Could Fabio come face to face with "The Hand of Frog"?

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Fifa has confirmed England will be one of eight seeded teams when the World Cup draw takes place this week.

These guys are recently been listed as most influential journalists and bloggers for football news. Tweet-ing has its benefits! I share the following article from puntersrealm.

Since Twitter recently released a list function, we thought it was time to share our list of who we follow as the most influential (mostly European) sports journalists and bloggers in world sport.

1. Barcelona and Valencia have reached a deal that will see David Villa move to Camp Nou and are expected to make an announcement soon, Goal.com has learned.
2. According to Marca, Real Madrid have accepted VfB Stuttgart's €20 million bid for Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, who is out of favour at the Bernabeu.

Speculation is rife with this one!

The Three Stages of the Transfer Window Insanity!

"David Bentley has gone to Liverpool on a one-year loan, heard from an inside source..." (BBC Sport)

Meanwhile, Rafael Benitez may have nothing in the coffers, but Rory Smith has now sent Liverpool fans into afternoon overdrive with this one: "Rumours abounding among agents that Liverpool could yet pull something out of the bag with a loan swoop it's deadline day, everything's a swoop for David Bentley, who won't, of course, be moving to Manchester City.

I've said elsewhere: there's something about old top flight stalwarts. I'm excited to see Wolves and Burnley up in the top flight again. (Birmingham have come up every other season since I've been watching so that seems too routine to be thrilling.) I'd love to see a club like Nottingham Forest or Crystal Palace or Sheffield Wednesday climb up the Championship table and come back up for old time's sake.

Comeback put on hold...again!

Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves may have to be put his comeback from injury on hold.
The 28-year-old has had operations on both knees in the past year in a bid to cure tendinitis and there were hopes he would be back at the end of September.

Done and dusted.

Everton have signed Russia midfielder Diniyar Bilyaletdinov from Lokomotiv Moscow for an undisclosed fee.
The 24-year-old, who has been capped 28 times for his country, has signed a five-year deal at Goodison Park.
Bilyaletdinov will now return to Russia to complete the formalities of a visa application to enter the UK.

So there you have it, a three match ban for this rather horrific stamping. Whether Robin Van Persie lunges is another matter, clearly he didn't deserve to be kicked in the face by his former teammate. Also the Dutchman didn't even touch Adebayor and may even have touched the ball.

Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor has been suspended for three matches for violent conduct during the win against Arsenal on 12 September.

Denilson's back injury is a huge blow for Arsenal who will miss the Brazilian's industry and protection he provides in central midfield.
_______________________________________________________________________________

"Denilson has a small fracture in his back," said manager Arsene Wenger.

It wasn't the wisest pre-match interview to give. Criticising the opposition in the build-up to any match is always ill-advised, but when the inflammatory comments come from a Tottenham manager ahead of a trip to Arsenal, you are asking for trouble.

In truth Harry Redknapp did not say anything particularly controversial – he, like the Premier League title betting odds, expect Chelsea or Manchester United to win the league, not the Gunners – but he should have been aware of what the headline writers would seize upon.

We should have expected as much.

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Liverpool chief executive Christian Purslow has insisted manager Rafael Benitez's position is safe, despite the club's early Champions League exit.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

By SEAN RUBIO

Welcome to Monday's installment of SBI's Recommended Reading. Today we are truly world-wide, with stories coming in from Peru to Ghana.

Simon Austin of the BBC Sport wrote an outstanding piece that echoes a sentiment that has been carried on this site quite a bit this Spring - experience is a key component in management or coaching.
Andy Roxburgh, Uefa's highly respected technical director, says experience is a big asset.

Another long running transfer saga is resolved.

Sunderland have completed the club record signing of Tottenham striker Darren Bent on a four-year contract.
Bent, 25, travelled to the north east on Monday for a medical and has finally signed after the clubs agreed a fee of £10m, potentially rising up to £16.

League Two side seal momentous signature

Notts County are on the verge of completing the signing of former England centre-half Sol Campbell, reports BBC Radio Nottingham.
Campbell agreed to join the League Two side after further talks on Monday and the deal will be confirmed on Tuesday.

Eduardo's two match ban has been overturned by Uefa! This has just been reported on the BBC Sport website, more news is to follow....

The Croatian was suspended after being found guilty of simulation in the Champions League qualifier against Celtic on 26 August.

But on Monday, Uefa accepted Arsenal's appeal and he will now be eligible to play in their Group H games against Standard Liege and Olympiakos.

Improving midfielder makes unwise comparison.

"I'm in my third season now and I'm playing more games," Lucas told BBC Radio Merseyside.

"Steven, ten years ago, started like me," he continued. "But when you are focused and you work hard you can get a chance [to show what you can do].

You're Fooling no one!

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Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks is adamant that the club's proposed new £350m stadium will be built once the global financial crisis stabilises.
Construction on the new site in Stanley Park, next to the Reds' current Anfield Stadium, was frozen in August 2008 due to the financial conditions.

Hands up if you didn't see this coming. Put your hand down Mr. Barnes.

Watch Ukraine Vs England Live Online!

Tranmere have sacked manager John Barnes and assistant boss Jason McAteer after a run of just two league wins from 11 matches.
The club are 22nd in League One and were knocked out of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy on Tuesday.

