SOCCER/FA PREMIERSHIP: Thierry Henry will miss Arsenal's FA Cup quarter-final at Newcastle tomorrow after the club chose not to appeal against his three-match ban for improper conduct, which the English Football Association announced would begin straight away.
The French striker will miss the Premiership game at Aston Villa on Sunday week and Arsenal's match the following Saturday. That will be either a league fixture at home to West Ham or a Cup replay against Newcastle.
Arsenal's manager Arsene Wenger decided overnight not to contest the suspension that Henry was given on Wednesday for his outburst at the referee Graham Poll after a 3-1 home defeat by Newcastle in December.
Tottenham, however, are to appeal against the red card Mauricio Taricco incurred during their 4-0 defeat at Manchester United on Wednesday. Taricco was sent off on half-time for tugging Paul Scholes' shirt.
Liverpool forward Michael Owen is likely to be unavailable for next week's Champions League match against Barcelona because of a recurrence of his hamstring injury. The England striker hobbled off at Anfield on Wednesday during the 3-0 win over Newcastle and is expected to be out of action for 10 days.
Sepp Blatter's chances of being re-elected as FIFA's president before the World Cup suffered a major blow in Zurich after its executive committee last night decided to launch an internal investigation into the organisations finances.
After a tense meeting lasting more than three hours the 24-member panel agreed to set up an ad hoc committee to examine FIFA's finances following the collapse of its marketing partner ISL-ISMM last year. Blatter was last night fighting for his survival as he resisted demands for an independent investigation into the organisation's finances.
Blatter's critics are also demanding an investigation into newspaper allegations made last week that some FIFA delegates were paid money to vote for him when he was elected president in 1998.
Last night's meeting was supposed to last two hours but went on far longer as Blatter resisted the demands of his opponents as he attempted to outmanoeuvre them on the crucial vote on whether or not an investigations committee should be formed.
The election for a new president takes place in Seoul before the start of this year's World Cup and an independent investigation into Blatter's stewardship of the organisation could affect his chances of continuing in power.
FIFA's financial problems arose following the collapse of ISL-ISMM, leading Blatter's critics to claim the organisation has a deficit of around £100 million. The critics are demanding a full, independent audit and claim that FIFA is already spending against money it will generate from the 2006 World Cup.
Everton captain Kevin Campbell has been ruled out of their FA Cup quarter-final on Sunday. He was taken off on Wednesday during the 1-0 defeat at West Ham after sustaining what looked to be a serious ankle ligament injury. Meanwhile, Bristol City have contacted Everton to inquire about the possibility of taking Paul Gascoigne to Ashton Gate on loan.
Feyenoord yesterday apologised to Celtic striker Henrik Larsson over controversial quotes they claimed he made about Rangers' UEFA Cup exit. Larsson was quoted on the Dutch club's website as saying he and his team-mates enjoyed watching their rivals lose to Feyenoord last week.
Celtic's Alan Thompson was last night ruled out of the Old Firm clash at Ibrox on Sunday after losing his appeal against his weekend's red card against Aberdeenw. Rangers will be without Ronald de Boer, Barry Ferguson, Bert Konterman, Maurice Ross, Michael Mols and Shota Arveladze.
The Champions League quarter-final and semi-final draws will be made on March 22nd in Nyon, Switzerland. The draw will be set up so clubs from the same country can be drawn against each other while sides that faced each other in the second group stage will be kept apart.
For the quarter-finals, each of the four runners-up from the second group stage will be drawn against a group winner. No clubs will be seeded for the semi-finals.
