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Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger fears defender Thomas Vermaelen may have broken his leg in Wednesdays 0-0 draw at Aston Villa.

The Belgium center back limped off during the first half of the English Premier League match and left Villa Park on crutches.

Wenger says that it is his fibula. Whether it is just a nerve problem or the bone is broken is what we have to check on.

In another blow for Arsenal, Eduardo da Silva has a hamstring strain that will rule the striker out of Sundays match against Manchester United.

Under-pressure Juventus coach Ciro Ferrara insists he is not worried about losing his job heading into Thursdays Coppa Italia quarter-final at Inter Milan.

Ferrara is struggling in his first full season at the helm, with his side going into Thursdays match at the San Siro on the back of five defeats in six games in Serie A.

Title hopefuls before the season, the Bianconeri are now in sixth place and 16 points adrift of league leaders Inter.

But Ferrara said: I dont feel on the verge of being sacked.

I have not received any announcement from the club and until then, I will continue to do my job with the same spirit and professionalism as always.

It hasnt even crossed my mind to resign.

When I look in the mirror every morning I am calm.

I have acted on my conscience and that is why I have not presented my resignation.

If the club and the players were against me, then I would have considered it but everyone is on my side.

I only have to improve this situation by working even harder.

I have not succeeded so far but it is not something to feel ashamed about.

When asked if elimination from the Coppa Italia would bring to an end his spell at Juve, Ferrara said: I am only worried about the result against Inter in terms of what it means in the competition (a place in the semi-finals) and not in terms of my future.

LONDON -Results Tuesday in English football (home teams listed first).

Premier League

Bolton 1, Burnley 0

Portsmouth 1, West Ham 1

Tottenham 2, Fulham 0

Wolverhampton 0, Liverpool 0

League Championship

Barnsley 1, Leicester 0

Bristol City 0, Cardiff 6

Doncaster 1, Middlesbrough 4

Ipswich 1, West Bromwich Albion 1

Nottingham Forest 5, QPR 0

Peterborough 0, Preston 1

Plymouth 1, Derby 0

Sheffield United 3, Reading 0

Swansea 0, Coventry 0

League One

Brentford 1, Southampton 1

Colchester 2, MK Dons 0

Exeter 2, Carlisle 3

Hartlepool 1, Gillingham 1

Millwall 2, Southend 0

Stockport 1, Brighton 1

Swindon 3, Leeds United 0

Tranmere 2, Yeovil 1

Walsall 1, Norwich 2

League Two

Accrington Stanley 2, Aldershot 1

Barnet 1, Torquay 1

Chesterfield 0, Rotherham 1

Dagenham Redbridge 0, Notts County 3

Darlington 1, Northampton 2

Macclesfield 2, Morecambe 2

Rochdale 0, Port Vale 0

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Italian Football Results

MILAN -Results from the Italian Cup (home teams listed first).

Quarterfinals

Wednesday, Jan. 20

Fiorentina 3, Lazio 2

Tuesdays Game

AS Roma 1, Catania 0

Wednesdays Game

AC Milan vs. Udinese

Thursdays Game

Inter Milan vs. Juventus

Cristiano Ronaldos temper continues to get the better of him at Real Madrid, and it could prove costly in the Spanish teams pursuit of the league title.

The Portugal forward scored both goals in Sundays 2-0 victory over Malaga before being sent off for an elbow smash that broke the nose of defender Patrick Mtiliga. The dismissal was Ronaldos second of the season and will see him banned for at least one game. The first came against Almeria in December for intentionally kicking out at a player.

He who understands football knows my intention is always to play. That red card is an embarrassment. I dont understand these types of things, Ronaldo said. That isnt a red (card) here or in any other place in the world, and Im not saying that because I want protection. Here in Spain there are a lot of good things, but also bad ones.

While Mtiliga came off with blood flowing from his nose and will now miss three weeks, Ronaldo left in disbelief at the decision.

You have to be fair when looking at what happened. I didnt mean to harm him, Ronaldo said. Ive seen worse incidents than that in other games.

Madrid director general Jorge Valdano said Mtiliga was tugging Ronaldos shirt and believes referees need to do better.

A referee should know whos doing something for the show and whos doing something to interrupt it, Valdano said. When (Ronaldo) was grabbed from behind, he tried to break free because he always has the intention of playing, while others would throw themselves to the ground and simulate a foul.

Ronaldo could be banned for up to three games just when Madrid needs his goals with rival Barcelona in great form.

