Chelsea Creates Club Record as city, Everton, NewCastle win

CHELSEA continued their unbeaten run, beating 10-man West Brom 2-0 Saturday to strengthen their grip at the top of the Barclays Premier League and also set a club record for starting the campaign with an unbeaten 12-game run.
  The victory put Chelsea on 35 points - 10 clear of Southampton, who play at Aston Villa on Monday.
  Manchester City climbed into second place on 27 points after coming from behind to defeat Swansea at the Etihad Stadium.
  The victory was just what Manuel Pellegrini’s squad needed ahead of their Champion League clash with Bayern Munich on Tuesday.
  A win would have allowed Swansea to leapfrog West Ham into fourth place because the Hammers slumped to a 2-1 defeat at Everton.
  The Toffees went in front with a 26th minute strike from Romelu Lukaku.
  Mauro Zarate, who came on as a substitute for the visitors six minutes into the second half, equalised in the 56th minute.
  His goal had a touch of good fortune because the ball glanced off Phil Jagielka and went over keeper Tim Howard.
  Newcastle won for the fifth straight game and leapfrogged Swansea and West Ham into fourth place in the Premier League table after getting a 78th minute goal from Moussa Sissoko against QPR.
  The Magpies, in the lower echelons of the standings in the first couple of months, are now flying high while QPR are now at the bottom of the table with just eight points from 12 games.
  Burnley, meanwhile, are off the bottom after getting a pair of first-half goals in quick succession from Danny Ings at Stoke.
  Ings notched his first in the 12th minute when he tapped in after Asmir Begovic parried a cross from Ashley Barnes.
  Leicester had chances to score through Jeffrey Schlupp and Matt James but the club have gone five consecutive games without hitting the back of the net.
  They have claimed just two points from the last 21 up for grabs.
  Sunderland’s best chance to break the deadlock came when Steven Fletcher got a shot on target from close range but was denied by Kasper Schmeichel.

Premiership

Chelsea 2 vs West Brom 0

Everton 2 vs West Ham 1

Leicester 0 vs Sunderland 0

Man City 2 vs Swansea 1

Newcastle 1 vs QPR 0

Stoke 1 vs Burnley 2

Bundesliga

Bayern Mun 4 vs Hoffenheim 0  

Paderborn  2 -  Borussia Dortmd  2 

Mainz 05 2 –  Freiburg 2 

B’ Mönchengladbach 1 - Frankfurt  3

Schalke 04  3 – Wolfsburg 2 

Hannover 96 1 - Bayer Levkn 3 

FC Cologne 0 v Hertha Berlin 0

La Liga

Atletico Madrid 3 – Málaga 1  

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Africa Cup of Nations: Equatorial Guinea will replace Morocco as hosts of 2015 finals

The Confederation of African Football has announced Equatorial Guinea will replace Morocco as the hosts of the Africa Cup of Nations in 2015.
Morocco requested the tournament be postponed because of fears about the Ebola outbreak which has so far claimed the lives of 5,000 people, mainly in West Africa.
The completion will take place in January and February next year without Morocco.
Equatorial Guinea hosted the 2012 finals with neighbours Gabon but will take on the 16-team tournament on their own this time.
Morocco wanted the tournament postponed over fears of a spread of the deadly virus but CAF refused and on Tuesday stripped the north African country of the hosting rights.
The new hosts will be able to play in the tournament, despite being disqualified from the preliminaries by CAF for fielding an ineligible player.
CAF said in a statement: “Following fraternal and fruitful discussions, the head of state of Equatorial Guinea has agreed to host the tournament from January 17 to February 8, 2015.
“The national team of Equatorial Guinea qualify for the final tournament as host country.”
The matches will take place in four venues and the draw for the finals will take place on December 3 in the country’s capital, Malabo.

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BREAKING NEWS! Oscar Pistorius jailed for five years

Judge Thokozile Masipa, issuing the ruling in court in Pretoria, also gave Pistorius a three-year suspended sentence for a firearms charge. Pistorius has been taken to the cells.
The prosecution had called for a minimum 10-year sentence; the defence for community service and house arrest.
Pistorius was convicted of culpable homicide but cleared of murder.
Judge Masipa began reading the sentence by saying that, although she had been aided by assessors, the decision was hers and hers alone.
She said: “Sentencing is about achieving the right balance. Sentencing is not a perfect exercise.”
She said there must be a balance between retribution, deterrence and rehabilitation.
The judge then summarised the evidence brought before the trial.

