…Ekong, Obi start; Shehu missing; Simon benched
ENGLAND
Alex Iwobi (Arsenal): Iwobi was on the winning when the Gunners edged Huddersfield Town with a superb volley from Lucas Torreira at the Emirates. The match marked 20 games unbeaten run in the Unai Emry era. Iwobi was a 46mins substitute.
Victor Moses (Chelsea): Moses was not listed in the match day squad at the Stamford Bridge when the Blues stopped high flying Man City, beating them with two goals.
Isaac Success: I owe Watford for reviving my career
Super Eagles forward Isaac Success has heaped praises on Watford for reviving his career which he thought was over due to injuries and loss of form he suffered prior to joining the Premier League side.
“‘I won’t lie, I was having difficulties and I thought English football wasn’t for me,” said Success who joined Watford for £12.5m from La Liga side, Granada.
In a chat with newsmen ahead of Monday’s Premier League clash against Everton, Success expressed his gratitude to the coach for believing in him.
“The coach didn’t really believe in me. I wasn’t fit enough. I wasn’t ready, physically or mentally. Coming back from injury and all, I was frustrated. All the other players were really sharp and doing well.
‘It was difficult to get my chance and I wanted games to lose some weight and get back all I’d lost. My career stood still. Being alone, not feeling my future was safe, that worried me. Mentally I wasn’t okay. It was really tough, and not knowing about the lifestyle side of football in England, I didn’t get it right.’
‘The main factor was that I wasn’t fit and wasn’t working. I made mistakes because I wasn’t working hard and needed to concentrate more. I’ll always be the same person but I needed to reduce everything I was doing and I’ve reduced it,” Success said.
‘I stuck to my plan. When you’re fit it’s more difficult to get injured, and if you’re injured you recover on time. So, this season is going well because physically I’m fine. I lost a couple of kilos and that made me faster and stronger. I feel sharper.”
‘I have a coach who believes in me and he gives me confidence and freedom to do what I want on the pitch.
‘I was eating a lot of African food and it was a little bit heavy but I’ve cut that out and I’m on the team diet, eating with the team. Eating earlier at night, it’s really helped.
‘All of this has been a big change in my career and I say a big thank you to the Watford family for believing in me and for keeping me – and hoping I can get better. I am getting better. I am grateful for that.’
The Nigerian has just signed a new five-year-contract.
Crystal Palace lead race to sign Victor Moses
Crystal Palace are reportedly interested in signing £12million rated retired Nigeria international Victor Moses from Chelsea.
Moses played for Crystal Palace between 2007 and 2010 after coming through their youth ranks, and the Chelsea winger is back on the club’s radar, according to The Sun.
The 27-year-old has struggled for game time under Maurizio Sarri this season, making only one start in six appearances for Chelsea this season in all competitions.
Moses who fell out of favour at Stamford Bridge under Sarri after playing regularly under former manager Antonio Conte has seen only 26 minutes of English Premier League action so far this term.
He played in 40 matches as Chelsea lifted the Premier League title in the 2016-17 campaign, while he made 38 appearances last season.
The former Super Eagles star, joined Chelsea for £9m from Wigan in the summer of 2012 and has enjoyed three loan spells at Liverpool, Stoke City and West Ham during his time at the club.
Moses retired from international football after featuring for the Super Eagles at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia where he played in all three group games and scored once.
Alex Iwobi celebrates Arsenal unbeaten run in EPL
Super Eagles winger, Alex Iwobi, is elated to see Arsenal extend their unbeaten streak this season following Saturday’s hard fought 1-0 home win against Huddersfield Town at the Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners stretched their unbeaten run to 21 games in all competitions this season courtesy of Uruguay international, Lucas Torreira’s 83rd minute beautiful volley.
“Unbeaten Run Continues ???? #COYG, “reads a Tweet on Iwobi’s Twitter handle after the game.
Iwobi who has been one of the Gunners outstanding performers this season came in for veteran defender, Stephan Lichtsteiner at halftime in the encounter
It was the winger’s 13th appearance in the English Premier League this season and fourth substitute appearance. Iwobi is in the running for Arsenal’s player of the month for November.
Iwobi has scored one Premier League goal this season which was in the Gunners’ away clash against Victor Moses’s Chelsea on match day two.
SWITZERLAND
Blessing Eleke (FC Luzern): Eleke scored a brace for FC Luzern in Sunday’s 2-2 draw away at Grasshoppers in the Swiss Super League. Eleke gave his side an early lead in the second minute for his sixth league goal of the season. Nedim Bajrami drew Grasshoppers level in the 11th minute but Lazar Cirkovic restored Luzern’s lead in the 18th minute. Julien Ngoy strike for Grasshoppers looked to have earned the home team a point but Eleke bagged the match winner in the 79th minute after he was played through on goal by with a fine assist from Pascal Schurpf. The goal was his seventh league goal of the season and his 11th in all competitions for FC Luzern.
Stephen Odey (FC Zurich): Odey fired blanks in FC Zurich’s 2-0 loss away to FC Basel 1893. Odey has scored six league goals and ten in all competitions.
ITALY
William Troost Ekong (Udinese): Ekong was on the losing side with Udinese who slumped to a 3-1 loss at home to Atalanta on Sunday in a Serie A game. Ekong has made 15 Serie A starts this season.
Joel Obi (Chievo): Obi made his 10th start for Chievo Verona who held Parma to a 1-1 draw. His only goal in the Serie A was against Bologna in October.
