All-rounder Andrew Flintoff will fly home from the tour of West Indies with a view to returning ahead of the ODI’s.

Flintoff, 31, is currently sidelined with a hip injury and has been ruled out of the final Test in Trinidad next week.

He will continue his rehabilitation back in the UK and is scheduled to join up again with the squad on the final day of the Test series, fitness permitting.

The England management discussed the best option for trying to get Flintoff fit again on Thursday following the first day’s play of the fourth Test at Kensington Oval.

The medical staff recommended he temporarily quit the tour because he can receive better and more intensive rehab treatment. He spent Thursday’s morning session receiving physiotherapy in the dressing room.

At this stage, England have not ruled him out of the Twenty20 match and five one-day internationals that follow the Test series.

But the longer his injury takes to heal, the more scrutiny will be placed on Flintoff’s lucrative deal with Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League, which runs for three weeks in April.

Jan Molby expects Rafael Benitez to remain in charge at Anfield despite speculation surrounding the manager’s future.

Several bookmakers on Wednesday stopped taking bets on markets involving a possible exit for the former Valencia boss, who joined Liverpool in 2004.

Molby was aware rumours had been spreading regarding how long Benitez will remain in charge and told Sky Sports News: “I’d be surprised if Rafa were to walk out on Liverpool. We do know for a while he’s been unhappy about certain things, but I still think it would take a big man to walk out on Liverpool at such a crucial stage of the season.”

The former Denmark international added: “Whereas some people are quite happy to back Rafael Benitez to be gone by the end of the week, I would rather take the odds on him being Liverpool manager next Monday.

“I heard the rumours myself on Tuesday night, and they have been gathering pace, everyone’s talking about it.”

However Molby will not take the talk of Benitez’s possible departure too seriously for now.

He said: “I think the people who say it can’t happen might just prove to be spot-on.”

Kolo Toure maintains he and William Gallas have shown they can work together at the heart of the Arsenal defence.

Arsenal kept their seventh clean sheet from the last nine games as Robin van Persie’s penalty gave them a slender 1-0 advantage over Roma to take back to Italy for the second leg of the Champions League last 16 clash in a fortnight’s time.

While the misfiring Gunners - who had failed to score in any of their last three Barclays Premier League matches - should but for some wayward finishing have put the tie beyond the Italians, it was nevertheless an assured display at the back once again.

That renewed toughness in defence has been down largely to a settled rearguard - with Gallas and Toure, captaining the side in the absence of the injured Cesc Fabregas, producing a string of consistent displays.

It is a marked contrast to earlier in the campaign, when manager Arsene Wenger suggested the pair were struggling to strike up an understanding.

Reports of a training ground bust-up and a transfer request which followed from the Ivory Coast defender - who was attracting interest from Manchester City - are now very much in the past as the Gunners focus on securing a place in the quarter-finals of the European Cup and forcing themselves back into the Barclays Premier League’s top four.

“William and I, we used to play together and last season I think we only lost three or four games together. I think we know each other really well and we are quite happy to play together,” Toure said.

“Everything is at the end now. It has finished and in the past.

“I am delighted to be at the club, playing every week and helping the team to win games.

“The season is still long and we are out for all the trophies.

“Every game is really important, we will take it game by game and try 100% and see at the end of the season [where we are].”

Toure, last of Wenger’s Invincibles still with the team, declared: “I love Arsenal - I have been at the club for seven years now and it is the club of my heart and I am quite happy at the moment.”

The defender picked up what could yet prove to be a significant caution during last night’s match as the second half started in farcical fashion when Roma kicked off with only nine Arsenal players on the field.

Gallas and Toure eventually dashed from out of the tunnel, with the Ivory Coast international running straight onto the pitch - and was promptly shown a yellow card by Danish referee Claus Bo Larsen for entering the field of play without permission.

It was all down to a superstition of Toure’s to be the last player out.

“I did not know the rule and the good thing is that I have learned a new rule for coming on,” said Toure, who would be suspended for a potential quarter-final if he were to be cautioned again in Rome.

“I do not get a lot of yellow or red cards, but I hope that will not count against me.”

Wenger, meanwhile, will be keeping his fingers crossed Arsenal’s profligacy in front of goal does not come back to haunt them, as Nicklas Bendtner and Emmanuel Eboue were guilty of some poor execution with the Roma goal at their mercy.

Midfielder Samir Nasri, who was given a roaming role behind van Persie last night, maintains Arsenal have what it takes to progress in the Olympic Stadium - host venue for this year’s final.

“This result is not too bad, even though we could have won it with a larger score, fortunately we managed not to concede any goals,” said the France international.

“We created some good opportunities. Now we have to repeat the performance in the return match.

“The positive ahead of the second leg is that we have seen a conquering Arsenal side, with a good defensive display.

“This is very encouraging for the challenges to come.”

Captain Steven Gerrard is in the Liverpool squad to face Real Madrid in the Champions League last-16 tie.

