Later this morning Arsene will meet the press for his pre-Aston Villa press conference. And beyond the normal information we get from one of these gatherings, I have to say I'm really curious as to how it will go down.

It'll be the first time he's faced the media since Sunday's defeat to United and that reaction to his decision to take off Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

By Chris Wright

Fulham's Riverside Stand as it...well, stands

The designs for Fulham's prospective Riverside Stand expansion have been circulated ahead of the club's application for planning permission being submitted.

Fulham are planning to build over the existing stand, removing pillars to improve the views from the lower tier, improve Craven Cottage's facilities with a swanky new concourse area and, perhaps most importantly, increase the ground's capacity by just over 4,000 up to that magic 30,000 mark.

Riise and Bellamy meet again as Fulham's bunker mentality comes to the fore

It's a strange world when Michael Jackson's doctor gets four years and THAT sculpture of Jacko gets a plinth at Craven Cottage. Fulham 1-0 Liverpool: Dempsey dumps 10-man Reds And it's an even stranger anomaly that, just three weeks after Craig Bellamy and John Arne Riise finally settled their differences, they should meet again.

AC Milan's Kevin Prince Boateng, who likes to sing and dance like Michael Jackson, scores an incredible goal versus Barcelona.

24.11.2011 - Unos meses después del lanzamiento del PES 2012, en el que Neymar y Cristiano Ronaldo desplazaban a Lionel Messi de la portada, Electronic Arts anuncia que EA Sports fichó a la Pulga para convertilo en la imagen mundial de la franquicia EA Sports FIFA.
Así, por más que Messi baile a lo Michael Jackson en el PES, debutará en marzo (2012) en la portada de FIFA Street después de anunciarse: "Quiero formar parte del equipo que está detrás del mejor videojuego de fútbol del mundo y estar asociado con el nombre de EA Sports".

Who would Steven Gerrard invite to his ideal dinner party, and what food would be served? Liverpool FC's captain recently revealed all...
Dinner guests?
"I think Michael Jackson would be one; I'd ask him what was going on his life"
Perhaps someone should let Gerrard know that Jackson is no longer of this earth.

Don't be negative over AVB's positive football

What a mad week. Sam Allardyce gets booed when West Ham are second in the Championship, people complain to the BBC when I do Michael Jackson moves in a Michael Jackson dance routine and – craziest of the lot – there are rumours that the Chelsea hierarchy aren't happy with Andre Villas-Boas' tactics.

By Chris Wright

RAT!

He's probably not the worst, he's definitely not the first and he sure as excreta won't be the last, but Wisla Krakow's Gervasio Nunez showed his true rat colours in getting Moussa Dembele sent-off in the Europa League last night.

Is there nothing he can't do? We attempted to post this last week and we've just spotted in didn't publish on the site. So later than expected... One of the hidden treats of PES 2012 is, it would seem, the ability to force your players to unleash a repertoire of Michael Jackson goal celebrations. As [.

Caídos los dos amparos presentados por Colón de San Lorenzo y Sportivo Guzmán de Tucumán, ya no hay obstáculos para la asamblea del martes, en la que los dirigentes argentinos le ratificarán su confianza a don Julio, que tiene 80 años y 32 en el cargo.
Un coro lisonjero de dirigentes le dará una bienvenida acorde con su pretensión.

Habt ihr schon das neue Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 ausprobiert? Das Spiel soll ja wieder der Oberhammer sein. Komisch ist nur, dass Lionell Messi jetzt den Moonwalk tanzt? Komisch, komisch, komisch...habt ihr das von ihm schon mal in Echt gesehen? Oder ist das von den Programmierern einfach nur zu Ehren von Michael Jackson in das [.

Habt ihr schon das neue Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 ausprobiert? Das Spiel soll ja wieder der Oberhammer sein. Komisch ist nur, dass Lionell Messi jetzt den Moonwalk tanzt? Komisch, komisch, komisch...habt ihr das von ihm schon mal in Echt gesehen? Oder ist das von den Programmierern einfach nur zu Ehren von Michael Jackson in das [.

It was a great celebration that was long overdue for the red half of the San Siro. With Kevin-Prince Boateng doing his best impression of the late Michael Jackson, Milanisti cheered wildly as their beloved team was presented with its 18th Scudetto, and first since 2003-2004. Fast-forward only a month into the new campaign, and Milan find themselves in unfamiliar territory.

14.10.2011 - La ficción (ahora) supera a la realidad: si bien (vimos que) Lio Messi fue reemplazado por Neymar y Cristiano Ronaldo en la portada del PES 2012, los diseñadores no pueden prescindir de su figura a la hora de aggiornar el juego.
Aquí vemos los bailes agregados para los festejos de los goles, donde Messi baila a lo Michael Jackson (22 segundos).

Our first View from the Enemy of the day is from Kris Balkin from Cottagers Confidential, who has shed some light on that awful Michael Jackson statue and Mark Hughes' ridiculous departure.

Scott the Red: Were you happy with your Fulham's performance last season?

Kris Balkin: More than.

Bolton Wanderers 2011/12 Kits - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Reebok and Bolton have recently released very futuristic-looking shirts and this one tops them all off.

The trotters will wear white, red and blue home strip and a black and yellow away strip.

Bolton 11/12 Home Kit

The home shirt is white with blue patches around the neck, shoulders and lower back.

Very fetching Fulham are taking a bit of a whipping on OTP today. Apologies, Cottagers it's just one of those days. The Craven Cottage side have started selling Fulham-branded Michael Jackson & Mohamed Al Fayed t-shirts on their official shop. The product description reveals: "This cotton tee depicts an image of The Chairman and [.

