Manchester United Vs Manchester City 3-1: Carling Cup SemiFinal at Old Trafford

Manchester United Vs Manchester City (1-0) Aggregate (2-2) Paul Scholes
Manchester United Vs Manchester City (2-0) Aggregate (3-2) Michel Carrick

Manchester United Vs Manchester City (2-1) Aggregate (3-3) Carlos Tevez

Manchester United Vs Manchester City (3-1) Aggregate (4-3) Wayne Rooney

Rooney takes United to Wembley

Wayne Rooney headed Manchester United to Wembley with an injury-time winner to beat Manchester City 3-1 on the night, 4-3 on aggregate.

The England striker settled a pulsating Carling Cup semi-final when he turned home Ryan Giggs' cross from close range at Old Trafford.

United had already been pegged back once when Carlos Tevez scored to haul City level on aggregate after Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick had found the net either side of half-time.

Villa booked their place in the final last week, when they beat Blackburn Rovers 6-4 in the their semi-final second leg at Villa Park.

The final will take place at Wembley Stadium on Sunday 28th February.

Video : Manchester United 4 Hull City 0 : Rooney 4 goals

Manchester United 1 Hull CIty 0 [Rooney]

Manchester United 2 Hull CIty 0 [Rooney]



Manchester United 3 Hull CIty 0 [Rooney]



Manchester United 4 Hull CIty 0 [Rooney]

Manchester united 4 hull city 0 : WAYNE ROONEY hit all four goals to fire Manchester United back to the top of the Premier League table

Rooney was at his brilliant best to help the champions to 50 points, two clear of Arsenal and Chelsea.

The England striker was quickly out of the traps as he reacted first after Boaz Myhill could only parry Paul Scholes' stinging drive from 30 yards on seven minutes

He sealed the points on 82 minutes as he made the most of a mistake from Myhill.

Roo rounded off his treble four minutes later with another clinical finish before grabbing his first four-goal display in injury-time.

It was one-way traffic after Rooney's opener at Old Trafford and Nani's long-ranger was always too high, while Park Ji Sung glanced a header wide from Darren Fletcher's cross.

The returning Rio Ferdinand turned a Nani corner into the side-netting before Nick Barmby finally tested Edwin van Der Sar with an angled drive.

Rooney turned onto Nani's cross but his shot flew over after cannoning off Paul McShane.

Nani went down under Geovanni's tackle after a neat bit of skill had taken him into the Hull box, but ref Steve Bennett waved away appeals for a penalty.

Andy Dawson then robbed Michael Owen after Rooney had supplied the inspired through ball.

Ferdinand failed to test Myhill with a header from the corner as United continued to press.

Myhill turned away Owen's acrobatic volley then, after Rooney had released Nani, Kamil Zayatte was forced to concede a corner to prevent Owen tapping into an empty net.

Rooney curled a free-kick narrowly wide and missed another chance in-between a rare Hull attack which ended with Zayatte heading wide.

Rooney's temper was on the boil, though, and he was booked for a poor tackle on Stephen Hunt.

A cleverly disguised Nani pass left Owen with a clear sight of goal again but McShane's last-ditch tackle prevented him from rolling home United's second.

Nani's low cross flashed across goal, with neither Owen nor Rooney able to make contact with despairing lunges.

Rafael almost played Van der Sar into trouble with an underhit back-pass, then Patrice Evra made a fine blocked tackle to halt Bernard Mendy's run.

Rooney's long-range effort beat Myhill but also the keeper's right-hand post and Owen glanced Nani's free-kick wide.

REAL MADRID have stepped up their chase for Wayne Rooney

The Spanish giants want football's best-known middle-man to try to negotiate a deal with Manchester United. And Roo is one of Real chief Florentino Perez's top summer targets.

A Madrid source said: "Zahavi has been told to do all he can to try to bring Rooney to the Bernabeu. The club are confident a deal can be done."

Speculation about the England striker's future has intensified following revelations about United's precarious finances.

