Arsenal start on a dull note, suffer shocking 2-0 home defeat

Arsenal Fc began their league campaign on a poor note as they suffered a surprise 2-0 defeat to West Ham at the Emirates earlier today.
Errors from their biggest summer signing,  Petr Cech prevented the team from having a flying start anticipated by fans and several pundits.
Cech was caught out when West Ham midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate headed in a first-half free kick and then Mauro Zarate slotted home a second on the break after 57 minutes to leave Gunners boss Arsene Wenger facing more questions about the direction of his side.
West Ham started with 16-year-old Reece Oxford in midfield, and he put in a mature display at the back.
Wenger was forced to use Alexis Sanchez a surprise substitute but he could not inspire the Gunners back into the game.
The defeat leaves Arsenal in the last position on the log and some fans are already showing concerns regarding the intent of the club to charge for the league title.

Odion Ighalo scores as new comers Watford hold Everton to a 2-2 draw

Nigerian International, Odion Ighalo scored his first EPL goal to help newly-promoted side Watford secure a 2-2 draw against Everton at the Goodison Park. The 25 year old came on for Manuel Jurado in the 74th minute and it took him 11 minutes to restore Watford’s lead after Ross Barkley 25 yard stunner cancelled out Miguel  Layún opener in the 14th minute.
Ighalo, who scored 20 goals for Watford last season, scored a brilliant goal, feinting past two defenders before bending a delightful finish past the Everton keeper. However, Arouna Kone popped up in the 86th minute to deny Watford and claim a point for the Toffees.

We can not let De Gea go easily – Louis Van Gaal

Manager of Manchester United,  Louis Van Gaal has disclosed that David De Gea won’t be leaving the club easily given his reputation and quality.  De Gea was replaced by Sergio Romero for United’s 1-0 win over Tottenham on Saturday and watched from the stands as his teammate impressed between the posts with a number of late saves. Van Gaal has already said that he does not think De Gea is in the right frame of mind to play for United while talk of a transfer to Madrid is ongoing and he re-iterated his point in post-match.

“I cannot say [when De Gea’s future will be settled] because I’m not the most important part — that is the player and the club that wants to buy him,” Van Gaal told BT Sport.

“He is our best player for three years chosen by the fans and we cannot let him go easily — we have to spend a lot of money for the players we want to buy.”

Swansea hold Chelsea in season opener

Chelsea began their title defence with a fascinating 2-all draw with Swansea in a match that saw Thibaut Courtois sent off for an infringement in the box.
A free kick out wide saw Oscar curl the ball into the area and it evaded everyone, including goalkeeper Lukas Fabianski, to put Chelsea ahead.
Swansea rallied and came back into the game as Jefferson Montero got away and swung in a wonderful cross; Gomis
headed it back across goal but Courtois parried only for Andre Ayew to control and slot home past the despairing John Terry.

The scores were level for less than a few minutes though, as Willian’s shot from a tight angle looped over Fabianski and into the far corner to make it 2-1 at the break.
Ten minutes into the second half, the game turned on its head. A long ball over the top saw Gomis onside — with
Willian playing him on — and Courtois rushed out of his goal to bring down the Frenchman. The referee adjudged the
foul had taken place in the box and the Belgian goalkeeper was sent off and a penalty awarded.

Gomis picked himself up and slotted past Asmir Begovic to make it 2-2, with Oscar taken off and the Blues down to 10
men.

The red card will keep Courtois out of the crucial tie with Manchester City.

Dyabala and Mandzukic inspire Juventus to Super Cup victory

Juventus’ activities in the transfer market paid off as their new signings Paulo Dyabala and Mario Mandzukic got the goals that gave them victory over Lazio to win the Italian Supercoppa in Shanghai on Saturday. Both goals came in a five-minute spell midway through the second half as Juve claimed the traditional Serie A curtain raiser for the third time in four years.
Mario Mandzukic who joined from Atletico Madrid this summer for £13.6 million, climbed between two defenders to glance home a header from Stefano Sturaro’s right-wing cross.
Dybala then wrapped up the win when he made it 2-0 in the 74th minute — less than quarter of an hour after coming on for Kingsley Coman.
Lazio failed to deal with Mandzukic’s ball into the area and Paul Pogba’s lay-back was smashed into the roof of the net by 21-year-old Dybala, a £24m signing from Palermo in June.

