Sir Alex Ferguson banks on Liverpool pride

Barclays Premier League
Venues: Anfield and Stadium of Light Date: Sunday, 2 May
Kick-offs: 1330 BST - Liverpool v Chelsea; 1600 BST - Sunderland v Man Utd
Coverage: BBC Sport website, BBC Radio 5 live, local radio and Sky Sports
Highlights: Match of the Day 2 at 2225 BST

Sir Alex Ferguson insists Liverpool will not "throw away history" by giving Chelsea the win to scupper Manchester United's Premier League title chances.

The Blues head to Anfield one point clear of United, who visit Sunderland bidding to overhaul the record of 18 English titles they hold with the Reds.

With two games to go, United boss Ferguson said: "They've been in 11 European finals and won 18 titles.

"Great clubs don't throw traditions away for one game. The fans know that."

The 68-year-old Scot added: "Do you think the fans want to go home saying their players capitulated and they didn't try and thinking it wouldn't happen again?"

Liverpool have endured a difficult season, which took a further downturn when they suffered a Europa League semi-final defeat at the hands of Atletico Madrid on Thursday, going out on away goals after Diego Forlan's extra-time strike.

I don't care what Manchester United will do. I will play to win on Sunday because I want to make sure we can get those three points and still have a chance of fourth place

Jose Reina

However, with Ferguson's side facing Sunderland at the Stadium of Light two hours later, the Scot is hopeful that Liverpool's proud history and their professionalism will ensure they perform against Chelsea.

The Merseysiders themselves are battling for fourth place which comes with the chance to play in the lucrative Champions League but Rafael Benitez's Reds are seventh, two points behind fourth-place Tottenham having played one game more.

"It is difficult to say how Liverpool's players will feel," reflected Ferguson, who could have 34-goal striker Wayne Rooney and defender Rio Ferdinand available again after recent injuries. "It is Rafa's job to prepare his players.

"The way we lost to Bayern Munich [in the Champions League] gave me a difficult job to raise players but you have to do it. That is your job.

"It took me a couple of days to get over it. But you can't wallow in pity.


ALAN HANSEN COLUMN
Talk of Liverpool laying down and allowing Chelsea a win is nonsense

"I would totally agree that we would have preferred last night's game to finish in 90 minutes and I have always said teams don't get the proper help when they are in Europe.

"Having to play Sunday lunchtime after a Thursday game is not fair but it happens time and again when we see repeatedly teams abroad being allowed to bring games forward to suit their programme. That is a fact.

"They say there is congestion but it is not that big you can't help a team by one day or a few hours.

"We have all had to cope with it over the years. You depend on the great resilience of the English player."

This weekend's fixture situation bears similarities to 1995, when on the last day of the season United headed to West Ham knowing it would take a victory at Upton Park and a Liverpool win over Blackburn at Anfield to give them the title.


I think that Sunderland will do their best to beat United and Liverpool will do the same against us

Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti

United's failure to beat the Hammers 15 years ago made Liverpool's victory over Blackburn that day redundant.

But Ferguson is hoping Benitez's side can emulate their predecessors to aid the Red Devils in their quest to claim a record 19th league title by sealing an historic fourth in succession.

"We were depending on Liverpool producing - and they did," recalled Ferguson.

"You have to earn a right to win the title. Okay, there were a lot of English players in their team that day and they understood the history of Liverpool FC.

"But I don't think there has been such a swing that the current players do not understand the history of Liverpool."

Liverpool goalkeeper Jose Reina has bristled at the suggestion he and his team-mates would be going for anything other than a victory against Chelsea.

"I don't play for them," Spaniard Reina said. "I play for my team and my supporters.

"I don't care what Manchester United will do. I will play to win on Sunday because I want to make sure we can get those three points and still have a chance of fourth place.

"We are playing at home and we never play for a draw or defeat. We will try to deliver a last home win of the season."


606: DEBATE
I think Liverpool will go to win the game. For one they need the points themselves and secondly they can always say that they won the league for United

Owen 007

While Liverpool can be expected to provide stern opposition as Chelsea target another three points, Blues boss Carlo Ancelotti was unfazed by suggestions that Sunderland - managed by former United captain Steve Bruce - may not provide Ferguson's men with the toughest of challenges.

"I think that Sunderland will do their best to beat United and Liverpool will do the same against us," Ancelotti said.

"Every team has respect for this Premier League and every team has to do their best until the end of the matches.

"We have to pay attention because Liverpool are a strong team and it's very difficult to win at Anfield, but we have to try. We need to have three more points after Sunday.

"With two victories we can be champions, so we have to focus on our game and not think about Sunderland's result."

READ MORE - Sir Alex Ferguson banks on Liverpool pride

Extra practice for Chelsea despite a magnificent 7

Chelsea aren't leaving anything to chance ahead of Sunday's crucial trip to Anfield. The team that scored seven against Stoke last weekend had extra shooting practice this week as they prepare for the match which could decide the fate of the Premier League title race.

At least Didier Drogba thinks so. The Ivory Coast striker - who's duelling with Wayne Rooney for the Golden Boot award - agreed to talk to Sportsworld between shooting practice and further treatment on his hernia problem. He was digesting the front page of the newspaper when I came into the room, but having brought him up to speed on Gordon Brown's encounter with Gillian Duffy, and warned him that the microphone was now live, he told me how this season has been the best of his career.

