Ina hopes to stay

By Neil Silver

Junichi Inamoto has already set his heart on staying at Fulham and did his chances a power of good with a superb hat-trick which booked a UEFA Cup place for the first time in the Club's history.

After helping Fulham win the Intertoto Cup, Inamoto said: "I would like to stay here and am going to try my best to make my transfer a permanent one. The environment here is really good and I hope to stay longer."

Having spent the previous season largely in Arsenal's reserve side, Inamoto certainly had no hard feelings towards the Gunners and their manager Arsene Wenger.

He added: "If I bumped into Arsene I wouldn't need to say anything to him because I have already said thank you.

"When you play with big players it is vital, and the experience I had there led to me scoring two goals in the World Cup and maybe my three goals tonight."