The defending Spanish champions have won their last three matches by a combined 12-0 score to finish the first half of the season unbeaten with a five-point advantage over Madrid.

Madrid plays at Deportivo La Coruna on Sunday at El Riazor stadium, where it has lost six straight times and hasnt won in nearly two decades. It will be without leading striker Gonzalo Higuain, who has 11 goals, and Ronaldo, who has nine.

Barcelona, meanwhile, travels to Sporting Gijon where it won 6-1 last season.

Ronaldo said he spoke to Mtiliga after the match.

I went to see him in the changing room and he knows my intention because I told him, Ronaldo said.

Kaka and Robert Pires were among the scorers in a charity game to raise money for victims of the Haiti earthquake.

More than two dozen current and retired international players pulled on jerseys for the annual Match against Poverty.

They also included Frances Zinedine Zidane and Thierry Henry, and Portugals Luis Figo.

The game was organized by the United Nations Development Program and Portuguese club Benfica, which hosted the game at its Stadium of Light on Monday.

Kaka and Zidanes team drew 3-3 with a selection of current and past Benfica players.

Proceeds from the game and associated activities were for relief and reconstruction efforts in Haiti. The amount raised was not immediately available.

Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney knows it will be impossible to please Sir Alex Ferguson and Fabio Capello for the rest of the season.

Rooneys four-goal haul against Hull on Saturday swept Manchester United to the summit of the Premier League - the third team in a week to hold the top spot - and took him to within a hat-trick of his best-ever seasonal tally as a professional.

Almost immediately, the 24-year-old began looking forward to a crunch week that starts with the eagerly-awaited Carling Cup decider with Manchester City on Wednesday before United visit Arsenal for what would be a first-versus-second Premier League blockbuster if present positions remain unaltered.

Ferguson knows he needs his talisman. Back home in Italy where he is recovering from knee surgery, Fabio Capello will glory in Rooneys achievements whilst secretly wishing his number one striker could take a break.

I am sure the two of them have different ideas for me for the rest of the season, smiled Rooney, after the fourth hat-trick of his United career and the second this term.

But I want to play and whenever I am asked to play I will.

Even when the manager (Ferguson) tells me when he is giving me a rest I will want to play. But I will have to be sensible.

What would be good for Capello is impossible for Ferguson.

There is no chance of Ferguson taking Rooney out of the firing line for a prolonged period given his importance to United at present.

When Cristiano Ronaldo left for Real Madrid last summer, Ferguson questioned where United were going to get the additional 30 goals the former world player of the year was virtually guaranteed to get.

Rooney is supplying them, just as he felt would happen.

I am a confident person, he said.

I have had responsibility on me since I signed so it was not extra pressure.

When Cristiano left I knew I would have to score more goals.

As a team we are doing that. Everybody is chipping in and, so far, we have scored more than last season.

The one on-pitch frustration for United was that it took them an hour and a quarter to get a second once Rooney had opened their account by netting the rebound after Paul Scholes piledriver had been too hot to handle for Boaz Myhill.

Positives were plentiful.

Aside from Rooney, Rio Ferdinand completed the full 90 minutes of his comeback after a three-month absence and produced an assured defensive display.

On only his fifth league start Michael Owen caught the eye, even if he failed to take a couple of decent chances, while Nani produced possibly his best display since joining the Red Devils for 17million from Sporting Lisbon in 2007, creating Rooneys second and third goals before substitute Dimitar Berbatov set up a fourth.

I am happy with my performance, said Nani.

It was good to create the goals for Wayne because he is such a fantastic player.

When you see your striker score four goals it gives us all confidence because we know we have someone who can score every game.

There is an undercurrent though that goes far beyond Manchester City and those comments from chief executive Garry Cook about a place at Wembley already being assured.

Even if the successful bond issue has taken any immediate worries away from club finances, the size of Uniteds debt - now in excess of 700million - and the doomsday scenario of their training ground at Carrington, or even Old Trafford itself being sold, as laid out in the prospectus for the bond, has mobilised an anti-Glazer faction which clearly has plenty of sympathisers judging by the number of people joining in songs that condemned the Americans.

Although the reaction did actually generate a decent atmosphere, it is hardly what Ferguson wants, which is why he devoted such a large chunk of his programme notes yesterday to the issue in a call for unity that went totally unheeded.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion and to express disapproval if they dont like what they see around them, he said.

I am not slow to express disapproval myself if there is something I dont agree with - even in the boardroom with the directors.

But once I walk out of that meeting I get on with my job as manager of the team.

