Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain: Arsenal FA Cup win would make it a 'better season'

By Rilwan Musa Gawu -

Winning the FA Cup final would make it "a better season" for Arsenal, says midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
The Gunners missed out on a place in the Champions League for the first time in 20 years after finishing fifth in the Premier League.
Arsenal face Chelsea at Wembley on Saturday (17:30 BST), with the Blues aiming for a league and cup Double.
"We have given ourselves an opportunity to win a trophy," said Oxlade-Chamberlain.
"In football, winning trophies is what it is all about. It will be a bonus to the season, to finish on a positive note."
The north London side's season has been beset by fans protesting for manager Arsene Wenger to end his long association with the club.
The Frenchman has been with the club since 1996 and said on Wednesdayhe "does not know" if the match against Chelsea with be his last as boss.
If his side win, Wenger will claim his seventh FA Cup - matching the number of times Liverpool and Chelsea have won it in. In addition, he has also won three Premier League titles.
Oxlade-Chamberlain said: "The season has been an odd one and if you look at the table, we finished on 75 points. In other years, that might have left us in a different situation.
"Times change and you have to move forward with the other top teams. We have failed to do that in the league and that is why we missed out on the top four.
"We wanted to finish higher up in the league, there is no doubting that. We cannot hide from that and we need to own up to that. It is a big trophy, one we want to win and would definitely boost morale going into next season."
As well as the manager, there has also been speculation surrounding the futures of star players Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil, who both have one year remaining on their current deals.
Reports say Chilean Sanchez, 28, has been offered a new £300,000-a-week contract, while German Ozil, 28, has refused to sign a £250,000-a-week deal.
Striker Danny Welbeck said: "It is obvious to see how important [Sanchez] is to that team with his great abilities on the pitch and his attitude off it.
"I can't comment on his situation at the moment but it is not great to lose your best players."


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dalung To Inaugurate New Boards On July 10

By Rilwan Musa Gawu -
Image
The newly-elected boards of National Sports Federations will now be inaugurated on July 10 in Abuja, an official of the Federal Ministry of Youths and Sports said on Wednesday. Nneka Ikem-Anibeze, the Special Assistant on Media to Solomon Dalung, the Minister of Youths and Sports, said in a statement that the inauguration was scheduled for the Abuja National Stadium. She said the inauguration, which was earlier slated for July 13, was moved forward by three days to enable the federations hit the ground running. Ikem-Anibeze explained that the inauguration was also brought forward because some of the federations were preparing for major competitions outside the country, such as the Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG). She said the inauguration was not going to be affected by the hearing of Petitions and Appeals arising from the elections, as this would continue on Thursday. “A formal statement on findings, decisions and bye elections, if any, will be made on Friday.’’
Read more

NNL Clubs Shun Pinnick-Led Committee Order To Play Super 8 Playoff

By Rilwan Musa Gawu -
Image
Five Nigeria National League, NNL clubs have shunned the Nigeria Football Federation order to play the NNL Super 8 playoff scheduled to commence today (Wednesday). Nigeria Football Federation had on Monday through a press release order all the eight qualified NNL teams to arrive Aba on Tuesday ahead of the NNL Super 8 playoff expected to kick off on Wednesday, 19th December 2019. As at the time of filing this report, three NNL clubs, Real Stars, Gombe, and Delta Force are in Aba the venue for the playoff while 3sc, Remo Stars, Kada, Bendel Insurance, and Kogi United have refused to honour the Super 8 playoff. NNL had proposed that two teams from each four abridge leagues (8 teams) should be promoted to participate in the 2018/19 Nigerian Professional Football League, NPFL season. NFF, on the other hand, has insisted that the Super 8 playoff should hold to produce four teams that will join the existing 20 NPFL clubs for 2018/19 season.
Read more

Mourinho's United signings

By Rilwan Musa Gawu -
Image
Mourinho complained about the lack of new arrivals at Old Trafford, particularly in defence, during the summer. During his time at United, he signed 11 players for a total of £358.8m. Player (in chronological order) Position Signed from Cost Eric Bailly Centre-back Villarreal £30m Zlatan Ibrahimovic Striker Paris St-Germain Free Henrikh Mkhitaryan Midfielder Borussia Dortmund £26.3m Paul Pogba Midfielder Juventus £89m Victor Lindelof Centre-back Benfica £31m Romelu Lukaku Striker Everton £75m Nemanja Matic Midfielder Chelsea £40m Alexis Sanchez Forward Arsenal Swap involving Mkhitaryan Diogo Dalot Full-back Porto £19m Fred Midfielder Shakhtar Donetsk £47m Lee Grant Goalkeeper Stoke £1.5m Total - £358.8m
Read more

