FA dismisses Unsworth's appeal against sending-off

David Unsworth, the Everton defender, has lost his appeal against his sending-off against Chelsea 10 days ago.

Unsworth, who is already suspended for the Merseyside derby on Sunday, will now have to serve a further three-match ban and that will mean he will be unavailable until the FA Cup third-round tie against Shrewsbury Town on 4 January. Referee Eddie Wolstenholme dismissed Unsworth for violent conduct after he tangled with Jesper Gronkjaer in the final moments of Chelsea's 3-1 win.

Wolstenholme yesterday stuck by his decision, refusing to rescind the card after appeals by Unsworth and Everton's manager, David Moyes. The Football Association's video panel decided to side with Wolstenholme.

Gabriel Batistuta's agent, Settimio Aloisio, has confirmed that Argentina's, leading scorer at international level intends to leave Roma next summer and seek a move to the Premiership after 12 seasons in Italy.

"He wants to play in England, but he has a contract with Roma until June 2003. We have already informed Roma that he will be leaving in the summer," Aloisio said."He would prefer a London club but if there are other clubs interested in him we will have to study them. He does want to join a Premiership club."

West Ham is among the clubs reported to be interested in the 33-year-old who has had a bit-part role for Roma this season. He joined them for £22m after spending nine years with Fiorentina, who have folded since he left.

Fulham's Junichi Inamoto, will be out for up to a month with ankle ligament damage. The 23-year-old was injured in a tackle by Birmingham's Olivier Tébily on Sunday, just two minutes after coming on as a substitute in the 1-0 defeat at Loftus Road. The Japanese midfielder was initially thought to have simply twisted his right ankle.

Michael Ricketts has asked for a transfer from Bolton Wanderers after his relationship with the club manager, Sam Allardyce, hit a new low following a row over his weight.

The striker, who played once for England, has told the club he wants to leave during the transfer window next month after being left out by Allardyce for the past few games. He was again missing on Monday night when Bolton lost 3-0 at home to Leeds United. He has slipped behind Henrik Pedersen and Youri Djorkaeff for a starting position.

Allardyce and Ricketts have argued over his fitness with Bolton imposing a couple of fines on the forward under their penalty system, with the striker being docked around £50,000 – four weeks' pay – this season. Wanderers have rules about the amount of body fat that their players can carry and Ricketts has gone over those levels at times during this campaign.

Ricketts thinks he is being picked on and has protested to the Players' Football Association about the amount of money the club want to take from him and the case may have to be settled by a tribunal.

He was valued at around £10m a year ago but could now go for a fraction of that cost.

Tottenham discussed a swap deal for him before the season began and may now be interested again, but Bolton are unlikely to achieve such a high fee.