wayne rooney has potential to join football's elite, says fabio capello

wayne rooney reminds fabio capello of raúl and "has the potential to be one of the best players in the world". the england coach, who tonight names his squad for saturday's friendly with slovenia and the world cup qualifier against croatia on wednesday week, has also praised rooney's manchester united team-mate michael owen, but hinted the striker would again miss out on a place in the squad.

tv online: man utd v arsenal - highlights

as ever, it was a dramatic encounter at old trafford between arsenal and manchester united on saturday evening. whether it is andrey arshavin's opener, rooney's penalty or van persie last-gasp 'offside' goal, arsenal tv online subscribers can now see all the action in the way they want. the first is a two minutes long bitesize highlights package and features the key moments from the match. the second is a 12-minute long extended highlights package.

laura's challenge ends in breathless failure

laura robson's attempt to become the youngest briton ever to qualify for the us open ended in bitter disappointment here at flushing meadow last night. the 2008 junior wimbledon champion, who will not be 16 until january, led the czech republic's eva hrdinova 4-0 in the third set only to lose 7-6 4-6 7-6 after a remarkable match lasting more than three hours. elena baltacha, the other briton attempting to qualify, also went out, losing 4-6 6-2 6-3 to australia's anastasia rodionova.

lennon swoops to keep tottenham flying

aaron lennon's strike deep into injury-time ensured that tottenham hotspur continued their best start to a league campaign for 49 years. but with four wins from four matches they have a long way to go to emulate the 1960-61 double winning side, who launched that remarkable season with 11 successive victories. but harry redknapp's men face two of their sternest tests of the season after the international break, when they face manchester united and then chelsea.

kitson finally makes a splash after drought

it is said that good things come to those who wait and the stoke city striker, dave kitson, should appreciate that after ending a premier league goal drought which was becoming embarrassing. kitson, a club record £5.5m buy from reading in july of last year, was scoring for the second time this week – he was also on target in the carling cup victory against leyton orient – but the relief which greeted his match-winning goal at the britannia stadium yesterday was understandable.

stearman special scant reward for wolves work

time will tell whether wolverhampton wanderers can play much better than this in the company they now keep. what can probably be said is that they will not dominate a game more. trailing to an early geovanni header, they so outplayed hull city as to make both clubs' first draw of the season seem unfair. they created and missed several chances, most glaringly when sam vokes headed wide from matt jarvis's stoppage-time cross.

hart not laughing all the way to the bank

after the completion of sulaiman al-fahim's takeover of portsmouth in midweek – so belated that it caught everyone by surprise – today's game against manchester city at fratton park might be called the dubai derby. it is clear, however, that the two clubs do not go into it on anything like equal terms, financial or otherwise. a year ago, the abu dhabi group completed their purchase of city the day before the transfer deadline and promptly allowed mark hughes to spend £32m on the stunning capture of robinho.

martinez sticks to his guns and heads for glory

the pact that wigan have made is with the deep allure of potential. roberto martinez arrived during the summer with a reputation, built around the worth of a small but persuasive body of work at swansea, telling of glorious possibilities. these opening weeks of the season have allowed brief glimpses of what might be achieved, but also reaffirmed the harsh truth of what it is to remake a football team in a different, more compelling image.

new boy warnock ready for national service

after three broken legs as a teenager, no medal from liverpool's champions' league triumph of 2005 after six appearances en route to the final and the briefest england career in history, stephen warnock is accustomed to tackling adversity as if it were a particularly tricky right-winger. so the prospect of making his debut for aston villa against fulham today – in a team still suffering the claret and blues after an unexpected failure to reach the europa league group stages against rapid vienna on thursday – leaves warnock undaunted.

champions' league: draw fails to threaten english domination

whether or not michel platini's campaign against debt is primarily aimed at premier league clubs, the champions' league draw has failed to threaten england's recent domination of the competition. for all the wise words warning against complacency, not one of the regular quartet can complain about their fate. instead, it is italy and spain whose representatives have been thrown into the more testing sections.