Some of our fans are clearly unhappy with the financial position but we mustnt allow the situation to become divisive.

We must remain loyal to the cause of Manchester United.

AMSTERDAM -Results from the 19th round of the Eredivisie (home teams listed first).

Fridays Game

PSV Eindhoven 3, NEC Nijmegen 0

Saturdays Games

Heracles Almelo 1, Vitesse Arnhem 2

Roda JC 2, Utrecht 0

SC Heerenveen 4, Willem II 2

RKC Waalwijk 0, NAC Breda 1

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Spanish Football Results

MADRID -Results from the 18th round of Spains first-division football league (home teams listed first).

Saturdays Games

Sevilla 1, Almeria 0

Valladolid 0, Barcelona 3

Deportivo La Coruna 3, Athletic Bilbao 1

Sundays Games

Sporting Gijon vs. Racing Santander

Tenerife vs. Valencia

Villarreal vs. Zaragoza

Xerez vs. Osasuna

Espanyol vs. Mallorca

Getafe vs. Atletico Madrid

Real Madrid vs. Malaga

Saturday, Jan. 30

Espanyol vs. Athletic Bilbao

Sporting Gijon vs. Barcelona

Deportivo La Coruna vs. Real Madrid

Sunday, Jan. 31

Xerez vs. Mallorca

Villarreal vs. Osasuna

Tenerife vs. Zaragoza

Valladolid vs. Almeria

Getafe vs. Racing Santnader

Atletico Madrid vs. Malaga

Sevilla vs. Valencia

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Italian Football Results

MILAN -Results in the Serie A, the Italian first-division football league (home teams listed first).

Saturday,s Games

Catania 3, Parma 0

Juventus 1, AS Roma 2

Sundays Games

Bologna vs. Bari

Genoa vs. Atalanta

Lazio vs. Chievo Verona

Livorno vs. Napoli

Palermo vs. Fiorentina

Siena vs. Cagliari

Udinese vs. Sampdoria

Inter Milan vs. AC Milan

Saturday, January 30

Bari vs. Palermo

Napoli vs. Genoa

Sunday, January 31

Caglia vs. Fiorentina

Catania vs. Udinese

Chievo vs. Bologna

AC Mila vs. Livorno

Parma vs. Inter Milan

AS Roma vs. Siena

Sampdoria vs. Atalanta

Juventus vs. Lazio

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English Football Results

LONDON -Results Saturday in English football (home teams listed first).

Premier League

Manchester United 4, Hull 0

League Championship

Blackpool 3, Watford 2

Middlesbrough 1, Swansea 1

Plymouth vs. Barnsley, postponed.

Sheffield Wednesday 2, Peterborough 1

League One

Bristol Rovers 2, Hartlepool 0

Carlisle 0, Stockport 0

Gillingham 0, Colchester 0

MK Dons 1, Tranmere 0

Norwich 1, Brentford 0

Oldham 0, Millwall 1

Southend 1, Wycombe 1

Yeovil 2, Exeter 1

League Two

Aldershot 2, Bournemouth 1

Bury 1, Hereford 0

Cheltenham 1, Rochdale 4

Crewe 3, Darlington 0

Lincoln City 2, Bradford 1

Morecambe 2, Barnet 1

Northampton 0, Chesterfield 0

Port Vale 0, Macclesfield 0

Rotherham 2, Grimsby 1

Shrewsbury 2, Dagenham Redbridge 1

Torquay 2, Burton 3

FA Cup

Fourth Round

Preston 0, Chelsea 2

Reading 1, Burnley 0

Accrington Stanley 1, Fulham 3

Aston Villa 3, Brighton 2

Bolton 2, Sheffield United 0

Cardiff 4, Leicester 2

Derby 1, Doncaster 0

Everton 1, Birmingham 2

Notts County 2, Wigan 2

Portsmouth 2, Sunderland 1

Southampton 2, Ipswich 1

West Bromwich Albion 4, Newcastle 2

Wolverhampton 2, Crystal Palace 2

Tottenham 2, Leeds 2

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Greek Football Results

ATHENS, Greece -Results from the Greek football league after Saturdays games (home teams listed first).

Saturdays Games

Asteras 2 Panionios 0

Larissa 2, Iraklis 1

Ergotelis 1,Levadiakos 0

Sundays games

Atromitos vs.Kavala

Panthrakikos vs.Xanthi

Aris vs.Panathinaikos

AEK vs. Giannena

Olympiakos va.PAOK

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Scottish Football Results

GLASGOW, Scotland -Results Saturday in Scottish football (home teams listed first).