Gerrard has been out for three weeks with a hamstring injury but was able to take part in training at Melwood this morning and is poised to travel to the Spanish capital.

The England star was thought to have been close to featuring in yesterday’s 1-1 Barclays Premier League draw with Manchester City but was ruled out by manager Rafael Benitez late last week.

Benitez told www.liverpoolfc.tv: “Steven will be in the squad. He was okay in training this morning.

“It was a special training session so we were not testing him 100%, but he trained okay so we will see.”

Gerrard has not played for the Reds since limping out of the FA Cup fourth round replay defeat at Everton on February 4.

His return would be a huge boost for Benitez after yesterday’s disappointment, which saw Liverpool end the weekend seven points behind leaders Manchester United.

Xabi Alonso also missed the match against City through suspension but can return at the Bernabeu, raising the prospect of Benitez being able to select his first choice midfield against the club whose youth teams he used to coach.

Stuart Broad is ready to step into Andrew Flintoff’s shoes by taking the new ball for England in fourth Test against West Indies.

Broad, 22, is keen to open the bowling as the tourists attempt to claw their way back into the series without Flintoff, who has been ruled out at the Kensington Oval with a muscle strain in his right hip.

Flintoff will be assessed in the coming days, during which he has been told to rest, in the hope he will be fit for the series finale in Trinidad and the one-day campaign which follows.

“I’m very upset to miss the Test match”

“I am obviously very disappointed to miss the Test match and I will be taking the advice of the England medical team that is out here,” said Flintoff.

Next Thursday’s penultimate match of the series - in which England are 1-0 down - will be the 53rd Test that Flintoff has missed, the vast majority through injury, since making his debut in 1998.

He has been employed in a new-ball role in this series by captain Andrew Strauss but passed the baton to Broad for the second innings of the draw in Antigua, after suffering discomfort in his hip.

Broad, England’s leading wicket-taker in the two completed matches to date with nine at 19.77 apiece, said: “It is a role I have always hunted in an England shirt, both in one-day and Test cricket.

“I have taken the new ball throughout my county career and it is something I would like to do for England. But it is one of those things which is not just handed on a plate - you have to earn the right to do it.

“Obviously with Fred out there is now a chance to take the new ball, and it is one I would jump at.”

England will use the two-day match against a Barbados Cricket Association President’s XI, starting on Monday, to assess options for covering Flintoff’s absence.

Either the batting or bowling depth will suffer as a result - most likely the former due to the need to take 20 wickets - and captain Andrew Strauss and assistant coach Andy Flower will formulate contingency plans in the practice match.

Those discussions would have taken place in better spirits had England separated West Indies’ final pair Daren Powell and Fidel Edwards during 34 minutes of increasing evening gloom on Thursday evening.

“We have been brutally honest with ourselves, we should have won that Test match,” reflected Broad.

“We are getting oursleves in these winning positions and not winning after such hard work in the previous days is very disheartening.

“We are in an environment where that has been and gone. We have got two Test matches to go and we have to win two, so our task is simple.”

England were on the brink of victory when off-spinner Graeme Swann trapped Sulieman Benn leg before wicket.

“I was certainly running around like a headless chicken,” recalled Broad.

“But that light was just going behind the cathedral, I could see the sun going down, and it was one of those moments in which you could feel the anxiety in the whole stadium.

“Everyone was rushing around and with numbers 10 and 11 in you are only one wicket away. But we couldn’t force the issue.”

Much has been made of Broad’s development as a fast bowler over the last 12 months and his maiden five-wicket haul in Jamaica at the start of the Wisden Trophy campaign was a major breakthrough.

Rather than putting on extra speed, however, Broad puts his success down to some old-fashioned principles.

“You never stop developing as a bowler and I’ve certainly learned a lot in these last two years of international cricket,” Broad said. “Before I came away I thought about not having to bowl at 87-88 miles per hour.

“I looked at the likes of Angus Fraser who just ran it back into off-stump and got a lot of wickets here.

“I came here with quite a clear plan to go at two to two-and-a-half runs per over, keep it tight and bowl straight. I have been pleased with how it has gone in the first couple of Test matches.

“Bowling on these slow pitches can improve your skills for when you get back home and hopefully a tour like this can develop me as a bowler.

“Certainly my view has always been to make sure you nail your accuracy and skills, then in time your strength will develop and pace will pick up.”

“Playing for England is most important”

Broad could also find himself promoted to number seven, depending on the rest of the team composition, a role he aspires to more permanently in the future.

He will not feature in the President’s XI contest and neither will Swann, who is suffering from an elbow injury following his eight-wicket haul in the third Test, and is a doubt for next Thursday.

While he takes a breather, however, a longer rest awaits Broad at the end of the tour, having opted not to put himself forward for the Indian Premier League.

“It’s one of the biggest summers of my life coming up, it’s been quite a hectic winter and I felt at my age I wanted to make sure, not just physically but mentally, I was refreshed,” said Broad.

“Rushing off to the subcontinent two days after getting back home from this tour, I felt, was a bit much for me in my development.

