Sports
Arsenal will be kick starting today’s Premier League fixtures with a visit to Everton for the early match.
Arsenal just appointed former captain, Mikel Arteta as their new head coach, but it’s uncertain if he will lead the under-performing team onto the pitch today.
There are other big fixtures today and high at the top of the list is the battle between the second and third placed teams on the log, Leicester City and Manchester City.
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13:30 Everton–Arsenal 16:00 AFC Bournemouth- Burnley 16:00 Aston Villa–Southampton 16:00 Brighton & Hove Albion–Sheffield United 16:00 Newcastle United–Crystal Palace 16:00 Norwich City–Wolverhampton Wanderers 18:30 Manchester City–Leicester City
Super Eagles Retain Spot In Recent FIFA Ranking
Nigeria’s Super Eagles kept their spot as the world’s 31st team in the World Football Ranking for the month of December.
In the ranking table on the website of world football governing body FIFA on Thursday, Nigeria has garnered 1,493 points, same as they had in the November ranking.
The ranking still helped the team retained the third spot on the continent, behind Senegal and Tunisia.
On the global scene, Belgium are the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking’s Team of the Year for the second successive time after a record-breaking year on the global ladder.
The Red Devils have held on to the top spot in a December table barely impacted by just 19 friendlies towards the end of the year.
World champions France remain in second place ahead of Brazil in third, the positions they held in December 2018.
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However, the make-up of the year-end top five has changed.
England has climbed one place in 2019 to end the year in fourth, with Uruguay moving up to fifth on the back of a two-spot rise.
Argentina (9th) and Colombia (10th) are also in the top 10 at the expense of Switzerland (12th) and Denmark (16th).
Both have slipped four and six places respectively over the course of the year.
The ranking’s Mover of the Year, meanwhile, are Qatar who gained an impressive 138 points over the course of the year.
The FIFA World Cup 2022 hosts won the AFC Asian Cup and made a strong start to the Asian Zone World Cup qualifiers.
Besides accumulating the biggest points haul, Qatar have also jumped a year-high 38 places, followed closely by fellow climbers Algeria (up 32 ranks) and Japan (up 22 ranks).
Given the teams who have made the most progress in 2019, it is no surprise to find that the regional composition of the top 50 has changed over the year.
Along with this is the fact that Europe’s dominance has diminished.
UEFA has lost three places in the top 50 compared to the end of 2018, and now has 28 teams.
Whereas, Concacaf (4), the AFC (4) and CAF (4) have all gained one spot apiece.
But despite all the changes witnessed over 2019, the year has ended on a quiet note.
It has witnessed only the most modest of movements due to the scarcity of fixtures since the ranking’s November edition.
Eight teams have all edged a single rung up the ladder, and will hope to continue that progress in 2020.
Arteta’s First Interview As Arsenal Head Coach
New Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta says that it is a “huge honour” to take over at his former club, adding that the board has made it “very clear” that he is to compete for trophies now that he’s in charge.
Arteta was appointed Arsenal boss on Friday following a week full of speculation and reports that he would take over as manager at the Emirates.
The former midfielder, who played for Arsenal from 2011-16, will now step in to replace Freddie Ljungberg, who has taken charge of the team following Unai Emery’s dismissal.
READ ALSO: JUST IN: Arsenal Appoints Mikel Arteta As Head Coach
Arteta joins his former club after serving as an assistant at Manchester City, where he worked closely with Pep Guardiola during a three-and-a-half-year sting.
And the Spanish coach says that he’s hoping to bring trophies to Arsenal now that he’s been appointed as a manager for the first time. “This is a huge honour. Arsenal is one of the biggest clubs in the world.
We need to be competing for the top trophies in the game and that’s been made very clear to me in my discussions with Stan and Josh Kroenke, and the senior people from the club,” he said. “We all know there is a lot of work to be done to achieve that but I am confident we’ll do it.
I’m realistic enough to know it won’t happen overnight but the current squad has plenty of talent and there is a great pipeline of young players coming through from the academy.”
JUST IN: Arsenal Appoints Mikel Arteta As Head Coach
Arsenal has appointed Mikel Arteta as their new head coach on a three-and-a-half-year deal.
Arteta leaves his role as Manchester City assistant manager and replaces Freddie Ljungberg, who took over as interim head coach following Unai Emery’s sacking at the end of last month.
