Unai Emery says he left Mesut Ozil out of Sunday’s 2-1 win over Bournemouth because of the “physicality and the intensity” of the game, after the German playmaker remained on the bench for the full 90 minutes. With Emery switching to a back-three formation, Ozil was surprisingly dropped to the bench despite being well rested after the international break, with Alex Iwobi and Henrikh Mkhitaryan starting as the two attacking midfielders. Iwobi was involved in both of Arsenal’s goals but Mkhitaryan struggled at the Vitality Stadium, although Emery opted for other substitutions and didn’t even send Ozil out for a…
Author: David Folami
Xherdan Shaqiri has vowed that Liverpool will be challenging Manchester City for the Premier League title right until the end of the season. Liverpool secured their best-ever start to a Premier League campaign with a 3-0 victory at Watford on Saturday. However, Jurgen Klopp’s side still remain two adrift of reigning champions City, who beat West Ham United 4-0 on the weekend and remain unbeaten so far this term. “We’re going to be there until the end,” Shaqiri told reporters. “We don’t have to look to Man City, we just have to look to ourselves and try to give our…
Jordi Alba has said it is “strange” that the club have still not offered him a new deal but stressed it remains his intention to finish his career at Camp Nou. Alba, 29, is out of contract in 2020 and talks have not yet begun over new terms despite Barca’s former director of football Raul Sanllehi, now at Arsenal, promising him a new deal over two years ago. With the defender moving into the final 18 months of his current contract, he’s been linked with Manchester United and Juventus in recent weeks, but he says he has no plans to…
Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona stopped Real Madrid winning the title when they recorded the club’s best-ever points tally, and he suggested his Manchester City side may have to repeat that feat again if they are to finish above Liverpool this season. Guardiola was in his second season at the Nou Camp in 2009-2010 when Barca collected 99 points to finish three above Madrid, at the time managed by Manuel Pellegrini, whose West Ham side were thrashed 4-0 by City on Saturday. This season, City, who last term collected a Premier League-record 100 points en route to a title, have taken 35…
Maurizio Sarri has said he still does not understand the character of his Chelsea team following their defeat to Tottenham. Dele Alli, Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min scored in a 3-1 win as Spurs handed Sarri’s men their first defeat in 18 competitive games across all competitions. Mauricio Pochettino’s side also missed several other gilt-edged chances to heap further humiliation on their London rivals. In September, Sarri had said that he wanted to figure out the cause of their “strange” collapses following Premier League title triumphs under Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte — but is no closer to finding the…
Michelle Obama’s newest memoir Becoming has officially hit shelves and sold 725,000 copies on its first day becoming the largest single-day total for any book published by Penguin Random House. The former First Lady is still doing press tours for her book, and during her recent one in Washington yesterday, her adoring husband Barack came by with a bouquet of flowers for his wife. The crowd obviously went wild when the 44th President of the United States made his surprise appearance and in the video below, you can see him comparing the event to when Jay Z pops up on…
P Diddy has arrived at his baby mama Kim Porter‘s funeral at Cascades Hills Church in Columbus, Georgia. Combs is expected to deliver a eulogy, but a website has reported that the rapper is so heartbroken about Porter’s untimely death at age 47 that he might not be able to speak. Singer Faith Evans is set to perform and other celebrities are attending the funeral which will feature an incredible group of more than a thousand mourners. Porter will be buried next to her mother, who died in 2014. Porter never married Diddy, 49, but was the mother of his…
With the release of his 2018 album ‘Runaway’, British folk singer-songwriter Passenger (aka Mike Rosenberg) performed to a sold-out crowd at The Gov in Adelaide on Tuesday (20 November). Special guest support act, folk-pop duo Winterbourne fit the theme of the night perfectly giving their own sample of semi-acoustic guitar ballads, witty humour and charm. Winterbourne were well received by the crowd, with what seemed like the whole sold-out audience getting in early to hear their silky smooth melodies. Mike then took to the stage, on his own with only an acoustic guitar in hand. Mike makes each gig feel…
Weezy shot a green screen video with an XXXTentacion double and a dromedary. We had to wait years for it to finally arrive but Tha Carter V is out and it still feels surreal. While the album may be a little too long, there are some tracks that remain in rotation. We’ve already seen the video for “Uproar” hit the internet and now, it looks as though Weezy is filming for his next single. It was a bittersweet moment to hear XXXTentacion singing on one of the first tracks from C5. It would have been a monumental moment in his…
Jorja Smith addresses claims that Drake put her on. Many people became familiar with Jorja Smith after she appeared on Drake’s More Life playlist. Drake obviously has mad love for the U.K. and More Life was filled with features from U.K. artists. However, many believe that Drake put her on. It’s understandable why people think that, but it’s simply not true. Jorja’s been on her own grind for a minute now, selling out tours in America before collaborating with Drake. In a recent interview, Jorja Smith discussed why she doesn’t like people claiming that Drake was the person who helped…
