Chelsea are facing a hudge Test on finishing in the Premier League’s top six .Places vc sports. sport. blog reports

The West London side have picked up just five points from their opening four league games, sitting 11th in the Premier League table ahead of a trip to Wolverhampton Wanderers today

Chelsea have lost just once in their four EPL matches, This Season in which they suffered an opening -day defeat in the hands of Manchester United, but have also secured one victory, in this campaign so far a 3-2 win over Norwich leaving them in a battle to climb back up the table.

Wolves, Leicester City and Everton are among the clubs considered challengers to the usual ‘Big Six’ this season and Lampard expects his side to be pushed this season, with fellow usual contenders Manchester United and Tottenham also having struggled early on.

Nigeria’s Falconets have won the Gold medal of the women’s football event of the 12^th African Games in Morocco on Thursday after a 3-2 penalty shoot-out win over their counterparts from Cameroon. vc sports. sports. blog

 

The hard fought game between the two teams that had battled to a 1-1 draw in a group phase match eight days ago ended 0-0 after regulation time and extra time at the Stade Boubker Aamar outside Rabat. Penalty shoot-out followed and the Nigeria U20 girls, one of only four teams to have featured in every edition of the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup since the competition started 17 years ago, triumphed.

The victory was the first gold for the Falconets at the African Games in 12 years, having not qualified for the 10^th edition in Mozambique in 2011 and finishing outside the medals’ range in Brazzaville four years ago.

It was also a fitting accomplishment to bid bye to the first captain of the Falconets team, Ifeanyichukwu Chiejine, whose remains were committed to mother earth in Lagos on the same day.

 

Argwntine Midfielder Paulo Dybala has reportedly delivered a personal scoop to one of the clubs fan who asked him about his future vc sports. sports. blog

It has been a summer of uncertainty for the 25-year-old Argentina international attacking midfielder, given that he has consistently been linked with a move away from the Bianconeri.

Several English clubs, including Tottenham and Manchester United were linked with a move for Dybala, before the Premier League transfer window slammed shut on August 8.

PSG will almost certainly step up their efforts to land Dybala should Brazilian star Neymar leave the Parc des Princes for a return to Spain, with either Real Madrid or Barcelona, next week.

It appears that Juve would be open to a sale for the right price, despite Dybala becoming a fans’ favourite in Turn since he moved to Turin on a five-year deal from Serie A rivals Palermo in summer 2015, for a fee that could reach 40 million euros.

Juve returned to Serie A action on Saturday with a 1-0 win at Parma with Dybala not adding to his 182 appearances in all competitions, as he was an unused substitute.

But in the build-up to the fixture, the player was approached by a supporter after a training session during the week and was asked if he was leaving this summer.

Manchester United defender Chris Smalling has travelled to Italy to finalise a loan move to Serie A side Roma, says boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. vc sports. sports. blog reports

The Premier League club have reportedly agreed a season-long deal with Roma paying a fee of £2.7m.

Smalling, 29, joined United from Fulham in 2010 and extended his contract at Old Trafford to 2022 in December.

“This opportunity for Chris has come up in the last couple of days,” said Solskjaer on Friday.

Roma sold Greece centre-back Konstantinos Manolas to Napoli for £32m this summer. Smalling is the fifth high-profile departure from United this summer, with Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez going to Inter Milan, and Antonio Valencia and Ander Herrera leaving after their contracts expired

EX Super Eagles Captain John Mikel Obi, and his co Nigerian counterpart Anthony Nwakaeme as well as their Trabzonspor teammates will face Swiss club, Basel, Krasnodar of Russia and LaLiga outfit, Getafe in Group C of the UEFA Europa League vc sports. sports. blog reports

, rabzonspor lost 2-0 at home to Greek club, AEK Athens in the last playoffs match on Thursday night but progressed to the league stage 3-3 on away goal rule having won the first leg 3-1.

Mikel and Nwakaeme featured in the game against AEK Athens.

Ogenyi Onazi’s return to competitive action for Trabzonspor is still an uncertainty following his reported recovery from injury

. Scottish gients , Rangers, with their Nigerian import, Joe Aribo face daunting tasks in Group G of the Europa League, to face Porto, Young Boys and Feyenoord.

Former Golden Eaglets and Flying Eagles midfielder, Rabiu Ibrahim will see his Slovan Bratislava side battle Wolverhampton Wanderers, Besiktas and Braga in Group K.

