Jamie Vardy was the hero as Leicester City ended a four-game winless run in all competitions to hand Maurizio Sarri his first home defeat as Chelsea head coach, dealing a blow to their Premier League top four hopes. Chelsea did not drop their intensity or abandon Sarri’s “idea of football” even when chasing this game, and it took a combination of some unfriendly bounces off the goal frame and some inspired goalkeeping from Kasper Schmeichel to see Leicester escape from Stamford Bridge with three points. The home side struggled mightily for long spells to break down Leicester with Hazard operating…
Author: David Folami
Tottenham moved to within two points of second place Manchester City after coming from behind to earn a 6-2 victory at Everton. The build-up to this clash was dominated by talk of Manchester United’s interest in Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino following the decision to part ways with Jose Mourinho. However, he showed he was fully focused on the job at hand as his side put in a breathtaking performance which brought them back in the title picture. Rivals Manchester City and Chelsea suffered shock home defeats on Saturday, and Tottenham took full advantage. However, despite creating the majority of the…
Peter Schmeichel has said he will consider applying if the club appoint a director of football in the coming months. After the sacking of Jose Mourinho and hiring of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as caretaker boss last week, the structure in place at Old Trafford is set to change. Reports have suggested that a new director of football position is on the cards to work with executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward and Schmeichel believes he has what it takes to fill the role. “I’m actually thinking about putting my name in there,” Schmeichel told BBC Radio 5 live’s Sportsweek. “It’s a tough…
Mauricio Pochettino says his in-form team could be title contenders this season if they can find the consistency that has eluded them in the past. Spurs, who are third, delivered a sensational performance as they romped to a 6-2 win over Everton at Goodison Park on Sunday to move just two points behind second-placed Manchester City and six behind leaders Liverpool. The emphatic way in which Spurs won, with an outstanding exhibition of passing and movement, raised the inevitable question of whether the title race is simply between Juergen Klopp and Pep Guardiola’s teams or if Pocchetino’s side are now…
As it turns out, Manchester United do have some good footballers. It’s always a dangerous game to impose the overarching narrative around a football team after a single performance, and thus you’d hesitate before ascribing Manchester United’s convincing 5-1 win over Cardiff City to their manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, being a man everyone likes, rather than one whom few did, Jose Mourinho. But after being told for the past couple of years that United’s players aren’t good enough and watching them being patronised by a manager praising them for doing their best against Liverpool, it was pleasing at least to…
Juventus maintained their record-breaking start to the Serie A season with a 1-0 win over Roma that ensured they will go into the winter break on top of the table. Mario Mandzukic struck a first-half winner to hand Juve their 16th win in 17 games, restoring their eight-point advantage over second-placed Napoli with two rounds to go before the halfway point of the season. A 1-1 draw with Genoa in October is the only blot on Juventus’s otherwise perfect record, which is the best start that has ever been made to a Serie A season and one that has only…
The wave of optimism that has swept through Manchester United this week will carry on a little longer after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s reign began with a 5-1 win over Cardiff City. The last United manager to start with a comprehensive win in south Wales was David Moyes, after he oversaw a 4-1 win at Swansea in August 2013. Solskjaer will hope his spell is remembered more fondly after he replaced Jose Mourinho in the hot seat on Wednesday. His tenure got off to the perfect start for the Norwegian famous for late goals when Marcus Rashford got an early one…
Real Madrid lifted the FIFA Club World Cup for a record fourth time on Saturday after thrashing local side Al Ain 4-1 in the final in Abu Dhabi with the help of impressive distance strikes in either half from midfielders Luka Modric and Marcos Llorente. Recently crowned Ballon d’Or winner Modric took one touch before thumping the ball into the bottom corner from outside the box to break the deadlock in the 14th minute after Al Ain had missed two early chances to take a shock lead. Madrid’s homegrown midfielder Marcos Llorente doubled the European champions lead on the hour…
Maurizio Sarri has said “mental confusion” affected his Chelsea players as Leicester City inflicted a first home defeat of the season on the Blues. Jamie Vardy applied a clinical finish to a lightning counter-attack to run out 1-0 winners at Stamford Bridge, with Eden Hazard striking the crossbar in the first half and Marcos Alonso clipping the inside of the post in the final minutes. The result left Chelsea 11 points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool and level with Arsenal in the race for Champions League qualification, but after the game Sarri was more concerned with his team’s reaction to…
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says the top four is not out of reach after beginning his reign with a 5-1 win over Cardiff City. United are eight points adrift of the Champions League places but Solskjaer has not ruled out a charge up the table in the second half of the season. “We’ll take one game at a time but we’re eight points behind and we’ve caught up teams before at this club,” Solskjaer said. “Now, though, we’ve got to catch up a couple [of teams], but our job is to take one game at a time. “Don’t look too far…
