England debutants rise to 33 under Eriksson

In England's goalless draw in the friendly against Holland at Villa Park, coach Sven-Goran Eriksson gave a baptism to forwards Andy Johnson, of Crystal Palace, and Middlesbrough's Stewart Downing. This was the first home 0-0 draw since the Swedish coach took over.

Eriksson has now given 33 players their England debut.

The entire list of players with the club they are with at present reads:

Michael Ball (Rangers), Gavin McCann (Aston Villa), Chris Powell (West Ham), Ashley Cole (Arsenal), Michael Carrick (Tottenham), Joe Cole (Chelsea), Alan Smith (Manchester United), Danny Mills (Manchester City), Owen Hargreaves (Bayern Munich), Trevor Sinclair (Manchester City),

Danny Murphy (Charlton), Wayne Bridge (Chelsea), Michael Ricketts (Leeds - on loan at Stoke), Darius Vassell (Aston Villa), Ledley King (Tottenham), Lee Bowyer (Newcastle), David Dunn (Birmingham), Paul Robinson (Tottenham), Paul Konchesky (Charlton), Jermaine Jenas (Newcastle),

James Beattie (Everton), Francis Jeffers (Charlton), Wayne Rooney (Man. United), Matthew Upson (Birmingham), John Terry (Chelsea), Glen Johnson (Chelsea), Scott Parker (Chelsea), Jermaine Defoe (Tottenham), Alan Thompson (Celtic), Anthony Gardner (Tottenham), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Man. City), Stewart Downing (Middlesbrough), Andy Johnson (Crystal Palace).

Other news items

¤ Motherwell progress to the League Cup final for the first time since 1955, beating Hearts 3-2 after extra time at Easter Road.

¤ At Hampden Park, Rangers defeat Dundee United 7-1 to reach a record 30th League Cup final.

¤ UEFA announce that clubs participating in the Champions League and Uefa Cup will have to include four homegrown players in their 25-man squad from 2006. The number will increase to six players by 2007 and eight in 2008. Of the eight, at least four must have been trained by the club's own academy and the rest in the home territory.

¤ In an Under-21 championship match, Wales lose 0-4 to Germany at home. Under-21 friendlies: England-Holland 1-2 (Lita, at Derby), Northern Ireland-Scotland 2-1, Portugal-Ireland 2-0.

¤ At Villa Park, England share the spoils in a 0-0 draw with Holland in a friendly international. Eriksson gives debuts to Stewart Downing (Middlesbrough) and Andrew Johnson (Crystal Palace).

Other friendly internationals: Northern Ireland-Canada 0-1, Ireland-Portugal 1-0 (O'Brien), Wales-Hungary 2-0 (Bellamy 2).

Award for Lampard

¤ Frank Lampard, of Chelsea, is named England's Player of the Year by fans on the FA's website. Lampard gathers 40 per cent of the overall voting, ahead of Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and Ashley Cole.

¤ In Arsenal's 5-1 victory over Crystal Palace at Highbury, the Reds field the first foreign 16-man squad in English football history.

¤ A whitewash by Chelsea in monthly awards - Jose Mourinho (Manager), John Terry (Player) and Petr Cech (Special Merit Award for keeping a record ten Premiership clean sheets in a row).

¤ North-eastern sides Newcastle (2-1, vs Heerenveen) and Middlesbrough (2-2, vs Graz AK) register positive away results in the third round first leg of the UEFA Cup.

¤ Manchester United remain the richest club in the world when figures of season 2003-04 are released. They had an income of £171.5m.

¤ Tottenham mourn the loss of former captain and Welsh international left-half Ronnie Burgess. He died aged 87.

¤ In Champions League last 16 first legs, Liverpool defeat Bayer Leverkusen 3-1 at Anfield and Manchester United go down 0-1 to Milan at Old Trafford. On the away front Chelsea lose 1-2 in Barcelona and Arsenal are beaten 3-1 at Bayern Munich.

¤ An FA Cup shock for Charlton, who lose at The Valley to Leicester, 1-2, in the fifth round.

¤ Middlesbrough and Newcastle reach the fourth round of the UEFA Cup at the expense of Graz AK (4-3 on aggregate) and Heerenveen (4-2 on aggregate) respectively.

¤ At the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Chelsea defeat Liverpool 3-2 after extra time in the final of the League Cup.

¤ Players will no longer be penalised for showing dissent by having free-kicks moved ten yards after the FA states that the rule did not work.

Leading marksmen

English Premier League
22 - Henry (Arsenal)
18 - Johnson (Crystal Palace)
11 - Defoe (Tottenham)

Scottish Premier League
18 - Novo (Rangers)
17 - Riordan (Hibernian)
16 - Hartson (Celtic)

Average attendances

1. Man. United 67,857 (1)
2. Newcastle - 51,806 (2)
3. Man. City - 45,162 (3)
4. Liverpool - 42,517 (4)
5. Chelsea - 41,873 (5)
6. Arsenal - 37,937 (6)
7. Aston Villa - 37,605 (7)
8. Everton - 36,892 (8)
9. Tottenham - 35,874 (9)
10. Middlesbrough - 32,023 (10)

11. Southampton - 29,998 (11)
12. Birmingham - 28,638 (12)
13. Charlton - 26,221 (13)
14. Bolton - 25,935 (14)
15. West Brom - 25,781 (15)
16. Norwich - 23,991 (16)
17. Crystal Palace - 23,579 (17)
18. Blackburn - 22,758 (18)
19. Portsmouth - 20,035 (20)
20. Fulham - 19,502 (19)

Consistency table

The Premiership's Pride - the clubs and their average points per game played since the birth of the Premier League in 1992-93 up to March 1. Last month's positions are shown in brackets.

Active leading scorers

The hot shots in the Premiership - since the inauguration of the Premier League up to March 6. Players' clubs are as they stand at present.

1. Alan Shearer (Newcastle) 250
2. Andy Cole (Fulham) 175
3. Robbie Fowler (Man. City) 151
4. Thierry Henry (Arsenal) 134
5. Dwight Yorke (Birmingham) 121
6. J.F. Hasselbaink (M'boro) 113
7. Ryan Giggs (Man. United) 86
7. Paul Scholes (Man. United) 86
9. O.G. Solskjaer (Man. United) 84
10. Dennis Bergkamp (Arsenal) 83