Davido has been announced at the ‘Artist of the year’ at the All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA 2018). The prestigious awards which is in its fifth edition went down on Saturday at the Accra Interntaional Conference Centre Ghana with a host of stars gathered from across the continent. Nigerian heavyweights like Davido, Wizkid, Simi, Tiwa Savage had all been nominated in several categories alongside the likes of other African superstars lke South Africa’s Shekhinah, DRC’s Maitre Gims, Diamond Platnumz, Betty G and Nasty C who have all bagged multiple nominations for a brilliant and consistent year. Other Nigerian artistes nominated…
Chiwetel Ejiofor has taken on the role of Scar, the villainous lion in the adaptation of Disney’s animated feature, ‘Lion King.’ The Nigerian born English actor took on the role in the movie, which is projected to hit cinemas in July 2019. The first official trailer for the upcoming movie was released on Thursday night, November 22, 2018. Scar is the villainous lion and brother of Mufasa, who seeks to usurp the throne from his brother and ends up teaming up with the hyenas. In the same vein, Beyonce plays the character, Nala in the movie. Beyonce plays the fierce…
Kizz Daniel joins forces with DJ Xclusive on this new one he titles, ‘Ori Mi.’ The FlyBoy Inc boss, who is set to release his second studio album, ”No Bad Songz” by the end of the month has scored a number of impressive features working with disc jockeys this year. Songs like ‘Baba’ with DJ Spinall and ‘Wait’ with DJ Neptune have gone a long way in defining his year. Now it is the turn of superstar jockey, DJ Xclusive who enlists him on the latest record, ‘Ori Mi’, which translates to ‘My destiny.’
Bolanle Austen Peters Productions and House of Oduduwa have casted Big Brother Naija star, Bam Bam alongside Femi Branch for a new stage play, ‘Queen Moremi the musical.’ The new stage play is coming following the success of ‘Saro the Musical,’ ‘Wakaa the Musical’ and ‘Fela and the Kalakuta Queens’ from the same production outfit. Scheduled to premiere on December 21, 2018 and run till January 2, 2019, ‘Queen Moremi the musical’ tells an authentic African super hero story. Other notable stars in the play are Bimbo Manuel, Kehinde Bankole and Deyemi Okanlawon. According to the Yoruba history, Queen Moremi…
Mr Eazi has come out to give reasons why his scheduled ”Trace Live” concert, which was billed to hold on Thursday in Lagos was cancelled by the organizers. The show was Mr Eazi’s first concert back home following the successful release of his sophomore project, ”Lagos To London” and the launch of his Empawa Program. The concert generated much buzz and anticipation from his Lagos fans who have had to wait the whole year to see the superstar who has been dominating on the global stage. But hours before the event, the organisers announced that the concert had been cancelled…
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said that Kwara politics has taken a new direction through the people`s votes as seen in the Nov. 17 House of Representatives’ bye-election in the state. Malam Lanre Onilu, the APC National Publicity Secretary, said this in a statement on Friday in Abuja. The statement was in reaction to the decision by the Senate to investigate the circumstances that led to the loss of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the election. “While the APC condemns this curious Senate investigation of the bye-election which took place in the home state of the Senate President,…
The Wife of the President, Mrs Aisha Buhari has called for collaboration between Muslims and Christians in tackling the menace of sex abuse in Nigerian universities, work places and families. Mrs Buhari made this call at a Public Lecture with the theme “Life of an Ideal Muslim in Public Office,’’ organised by the Aisha Buhari Foundation on Saturday at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa. She said that the target audience of the lecture was the youths in order to help them have a full grasp of the Islamic way of life and avoid being led astray by some…
Goodluck Jonathan has come for the Governor of Borno, Kasim Shettima and presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu over their comments on his book. Jonathan launched his new book titled: My Transition Hours on Tuesday, November 20, 2018, in Abuja. Since the launch, a lot of reactions have trailed the former president’s narration of events that transpired while he was in power. According to reports, the former President stated in his book that the Chibok girls incident was used against him in 2015. This however did not go down with the Borno state Governor who rubbished the former President’s book describing it…
The Nigerian Army on Saturday warns against circulation of fake video footage released by Boko Haram insurgents’ purported attack on a military base at Metele, Borno. The army in a Facebook post expressed concern over indiscriminate circulation of series of fake video footage on social media platforms, an action which creates fear and unrest in the society. It dismissed the videos as ‘false’, explaining that they do not portray the situation on ground, stressing that such videos served the purpose intended by the insurgents to misinform; spread panic, hatred, religious intolerance and undermine national security. “The Nigeria Army has continued…
President Buhari has reacted to the killing of soldiers by Boko haram at Metele village in Borno. Members of the terror group attacked a military base in Metele village, Guzamala local government area of Borno State, and killed many soldiers on Monday, November 19, 2018. According to a statement issued on Twitter on Saturday, November 24, 2018, the President also assured Nigerians that the loopholes which led to the attacks will be blocked. The statement quotes Buhari as saying “No responsible Commander-in-Chief would rest on his oars or fold his hands to allow terrorists to endanger the lives of its…