Ljungberg oversaw two draws, two defeats and one victory during his time in temporary charge, and departs his role with Arsenal 10th in the Premier League table.
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Arteta returns to the club for whom he played 150 games between 2011 and 2016, winning two FA Cups and two Community Shields in the process. City and Pep Guardiola were intent on Arteta remaining at the Etihad Stadium, but the offer from the Gunners proved too enticing for their former midfielder to turn down.
The domestic treble winners were angered by Arsenal’s approach for the Spaniard after pictures emerged of Gunner’s chief executive Vinai Venkatesham and lawyer Huss Fahmy leaving his Manchester home in the early hours of Monday morning.
Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham All Monitoring Osimhen
Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur are all understood to be keeping a close eye on Lille forward Victor Osimhen.
The 20-year-old, who joined Lille during the summer from Charleroi in Belgium, has enjoyed a fantastic start to life in France. He has racked up 12 goals and four assists in 23 appearances, and he even got himself on the scoresheet against Chelsea in the Champions League.
The Nigerian sits third in the Ligue 1 scoring charts and the three sides are on the lookout for attacking reinforcements.
Chelsea is looking to bring in some competition for Tammy Abraham, and they are considering plenty of names.
Liverpool are eager to add more depth in attack, although the £7.25m arrival of RB Salzburg’s Takumi Minamino suggests they may have got the job done early.
Finally, Spurs want to find someone to cover for Harry Kane who, as it stands, is the club’s only senior forward. Young Troy Parrott has featured but there are doubts over whether he would be ready for a long-term role in the side right now.
As a result, Osimhen appears to have emerged as a potential option, but Sky Sports News claim that a January move is unlikely.
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Lille are always happy to sell their top players for the right price, just as they did with Nicolas Pépé’s £72m move to Arsenal in the summer, but they would prefer to wait until the summer as they do not want to disrupt their own campaign.
However, they may be tempted into doing business if they receive a January offer which is too good to turn down.
Such an offer would have to be huge. Osimhen is one of the most exciting young strikers around these days, and he remains under contract until 2024, so Lille need not sell for cheap.
Given the likely cost of this deal, it would come as a huge surprise to see any of the three sides pursue Osimhen in January, although a summer transfer is not out of the question.
Serie A: Buffon Breaks Juventus Appearance Record
Gianluigi Buffon drew level with Paolo Maldini in the all-time Serie A appearances chart on Wednesday after starting at Sampdoria and arriving at 647 games in the Italian top flight.
Veteran Buffon, 41, started in place of the injured Wojciech Szczesny as Juve aim to move top of Serie A with a win in Genoa.
He also became Juve’s all-time record appearance maker on 479 matches, one ahead of Alessandro Del Piero.
Buffon began his professional career as a teenager in 1995 at Parma, where he won the UEFA cup and Coppa Italia in 1999 before moving to Juve two years later.
In Turin, he won nine Serie A titles and the Coppa Italia four times but failed to conquer Europe despite reaching two Champions League finals under Massimiliano Allegri.
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He left for Paris Saint-Germain in 2018, winning the Ligue 1 title, but had a disappointing time in France and returned to Juve after a season away.
The former Italy captain also holds the appearance record for his national team, with 176 caps between 1997-2018, winning the 2006 World Cup.
EPL: Arsenal Hope To Announce Arteta As Head Coach Soon
Arsenal are understood to hope that they can complete a deal to make Manchester City assistant manager Mikel Arteta their new head coach by Friday.
Arteta is closing in on being appointed as the new Gunners boss after Unai Emery was dismissed at the end of November.
Arsenal are hoping to announce Arteta’s appointment on Thursday and is expected to sign a deal until 2023.
Arteta is looking to bring fellow City coach Rodolfo Borrell with him as his assistant, while Arsenal are close to bringing in the champions’ leading recruitment specialist Sam Fagbemi.
While a deal for the Spaniard is close, he was in the dugout alongside Pep Guardiola for City’s 3-1 win over Oxford United in the Carabao Cup. His current club are said to be ‘furious’ over the Gunners’ pursuit of Arteta.
One of Arteta’s first jobs will be to convince Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to sign a new contract with the club.
However, early signs are not looking good. Aubameyang’s brother recently took to Instagram to blast the imminent arrival of Arteta, insisting that his lack of experience means he is no better than current interim boss Freddie Ljungberg.