Perez, who signed Cristiano Ronaldo from United in a world-record £80million switch last year, normally gets what he wants.

Employing Zahavi shows Real are serious in their pursuit of Rooney, 24.

Zahavi is the go-to guy for all major deals in world football.

The Israeli, who also represents Rio Ferdinand, was the man who brought Roman Abramovich to Chelsea.

No Man United Players On Facebook Or Twitter

Over recent months footballers from other clubs have made some controversial comments using either twitter or facebook. The most recent being Liverpool’s Ryan Babel revealing that he had been dropped by Rafa Benitez.

Man United have confirmed that none of their players are on social networking sites.

A notice on ManUtd.com read: "The club wishes to make it clear no United players maintain personal profiles on social networking websites.

"Fans encountering any web pages purporting to be written by United players should treat them with extreme scepticism."

Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs and Darren Fletcher all had accounts on twitter- they have been removed. Giggs, Wes Brown and Rio Ferdinand all had facebook accounts and they have also been removed.

next four league fixtures will make or break Arsenal entire season

TOMAS ROSICKY knows Arsenal are facing the fortnight from hell before they can possibly contemplate a trip to title heaven.

The revitalised Premier League leaders have overturned an 11-point deficit in seven weeks to storm past Chelsea and Manchester United at the top.

But now Arsene Wenger's youngsters are steeling themselves for a two-week spell which will determine whether they are genuine championship contenders or mere pretenders to the throne once again.

Both winger Rosicky and his boss admit the next four league fixtures will make or break their entire season.

That awesome foursome kicks off with a trip to Aston Villa next Wednesday, followed by a home game against United, a date at Chelsea and then a visit from Liverpool.

Rosicky said: "Everybody knows the coming weeks are the critical ones in the whole season.

"If we can win the majority of our next four Premier League games, it will have a huge bearing on where the title goes."

Rosicky's goal sparked the Gunners' incredible fightback on Wednesday night, when they beat struggling Bolton 4-2 after trailing by two early goals.

The Czech international believes the victory will have a huge psychological impact on the team, after they edged ahead of Chelsea on goals scored.

He added: "This win came at just the right time. It is great for the confidence of everyone at the club.

"It shows this team has great mental strength and a desire to win the title.

"It was a real shock to find ourselves 2-0 down. So to turn it around in the style we did was a great boost for everyone.

"Even when we were trailing at half-time, the boss was very confident we would go on to win.

"The most important thing was not to panic. We continued to play ]our game and it paid off. It is such an important result because it shows all the other teams what we are able to do."

Rosicky, who recently signed a new contract, believes the turning point in Arsenal's season was the shock 3-0 home defeat by Chelsea on November 29.

The Gunners have taken an impressive 23 points from their nine league games since, while all their title rivals have faltered.

Rosicky declared: "We have found the consistency we were lacking in the last couple of seasons.

"Since the loss against Chelsea, we have gone on a run and started something new.

 "No one expected to close the gap at the top quite so quickly. But things can change in just a few weeks.Can we win the title this year? We are definitely up for it and want to do it."

Rosicky's confidence is shared by Wenger, who has led the club to three Premier League titles already but has no trophy since the 2005 FA Cup.

He said: "We have a real chance to win the title this year and will have a real go.

"After we lost to Chelsea, it looked a little ludicrous to say we would come back.

"Yet, in spite of that, the players continued to fight with real belief. I am very proud of what my players have achieved. They have kept going no matter what people said about them.

"Everyone knows the next four league games will be very important for us. We will have a better idea of where we stand."

One player unable to be a part of the title push is left-back Kieran Gibbs, ruled out for the season with a metatarsal problem.

Gibbs, 20, will have a bone graft op today to heal the fracture he got in the last minute of the Champions League clash with Standard Liege in November.

He said: "I'm gutted. The other option would have been to let the bone grow in my foot. But I'd run the risk of it carrying on into next season and we don't want to do that."