Missing Phil Babb, they combined Bjorn Tore Kvarme with Dominic Matteo in a central pairing that never looked secure and needed David James to have a good day behind them.James, however, could be faulted for Wednesday's first goal, when he was caught off his line, and the third, when he dropped Mark Pembridge's shot at the feet of Hinchcliffe. He got three and might have had a couple more or laid on a couple more. Had Pressman been a yard further off his line when Owen tried to chip him in the last minute, a good story might have been made an even better one."I think he upstaged what he did on Wednesday night," his manager, Roy Evans, said afterwards "You can see what he is capable of today. Five minutes later, sent clear by Ince's pass, he deftly steered the ball wide of the advancing Wednesday goalkeeper to claim a record as the youngest player to score a Premiership hat-trick. But for all that these two sidelined internationals had something to prove, neither could push the teenager out of the spotlight.After the grafting Robbie Fowler had rattled the foot of Kevin Pressman's right-hand post, in came Owen to drill home the rebound with marvellous precision and give his side hope. These days he is all against the "play until you drop" attitude, and, in both senses, he should know..

Sheffield Wednesday 3 Carbone 7, Di Canio 63, Hinchcliffe 69 Liverpool 3Owen 27, 73, 78Attendance: 35,405MICHAEL OWEN left the field to an ovation after writing another thrilling chapter to the breathless story of his season but the most telling consequence of this splendid match is that Liverpool have conceded more ground to Manchester United on a day when they might have moved to within two points of the Premiership leaders.Indeed, but for a masterclass in finishing by the extraordinary 18-year- old the Anfield side would have been beaten again, as they had been by Southampton last weekend, just at the moment of opportunity.With 18 minutes left, Wednesday held a 3-1 advantage, having seized an apparently unassailable position through goals by Paolo di Canio and the ex-Evertonian Andy Hinchcliffe.But Owen, whose first strike after 27 minutes had nullified Benito Carbone's opportunist opener, would not be subdued, much as Des Walker and Jon Newsome tried to cover his bursts of pace, which Steve McManaman and Paul Ince knew precisely how to exploit.Liverpool, by necessity, had gone for broke in trying to overturn their deficit, replacing two defenders with two attackers as Karl-Heinz Riedle and Patrik Berger joined a ferocious assault on Wednesday's goal. Adams agrees that a squad system is essential "for the pace and demands of the game today". Tony Adams could not have gone on as he was, ignoring the pains and not training in the week."On arriving in Britain he was appalled at the number of players being urged to appear when they were injured or being given pain-killing injections "I would never do that. If a former player cannot walk when he is 40, then you have to take responsibility for that." Adams said that before Wenger took over "a player who would have a knock would have the manager down his throat telling him to get back out there".Wenger says that extending careers is in part to do with using a squad system, which, ironically, has been a famous point of dispute at Chelsea recently.

Even when we were playing badly in November and December, Bould and Winterburn were just great. As a manager I cannot just say because a player is getting old I will not give him a contract."Reflecting on the hard-drinking tradition of British players, he said: "I think when I arrived some of them had already accepted that they had to change or they were finished, so it was easy for me You cannot survive today unless you are at your best. Palace, difficult? "You have to remember that Palace may have the worst home record in the Premiership but away from home they are one of the best. So we have to be very cautious." But that is against his nature. "I always want to be positive about football because that is what the fans demand." Even so, he is happy to stick with a part of George Graham's "boring, boring Arsenal" mainly because the ageing defenders are better forward-looking players than either their reputations once suggested or Graham allowed.Wenger explained: "When I arrived I expected that I would have to make changes in that defensive area, but they did so well that I just had to ignore how old they were.

It will give us a huge lift." It remains to be seen, though, whether Moses and his colleagues can be lifted into the last eight, a promised land of sorts.. ON THE eve of Arsenal's FA Cup fifth round tie against Crystal Palace today and in the run-up to Wednesday's Coca-Cola Cup semi-final second leg with Gullit-less Chelsea, Arsenal's manager, Arsene Wenger, admitted his relief at not following his first instinct on his appointment and getting rid of Highbury's "old guard". He said he was "astonished and amazed" to have spent the past week involved in extending contracts for the very players he, and they, anticipated would by now be in the lower divisions or retired. They are, he said, "essential" to Arsenal's reviving Premiership challenge to Manchester United, especially at a time when the club have suffered a number of injuries and suspensions. The last of the long-serving defenders, Lee Dixon, took up the option on an extension to his contract on Thursday, which means that the familiar names, Dixon, Adams, Bould, Keown and Winterburn, continue to defy the prediction that they would be the first to be brushed aside. "No, certainly I did not expect this would be the situation when I joined, and neither did they," Wenger said.

Tony Adams feels that Wenger has taught them to "listen to our bodies" as well, of course, as being more disciplined in their lifestyle.Although Wenger will not be able to use the suspended Adams today, he says that having most of the older players available for "difficult matches like this" is reassuring. Those who were there then made a lot of noise but it will be different with 8,500 behind us this time. When they lifted the FA Cup in 1912 they did so after drawing against West Bromwich Albion at Crystal Palace, 16 miles from Oakwell at Bramall Lane.There will be added incentives too for De Zeeuw, the qualified Dutch doctor who supported Manchester United in his youth, and even more so for Ashley Ward, a Mancunian of the sky blue hue. For all 11 Barnsley players who take the field at 4.30, though, there will be the challenge of rising to the underdog tag with a vengeance and easing the painful memory of four months ago.The odds will still be against them, but the numbers behind them will be significantly greater. "I can remember warming up in the league game and running past our fans," Moses said.