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Some senior players at Arsenal are believed to feel the same, with many in the dressing room thought to have preferred a move for former Napoli boss Carlo Ancelotti instead.
The Sun also add that Aubameyang is expected to feel the ‘wrath’ of Arteta because of his brother’s comments, while there have even been suggestions that the Gabon international could be removed as captain.
Aubameyang has already been criticised by some fans and pundits for his lack of energy as club captain, and this outburst from his brother could be the final straw from Arteta, who will need to act quickly to turn things around at the Emirates.
The Gunners have fallen to tenth in the Premier League, and they will hope to use Saturday’s meeting with Everton as a chance to recover some ground on the teams above them.
Man. City To Battle Man. United In League Cup Semi-Final
Manchester City remained on course to lift the League Cup in England for a third successive season after overcoming third-tier Oxford United 3-1 on Wednesday.
They will now face Manchester United in the semi-finals, after their city rivals also overcame Colchester United in another quarter-final fixture.
Pep Guardiola’s side was given a stern test on a wet and windy night at a noisy Kassam Stadium but two goals from Raheem Sterling eventually saw them through.
On their part, Manchester United was frustrated for 51 minutes at Old Trafford by fourth-tier Colchester United.
But England striker Marcus Rashford broke the resistance and an own goal by Ryan Jackson and one for Anthony Martial took the hosts to a 3-0 win.
Of a two-legged semi-final in January, Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said: “Fantastic days in Manchester. You always want to win trophies and games and we have a nice little draw coming up. Exciting times ahead.”
Meanwhile, Leicester City squandered a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 at Everton but moved through to the semi-finals after Jamie Vardy scored the decisive spot-kick in the penalty kick shootout.
Brendan Rodgers’s side will face Midlands rivals Aston Villa in the semi-finals after Villa beat a virtual Liverpool youth team 5-0 on Tuesday.
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Liverpool’s senior players were all in action on Wednesday in their FIFA Club World Cup victory over Monterrey.
Manchester City has dominated the League Cup under Guardiola but rarely have they been tested like they were by Oxford United.
The lower league side managed 18 goal attempts, more than any side against Manchester City since the Spaniard took charge.
Manchester City made eight changes to the team that beat Arsenal on Sunday and lacked their usual authority.
But they took the lead in the 22nd minute with Joao Cancelo’s deflected effort.
They were caught napping, however, when Matty Taylor rammed home an equaliser 22 seconds into the second half.
Sterling restored Manchester City’s lead in the 50th minute, touching in Angelino’s cross, but Oxford United took charge for a 20-
minute spell in which they outplayed their illustrious guests.
Manchester City goalkeeper Claudio Bravo made a succession of saves but substitute Gabriel Jesus broke clear and squared for Sterling to seal it in the 70th minute.
It was the England forward’s 18th goal of the season for his club.
Mikel Arteta, favourite to get the vacant Arsenal job, took his place next to Guardiola on the Manchester City bench in what could be his final game as assistant manager.
Guardiola would not be drawn on that situation.
“We suffered a lot in the second half. At 2-1 they played long balls with throw-ins, corner kicks and we struggled, but it’s okay. We knew before we came here,” he said.
“We played against a top side. So, congratulations for the team, young players and the victory.”
Oxford United manager Karl Robinson said he was “frustrated” that his side had not taken their chances.
“I am really pleased with the players, but my last thought tonight will be `what could have been’.”
Leicester City led with first-half goals by James Maddison and Jonny Evans, but Tom Davies halved the deficit before a Leighton Baines screamer made it 2-2 in the 90th minute.
Everton’s hopes of a glorious comeback victory in Duncan Ferguson’s third game as caretaker manager went flat, though, as Kasper Schmeichel made two saves in the shootout.
Leicester City are in the League Cup semi-finals for the first time since the 1999-2000 campaign, when they won the trophy.
Everton Set To Confirm Ancelotti As New Manager
Carlo Ancelotti is expected to be confirmed as Everton’s new permanent manager on Thursday or Friday.
The club insisted on Monday that they had not yet made a contract offer to any candidate involved in the “process” but had held meetings with a number of them.
They confirmed caretaker boss Duncan Ferguson, who has achieved victory over Chelsea and a draw at Manchester United so far, will continue for their Carabao Cup quarter-final against Leicester on Wednesday.
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Ancelotti swiftly emerged as the primary target for Everton’s majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri and chairman Bill Kenwright after he was sacked as Napoli manager last week.