Juve begin the defence of their Serie A title at home to Udinese next Sunday while Lazio host Bologna on Saturday.

Manchester United Commence season with Nervy win

Manchester United held on to start their season with a lacklustre win against Tottenham courtesy an own goal from Kyle Walker. United started slowly and Christian Eriksen almost put Spurs ahead inside five minutes when he broke through but chipped his effort over new goalkeeper Sergio Romero — starting in place of the dropped David De Gea — and also over the bar.
But, despite having the better of the opening exchanges, Spurs fell behind soon after as Ashley Young scampered free to cross for Wayne Rooney and the backtracking Kyle Walker diverted the ball into his own net.

Manchester United’s new signings all put in a decent performance bar Memphis Depay who didn’t live up to expectations. Morgan Schneiderlin lined up next to Michael Carrick and looked energetic and willing to accept possession deep in United’s half despite a couple of nervous moments early on.
Sergio Romero also made big saves especially in the final few minutes from a deflected Kane header and then from a powerful shot by Eriksen moments later.

'We Are The World' by African Stars is the worst combination of voices in human history| By: Etcetera

Well, I think I’m finally safe to write this article, since I’ve set up my e-mail software to automatically filter out any messages containing swear words.
Sincerely, I don’t know if there’s any song that made me change the TV station faster than this one. If I didn’t, I’d have been doomed to have a group of adults with hideous and unsync voices chanting, ” we are the children” over and over in my head for the next six months. 
And that certainly isn’t all that’s wrong with the song. Michael Jackson would probably be spitting and cursing in his grave right now, like a pregnant woman with whitlow on her ten fingers and toes. What the heck were they thinking changing his beautifully composed piece of art to the most insipid crap ever written?
I’m going to tell you this for free; don’t listen to We Are The World by African all stars unless you’re trying to get a bone out of your throat. That is only when the song would be useful.
We know that African music isn’t made up of the best singers anymore, but honestly, how did they think that they could fill up a seven-minute song with nothing but monotonous chanting of the same feeble chorus over and over again?
The humorous highlight of the song is Kcee’s ridiculous line”There’s a choice we making, we saving our own lives.” Never has the word (saving our own lives) meant so opposite. And the only choice that could have been made by the organisers was not to have included Kcee in the song. He was even off key for Christ sake. Kcee, your hilarious accent is to be commended.
Luckily I could warn the rest of you who haven’t listened. Kcee is the first reason this is the most repulsive rendition of this song ever.
There were other worse vocals like Sean Tizzle’s, but Tiwa Savage sounded like a two- year- old being dragged out of a toy store. She should know when to keep the vibrato off her voice. And For a minute I thought Banky W was going to faint. Whoever chose the key to this song should have been reminded that most Nigerian singers are all about auto-tune and can’t hold their notes.
Jesus Christ, what is happening to music? This is easily the worst combination of voices in human history. Only the most despicable revisionist historian could possibly claim that this song is anything close to good. It’s nothing more than a hideous irritation festival from the individual who sold the idea to the sponsors.
 While writing this article, someone suggested that maybe vocals wasn’t the criterion for selecting the artistes. REALLY? Are you kidding me? Then they should have gone for the kill. Artquake should have been in there somewhere, Or perhaps even Daddy Showkey. A number of you are probably thinking “hey, come on, I kinda like that song.” Of course, every lover of today’s Nigerian music will surely like the song. This is the musical equivalent of Agege bread: it’s meant to be packed with so much artificial crap that it’s bound to appeal in some way to Nigerians.
No matter how musically credible you are, no matter how much cutting-edge indigenous songs you listen to, whether you snore in baritone in your sleep or not, this song is a shame. It is the kind of rendition that makes today’s Nigerian music uncool. If you have listened to it, the fact that the singers were trying too hard to sound like the original version should have made you turn off your TV in disgust. If you haven’t, download it right now. I dare you to try to make it through the first 10 seconds. It is the ultimate endurance test.
If you’d care to suggest another song for me to review, you can always feel free to do so by e-mailing me at [email protected]. If you’re the guy who e-mailed me about being a Wizkid fan, for the love of God, get some help.

EPL is back! Check out the fixtures for August 2015.