Premier League

Aberdeen 1, Kilmarnock 0

Hibernian 5, Hamilton 1

Motherwell 2, St Mirren 0

Rangers 1, Hearts 1

First Division

Airdrie United 0, Inverness 1

Partick Thistle 1, Dunfermline 4

Queen of South 1, Dundee 1

Raith 1, Morton 2

Ross County 1, Ayr 0

Second Division

Arbroath 1, Peterhead 4

Clyde 0, Brechin 3

Dumbarton 2, Cowdenbeath 1

Stenhousemuir 0, Alloa 2

Stirling 3, East Fife 3

Third Division

Albion 0, Forfar 1

Elgin 1, Berwick 5

Montrose 0, East Stirling 1

Queens Park 3, Annan Athletic 2

Stranraer 1, Livingston 1

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German Results

FRANKFURT, Germany -Summary of Saturdays games in the Bundesliga, the German first-division football league (home team listed first).

Werder Bremen 2, Bayern Munich 3

Halftime: 1-2

Bremen: Aaron Hunt (10), Hugo Almeida (75)

Bayern: Thomas Mueller (25), Ivica Olic (36), Arjen Robben (78)

Attendance: 38,500

Bochum 2, Schalke 2

Halftime: 0-2

Bochum: Vahid Hashemian (82), Stanislav Sestake (90+2)

Schalke: Vicente Sanchez (5), Kevin Kuranyi (42)

Attendance: 30,500

Mainz 1, Hannover 0

Halftime: 1-0

Mainz: Andre Schuerrle (4)

Attendance: 20,300

Nuremberg 1, Eintracht Frankfurt 1

Halftime: 1-1

Nuremberg: Christian Eigler (27)

Frankfurt: Benjamin Koehler (40)

Attendance: 40,000

Hertha Berlin 0, Borussia Moenchengladbach 0

Halftime: 0-0

Attendance: 50,000

AC Milan goes into the city derby against Inter Milan as a slight underdog, but knowing that a win on Sunday could open up the championship race.

A Milan win would close the gap to leader Inter to three points, and Leonardos side also has a game in hand, against Fiorentina. Inter tops the standings with 46 points, with Milan on 40.

Both teams are in good form; Inter has gone five games since its last loss, while Milan has won eight of its last nine matches, with only a defeat to Palermo ruining the record.

At the heart of Milans run is a reinvigorated Ronaldinho, who has returned to the form that helped him win two FIFA world player of the year awards. So far he has scored nine goals, including a hat trick in the most recent match against Siena.

I have a good rapport with the coach, Ronaldinho said. Its helping me with my form as I can speak to Leonardo about anything and when I go on the field I feel the coachs trust.

Against Inter I want to continue how Im playing, he said, but Inter has a strong team, with good players and a manager who knows how to win.

AS Roma will aim to cement third place away to Juventus, which has lost four of its last five games and slipped into fifth.

Italy striker Luca Toni has joined Roma on loan from Bayern Munich in a bid to win his place back in the Italy team and he has already hit two goals in two starts.

It is great, theres a lot of enthusiasm, Toni said. I came to Roma to play games and I know this is the right place to do that, but we are only just starting and have to continue this way.

Marcello Lippi knows what I can do for the national team, Toni said. I know that if I can continue to do well for Roma, Ill have a chance of getting back in.

Juventus coach Ciro Ferrara is fighting to hold on to his job. The team is out of the Champions League and slipping away from the qualification places for next season.

Furthermore striker Amauri has failed to show the form that linked him with a place in the Italy side, while midfielder Diego has struggled to replicate his impressive displays from earlier in the season.

I am convinced that this team has quality that we arent seeing at the moment and we have to work out why, Ferrara said. I want the guys to feel more secure about the situation, play them in their natural roles and get them in condition to play their best.

Also this weekend; Catania vs. Parma; Bologna vs. Bari; Genoa vs. Atalanta; Lazio vs. Chievo Verona; Livorno vs. Napoli; Palermo vs. Fiorentina; Siena vs. Cagliari; Udinese vs. Sampdoria.

World Cup qualifier Nigeria beat Mozambique 3-0 on Wednesday to book its place in the knockout round of the African Cup of Nations, while already-qualified Egypt maintained its perfect record with a 2-0 win over Benin to top Group C.

