Everton planning transfer raid for Arsenal star

West Ham star Kieron Dyer could be forced to quit

England keeper David James joins Stoke urnley and Everton in transfer battle for Blades ace

Celtic line up Pompey striker

Chelsea facing hefty Sturridge bill

Rovers target Boro boy Gary O'Neill

Sunderland close to Cabanas deal

Bristol City move for Scunthorpe strike star

Burnley target Sheffield Wednesday defensive ace

From today's other papers:

Spanish giants Real Madrid have joined the race to sign Crystal Palace's highly-rated 19-year-old striker Victor Moses. (Daily Mail)

Arsenal and Real Madrid are competing to sign 18-year-old midfielder Sergio Canales from Racing Santander. (Daily Star)

The Gunners are also considering a move for Lazio striker Mauro Zarate - but he will cost £17m. (The Independent)

Birmingham are prepared to pay £14m to sign 23-year-old midfielder Aiden McGeady from Celtic, but the Scottish club are not keen to sell. (Daily Telegraph)

Bolton boss Owen Coyle wants to sign Newcastle striker Andy Carroll and will try to tempt the Magpies with a £2m bid. (Daily Mail)

Manchester United are considering an £18m bid for Porto defender Rolando, who has been outstanding in this season's Champions League. (Daily Mail)

Sir Alex Ferguson isn’t hurting too much from two dropped points against Birmingham City last weekend, putting the result down to facing an in-form Blues side in “a very tight league”.

On Friday the United manager confirmed the imminent return of key figures Edwin van der Sar and Rio Ferdinand, and highlighted the need for a return to consistency in defence which was the solid foundation of last season’s success.

“It’s a difficult league,” the boss said. “Teams are dropping points that they wouldn’t have dropped before. It’s become a very tight league. It’s the consistency; the team who becomes the consistent team has a fantastic chance [of winning the title].”

Even then, Sir Alex has considered rethinking his own belief that the title will come from two teams – namely United and current league leaders Chelsea. “History always tells you that two teams normally break away, but it could be a different season, we could see a change from that.”

Claiming a point against Birmingham was a missed opportunity in the sense that United could have gone above Chelsea, who now have a one-point advantage and a game in-hand. But the Reds are unbeaten in the last three league games and Sir Alex wants his men to build on some of the elements of the display at St. Andrew’s.

“When you’re 1-0 down at half-time away from home, you can’t think you’re just going to steamroller teams in that situation,” he said. “Not a team like Birmingham who are enjoying a fantastic spell and have got themselves into the top half of the league. I thought it was a credible performance and result, I wasn’t upset by that.

“Birmingham have only conceded six goals in 13 matches, and they’d got into a great habitof winning games 1-0. That’s championship-winning form. For 40 minutes we absolutely dominated. We played very well. You have to give credit to Birmingham’s players for the amount of times they blocked shots, diving in the way to block the ball. It was fantastic commitment by Birmingham, you have to hold your hands up and say Alex McLeish has done a fantastic job there.”

The job for United now is to get back to winning ways against Burnley at Old Trafford on Saturday. The Turf Moor club have been plunged into turmoil with the recent departure of Owen Coyle to Bolton Wanderers. “Nothing surprises you in football now,” said the boss. “Burnley just have to move on. They had to make a quick decision because of the position they are in. But Brian Laws has experience.”

United, of course, have less than fond memories of the last meeting with Burnley, a 1-0 reverse away from home earlier in the season. Fingers burnt, United now have an opportunity to exact revenge. “It was their first home game of the season, against Manchester United,” explained the boss. “There was a fantastic atmosphere that night and their players ran a hundred miles for the win. We missed a lot of chances and didn’t deserve to win it. When you miss chances, you can’t say that you deserve three points. It was Burnley’s night, it happens.”