‎Action returns to our TV screens today. The English Premier League Season is back! So glad. Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United,  Manchester City and few other clubs have matches today. 
Wherever you are watching the games from, please stay away from violence. Your blood, no one’s blood is worth sacrificing for football. Would start a predict and win segment on this blog this month. Winner gets N1,000 worth of airtime. Watch this space. Meanwhile below are the EPL fixtures for August 2015.
8 August 2015

 Arsenal v West Ham United, Bournemouth v Aston Villa, Chelsea v Swansea City,
Everton v Watford, 
Leicester City v Sunderland Manchester United v Tottenham Newcastle United v Southampton, Norwich City v Crystal Palace, Stoke City v Liverpool
West Bromwich Albion v Manchester City.
 ‎
15 August 2015
Aston Villa v Manchester United, Crystal Palace v Arsenal 
Liverpool v AFC Bournemouth, Manchester City v Chelsea, Southampton v Everton, Sunderland v Norwich City, Swansea City v Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur v Stoke City, Watford v West Bromwich Albion West Ham United v Leicester City.
22 August 2015
Arsenal v Liverpool, Crystal Palace v Aston Villa, Everton v Manchester City, Leicester City v Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United v Newcastle United, Norwich City v Stoke City, Sunderland v Swansea City Watford v Southampton, West Bromwich Albion v Chelsea, West Ham United v Bournemouth.

29 August 2015
Aston Villa v Sunderland, Bournemouth v Leicester City, Chelsea v Crystal Palace, 
Liverpool v West Ham United, Manchester City v Watford,
Newcastle United v Arsenal, Southampton v Norwich City, Stoke City v West Bromwich Albion 
Swansea City v Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur v Everton.

"Things didn't work as expected." Angel Di Maria writes apology letter to fans

PSG midfielder, Angel Di Maria has written an open, apology letter to his Manchester United fans for leaving the club less than a year he moved to England. During his unveiling yesterday 6th August, 2015, the Argentine star who joined the French club for a fee of around £44m revealed that things did not turn out well for him at Old Trafford and that the decision to join PSG was between the three parties.
His open letter read: 

“​To Manchester United:

“I write this note to thank all the Manchester United family for the great support received during the year I’ve been part of this Club.
“When Manchester United chose me as part of their team I felt extremely honoured because I knew what this Club means and how it trusted me. Nevertheless, I’m aware things didn’t work as we all expected and believe me, I feel really sorry about it. However in the career of a football player sometimes the unexpected and unwanted may happen.
“I can guarantee you it was not for trying. I did my best but football is not like maths: often a lot of things out of our control affect the way we feel and the way things turn out. I am sorry it did not work out as I would have wished in this amazing huge club.
“I want to give special thanks to all the Directors and Management of Manchester United as well as to every member of the staff and colleagues as they gave me all their support. Also a special mention to all the fans who always trusted me and showed me their respect and love.
“Now is time to move to PSG, but the Glorious Manchester United Club will be forever in my memory!
“Wish you all the best in the world.
“With best regards, Angel Di Maria.”

​​

Paul Pogba handed Number 10 Jersey

Juventus have announced that Paul Pogba will wear the coveted number 10 Jersey this season following the departure of Carlos Tevez.
Roberto Baggio, Zinedine Zidane and Alessandro Del Piero are just three of the former greats who have worn the No.10 shirt at Juventus — a number which carries a great significance to Bianconeri fans.
It had been reported that the number may not be issued this season, following Tevez’s return to Boca Juniors, while many believed that it was being reserved for a big summer signing, such as Mario Gotze or Julian Draxler.
However, Pogba asked specifically to be given the shirt and the French midfielder will now use the number in the 2015-16 season.
“It’s not easy because all the biggest names in the history of Juventus have worn the No. 10 shirt,” Juve coach Massimiliano Allegri told a news conference in Shanghai, where Juve are preparing to face Lazio in the Supercoppa on Saturday.
“Paul asked for this shirt and he will have more responsibility because wearing that shirt is not simple. I believe Paul’s position is on the outside of a midfield three and maybe in a few years’ time, he will play in front of the defence [in Andrea Pirlo’s position].”

Pogba, 22, was the subject of an €80 million bid from Barcelona which was rejected this summer and, although he is contracted until 2019, the midfielder is attracting attention from the best clubs in the world.
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