African XI Team of the season 2010-11 is a post from: Just Football

It has been quite a successful season for African footballers in Europe. Fresh from a first World Cup on the continent last summer in South Africa, several players have returned to their clubs to go on and inspire them to victory and silverware.

So last night there was an afterparty in NYC for Steve Nash's Showdown in Chinatown. To my pleasure and surprise, 30 Rock's Judah Friedlander was there and talking soccer. Dude was all high on the Freddy Adu pass and Tim Howard's general badassness but thought overall the Yanks played poorly.

By Chris Wright

Yet more snazzy Champions League final-y goodness, this time in the shape of Nike's fresh-out-of-the-box viral advert entitled 'Glory is Ours', in which both Barca and United players don their best 'serious faces' and give the camera all they've got baby.

More runny than squeaky bum time Now you might have sat at home on your sofa watch the relegation zone change more than Michael Jackson under the knife, but hasn't it always been so? Surely the last day is never boring? Today we look at home and abroad to find some truly mental final day [...]

Leon Osman has never made an international appearance despite seven solid seasons with Everton. Is he England's ‘forgotten man'?
On Saturday, a late Leighton Baines penalty cancelled out two Darren Bent strikes as Everton shared the points with Aston Villa in a dramatic draw at Goodison Park.

The most famous football player in Fulham FC's history has finally been given the proper tribute. Michael Jackson - one of the most dangerous attacking midfielders to ever grace a pitch - has been honored with a statue outside of Craven Cottage. For those that are not aware of Jackson's heroics, Craven Cottage is the home ground of Fulham.

Nice pitch, better free kick.

• This is petty. And awesome. (Dirty Tackle)
• How precocious. (Rafa Honigstein)
• Life with Mixu. (Nordic Football News)
• Don't fight the Johan. (Back Page Football)
• Still goin' strong. (The DA)
• Tee contest better by the week.

Michael Jackson's statue was unveiled outside Craven Cottage this weekend, due to the fact that he had sweet moves and sang a catchy tune back in the day.

A rather quick turnaround on the statue itself, too, which is readily apparent when you gaze at the souvenir shop trinket masquerading as an icon.

Just feels like a missed opportunity. A sky high concrete Michael Jackson in the Egyptian style might have been genuinely far out. I'm firmly in the "it's his club, he can do what he wants" camp, but just wish he'd got a slightly better statue made. Still, we're unbeaten with MJ in our corner.

Mark Ogden defends Wayne Rooney in The Telegraph.

United Rant discusses Chicharito and attack being the best form of defence.

Mark Lawrenson tells The Mirror that he fancies Chelsea to knock United out of the FA Cup.

The Chelsea Blog compares Rooney's outburst to Drogba's.

The Evening News reports on Rooney's claims that our season starts now.

szólj hozzá: Michael Jackson szobor The surreal scenes of a statue erected in tribute of Michael Jackson materialized at Fulham's Craven Cottage today before the match against Blackpool. Fulham owner Mohamed Al Fayed was a close friend of the pop...
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Perhaps it was inevitable that it would come to this in the fullness of time. The worlds of football, celebrity and cloying sentimentality have been slowly moving towards each other for the last ten years or so. At Craven Cottage this afternoon, though, a nadir has been reached. There is so much wrong with the statue of Michael Jackson that now stands, some might say creepily, outside Fulham's ground that it is difficult to know where to start, even if we allow for Mohammed Al Fayed's friendship with the late singer, chimpanzee maintenance man and moonwalker.

In the countdown to Fulham's controversial unveiling of the Michael Jackson statue, Sportsmail can reveal the extraordinary lengths the club are going to in order to mark the occasion.
Club officials have secretly organised a series of mini tributes for Sunday's match against Blackpool at Craven Cottage that could further anger the Fulham fans who are already fuming over the statue that has been erected outside the ground.

Game Intelligence brings you up to date with 5 things that may have escaped your attention this week... 1. Fulham announce plans for off the wall statue If you are looking for the most bizarre story of the week, then ... Continue reading →

Fulham's chairman, Mohamed Al Fayed, will unveil a commemorative statue of Michael Jackson at Craven Cottage at 12pm on 3 April to honour the friendship he shared with the legendary singer.

Yes, one does 'erect' a statue. But when said statue is for Michael Jackson, the word takes on an entirely new meaning, doesn't it?

Onto the really curious part: what the hell does MJ have to do with Fulham FC?

Nothing, apparently.

Club reps have said that they are honouring the singer, who died in June 2009, as he was a personal friend of Mohammed Al Fayed, the club's chairman.

Yes, one does 'erect' a statue. But when said statue is for Michael Jackson, the word takes on an entirely new meaning, doesn't it?

Onto the really curious part: what the hell does MJ have to do with Fulham FC?

Nothing, apparently.

Club reps have said that they are honouring the singer, who died in June 2009, as he was a personal friend of Mohammed Al Fayed, the club's chairman.

By WAG Watcher

Australian C-list celeb Peter Andre is dating Frank Lampard's ex, Elen Rives. Yuck squared. It's enough to make your lunch reappear.

Rives: perky

Andre: talented

According to the soaraway Daily Star, Andre is head over heels in love with Lampsy's former WAG: "She is so classy and beautiful, just the change I needed after everything that has happened in the last two years," he told friends (translation: his people called up the Star and spoonfed them the 'story').