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Saka scores on return from injury for Arsenal as Forest defeat United

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Bukayo Saka sceletrates first goal in his first game since return from injury
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Bukayo Saka scored the clincher as Arsenal defeated Fulham 2-1 in their English Premier League (EPL) encounter at the Emirates stadium on Tuesday.

The England international of Nigerian heritage had missed the last 12 league matches due to a hamstring injury and doubled the Gunners’ advantage on his return in the second half after Mikel Merino’s opener.

Alex Iwobi, a former Arsenal man and Super Eagles midfielder, was a second-half substitute for Fulham, while Calvin Bassey was an unused substitute.

Arsenal are playing catch-up to Liverpool, runaway league leaders, but Mikel Arteta’s side were not ready to give up on their fading title hopes in this London derby, claiming all three points as the season’s final stretch unravels.

Martin Odegaard, Thomas Partey and Ethan Nwaneri all fired wide for the hosts, who then lost Gabriel Marghaelles, their talismanic defender, to injury.

However, they regrouped and found the breakthrough on 37 minutes through Merino. The Spaniard’s deflected shot found the bottom corner for 1-0, which Arsenal protected into the halftime break.

The game continued without much action until the entry of Saka in the 66th minute, and the winger scored seven minutes afterwards, arriving at the back post to apply the finish to Gabriel Martinelli’s flick with his head for 2-0 on 73 minutes.

Rodrigo Munoz pulled one back for Fulham in the dying seconds as Arsenal saw out the match to claim all three points. The North Londoners remain second 61 points from 30 matches, cutting Liverpool’s lead to nine points.

Elsewhere, Anthony Elanga carried the ball for 85 yards to finish off a counter attack into the bottom corner as high-flying Nottingham Forest defeated struggling Manchester United 1-0 at the City Ground. Both Ola Aina and Taiwo Awoniyi, Nigeria internationals, started the match, but Aina hobbled off due to injury on 39 minutes while Awoniyi lasted 86 minutes before substitution.

The win for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side completed a home and away clean sweep over Man United, their first over the Red Devils since the 1991/92 season.

They consolidate on third position with an eight-point gap over Chelsea in fourth as they inch closer to a spot in next season’s Champions League.

RESULTS
Arsenal 2-1 Fulham
Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 West Ham United
Nottingham Forest 1-0 Manchester United

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Chelsea ‘breach UEFA limits on financial losses’, could be banned from Europe

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Chelsea have breached UEFA limits on financial losses, according to the UK Times.

On Monday, the Blues posted a net profit of almost £130 million in their latest accounts published.

This profit was arrived at after they sold their women’s team to their sister company.

A statement on Chelsea’s website however didn’t specify how much the women’s team was sold to BlueCo, the holding company used in Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital’s takeover three years ago.

It only noted that “profit on disposal of subsidiaries” was £198.7 million .

The move helped Chelsea avoid breaching the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules last season.

But the loophole has been rejected by UEFA and means the Blues have overspent and are now set to be punished.

It is reported that the Blues are now in talks with UEFA over a financial penalty and having to follow a spending plan for the next three seasons.

 

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Digvesh Rathi credits Sunil Narine as inspiration after match-winning spell

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Digvesh Singh Rathi (Photo: IPL) © Provided by Asian News International (ANI)
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Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], April 5 (ANI): Young spinner Digvesh Singh Rathicontinued his impressive rise in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL), delivering a composed and effective spell in Lucknow Super Giants‘ (LSG) 12-run victory over Mumbai Indians(MI). His figures of 1/21 in this high-scoring encounter earned him the Player of the Match award.

 

After the match, Rathi expressed his joy and revealed the inspiration behind his bowling mindset.

“I’m really enjoying it. I like to get batters out. I watched Sunil Narine bowl and from that time I took to bowling,” said Rathi.

“I want to make my mindset more attacking, want to be like Narine, on how he stays calm even during pressure situations,” he added.

Rathi’s only wicket came at a crucial time — the dismissal of the dangerous Naman Dhir, who had looked threatening with a quickfire 46 off 24 balls, including four boundaries and three sixes.

“Before that over, I spoke to you (Pant), we wanted a mid-wicket but we did not have one, he looked to play through there and that move really worked for us,” Rathi revealed.

The win was LSG’s second in the tournament, while MI slumped to their third defeat in four matches. With youngsters like Rathi stepping up and showing maturity, Lucknow will be optimistic about building momentum as the season progresses.

Coming to the match, the Lucknow Super Giantsbowlers’ exceptional performance restricted the five-time champions Mumbai Indians to 191 as the hosts registered a 12-run win at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium.

Chasing a mammoth total of 203 runs, the Mumbai side didn’t have a good start as they lost the first two wickets in the first 10 balls of the second innings. First, Will Jacks (5 runs off 7 balls) was sent back to the pavilion when the team score was 11 and then Ryan Rickleton (10 runs from 5 balls) was sent back when the team score was 17.

Suryakumar Yadav (67 runs in 43 balls) and Naman Dhir (46 runs off 24 balls) were the highest scorers for the Mumbai-based franchise during the chase.

Team skipper Hardik Pandya (28 runs from 16 balls) and left-hand batter Tilak Varma (25 runs in 23 balls) scored some crucial runs for their side, but it was not enough as the side lost the game by 12 runs.In the 19th over, Tilak was retired out after playing the innings of 25 runs which came with the help of two fours when the team needed 24 runs off seven balls.

The last over was bowled by right-arm seamer Avesh Khan where the Hardik Pandya-led side needed 22 runs. Avesh conceded only nine runs off his 6 balls, despite conceding a maximum on the first ball of the 20th over.

For the Rishabh Pant-led side, one wicket each was grabbed by Shardul Thakur (1/40), Akash Deep (1/46), Avesh Khan (1/40), and Digvesh Rathi (1/21) in their respective spell of four overs.

Earlier, Pandya won the toss and elected to field, but MI’s bowlers were put under pressure early on as Marsh and Markram gave LSG an explosive start. The opening pair reached the 50-run mark in 5.1 overs and raced to 69 by the end of the powerplay.

(more…)

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Transfer: I’m yet to decide my future – Osimhen

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Victor Osimhen has declared that he is yet to make a decision on his future, Ekwutosblog reports.

 

Osimhen joined Turkish Super Lig champions Galatasaray on loan from Napoli last September.

The Yellow and Reds are desperate to sign the Nigeria international on a permanent transfer.

The 26-year-old has also been linked with a move to Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal.

Osimhen stated that he is yet to make a decision on where he will play his football next season.

“I haven’t decided about my future yet. Right now, my only focus is Galatasaray’s championship. I will make this team a champion,” the forward was quoted by Web Aslan.

Osimhen racked 27 goals and seven assists in 32 league appearances for Galatasaray this season.

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