Arsenal returned to winning ways with a 3-1 victory over Burnley at the Emirates on Saturday, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scoring two goals for the Gunners. Aubameyang gave Arsenal a seemingly safe 2-0 lead with his fifth double of the season in all competitions, before Ashley Barnes gave the visitors hope by pulling one back in the 63rd minute. But substitute Alex Iwobi made the game safe for the Gunners in injury time. This was exactly the kind of result Arsenal needed to kick off the festive period as they put back-to-back losses behind them. Mesut Ozil also showed that he…
Burnley manager Sean Dyche accused Arsenal players of diving during the Gunners’ 3-1 win on Saturday in a long rant about decisions that went against his side — drawing a rebuke from Unai Emery who said coaches must show more respect toward the referee Dyche was fuming after the Premier League defeat at the Emirates, and also complained that Burnley have not been awarded a penalty in 61 league games but should have been given one when Kevin Long was pushed in the box. He also claimed Ashley Barnes should not have been booked for putting Sokratis Papastathopoulos in a…
Pep Guardiola has refused to blame his players or team selection after Manchester City’s shock 3-2 defeat to Crystal Palace. City were surprisingly beaten for the first time at home in the Premier League this season and will spend Christmas four points behind leaders Liverpool in the table. Guardiola insisted his side were unfortunate to find themselves 2-1 down at half-time when the visitors scored twice in two minutes — the second a stunning 30-yard volley from Andros Townsend — although he was disappointed with the way they conceded a penalty at the start of the second half. Guardiola insisted…
Barcelona ensured they will end the year sitting top of the table by strolling to a comfortable 2-0 win over Celta Vigo on Saturday, inspired by another superb display from Lionel Messi. Messi played a pivotal role in Ousmane Dembele opening the scoring against the Galicians in the 10th minute, firing a shot at goal which Celta’s Ruben Blanco could only parry at the feet of the French forward, who squeezed the rebound through the goalkeeper’s legs. The Argentine then scored a sixth goal in three La Liga games to stretch his side’s advantage on the stroke of half-time, latching…
Andros Townsend scored a contender for goal of the season as Crystal Palace produced a shock with a 3-2 victory at Manchester City. The result ended City’s 100 percent home record this season and means they will spend Christmas four points adrift of leaders Liverpool. When Ilkay Gundogan gave the hosts the lead on 27 minutes, it looked like business as usual until Jeff Schlupp equalised five minutes later — and on 35 minutes, the visitors were ahead after Townsend rocketed a sensational volley into the top corner. Pep Guardiola raced down the tunnel as soon as the half-time whistle…
Paul Pogba has said Jose Mourinho improved him as a player and a person and thanked the former Manchester United manager for the success they shared at Old Trafford. The Frenchman stopped to make a statement in the mixed zone following the 5-1 win over Cardiff City on Saturday after taking criticism for what some supporters have perceived to be a role in Mourinho’s sacking. “I know you’re waiting for something about Jose, about the result today,” Pogba told reporters at the Cardiff City Stadium. “Obviously, we are very happy with the result. We played well, the performance of the…
The maiden edition of SUPERFEST is a chilled styled festival and is scheduled to hold on December 23, 2018 at Muri Okunola Park, Victoria Island Lagos. Music of the day will be provided by DJ Spinall, DJ OBI, DJ Xclusive, DJ Shawty, DJ Sparrow, SmallzTheDJ, DJ Oluwabruce, DJ Preppy, DJ Chiggzy, and DJ Tgarbz. There will also be performances by M.I, Phyno, Ice Prince, Falz, SDC, Mayorkun, Maleek Berry, DRB, LAX, Flash, and Oxlade. Having established his name and brand in the Nigerian music industry and internationally, Naeto C hopes to offer young talent the same opportunity he had and…
Recently, two new albums with material by Beyonce” credited to the name Queen Carter” showed up on Spotify and Apple Music. Social media went crazy, assuming that Beyonce, the master of the surprise album release, had repeated her magic trick yet again. But it was not a surprise. Not a Christmas gift to her fans. It was a lie. As it was uploaded by a different person and it also contained old songs and demos. Unauthorized recordings online are something we are used to, of course, but are usually found on YouTube or on file-sharing networks. So the fact that…
Funke Akindele has reportedly given birth to twins in the United States of America. According to reports, the babies touched down at Los Angeles on Friday, December 21, 2018. Many reports have referred to some posts she makes on her Instagram a day after as a perfect conclusion for the above. On her Instastories she began with thankful thoughts directed at her god captured in really bold texts. “Mo je oruko titun. Emi ti a da lewa Olohun. “Ati fi oruko titun pe mi,” her comment reads. The translation being “I now bear a new name. I, who was created…
Mo Abudu is now part of the select group of directors of the International Academy of Television, Arts & Sciences. This is a group responsible for overseeing the International Emmy Awards. She made the announcement on Friday, December 21, 2018 on her Instagram page. I am excited to announce that I have been elected director of International Academy of Television, Arts & Sciences, the organization responsible for staging the world famous International Emmy Awards. I am pleased about this appointment because it will be an enabler for the recognition of our work in TV and film across the globe. And…