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Mourinho hails Oscar

Jose Mourinho says Chelsea midfielder Oscar has ‘evolved’ into a player capable of controlling matches such as the one at Crystal Palace on Saturday, Sky Sports reports.

The Brazilian scored an excellent free-kick after six minutes to put Chelsea on their way to a 2-1 win at Selhurst Park that was their seventh victory in eight Premier League games.

It was a different type of midfield performance to the ones with which Oscar made his name last season before the Blues’ title challenge tailed off towards the end of the campaign.

Mourinho now does not regard Oscar as simply a playmaker, and says his game is improving all the time.

“Oscar, in this moment, is not a number 10,” the Blues boss said.

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We sacked Keshi to save his life – NFF

President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Amaju Pinnick has said that Coach Stephen Keshi was sacked to safeguard him from the wrath of enraged Nigerian fans, who were on the brink of lynching him during Wednesday’s 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier with Sudan.
Pinnick and other NFF Executive Committee members watched with awe, as fans pelted Keshi with water bottles and stones as they demanded for the head of the 2013 AFCON winner at the Abuja National Stadium, venue of the match, which Nigeria won 3-1 to keep alive their hopes of qualifying for next year’s tournament in Morocco.

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Keshi sacked as Nigeria put ‘consortium’ in charge

Stephen Keshi has been removed as head coach of Nigeria and replaced by a “consortium” of coaches for the side’s final two African Nations Cup qualifiers next month.
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) confirmed the move in a statement on Thursday, despite Keshi leading the Super Eagles to a 3-1 victory over Sudan in Abuja the previous evening, a result that got their qualification campaign back on track.
The consortium will be led by Shaibu Amodu, who returns to the helm for a fifth time, having qualified the side for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa before being replaced by Swede Lars Lagerback.
Salisu Yusuf, Gbenga Ogunbote and Aloysius Agu are the other coaches involved in the group to lead the reigning African champions.

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AFCON 2015: Super Eagles get lifeline, beat Sudan 3-1

The Super Eagles yesterday won their first match since defeating Bosnia Herzegovina 1-0 at the World Cup after struggling to beat a de­termined Sudanese side 3-1 in the Match Day 4 of the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
It now put an end to a five match winless streak, it was the first time the team doubled a lead since beat­ing Ethiopia 2-0 last year November 16.
The Super Eagles will still have to win their re­maining two matches, one away to Congo and the other at home with South Africa. That feat will possi­bly give Nigeria a tickle as either second place side of Group A or the lucky third placed side.
The relief to the crowd yesterday was so much that they invaded the pitch to celebrate a difficult, but won game.
The Sudanese belied their under dog status as they seemed to have come for a win and move to six points. Agile and skillful they contested every ball and gave the more experi­enced Super Eagles a run for their money.
The Nigerian side opened with a flurry of at­tack that it seemed a goal or two will go in before a quarter of an hour. It was not to be. Gradually, the determined Sudanese side fought gamely and even made some sporadic at­tacks.
By the 25th minute, the heavens poured down its liquid content, leading to kick and rush. Precision taking of shots became a near impossibility as the pitch became slippery.
The game turned a ding dong affair, especially as Sudanese forward, Bakri Abdelgadir became a thorn in the Eagles’ flesh. Sur­prisingly, more often than not, Abdelgadir, who oper­ated from the left side of the attack was left unmarked. He nearly caused havoc on the dot of 45 minutes, when his point blank shot missed target by inches.
He was to contribute to Sudan’s solitary goal in the 56th minute when he laid a pass to Salah Ibrahim to take a rising shot that hit the roof of the Nigerian net.
Before then, birthday boy, Musa Ahmed had shot Nigeria ahead barely three minutes into the sec­ond half. The crowd went ecstatic. But their joy was soon doused when eight minutes later, Sudan lev­eled up.
Aaron Samuel Olanare restored Nigeria’s lead in the 66th minute. The Suda­nese came out again in full force, attempting to level up again. It was not to be as Ahmed Musa, obviously the match hero dribbled and dribbled his way into the Sudanese box before unleashing a low drive that sealed the Sudanese fate.
Contrary to expectation, the scanty crowd cheered the Super Eagles as they filed out for pre match warm up. The Sudanese were the ones to receive mild boos. An hour to the kick off, the attendance was barely one-tenth of the 60,000 capacity stadium despite the gates being thrown open.

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