SPAIN
Moses Simon (Levante): Simon, was an unused substitute for Levante who came from a goal down to force a 4-4 draw with Eibar away from home. The Nigerian winger has made four substitute appearances for Levante this season six in all competition this season with two in the Copa Del Rey. The result sees Eibar remain in mid-table, whilst Paco Lopez’ side, Levante miss out on the opportunity to climb into the top four.
Chukwueze picked in La Liga team of the month
Although he failed to match same height like in his previous games in the La Liga as Villarreal slumped to a 2-3 loss away from home against Celta Vigo, Samuel Chukwueze has done enough to earn a spot in the best XI players in the league for the month of November.
Back to back goals in the La Liga in his first two starts in the league in the games against Rayo Vallecano and Real Betis coupled with a spirited performance in the 0-2 loss against Barcelona earned him a spot alongside Lionel Messi in attack.
Chukwueze was picked by Whoscored.com in their monthly player of the week pool after pulling 7.69 points with Messi getting the accolades as the best player of the month with a total point of 8.80.
Already a senior international with Nigeria, he was substituted yesterday midway into the game against Celta Vigo with many suggesting burn out due to the high number of games he has played the past one months in what is his first season with the first team.
Uzoho keeps clean sheet on return for Elche
Super Eagles goalkeeper Francis Uzoho made a remarkable comeback from injury after a month out on Sunday keeping a clean sheet for his La Liga Segunda side, Elche in their goalless draw at home to Sporting Gijon.
It was his third clean sheet in four La Liga Segunda games for Elche though Uzoho has conceded five league goals in the Spanish second-tier division.
Uzoho missed Elche’s last four games after suffering a concussion a month ago and two international games for the Super Eagles against South Africa in a 2019 Africa Cup Of Nations qualifiers and Uganda in a friendly.
He made three outstanding saves against Sporting Gijon to earn his side a point from the encounter at the Martinez Valero stadium.
The 20-year-old denied Carlos Carmona a goal in the seventh minute of the encounter when he saved his goal-bound shot.
In the 21st minute, the Deportivo La Coruna loanee was also called into action in the 55th minute when he parried Cristian Salvador’s point-blank header for a corner.
With this draw, Elche have now gone six league matches without a win in fixtures against Cadiz (5-1), Las Palmas (0-0), Alcoron (0-1), Albacete (0-1) and Cordoba (1-1) and Sporting Gijon 0-0.
Uzoho made his Super Eagles debut against Argentina in a pre-World Cup friendly in November 2017 and has featured in 12 games conceding 12 goals and keeping five clean sheets.
TURKEY
Abdullahi Shehu (Bursaspor): Abdullahi Shehu was left out of Bursaspor’s squad that lost 2-0 at home to Antalyaspor.
Shehu has made only one appearance this season for Bursaspor and last featured as a right midfielder in their 1-0 win over Ankaragucu in October.
Shehu is currently recuperating from a thigh muscle injury he sustained while on international duty with the Super Eagles.
GERMANY
Super Eagles target Torunarigha makes team of the week
Hertha Berlin defender Jordan Torunarigha made the team of the week in the German Bundesliga for matchday 13 and he crowned it with another man of the match display to power his team to a 1-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt in a matchday 14 game played yesterday.
21 year old Torunarigha scored one of the goals for Hertha Berlin last weekend when they defeated Hannover 96 away from home, stepped his game up once again against Eintracht Frankfurt and despite a nasty collision in the first half, he recovered to finish the game strongly.
Born in Germany to a Nigerian father Ojokojo, who works with the youth team of Hertha Berlin, he was offered the chance of making the Nigerian squad to the World Cup in Russia but he turned it down to focus on his career as a youth international for Germany.
Shortly after the game against Hannover 96 last week, he revealed to Germany based Nigerian journalist Oma Akatugba that he is still open to the idea of playing for Nigeria despite turning down the first approach from coach Gernot Rohr prior to the World Cup.
NETHERLANDS
Ajax cold on interest in “Nigerian Kante” Zubairu from Trencin
AS Trencin midfielder Abdul Zubairu popularly called Nigerian N’golo Kante has probably missed out on a dream move to Dutch giants Ajax Amsterdam.
Zubairu was linked with a move to the Dutch side after impressing for Trencin in the qualifiers of the Europa League but the move didn’t happen before the close of the summer transfer window.
Ajax were widely tipped to return with an improved offer for the recently turned 20 year old but the club have gone cold in their quest to sign him leaving AEK Athens as the favorite to snap him up.
Although AEK Athens are the front runners to sign the left footed midfielder, top teams in Belgium are also lining up moves for Zubairu who could make his senior international debut for Nigeria when they resume next year.
Plucked from GBS Academy in Jos, he is rated as one of the most technical Nigerian players by SciSkill, a website that rates the technical abilities of footballers around the world.
CHINA
Why Napoli won’t renew interest in Ighalo
Nigeria international striker Odion Ighalo is not among the names Italian Serie A side have on their list when the transfer window opens in January.
Ighalo was linked with a move to the Serie A side in 2016 before his big money move to Chinese side Chanchung Yatai from English Premier League outfit Watford. In China he has enjoyed a high degree of success.
However his goals were unable to save his club from relegation to the second division in China and speculations about a move away has surfaced for the striker who is currently the first choice striker for the senior national team of Nigeria.
Chanchung Yatai are keen on keeping him to boost their chance of an instant return to the top flight but they are not opposed to him leaving preferably on loan before they regain their top flight status.
Napoli have had a long standing interest in his service but it was coach Maurizo Sarri who is now at Chelsea that was very keen on acquiring him as his playing style suits the Nigerian forward.
New coach of Napoli, Carlo Ancelloti doesn’t play same way hence a move for Ighalo won’t be happening in January or anytime soon as the Italian coach has other players lined up to boost his squad.
