Blackburn set to sign Fenton

Blackburn today expect to complete the pounds 1.5m signing of the England Under-21 striker Graham Fenton, who has been been unable to secure a place in the Aston Villa first-team after the arrival of the Serbian Savo Milosevic.

Mike Newell, whose place could be under threat from Fenton's arrival, could miss Blackburn's Champions' League match on Wednesday - just when his partnership with Alan Shearer is starting to blossom.

Newell injured a shoulder during Rovers' 3-0 win over Chelsea in the Premiership on Saturday and must be rated doubtful for the Legia Warsaw game. Newell and Shearer have scored four times in the last two games, but Newell's setback could be a passport back to the big time for Chris Sutton.

The pounds 5m striker has just two goals in 32 League fixtures and has not managed a Premiership goal at Ewood since last November. Sutton has been dropped twice already this season and also tried as a stop-gap centre- half.

The pounds 2.3m transfer of Sheffield Wednesday's Romanian international Dan Petrescu to Chelsea, held up after a difference of opinion between the clubs over the player's medical condition, will go ahead, according to Glenn Hoddle, the Chelsea manager, provided the club can obtain full insurance cover. He denied that Chelsea had attempted to negotiate a lower fee.

The referee Gerald Ashby has dismissed claims of ungentlemanly conduct against the Leeds captain, Gary McAllister, and his team-mate John Pemberton. McAllister scored the first goal of his hat-trick in the 3-1 victory over Coventry after he and Pemberton carried off the injured Peter Ndlovu.

The Coventry manager, Ron Atkinson, said: "My players are angry that they took this action." But Ashby insisted the pair had done nothing wrong, saying: "It was not ungentlemanly conduct in my book. They helped the player to the line where the Coventry trainer was in attendance.

"I was aware of what was happening and thought it was common sense for the players to assist. It was a better option than calling for a stretcher as the player did not appear to have sustained a serious injury."

The goal came after Pemberton quickly threw the ball into the space Ndlovu had vacated and McAllister's shot took a deflection off David Busst. n