A roundup of today's other stories in brief.
Happiness the key
Sunderland manager Roy Keane is convinced happiness is behind his side's promotion push. The former Manchester United and Ireland midfielder heads into the last two games of the season knowing victory in both will see them return to the Premiership at the first attempt. Keane may be in the early days of his management career, but he knew instinctively that keeping his players happy would give him a better chance of succeeding, and he has been proved correct. He said: "The players are well-disciplined, they are focused on the job at hand, and my job is to make sure the players are happy, and I think all of our players are happy."
Ranson eyes City
Former Manchester City star Ray Ranson has assured the club's fans he would not plunge the Blues into further debt should his takeover plans succeed. Ranson has confirmed he made "indicative proposals" to the City board over a potential buyout and even though his offer did not receive a favourable response, is now considering making another bid.
Meanwhile, City have snubbed a plea from Manchester United to move their derby fixture back 24 hours.
Representatives from Old Trafford are understood to have requested the game at Eastlands, scheduled for lunchtime on Saturday, May 5th, be moved in order to provide them with more recovery time as they are not due to return from their Champions League semi-final in Milan until the early hours of Thursday morning. The game will be played as planned, with a 12.45pm kick-off.
Dudek to quit
Jerzy Dudek will quit Liverpool this summer after claiming he is fed up of being treated like "a slave". The 34-year-old Poland international, a target for Wolfsburg and former club Feyenoord, said: "I have to finally tell Rafa I'm leaving because maybe he's not aware of it. When a player knows he is a slave, he'll never give his employer his heart."
Dudek has warned his fellow keepers off signing for Liverpool. He said: "To get a good keeper, they'd have to spend £3 million to £4 million and then Rafa would have to tell that keeper: 'You're going to sit on the bench'. But no respected keeper would come under those terms and that's why they prefer to keep me."
Jarosik may move
Celtic's Czech midfielder Jiri Jarosik has hinted he would be interested in a summer move back to the Premiership - with Tottenham a possible destination.
The 29-year-old former Chelsea man, who helped Celtic retain the Scottish Premier League title last weekend, has heard of interest from south of the border and will consider his future at the end of the season.
Essien arrested
Chelsea star Michael Essien has been arrested on suspicion of drink-driving, it was revealed yesterday. The midfielder was released on bail pending further inquiries after he was pulled over by police in south London in the early hours of Monday morning.
A spokeswoman for the Chelsea footballer said the police had allowed him to drive home in his own car after the incident. She said: "He is very upset and does not believe he was over the limit."
Fabregas hint
Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas has hinted that his future at the club could be conditional on manager Arsene Wenger remaining in charge of the Premier League side. "I'm aiming to see out my contract at Arsenal, but my future is undoubtedly linked with that of Arsene Wenger," Fabregas was quoted as saying by Spanish sports daily AS after speaking at a promotional event in Madrid.
"He (Wenger) was the person who came out and defended me when there was talk of me leaving and he was the person who signed me when I was just 16. He has a contract until 2008 and despite what people are saying I'm confident he will stay on."
Dunfermline through
Jim McIntyre fired Stephen Kenny's Dunfermline into the Scottish Cup final with a dramatic late penalty over Hibernian in the semi-final replay at Hampden Park last night. McIntyre kept his cool to fire home from 12 yards with just three minutes to go to clinch a meeting with league champions Celtic on May 26th. The dramatic victory also sees the SPL's bottom side claim a Uefa Cup spot for next season.
In brief . . .
Burnley's Irish midfielder James O'Connor was discharged from hospital yesterday after being knocked out in Monday night's game with West Brom . . . Andre Bikey has signed a three-year deal with Reading after the club agreed a £1 million transfer fee with Lokomotiv Moscow for the on-loan defender . . . Brentford have appointed former England captain Terry Butcher as their new manager . . . Lee Hendrie, currently on loan at Stoke, is not expecting Villa boss Martin O'Neill to offer him a new contract thus ending his 13-year association with Aston Villa.
