new signings and Wenger is going to give them Kalou, I dont get it but Wenger is the manager not me.