The last time the Calgary Flames were in town, things looked quite a bit different for the Edmonton Oilers. Read
Category: Sports
Chelsea’s Nicolas Jackson Reveals Why He Is Longing To Meet Didier Drogba
Chelsea’s new striker, Nicolas Jackson, is looking forward to meeting with the club’s legend, Didier Drogba.
Nicolas Jackson who joined Chelsea from Villarreal for a transfer fee worth €37 million on July 1, 2023, has not been having it as rosy as expected.
When he first joined Chelsea, most football enthusiasts from the club thought he could be their new Didier Drogba but he has not been able to click in that manner.
In 27 games in all competitions, the 22-year-old striker has managed to score 9 goals and provided three assists in all competitions which is far below what was expected of him.
In between those goals, Jackson has missed a series of goalscoring opportunities and made unnecessary mistakes which has forced Chelsea to start hunting for a more prolific striker.
Interestingly, Didier Drogba had a rough start at Chelsea before he went on to become one of the club’s most prolific strikers of all time.
Hence, Nicolas Jackson is hoping to meet with the Ivorian legend so that he can teach him how to be a more effective striker at Stamford Bridge.
In an interview with talkSPORT, Jackson noted that he has had a word with his countryman, Demba Ba, who also had a relatively fair spell at Stamford Bridge but he is yet to meet with Drogba.
“It would be amazing [to meet Drogba] because he was a legend and I was watching him since I was young,” Jackson said.
“But we never talk because he is from Cote d’Ivoire and I am from Senegal.
“It’s not like Demba Ba. I have spoken to him because he played for Chelsea before and he’s Senegalese. But Didier, we never talk. I hope to see him one day so he can give me advice to be like him.”
The post Chelsea’s Nicolas Jackson Reveals Why He Is Longing To Meet Didier Drogba appeared first on Naija News.
2023-2024 Europa League Round Of 16 Draw In Full
The European football governing body, UEFA, has completed the draw for the 2023-2024 UEFA Europa League round of 16 earlier today, February 23.
As usual, the Europa League round of 16 draw took place at the Uefa’s headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland hours after the completion of the eight knockout round play-off.
The draw featured the eight Europa League group-stage winners and the winners of the eight knockout round play-offs.
During the draw, UEFA paired the eight-seeded teams against the eight unseeded teams in such a way that clubs from the same country wouldn’t have to face each other.
The seeded teams will play the first leg of the Europa League round of 16 away from home on Thursday, March 7, and then play the return leg at home on March 14.
Note that there is no away goals rule, just like in the UEFA Champions League. This means that if the tie ends in a draw at the end of the second leg, the tie will be decided by extra time and then a penalty shootout.
Below is the 2023-2024 Europa League round of 16 complete draw:
- Sparta Prague vs Liverpool
- Marseille vs Villarreal
- AS Roma vs Brighton
- Benfica vs Rangers
- Freiburg vs West Ham
- Sporting CP vs Atalanta
- AC Milan vs Slavia Prague
- Qarabag vs Bayer Leverkusen
The post 2023-2024 Europa League Round Of 16 Draw In Full appeared first on Naija News.
Championship: Iheanacho May Feature In Leeds United Vs Leicester City Clash
Super Eagles star, Kelechi Iheanacho could potentially feature in his debut match since his return from the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) as Leicester City faces Leeds United on Friday (today).
Naija News reports that Iheanacho had been absent for approximately a month due to his participation with the Super Eagles at the AFCON 2023 finals.
Although the 27-year-old rejoined Leceister last week, he was not included in the matchday squad for the home loss against Middleborough.
Manager Enzo Maresca provided insight into the forward’s potential availability for the upcoming visit to Elland Road.
“Kele (Iheanacho) just arrived from international duty and has worked with us for some days. He is in the squad, but we will make the right decision for the next game,” Maresca said during a pre-match interview.
The encounter at Elland Road will witness the convergence of the top two teams in the Sky Bet Championship.
Leicester City presently holds a commanding lead of nine points at the pinnacle.
Theirry Henry Urges Victor Osimhen Not To Join Arsenal
Meanwhile, retired France international Theirry Henry has urged Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen not to join his former club, Arsenal.
Victor Osimhen is currently one of the most wanted strikers in the world, and the fact his current club, Napoli, has agreed to sell him this summer has given room to more speculations about his future.
Recall that Osimhen made his name in European football last season when he scored 26 goals and provided five assists in 32 league games. This performance helped Napoli to win the Scudetto and also earned him the best striker in the league award alongside the league’s highest goalscorer award.
Aside from that, Osimhen was named the CAF player of the year and also finished eighth in the 2023 Ballon d’Or ranking.
Despite these feats, Theirry Henry has urged him not to move to Arsenal, which is one of the clubs reportedly considering making a move for his signature in the forthcoming summer.