“Playing for England is by far the most important thing in my life and I felt that is what I should put all my energies into.”

New Chelsea boss Guus Hiddink is certain that Nicolas Anelka and Didider Drogba can fire his team to glory this season.

The frontline duo were rarely paired together by Hiddink’s Stamford Bridge predecessor Luiz Felipe Scolari who was recently fired by Blues owner Roman Abramovich.

It’s a scenario that the Dutchman seems determined to change after he named both players in the starting line-up for Chelsea’s vital 1-0 Premier League win at Aston Villa on Saturday.

Anelka scored the only goal of the game at Villa Park - Hiddink’s first in charge - and the France international now seems certain to start alongside his Ivory Coast teammate when Chelsea entertain Juventus in the Champions League on Wednesday.

“When they did not play together at Chelsea, that depended upon other people’s style of play. That is in the past,” Hiddink said of Anelka and Drogba.

“My interest is only in the short future ahead for me and the team..

“They played together at Aston Villa in a very important game. You cannot hide in games like that.

“They worked very hard for the team and they helped us get the first win which was very pleasing for everyone, not just me.

“They understand that they are our first line of defence and if they can continue to play like that then there is no problem for me to use their very strong qualities as attacking players.”

Despite Hiddink’s optimism, he will no doubt be hoping that Anelka’s goalscoring feats will rub off on Drogba sooner rather than later. Anelka has 21 goals to his name so far this campaign, while Drogba has just the one.

Cristiano Ronaldo was a happy man on Saturday after his stunning free-kick helped Manchester United beat Blackburn 2-1.

The Portuguese dynamo’s superb second-half set-piece at Old Trafford handed Sir Alex Ferguson’s men their tenth straight league win, a victory that takes them eight points clear at the top of the Barclays Premier League.

Although second-placed Liverpool can reduce the gap on Sunday if they beat Manchester City at Anfield, Ronaldo was delighted with both the win - aided and abetted by Wayne Rooney’s opener - and United’s table-topping position.

“The most important thing is that we are top of the table and now we are eight points ahead of Liverpool,” Ronaldo told United’s official television channel.

“I’m very happy that we got three points. It was a very tough game.

“The manager said before the game that it was going to be one of the toughest games of the season. He has experience and he knows better than anyone.

“We saw in the game that Blackburn created chances and they were a dangerous team playing on the counter attack.

“We controlled most of the game and had more opportunities. At the end of the day I think we deserved to win because we looked to score goals.”

Ronaldo also revealed that he was far from happy that he had been booked for diving, especially when Rovers midfielder Morten Gamst Pedersen fell in the box but did not get booked.

“I thought Pedersen dived. It wasn’t a penalty. Pedersen dived and didn’t get a yellow card, but I dived and he did book me! But I suppose that’s just the situation of the game,” Ronaldo explained.

Despite being frustrated over his booking, Ronaldo was quick to say just how delighted he was with his 60^th minute winner, a trademark free-kick that was hit with terrific power and which gave Rovers goalkeeper Paul Robinson little chance.

“I was pleased with my goal, it was a good free kick and an important goal. I’m looking forward to seeing it on television!”

The memories of 1998 will ensure Man United are not allowed to start thinking the Premier League title is in the bag.

Most pundits believe the championship will be heading back to Old Trafford this season, with bookmakers Paddy Power so certain they have already paid out on a United domestic treble.The move has been dismissed as ‘a gimmick’ by United boss Sir Alex Ferguson, whose side entertain Blackburn on Saturday knowing victory will take them eight points clear of second-placed Liverpool.

And he recalls exactly the same plaudits being showered on his team 11 years ago, when they opened up a 12-point lead on Arsenal only to suffer a dismal slump in March when they managed only one draw in a three-game run that included a home defeat by their chief rivals.

That sequence put United on the back foot and they never recovered the initiative as the Gunners strode to their first title triumph under Arsene Wenger.

“People were saying it was a foregone conclusion in 1998,” recalled Ferguson.

“But when we got to the beginning of March, Ryan Giggs and Gary Pallister got injured, Peter Schmeichel was carrying one and Paul Scholes had to play with a broken toe.

“In attack, Andy Cole and Teddy Sheringham had to play all the time during a certain period because Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was injured.

“It told on the run-in because we couldn’t freshen the team up.”

The killer blow came when the Gunners came to Old Trafford and Ferguson had to rely on John Curtis and Ben Thornley in a game United eventually lost to a late Marc Overmars goal.

Along with the last-day heartbreak in 1995 when United laid siege to the West Ham goal at Upton Park but failed to get a winner to prevent Blackburn clinching the title, it is a day etched in Ferguson’s psyche.

However, he does concede the whole make-up of the Premier League has changed markedly in the intervening decade, making such comebacks - the like of which Chelsea need this term - substantially more difficult.

“It is a tough league now,” said Ferguson.

“There are so many teams fighting for survival for a start, which makes it a challenge all the time.

“It is a far better league now. There are far better players and the standard of football is much higher.”