• Spaniard picked up injury in win over Burnley
• Sol Campbell trains after groin problem

Cesc Fábregas has been ruled out of Arsenal's Champions League clash with Porto tomorrow because of a hamstring problem.

The midfielder limped off after scoring the opening goal in the 3-1 win over Burnley on Saturday. The tightness was in the same hamstring he injured earlier in the season, which kept him out at the turn of the year.

The Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger, said: "We cannot even take a gamble, so he is not available."

Sol Campbell did, however, join in training and he looks set to recover from a groin problem in time to face the Portuguese side, who will take a 2-1 lead to the Emirates Stadium for the second leg of the last-16 tie.

• Brazilian forward has recovered from hamstring injury
• Pato hopes to help overturn 3-2 deficit from first leg

Pato trained with Milan this morning and has been included in the squad to face Manchester United in the Champions League at Old Trafford on Wednesday.

The Brazilian forward had been suffering from a hamstring injury and was left out of the 0-0 draw with Roma on Saturday.

Pato's return will boost Milan's hopes of overturning a 3-2 deficit, especially as Manchester United are waiting on the fitness of their own leading striker Wayne Rooney, the scorer of two goals in the first leg.

Milan will conduct fresh scans on the player tomorrow morning but hope that at the very least he will be able to start on the bench.

• Liverpool's manager emphasises the priority of the team
• Italian midfielder on substitutes' bench for Wigan match

Rafael Benítez has assured Alberto Aquilani that he is not the forgotten man of Liverpool despite having to sacrifice the Italian's adjustment to English football in the race for a critical place in next season's Champions League.

Liverpool will go fourth in the Premier League with a win at Wigan Athletic tonight when Aquilani, the club's £18m signing last summer, may again find himself on the substitutes' bench with Lucas and Javier Mascherano preferred in central midfield. The Italy international has endured a frustrating first season at Anfield with his debut delayed by an ankle injury and then Liverpool's poor form affording Benítez little leeway in his efforts to blood Aquilani.

The Liverpool manager has explained his predicament to the 25-year-old, who has started only seven games since his arrival from Roma and completed 90 minutes only once, and says the midfielder accepts that a top-four finish takes precedence over personal trials.

Benítez said: "When you have been injured for a while it's not easy for a player. Then, when you are available and the team isn't doing well, it makes it even more difficult. You have to decide if you can afford to give him two or three games when you know he's maybe not at the level he could be, so you could end up losing some of them.

"Alberto isn't stupid. He knows the priority now has to be the team and what's best for that. All he can do is keep training and make sure he is ready when we need him. But as I said, the most important thing we have to think of is the team, not one player."

The England right-back Glen Johnson is in contention for his first appearance of the year tonight. He has not played since the 1-0 away win over Aston Villa in the Premier League on 29 December, where he was substituted after 89 minutes just before Fernando Torres scored. Benítez, though, admitted the relaid pitch at the DW Stadium will not influence his thinking of starting Torres or, by contrast, omitting Aquilani.

He added: "When I didn't play Alberto at Wolves it wasn't to do with the state of their pitch, it was because of the kind of game and because others were available, which meant we could manage in a different way. So whether I play him at Wigan or not isn't a decision that will be determined by the pitch.

"But we have had a conversation about things and he knows the situation. Alberto is a very good professional, who was a big name in Italy and wants to show his quality here. When you're like that but cannot play for three or four months and then you're available but can't play because the team is maybe doing really well or has problems, it's a difficult situation for any professional."

The Liverpool manager said Mascherano is now focused on his Anfield career after having his head turned by interest from Barcelona last summer, and expects the Argentina captain and the Spanish goalkeeper José Reina to commit to long-term contracts before the end of this season.

"I am 100% certain that Pepe will stay with us and I'm really confident Javier will too – both for a long time," said Benítez.

"I've spoken to Javier about what's going on and, while it wasn't easy when you have a top side like Barcelona asking about you, he's really focused now. I have confidence both will be sorted out sooner rather than later."

Another late comeback recalls the Capello days as Real take a giant step forward in the title battle with Barcelona

• Manager's 'serious words' inspired Villa fightback
• We don't fear Chelsea in semi-final, says O'Neill

Martin O'Neill delivered what John Carew described as "some serious words" at half-time to inspire Aston Villa to recover from a two-goal deficit against Reading yesterday and set up an FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea at Wembley next month.

In an absorbing contest that saw Shane Long score twice for Reading before the interval, Villa eventually triumphed 4-2 after a second-half hat-trick from Carew, although it was clear where the motivation for the turnaround had come from.

O'Neill is renowned for being a measured speaker but the manager's ire was stoked after watching a listless first-half performance that left Villa's hopes of reaching the last four of the FA Cup hanging by a thread.