"I've been here for six years and many things have been said in the last six years - including by me. But I'm here, I'm scoring goals, creating some assists and I think this is the best season of my career. It's nice to be in the same place for many years. For me and for my kids, it's important to have some stability. I feel good here."

One of the reasons he signed a further three year contract with Chelsea last August is the memory of having to leave the Ivory Coast's capital Abidjan, and his parents, at the age of just 5 to start a new life with his uncle in France. He's thrived in Carlo Ancelotti's first season at Stamford Bridge - scoring 32 goals in a Chelsea side which has rattled in 93 in the Premier League alone.

"When (Ancelotti) was in Milan, they were playing attacking football and always playing with 2 or 4 attacking players. They used to play well. I think he's one of the guys who changed the mentality in Italy: to play forward and score more goals."

There will be no surgery on Drogba's troublesome hernia this side of the World Cup Finals. He's not playing pain free, but assures fans in the Ivory Coast that he will not be held back by injury when the team come up against Brazil, Portugal and North Korea in Group G.

"I will be able to play at my best. It's sometimes painful, but I don't see any player at this stage of the season who's playing pain free, who's not tired or something like that. This is not a big big big deal. It's sometimes painful, but it's not a big big big problem which is why I will wait until the end of the World Cup to do the surgery. I'm not even worried about it."

He is, though, worried about the "scandalous" statistic that an African child dies of malaria every thirty seconds. Drogba, Chelsea, and their official international charity partner Right To Play are supporting the United Against Malaria campaign, which aims to encourage families to sleep under nets to beat the disease by the time of the next World Cup in Brazil. Drogba, Michael Essien and Haile Gebrselassie are some of the stars who will be featured on information cards that will be given out alongside the nets.

"It is scandalous" Drogba told me, "and something that has been there for years and years, so the fact that the World Cup is in Africa this year is a big opportunity to call people and say look this is what is happening in Africa, this is what is killing kids. This is a really easy problem to solve. When you speak about malaria, people think it's like HIV, but it's very easy to fight: you need a net, just a net, and then you are OK."

You can hear the whole interview with Didier Drogba on Sportsworld this Saturday from 14 hours GMT, and then you can give me your reaction on Sportsworld Have Your Say from 1730. Will Chelsea's inconsistent away form cost them the title at Anfield on Sunday? And if you are in the Ivory Coast, are you confident that Drogba will be at his best come the World Cup Finals?

READ MORE - Extra practice for Chelsea despite a magnificent 7

Liverpool coach Borrell says academy 'was unacceptable'

Borrell, who came with Jose Segura from Barcelona, believes it could take another two years before a player breaks through into the first team.

"The reality of what we found here was unacceptable," Borrell told BBC Sport.

The likes of Jamie Carragher, Steven Gerrard, Robbie Fowler and Michael Owen all came through the Liverpool ranks.

But since that crop of talented youngsters, the Liverpool academy has struggled to develop a regular supply of players ready for the demands of the Premier League and European football.

Striker Neil Mellor featured intermittently under Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez before being released to Preston, while full-back Stephen Warnock has gone on to play for England since leaving the Reds for Blackburn and then Aston Villa.

This season, Jay Spearing, Martin Kelly and Daniel Pacheco have been limited to occasional forays off the bench.

Benitez - who has signed highly rated Charlton midfielder Jonjo Shelvey, 18, and 15-year-old England youth international Raheem Sterling from QPR recently - says the club have a long-term plan to bring "British players with passion" to the club.
Jonjo Shelvey
Liverpool signed 18-year-old Shelvey from League One side Charlton

"(We want) players who you can feel what playing for Liverpool means to them," said Benitez,

"Shelvey is one of these and we have two or three names ready so we will try to do the best for the club.

"I was trying to sign Gareth Barry before and Glen Johnson was the same idea - we have this long-term plan in place and we will try to follow the plan."

Benitez has expressed his frustration at the lack of talent coming through and moves to restructure the youth structure began when former Liverpool winger Steve Heighway stepped down as academy coach in April 2007.

The club created a new position of academy technical manager, a post initially taken by former Ajax player Piet Hamberg before he was replaced by Segura in May 2009.

Borrell, who joined at the same time to coach the under-18s, said they have been working hard to introduce the practices that functioned to great effect at Barcelona's academy, which produced seven of the team who beat Manchester United in last year's Champions League final.

"The under-18s had no centre forward, no balance. They had no tactical level, no understanding of the game," said Borrell, who spent 13 years at Barcelona, where he worked with Cesc Fabregas and Lionel Messi.

"We are working hard, but you can't change things overnight.

"I think we have made a lot of progress over eight months, but we need to improve a lot more to get more players into the first team.



"I think if we keep working hard maybe in two years somebody can appear in the first team."

Liverpool's academy features players from Hungary, Iceland, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Spain, Portugal and Australia, but Borrell says the priority is to produce English players.

"When I arrived the first thing Rafa told me was that the biggest interest is to try to develop English players," he said.

"I agree - the best players to defend the Barca shirt are Catalan players, the best players to defend the Liverpool shirt are English players.

"The rest of the players who are not English, they must be massive, massive quality.

"We have to fight to make English players arrive. If in two or three years one of our players does make the first team, I think he will be English."

READ MORE - Liverpool coach Borrell says academy 'was unacceptable'