[unable to retrieve full-text content]• Anfield club accuses FA of damaging player's reputation• Uruguayan denies racially abusing Patrice EvraLiverpool will not appeal against Luis Suárez's eight-match ban for calling Patrice Evra "negro", a decision that was followed by a remarkable and inflammatory statement from the Anfield club accusing the Manchester United defender of effectively making up his story and the Football Association of putting together a "highly subjective" case in favour Read more

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Winning the Premier League is as much about pretence as pre-eminence. This result has the tone of the rampant Manchester City we have seen so often but it was not really so. At this congested stretch of the fixture list there was unlikely to be expansive play, particularly from a side beaten at Sunderland two days earlier.Given the context, City could be pardoned for feeling that they had returned to authoritative ways. This may not have been a rout but Read more

[unable to retrieve full-text content]It is tempting to wonder whether Jermain Defoe's desperation to be noticed provided the motivation for his blond-rinse crop. The striker has struggled to nail down a regular starting place for Tottenham Hotspur and his future is sure to be a hot topic in January while he is fretting over his England prospects at Euro 2012.The livewire, though, offered a more conventional reminder of his talents as he broke West Bromwich Albion's dogged resistance, to maintain Read more

[unable to retrieve full-text content]• Midfielder appeared to head-butt Norwich's Bradley Johnson• Barton had given QPR the lead before being sent offQueens Park Rangers have lodged an appeal against the red card received by Joey Barton in the fractious 2-1 Premier League defeat to Norwich City at Loftus Road on Monday.The midfielder was sent off when he was adjudged to have butted Norwich's Bradley Johnson by the referee Neil Swarbrick, who took advice from his assistant, David Richardson.A Read more

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Plus: Did Wayne Rooney score the earliest ever top-flight goal?; a crest myth exposed; and has a journalist ever played for his or her country? Send your questions and answers to knowledge@guardian.co.uk and follow us on Twitter"Has anyone ever erected a statue of anyone younger than the 34-year-old Thierry Henry?" wonders Martyn Rees. "And has any player played for a team knowing his statue is outside?"As you'd expect it's quite a rare feat for a player to have Read more