He was reluctant to divulge the details of his half-time message afterwards but Carew, who would have started on the substitutes' bench but for Gabriel Agbonlahor pulling out on the eve of the match with a stomach upset, left little doubt that the Villa manager was furious.

"We were struggling in the first half and the gaffer told us some serious words at the break," said the Norwegian. "I won't go into what he said but you can see on the pitch what happened."

Ashley Young, who scored the first of the three Villa goals that arrived in the space of 10 breathless second-half minutes, admitted that the players had been left in no doubt that their efforts before the break were unacceptable. "Our first-half performance wasn't as good as it could have been and [the manager] told us about that," said Young, who described Carew's contribution as "sensational".

O'Neill praised the character Villa showed in the second half but not before expressing his frustration at watching an abject opening 45 minutes in which he felt Villa were lucky to go in at the interval trailing by only two goals. He conceded that the crushing disappointment of the Carling Cup final defeat to Manchester United might have been a factor but he also said that there could be no excuses for such a lacklustre approach to an FA Cup quarter-final.

"I think after all the effort that we had put not only into the Carling Cup but also to get to this stage [of the FA Cup], to go out as meekly as we might have done after the first-half performance would have been really disappointing," said O'Neill.

"Reading played very well in the first half. They kept turning us around and picked up the second ball. They got the second goal and I've got to tell you, I was quite pleased to go in at half-time just two-nil down.

"It might have been a bit of [a hangover from last week]," he said. "But there is no excuses. It's the quarter-final of the FA Cup and we're playing away from home and we're right up for the game [beforehand]. I just felt that it took us time before we treated it like a FA Cup quarter-final.

"Sometimes it's nothing to do with pretty football. Sometimes it's to do with character, determination and the ability to fight and I think we had lost that there in the first half. It came back to us in the second half in great abundance."

Carew was upset at missing out on a starting place in the Carling Cup final but O'Neill challenged the striker to show greater consistency from now until the end of the season. "John at his hungriest can perform like he did today. He got the equalising goal for us and his game lifted two or three-fold more. The next thing you know he's controlling and holding players off which he wasn't doing in the first half.

"This is the point: he can do it. I'm not asking him to be scoring a hat-trick every week, but a level of performance that is up there with top-class centre-forwards."

O'Neill was bullish after hearing his side had been paired with the tournament favourites in the last four. "We are delighted to be in the semi-finals of the FA Cup and we will take on anybody," he added. "Chelsea are one of the best sides in Europe but we will take them on. And we certainly don't fear them."

Chelsea's assistant manager, Ray Wilkins, said: "When you get to this stage of the competition the opposition is always going to be tough, and Aston Villa will be a tough game for us."

• Portsmouth Supporters Trust prepare for the worst
• Hopes for new side to play in Conference if club fold

Next month it is a big day out at Wembley for potless Portsmouth – and next season they could be playing at Westleigh Park, Havant. A "Plan B" has been drawn up whereby, if Pompey go into liquidation, they will drop down to non-League football in a groundshare with near neighbours Havant & Waterlooville.

Nobody working on the plan, devised by the Pompey Supporters Trust, wants it to happen, and fans are desperate for the club to remain at Fratton Park. But they are aware that Portsmouth have built up debts of nearly £80m and that the famous old stadium could be sold to pay off creditors.

Portsmouth, who have had more owners than league wins at Fratton Park this season, are due in court again on 15 March when the process by which they went into administration is under challenge from Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs. They expect to settle that case in their favour, possibly this week, but the club, who have played at Fratton since their formation in 1898, could yet be wound up.

"Of course we want to stay at Fratton Park but nobody knows who owns it and whether that would be viable," said Brendon Bone of the Pompey Supporters Trust, who have attracted nearly 2,000 members in their first few weeks of existence and will play a significant role in the club's future wherever that might be.

If a new owner can be found, the trust would hope to have a seat on the board. If the club cease to exist, the Trust would start a new one. They could still call themselves Portsmouth FC as one of their members, Mark Dugan, owns the company of that name. The Premier League club trade under the name of Portsmouth City Football Club.

Alan McLoughlin, a popular former Portsmouth player who has coached in non-League football, has been asked to manage the Plan B side, at least temporarily, with another former Fratton hero, Guy Whittingham, as his assistant. Players would be recruited from a network of Pompey fans in the non-League game, from trials, and from the existing club's academy. A start-up fund of £1m would be needed and several local businesses have pledged to buy into a club bond. With the help of Supporters Direct, the fans' trust organisation, PST have drawn up four separate budgets for next season, two based on staying at Fratton and two on moving in with Havant.

"We would love it if Portsmouth city council bought Fratton Park and leased it to us," Bone said. "That would have benefits to the wider community, but there are 250,000 council tax payers here and they are not all going to want their money spent on a football ground. We have to look at other options."

