Michael Owen

London: Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce on Sunday night admitted for the first time he was worried that Michael Owen would need surgery to tackle a groin problem that is jeopardising his chances of leading England's attack in next month’s Euro 2008 qualifiers.

Ominously for club and country, the £17 million striker departed a game early for the second successive time after seemingly aggravating a troublesome groin, and on Monday he will undergo further scans, with Allardyce ready to call for immediate surgery. Such action would seem likely to keep Owen out of England’s crunch matches with Estonia and Russia on October 13 and 17.

Adebayor hattrick

London: As Emmanuel Adebayor completed his hattrick, Arsène Wenger became nostalgic. The finish from his tall striker from Togo reminded him of the style of Thierry Henry. There were pessimists who thought any reference to Henry so early in the season would be uttered in the context of how much Arsenal were missing him. But so imperious have Arsenal been that Henry’s name can be uttered without any accompanying gulps of yearning.

“It’s funny,” Wenger said, “I thought about Thierry on Monday because when he [Adebayor] scored the third goal I thought ‘that’s a Thierry goal’. There was a defender in front of him, he just opened his foot. There are signs there that he showed a similarity. He’s not the same player as Thierry but this kind of goal; Thierry scored as well. But overall they are different players,” Wenger said.

Terry fury

London: John Terry is to take legal action over accusations that he played a significant role in the dismissal of Jose Mourinho. The Chelsea and England captain has always spoken warmly of his relationship with his former manager and has been angered by reports that he complained to Chelsea’s chief executive, Peter Kenyon, about Mourinho. A Sunday newspaper alleged that this was used as evidence that Mourinho had lost the dressing-room and that at a team meeting on Friday, Chelsea’s players accused their captain of not doing enough to prevent Mourinho’s sacking.

Transfer kitty

London: Arsene Wenger has been promised a £70 million transfer kitty after Arsenal revealed it is one of Europe’s richest clubs. Figures unveiled this morning show the club’s move to the Emirates Stadium has driven a near-50 per cent increase in turnover to more than £200 million for the year ending May 31 2007.