-
- Checkout the TWO QPR Reports! This QPR Report site. And, the second combination messageboard and quasi-blog QPR Report Messageboard. If you're interested in constantly-updated news re anything QPR-related and also QPR nostalgia, this site has both - along with assorted eclectic non-QPR football material.

With a full matchday around the world in the books, lets take a look at what people have to say after the dust has settled:

• Juventus forced to play a match behind closed doors after racial abuse towards Balotelli [SkySports]

• Wembley pitch: Unsuitable to play on, or more excuses from Wenger and Fergie?

Tim Howard isn't the only American playing in a cup final today. DaMarcus Beasley and Maurice Edu could feature for Rangers in the Scottish Cup final as they look to complete a domestic double. Rangers won the league last week, and this time around they'll look to upend Falkirk in today's final from Hampden Park.

"AC Milan legend Paolo Maldini could be poised to join the backroom staff at Chelsea, BBC Sport understands." ...

Respect to Gianfranco over at AC MIlan Offside, but it looks as if Maldini Monday might be moving across town.

This story has been on the cards for a week now.

So It wasn't a joke after all! Manchester United are in talks to sign former Liverpool and Newcastle striker Michael Owen, BBC Sport understands. The 29-year-old, who is out of contract at Newcastle, did not return for pre-season training after his deal with the Magpies ran out in June. Owen has been linked .

1. A very, very bad penalty miss [@ BigSoccer] 2. Alvaro Arbeloa is set to complete a move to Real Madrid from Liverpool after passing a medical [@ BBC Sport] 3. Top 10 Reasons why Football is better than...

"I think Gary Megson has done a decent job at Bolton"

That is how BBC Sport football pundit Mark Lawrenson starts his appraisal of Bolton Wanderers ahead of the start of the Premier League season. Lawro gives praise to Kevin Davies and concludes that Bolton will be fine, meaning that they won't get relegated.

Teenage talent signs long term Anfield deal.

Liverpool's Spain youth international Daniel Pacheco has agreed a new three-year deal at Anfield.
The striker, 18, follows academy graduates Jay Spearing and Stephen Darby in penning renewed contracts.
Pacheco has yet to make his competitive debut for the Reds but was involved in their pre-season tours to Switzerland and the Far East.

Ancelotti continues to build for the future.

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Chelsea have signed central midfielder Nemanja Matic from Slovakian club MFK Kosice on a four-year deal.
The 21-year-old, who has two full Serbia caps, completed his move to Stamford Bridge on Monday in a deal that is thought to be worth £1.

Misfiring Blues man return to the Bundesliga where he literally is a goal machine!

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Chelsea striker Claudio Pizarro has rejoined Werder Bremen after spending last season on loan at the German club.

Photo credit: Wonker (Flickr)

TweetBeat takes the pulse of fan opinion and reaction – the emotional, the insightful and the trivial. But mostly trivial though.

Let's start with a comment from the BBC Sport's chief football writer, Phil McNulty, which induced varying opinions from a couple of Everton fans:

philmcnulty: Time for Manchester City to make that next Joleon Lescott bid.

How many times have you been on the BBC Sport or ITV Football website and you've been intrigued by a video that the publisher is promoting only to find out that a rights restriction message pops up when you try to play it? It's frustrating especially given that BBC Sport began preventing international visitors from even watching post-match football manager videos.

What do you think?

Chelsea captain John Terry has signed a new five-year contract which is reported to be worth £150,000 per week.
The defender was the subject of much transfer speculation in the summer, with suggestions of a £40m bid from Manchester City for the 28-year-old.

Manchester City manager Mark Hughes has revealed Brazilian forward Robinho is set to be sidelined for another three weeks after injuring his right ankle.

The 25-year-old picked up a stress fracture while playing in his country's 3-1 win over Argentina on 5 September.

Initially it had been thought he would be out for just a month but Hughes has revised his recovery time.

The first of two must win matches in a week for Benitez.

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Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard is fit to play against Lyon in Tuesday's Champions League Group E clash but striker Fernando Torres misses out.

A must win match for Rafa and Steven Gerrard.

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Blackburn will check on the fitness of David Dunn, who missed the midweek win against Chelsea with a calf problem.

It's Barcelona vs Real Madrid!

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Barcelona star Lionel Messi has the chance to add the Fifa World Player of the Year award to his Ballon d'Or prize for being Europe's best player.

div style="text-align: center;"[a href="http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/saturday-s-key-battles-arsenal-v-man-city"arsenal.com preview/a, a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/7972747.stm"bbc sport preview/a]br //divbr /The bookies make us very much second favourites for Saturday's trip to The Emirates, and even putting aside our miserable away form, Arsenal's resurgence of late backs this up in what is expected to be a very different game than when we met a href="http://bitterandblue.

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By SEAN RUBIO

Welcome to Monday's installment of SBI's Recommended Reading. Today we are truly world-wide, with stories coming in from Peru to Ghana.

BBC Pundit in stating the bleeding obvious shocker! Manager Arsene Wenger's biggest problem is he has never properly replaced Patrick Vieira. The absence of a defensively minded midfielder in that crucial area in front of the back four makes their defence so vulnerable. (Lee Dixon - BBC Sport) Well i don't think anyone .

Gunners fans can now relax. Arsene Wenger has committed himself to Arsenal following speculation linking him with a summer switch to Real Madrid, BBC Sport understands. The Frenchman's near 13-year reign has been brought into the spotlight recently following the club's failure to win a trophy in four years.