Havant & Waterlooville are keen on sharing – Portsmouth play reserve matches at Westleigh Park – and Pompey are confident of being admitted into the Conference next season.

Other clubs who have started life as new, non-League entities, among them Aldershot and Newport County, had to fight their way up through many more levels to reach the Conference. But Bone said: "There is no precedent for a club of our size going out of business, and we think we would be admitted into the Conference [one league higher than their landlords]. With the number of away fans we have, clubs in lower leagues wouldn't be able to cope."

Dennis Strudwick, general manager of the Football Conference, said the plan would be a matter for the FA rather than the Conference. "You get things like this happening in football, and every case has its idiosyncrasies."

An FA spokesman said: "Any new club applying for entry into the national league system would be subject to the decision of the leagues committee." They are due to meet in May.

The trust would plan for temporary seating, taking the capacity at Havant up to a minimum of 6,500. Mike Hall, a trust member and key architect of the proposal, said: "The initial plan is to use Fratton Park, and only move if this is unavailable. If we were able to stay I would expect the average gate to be higher in the Conference than it has been in the Premier League this season.

"If Fratton Park is not available, there would potentially be scope to increase capacity at Havant above 6,500 in terms of availability of land, but we can't afford to be presumptuous. There are planning laws and local partners to engage with."

Derek Pope, the chairman of Havant & Waterlooville, said: "We have a licence for crowds of just under 5,000, which is big enough for us, but there's a lot of room here to make the ground bigger. It depends how much they want to do. I'm sure the local council [Havant Borough] would be very helpful."

Bone said: "Westleigh Park would be our home until we found somewhere permanent. Of course 6,500 would be nowhere big enough, but if we can't play at Fratton Park we have to have a Plan B."

What about that lovely new stadium along the coast? "Please don't mention the S-word," Bone said. "The majority of fans I've spoken to would rather watch Pompey play on a parks pitch than share with Southampton.

"Do I think it's a viable option? No."

• Brazil striker reported to be struggling with personal problems
• 'When he starts drinking he can't stop,' says Flamengo director

The Brazil striker Adriano has a drinking problem, according to a Flamengo club director. Marcos Braz told a local radio station the reason Adriano is temporarily out of the team is because he began drinking again following a personal problem.

"When he starts drinking, he can't stop," Braz told Rádio Bandeirantes. "He had overcome this but it started again because of this personal situation he is going through."

The Brazil forward did not show up for training on Friday and local media reported that he got into an altercation with his girlfriend at a party in a shanty-town.

Braz strongly denied speculation the player was involved with drugs. "To say that Adriano has a drug problem is a tremendous absurdity," Braz said. "Alcohol is a drug but it's different." Adriano was expected to return to training today.

He travelled to London with Brazil for their 2-0 win over Ireland in a friendly last Tuesday and is set to make the squad for the World Cup in South Africa which begins on 11 June.

The 28-year-old abandoned Internazionale last April, saying he was not happy in Italy and wanted to be closer to his friends, many of whom grew up with him in a Rio shanty-town.

There were widespread reports in local media that Adriano was depressed at the time. Although he admited he was going through a difficult time, he denied he had a drinking problem.

Since then he has starred for his hometown team, leading them to the national championship last year. He has played 48 games for Brazil, scoring 27 goals.

Phil Brown has found purgatory on Merseyside. His previous trek across the M62 ended in a vote of confidence from the Hull City board following a 6-1 rout at Liverpool and, while the days of waiting for the bullet have passed, the torment and doubts over his club's Premier League survival continue. This was a stroll in slippers for Everton, with Mikel Arteta their uncontrollable tormentor-in-chief.

The Spaniard orchestrated an emphatic return to winning ways for David Moyes' side, who have now won six successive league games at Goodison Park – their best sequence in four years. Arteta scored twice and was denied a hat-trick only when a delicate cross over the keeper was headed into his own net by Richard Garcia. His first goals since rupturing a cruciate ligament last February delighted his watching family. "That is the first time my son [eight-month-old Gabriel] has seen me score and I am so happy for him and my wife after I was out for so long," he said.

Hull could at least take solace in the return of their own midfield conductor, Jimmy Bullard, upon whom survival arguably rests, but much depends on how quickly he can rediscover full fitness and maximum influence. It was only Everton's generosity that spared Hull a more humiliating defeat than at Anfield in September, and the manner of the visitors' collapse worried Brown.

"Everton were good and we also made them look good because we didn't get in their faces enough," said the Hull manager. "I am disappointed with how we went under at the end. It was uncharacteristic you could say. Goal difference will play a big part this season, I think, and that kind of collapse is not what is required at this stage. I am concerned that a defeat like this can dent confidence and it is our job to ensure the dent is not too much before we face Arsenal."