Peter Odemwingie opened the scoring just before halftime, creating plenty of space after taking a Dickson Etuhu pass before hitting a powerful shot low into the corner of the net. He then made it 2-0 from close range after being set up by Aiyegbeni Yakubu. Substitute Obafemi Martins scored the third four minutes from time from a rebound after an initial shot by Jon Obi Mikel.

The team played according to instruction, Nigeria coach Shaibu Amodu said. We are satisfied with the win but we havent won the tournament yet.

Nigeria finished second in Group C with six points, three behind defending champion Egypt, which beat Benin 2-0 in the other group game.

Egypt will play the runner-up in Group D while Nigeria faces the winner.

Gabon leads Group D with four points, one ahead of Cameroon. But both third-placed Tunisia and fourth-placed Zambia can still qualify.

Amodu said he was prepared to face any of the qualifying teams.

In Benguela, Ahmed Al Muhammadi and Emad Motaeb were on target as defending champion Egypt picked up its third straight victory and extended its unbeaten run in the tournament to 15 games.

Defender Al Muhammadi scored Egypts first after just seven minutes when his cross surprisingly beat Benin goalkeeper Yohann Djidonou. Motaeb then doubled Egypts lead after he pounced on a rebound and smashed the ball home in the 23rd.

Wednesdays win enabled Nigeria to join three other World Cup-bound sides Algeria, Ivory Coast and Ghana in the quarterfinals.

Cameroon, which has also qualified for the World Cup in South Africa, needs to beat Tunisia on Thursday to join the quartet.

Nigeria is a team full of quality, Mozambiques Dutch coach Mart Nooij said. They were the better team. They played with a lot of confidence.

Facing the prospect of failing to reach the last eight for the first time since 1982, Nigeria wasted plenty of chances in the opening minutes.

Nigerias first attempt on goal came in the eighth minute when Hoffenheims Chinedu Obasi almost punished a weak defensive clearance by Mozambique, but his shot was saved by Kapango.

There were further chances for Obasi and Odemwingie, who both went close for Nigeria before Odemwingie finally broke the deadlock on the stroke of halftime when he fired a low, hard shot past Kapango.

Manager Rafael Benitez has warned Liverpools rivals for Champions League qualification that his side will only get better in the second half of the season.

A 2-0 victory over current fourth-placed side Tottenham lifted the Reds to within one point of their opponents.

The race for the final Champions League spot looks like being between Spurs, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Manchester City but Benitez is just pleased to be back in it after a couple of difficult months.

It was important for everyone here because we had to reduce the gap and stay in the race, said the Spaniard.

I am really pleased with the attitude of the players, we showed character.

Normally the last five years we do better in the second half of the league.

Everyone knows Liverpool are a good team and it was just a question of time to start winning games and showing our quality.

Also now some of them (Liverpools opponents) know the race will be with four teams.

Benitez praised Kuyt for scoring goals at either end of the match, firing home in the sixth minute from the edge of the area and then converting a twice-taken penalty in second-half injury time.

Dirk works very hard, he could maybe have scored four goals today, said the Liverpool boss.

Always his commitment is 100% so we are really pleased for him too.

It was important for us to score early. We were playing well but in the first half we were not in control, although we had the better chances.

The second half was more clear. After the first goal they (Tottenham) had to go forward and left spaces, which was good for us.

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp acknowledged his side were out-fought by Liverpool but admitted he was baffled by a decision which ruled out a goal for Jermain Defoe early in the second half.

Sotirios Kyrgiakos dithered on the ball before surprising Jose Reina with a short back-pass and Defoe dispossessed the keeper before rolling the ball into an open net.

However, referee Howard Webbs whistle had already gone for an infringement - although no-one was quite sure whether it was for offside or a foul.

Ill probably sit up at home tonight reading the rule book for a couple of hours and see what the rules actually are, said the Spurs boss.

The referee nor the linesman seemed to know - they probably phoned a friend.

Is he active, is it second phase; there are so many rules now. But if it was offside it was offside.

I havent really looked at it too much but it makes no difference now.

Redknapp felt his side had squandered an opportunity to put down a marker for fourth place and admitted the race was wide open.

I came here thinking we could win tonight so I was disappointed really. We missed a chance, he added.

We needed to get off to a decent start to get the crowd quiet but they scored an early goal.

To be fair to Liverpool they worked really hard and we found it hard to get our game going.

It (the race for top four) is open. Liverpool, Manchester City, Aston Villa, Tottenham - it is a toss-up.

Weve been on a good run but just because weve lost one game it doesnt mean were out of it.

It is all to play for still.