Henry, who stated this after Osimhen scored against FC Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 first-leg clash with Napoli, which ended in a 1-1 draw, noted that he is looking forward to seeing what Osimhen can do in the Premier League.
“I’d like to see him now, what he can do in the Premier League or wherever he’s going or Paris Saint-Germain. Not Arsenal, I won’t go there,” Theirry Henry said on the UEFA Champions League show with CBS Sports Golazo.
“I want to see him take the next step and be more consistent with his output, but to be able to win the title with Napoli the way he did will stay in history forever, so all the best to him in his career.”
The post Championship: Iheanacho May Feature In Leeds United Vs Leicester City Clash appeared first on Naija News.
Edmonton Oilers look to fix whatever broke during the all-star break
After 16 straight wins, the Edmonton Oilers certainly earned themselves a bit of a break. Read More
Dani Alves: Ex-Brazil and Barcelona Player Found Guilty of Nightclub Rape in Spain
Apart from sentencing him to four and a half years in prison, the court also ordered that Alves pay 150,000 euros to the victim.
The post Dani Alves: Ex-Brazil and Barcelona Player Found Guilty of Nightclub Rape in Spain appeared first on Arise News.
What is the Oilers’ identity if they’re not on a marvelous win streak?
It’s fair to say with the way this season’s gone, the Edmonton Oilers aren’t anything if they aren’t streaky. Read
Taiwo Awoniyi Has Best Shot-conversion Rate In English Premier League
Super Eagles of Nigeria striker, Taiwo Awoniyi, currently has the best shot-conversion rate in the English Premier League for two successive seasons.
Taiwo Awoniyi, who has been struggling with different degrees of injuries since he joined the club from German Bundesliga side Union Berlin on July 1, 2022, finished last season as the player with the best shot-conversion rate, and he is currently on the verge of achieving the same feat this season.
In the two seasons, the 26-year-old Nigerian striker featured in a total of 41 league games out of a possible 76 league games due to a series of fitness issues.
The number of games Awoniyi featured in amounted to 2,352 minutes out of 6,840 minutes. In those minutes, the Nigeria international scored a total of 16 goals.
A report by Sky Sports confirmed that Awoniyi has a 28.6 percent shot conversion rate. While Manchester City forward, Erling Haaland has a 26.1 percent shot conversion rate.
The aforementioned strikers are closely followed by Callum Wilson of Newcastle United (24per percent), Diogo Jota of Liverpool (22.5 percent), and Ivan Toney of Brentford (21.4 percent).
Note that Haaland, seen as the best striker in the Premier League, currently has 52 goals across the two seasons, but that doesn’t mean he has the best shot-conversion rate in the league. When the number of games played is put side-by-side with the number of goals scored, Taiwo Awoniyi has been unstoppable this season and last season.
Recall that Awoniyi missed 11 league games last season due to injury issues, and he is on the verge of missing more games this season due to the same reason.
The post Taiwo Awoniyi Has Best Shot-conversion Rate In English Premier League appeared first on Naija News.
Anthony Joshua Uses Fury’s Ordeal To Play Down On Ngannou’s Punch
Nigerian-born British heavyweight boxer, Anthony Joshua has downplayed the power of Francis Ngannou’s punch ahead of their bout on March 8.
Before his proposed bout with Anthony Joshua, Ngannou, who gained international recognition as a UFC fighter, made his heavyweight boxing debut against British fighter, Tyson Fury last year.
To the dismay of many boxing enthusiasts, Ngannou punched Fury down in the 5th round but the British boxer was able to bounce back to win the bout via a split decision.
After the bout, Ngannou gained extraordinary attention in the world of boxing, which landed him a bout with a two-time heavyweight world champion, Anthony Joshua.
Ahead of the bout, which is two weeks away, Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou attended the DAZN face-off in which the Cameroonian boxer made it clear that AJ wouldn’t be able to recover from the punch that landed Fury to the ground.
Though that was the seventh time in 16 years that Fury was dropped by an opponent – once by Neven Paikich, Steve Cunningham, and four times by Deontay Wilder – Ngannou downplayed Joshua’s ability to bounce back from the kind of knockdown Fury suffered in his hands.
He said, “Yeah, I doubt that [whether Joshua would get up from the same punch Tyson got]. Tyson showed that he is very resilient, I saw him come back from a knockdown that you wouldn’t believe [against Deontay Wilder].
“He is probably one of the most resilient people out there and this is not a disrespect to AJ, but I don’t believe that AJ would have taken what Tyson took.”
In his quick response, Joshua used the opportunity to mock Fury’s high tendency to be knocked down during a boxing bout.
“Who hasn’t knocked Tyson down? So many people have knocked Tyson down”, Joshua said.
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