As Bullard discovered and Arteta can testify, it can be an arduous journey back from serious knee problems but the Everton midfielder delivered his finest display since an 11-month absence.

Arteta gave Everton an early lead when Leon Osman released Yakubu wide on the left and, from the Nigerian's inviting cross to the back post, the Spaniard ghosted in unmarked to dispatch a deceiving volley. Yakubu then won and wasted a controversial penalty when he fell under a challenge from Kamil Zayatte but stroked a lazy penalty that Myhill saved comfortably. He also hit a post and squandered several chances to embellish Everton's superiority.

Yakubu's miss seemed to assume added significance when Phil Jagielka, making his first start since suffering his own cruciate injury last April, headed a free-kick clear and the impressive Tom Cairney swept an outstanding volley beyond Tim Howard from the edge of the area. Parity brought a moment of doubt for Everton but that was to prove thoroughly deceptive.

A fine collective move, involving Osman, Victor Anichebe and a nonchalant back-heel from Steven Pienaar, prised apart the Hull defence and enabled Arteta to roll his second into the far corner seven minutes later. And that was the end of Hull.

"Mikel is still not right back to where he was before the injury but that was more like him today," purred Moyes. "That performance showed how much we have missed him over the last year. I thought he was emptied out after the Sporting and Tottenham games and so I gave him a few days off. He came back more like himself. He would have been in contention for a World Cup place if he hadn't been injured but I don't think that will happen now, although that gives you an idea of how strong Spain are."

Garcia headed into his own net attempting to clear Arteta's chip over the keeper in the second half before Landon Donovan, on his scheduled final appearance at Goodison before returning to LA Galaxy, drove Leighton Baines' deflected cross across the exposed Hull goalkeeper. The popular USA captain helped complete the rout when he turned a pass into the path of Jack Rodwell, who swept home from close range, and was afforded a tumultuous reception as he waved farewell.

"There is still a chance my loan could be extended," said Donovan, who is due to return to LA Galaxy after next weekend's game but may stay if the US league's labour dispute is not resolved. "We will know more this week. I have had a great time, the fans are fantastic and the players are fantastic and, if that was my last appearance, it was a fitting way to finish."

Chris Hughton has toyed with diamonds, tucked-in midfields and split strikers, but on Saturday Newcastle's manager opted for "the full Keegan". Featuring Danny Guthrie as a central-midfield playmaker and Jonás Gutiérrez and Fabrice Pancrate as wingers, this was a team built to make chances for a target man, Andy Carroll, and his nippier partner, Peter Lovenkrands.

Guthrie pinged passes and scored two long-range goals; Gutiérrez showed he really is an Argentina international; and Lovenkrands gave a master class in clever movement. It might have been April 1993. Then, Kevin Keegan's team were chasing promotion and put six goals past Barnsley at St James' Park.

Hughton's men were assisted by the red card shown to the visiting goalkeeper Luke Steele shortly before half-time, when he was judged to have brought down Lovenkrands in the box. Yet Barnsley's defence was already unsteady. Reduced to 10 men, Mark Robins's side folded and David Preece, the substitute keeper, was beaten by Lovenkrands's penalty and a subsequent header, those two Guthrie strikes and a glorious 25-yarder from Gutiérrez, before being rounded by Kevin Nolan.

"We played a brand of football the supporters enjoy," said Hughton, who said Daniel Bogdanovic's soft consolation goal had dominated post-match conversation. Such perfectionism appears driven by an uncomfortable awareness that an eight-point lead in the Championship remains fragile. "West Brom and Forest are only two or three wins away from us but I do think pressure has been good for my players," said Hughton. "It's kept us on our toes, we go into every game knowing we've got to get something. We're top on merit but we know that a couple of defeats when others get wins will mean life becoming harder and the gap getting tighter."

It also helps that, thanks to Hughton's shrewd investment, there is real competition for places. With a World Cup looming, Gutiérrez, who celebrated his rare goal by pulling a red Spiderman mask out of his shorts and on to his head, does not want to be dropped when Wayne Routledge returns from injury. Lovenkrands has to impress ahead of Leon Best, Shola Ameobi and Nile Ranger, and Guthrie must hold off Alan Smith.

The suspicion is that his feats are causing Mike Ashley to fall back in love, a little, with football. The owner had the manager's thrilling tactics to thank for warding off a protest against him on a day when Derek Llambias, the club's managing director, used the programme to condemn the "ugly and abusive" anti-Ashley chants which scar every game here.

Still, the reincarnation of Keegan's "Entertainers" enabled everyone, temporarily at least, to forget recent ignominies. Much more of this and Hughton might preside over the unthinkable – Ashley's rehabilitation on Tyneside.