Europa League 2019-20: All The Groups

Group A: Sevilla, Apoel Nicosia, Qarabag, F91 Dudelange

Group B: Dynamo Kiev, FC Copenhagen, Malmo, Lugano

Group C: Basel, Krasnodar, Getafe, Trabzonspor

Group D: Sporting Lisbon, PSV Eindhoven, Rosenborg, Lask

Group E: Lazio, Celtic, Rennes, Cluj

Group F: Arsenal, Eintracht Frankfurt, Standard Liege, Vitoria

Group G: Porto, Young Boys, Feyenoord, Rangers

Group H: CSKA, Moscow, Ludogorets, Espanyol, Ferencvaros

Group I: Wolsfburg, Gent, Saint-Etienne, Olexandriya

Group J: Roma, Borussia Monchengladbach, Istanbul Basaksehir, Wolfsberger AC

Group K: Besiktas, Braga, Slovan Bratislava, Wolves

Group L: Manchester United, FC Astana, Partizan Belgrade, AJ Alkmaar

former FC MALMO striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has stated that he fancies his chances of returning to the English Premier League and rejoining his former side Manchester United if manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wants him in his squad.

The LA Galaxy striker is in buoyant mood at the moment scoring six goals in three games for the MLS side. He feels he has an unfinished business in the EPL where he scored an impressive 29 goals in 53 games for United from 2016 to 2018.

The former Sweden captain suffered a knee ligament injury at Galaxy, but recovered recently and hit a resurgent form.

Ibrahimovic, who happened to be a self acclaimed ‘striker’, has won 31 trophies in a very successful career so far that cut across some of the world bigest clubs, including Ajax, Juventus, inter Milan, AC Milan, Barcelona, PSG and Manchester United.

Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy won the Tour Championship for a second time to secure the FedEx Cup title.

McIlroy who is, 30, years of age carded a final-round 66 to finish on 18 under par, four shots clear of second-placed Xander Schauffele and five ahead of third-round leader and world number one Brooks Koepka in Atlanta.

He pockets $15m (£12.2m) – a prize fund he has previously questioned.

“To play like that alongside Brooks and win, it’s awesome,” said McIlroy.

American Koepka had held a one-shot lead after a weather-delayed third round at East Lake Golf Club, during which six people were injured after two lightning strikes.

The world number two, who was beaten by Tiger Woods during the final round of the 2018 Tour Championship and succumbed to Koepka on the last day of the WGC-FedEx St Jude Invitational last month, added: “I didn’t enjoy that walk last year like everyone else did, I played terribly.

Nigeria’s Afeez Aremu, says he is eager to score more goals for his Norwegian second tier club side, IK Start, after scoring his first goal of the 2019 season in their 2-1 away win against Raufoss at Nammo Stadium on Sunday vc’sports.dports.blog reports

the midfielder scored first through Kristoffer Nesso in the 18th minute before Iceland international Aron Sigurdason equalized for IK start 10 minutes after the halftime break.

Aremu who played the entire duration of the match scored the winner for Start in the 77th minute with a terrific strike that became a talking point after the game.

It was Aremu’s first goal of the 2019 season for Start. The former Flying Eagles midfielder have featured in 17 matches this term, and he is confident that he will get more goals for his team before the end of the season

Rahimo coach, and technical adviser Firnin Sanon, has admitted that his team lost to a far better and experienced Enyimba side in the Preliminary Round of the 2019/20 CAF Champions League, adding that early dismissal of their striker was their major setback in the match vc’sports. sports.blog reports

Sanon averred that the early expulsion of their talismanic striker, Zonon Issouf, was the turning point in their 5-0 defeat in Aba

He further laments that Enyimba goalkeeper, Theophilus Afelokhai committed a penalty foul when he allegedly tripped an onrushing attacker, an incident he believed could have earned the goalkeeper a red card also.

We are a very young team, participating in the continental football for the first time,” Sanon said after the match.

“We came here to learn from our bigger brothers, Enyimba. We have no worries losing, but the 5-0 scoreline is too devastating.”

Luis Suarez is out for an indefinite period after injuring his right calf in Barcelona’s LaLiga game defeat to Athletic Bilbao yesterday, vc sports. sports. blog reports

However The 32-year-old striker had to be replaced before half-time at San Mames after receiving treatment following a shot that hit the post.

Lionel Messi missed the match with a calf issue of his own, suffered shortly before Barca travelled to the United States for two friendly matches against Napoli last week

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Suarez’s early withdrawal was the first time he has been substituted in the first half of a La Liga game since he joined Barca from Liverpool in 2014.

The Uruguayan netted 25 times in all competitions for the Catalan giants last season and will look to play another pivotal role in their ambition to retain the title when he returns from injury.

Suarez’s early withdrawal was the first time he has been substituted in the first half of a La Liga game since he joined Barca from Liverpool in 2014.

The Uruguayan scored 25 goals in all competitions for the Catalan giants last season and will look to play another vital role in their ambition to retain the title when he returns from injury.

Messi and Suarez combined together scored 76 goals between them last season, with goalscoring duties now likely to fall to Antoine Greizmann and Ousmane Dembele as Barca prepare for their next league encounter against Real Betis.

Griezmann debuted against Athletic, but Suarez’s injury and Coutinho’s departure could see Barca ramp up their interest in former player Neymar, who looks increasingly likely to leave Paris Saint-Germain.