LIGUE 1 TABLE

By Rilwan Musa Gawu -
Team P GD Pts 1 Paris SG 3 9 9 2 Monaco 3 5 9 3 Saint-Étienne 3 5 9 4 Lyon 3 5 7 5 Marseille 3 4 7 6 Bordeaux 3 2 5 7 Angers 3 2 5 8 Troyes 3 0 4 9 Montpellier 3 0 4 10 Strasbourg 3 -1 4 11 Nice 3 0 3 12 Caen 3 0 3 13 Lille 3 -2 3 14 Guingamp 3 -3 3 15 Nantes 3 -3 3 16 Toulouse 3 -4 3 17 Rennes 3 -1 2 18 Dijon 3 -6 1 19 Metz 3 -5 0 20 Amiens 3 -7 0
Read more

Gusau Gets IAAF Recognition As AFN President

By Rilwan Musa Gawu -
Image
 Athletics Federation of Nigeria president-elect, Honourable Ibrahim Gusau, has been officially recognised as the de facto head of track and field in Nigeria by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) following his election on June 13 in Abuja. In its latest Newsletter, the IAAF listed Gusau among the 11 new heads of national federations elected or re-elected as the case may be in the past one month. The information regarding Gusau's election was supplied for publication in the Newsletter by the IAAF governance, member and international relations department and represents member federation election results received since the last newsletter was published. Meanwhile, the Gusau-led board of the AFN will be inaugurated on Monday July 10 by Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung, in Abuja.Others members of the new board to be inaugurated include Fidelis Tafida Gadzama, a member of Nigeria's gold medal-winning 4x400m relay team at the 2000 Sydney Olympics who ...
Read more

Monfils, Djokovic through to ATP Eastbourne semifinals

By Rilwan Musa Gawu -
Image
Gael Monfils overwhelmed home town hope, Cameron Norrie 6/3; 6/2, while Novak Djokovic defeated America’s Donald Young 6/2; 7/6 (9) to reach the semifinals at Eastbourne. It was a different story with second seeded lady, Simona Halep of Romania, who battled for two hours and 40 minutes before defeating Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova by a close score of 6/7 (6); 7/6 (4); 7/5. The 21-year old South- African born Briton, Cameron Norrie (ranked 236 in the world) received a wildcard entry into the main draw and won the first round match against 29-year Horatio Zeballos of Argentina, 6/4; 7/6. However, in the quarterfinals, he faced the colourful and talented Frenchman, Monsieur Monfils. Their one-sided encounter lasted only 58 minutes. Djokovic had a quick first set against Donald Young but it was a different experience in the second. On crucial points, the 27-year old left-handed player from Chicago took maximum advantage of his slice serve to his opponent’s left court. The games ...
Read more

DOES POGBA HAS A HAND IN MOURINHO'S SACK?

By Rilwan Musa Gawu -
Image
Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba posted a tweet saying 'caption this' before deleting the message soon after <<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>> A familiar conclusion to a rocky season United's haul of 26 points after their first 17 Premier League games, is their worst tally in the top flight at this stage since 1990-91. They are 11 points off the top four which would earn a Champions League qualification place. Mourinho's sacking comes after a fall-out with £89m record signing Paul Pogba, who was an unused substitute for the defeat at Anfield on Sunday. Following a 1-1 draw with Wolves, midfielder Pogba said he wanted United to be able to "attack, attack, attack" at home, which led Mourinho to say the France midfielder would no longer be the club's "second captain". After Mourinho, who replaced Louis van Gaal in May 2016 and signed a contra...
Read more

Leicester entice Iheanacho with £25m bid

By Rilwan Musa Gawu -
Image
Kelechi Iheanacho Leicester City manager Craig Shakespeare is leaving no stone unturned in his bid to land Manchester City Nigerian forward Kelechi Iheanacho. Already a bid of £25m has been lodged for the forward, who has been told he can leave the club but only if a replacement is signed as the club need three strikers for next season. However, City are keen on inserting a buy back clause in any deal for the 20 year old, who was close to joining West Ham few weeks ago before talks stalled over the fee for the buy-back. Although talks are back on with West Ham, Leicester City are now odds on favourite to sign Iheanacho as aside offering City a decent fee, they have also promised him a new role just behind the striker. Leicester City already have Jamie Vardy and Islam Slimani as top strikers, Shakespeare will hand Iheanacho his favourite role behind the striker, if he agrees to join the club, a move which could make him force his move away from Manchester City. The Nige...
Read more