Match dey Today ooo!!!

       Everton          vs    Southampton          2:30pm

       Newcastle      vs    Arsenal                  2:30pm

  Chelsea         vs    Liverpool                 5pm

  Tottenham     vs     Stoke                    5pm

Nigeria: Kelechi Ihenacho is now reluctant to join Man City following disputes over the payment of bonuses and wages. Igbo Boys and money sha..

Kelechi Ihenacho's proposed move to Manchester City is on the verge of collapse.

The 17-year-old underwent a medical in Spain a few days ago, with a deal verbally agreed, but Porto have now made a late move for his signature.

Iheanacho is currently in Lagos, ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations, with the Portuguese club sending officials to Africa with the view to completing a late swoop.

A £250,000 transfer fee had been agreed, with a further £300,000 for the Taye Academy in Owerri and £350,000 to Iheanacho's father, James.
However, City have dug in their heel and were reluctant to release funds to the bonuses until early 2015.

Iheanacho's family remain keen to complete the deal, but the Nigerian - who won the Under-17 World Cup Golden Ball with six goals earlier this year - is now focused on joining Porto.

The hesitation to move to the Etihad Stadium comes after the striker and his family discovered that they would not be due around £650,000 in bonuses and wages until the player turns 18 on October 3 next year.

Match Dey oooo!!!

    Westham       vs     Westbrom              1:45pm

Man City        vs     Crystal Palace        4pm

Norwich         vs     Man Utd                 4pm

Aston Villa     vs     Swansea                4pm

Hull City        vs     Fulham                  4pm

    Cardiff           vs     Sunderland             6:30pm

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Cardiff City: Here comes the 6th Premiership manager to lose his job this season.

Malky Mackay has been sacked as Cardiff City manager after a meeting of the club's board of directors.

Billionaire Malaysian owner Vincent Tan said the dismissal was "regretfully" necessary to be fair to the club and its fans.

In a statement, Tan said: "Far too much dirty linen has been exposed to the public gaze but, I stress, not by me."

The move comes a day after a 3-0 home defeat by Southampton left Cardiff onluy one point above the relegation zone.

Mackay's removal follows a public row with Tan, who wrote to Mackay on 16 December asking him to resign or be sacked.

Tan also accused Mackay of overspending in the transfer market and announced the manager would have nothing to spend in the January window.

The 41-year-old Scotsman refused to resign, and subsequently led the team in Premier League matches against Liverpool and Southampton before his dismissal.

Mackay's assistant David Kerslake is expected to be in charge for the home match against Sunderland on Saturday.

Mackay, who is the sixth Premier League boss to lose his job this season, had been in charge at Cardiff for two-and-a-half years after taking over from Dave Jones in June 2011.

He guided the club back to the top flight of English football after a 52-year absence when they won the Championship in April.

Liverpool:FA to look into Liverpool manager's ref comments... I feel your pain Brendan. Sad face

The Football Association is to investigate Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers' comments following his criticism of referee Lee Mason.

Rodgers said the officials' performance in Liverpool's 2-1 Boxing Day defeat by Manchester City was "horrendous" and questioned the decision to allocate the game to the Bolton referee.

"I certainly wasn't questioning the integrity of referees," he said. "It was more than logical [to question] having a referee from that part of the world [given] a game in Manchester."

After the match at Etihad Stadium, Rodgers was angry that Raheem Sterling had a goal wrongly ruled out for offside and felt Luis Suarez was denied a late penalty.

Rodgers said: "Hopefully we won't have a Greater Manchester referee with Liverpool-Manchester games in future.

"We had nothing that went our way at all.

Rodgers was particularly infuriated by the decision against Sterling, who put the ball in the net after being incorrectly flagged offside when the game was still goalless.

He also claimed Suarez had his shirt pulled by Manchester City defender Joleon Lescott inside the home penalty area in the late stages.

"I never go on about officials but I thought they were horrendous," he said.

The FA must now decide whether Rodgers is in breach of rule E3 (1), which deals with comments made about a match official which could be argued imply bias, attack the officials' integrity or are personally offensive in nature.

Man City: Pellegrini's men maintain their 100% home record as they advance to 2nd place.

Manchester City maintained their 100 per cent home record in the Barclays Premier League as they beat fellow title-hopefuls Liverpool 2-1.

Philippe Coutinho's second goal of the season put Brendan Rodgers' side in front after 24 minutes in the battle of the Barclays Premier League's two highest scoring sides at the Etihad Stadium. Vincent Kompany equalised just seven minutes later and Alvaro Negredo's 14th goal of the season put Man City in front on the stroke of half-time.

The second half did not match the scintillating first 45 minutes, but Liverpool had their chances to salvage at least a point and Raheem Sterling missed a big opportunity. Man City are just a point behind leaders Arsenal in second place and have won six of their last seven top-flight matches, while Liverpool sit three points behind the Gunners in fourth.

Manuel Pellegrini said: "It was very important because Liverpool were the best team in the Premier League. They were top of the table before the match so if they won they would be four points in front of us.

"It was very important, especially when we were losing 1-0, the personality of the team to go for the game.

"I'm very happy with our response, because it's not easy when you play such a difficult team who can play on the counter-attack when you are losing 1-0. It's very easy for them to have space, but we defended very well.

"It's just half of (the) Premier League (season completed); we have the second half that will be very close with five or six teams going for the title."

Man Utd: Wayne Rooney Sets a new record.

Wayne Rooney is only the second player to score 150 goals for one club in the English premier league, after Thierry Henry

James Chester went from hero to villain as Manchester United came from behind to beat Hull City 3-2 at the KC Stadium. The centre-back, who formerly played for United, opened the scoring for Hull but his second-half own goal capped a remarkable turnaround from the visitors.

Man City: Pellegrini's men aim to maintain 100% home record and overtake Premier League leader.

Third-placed City have scored an incredible 51 goals in their 17 top flight fixtures this term - nine more than the table-topping Reds have notched in the same number of games.

Manuel Pellegrini's side have been particularly prolific at the Etihad Stadium, scoring 35 while conceding just five to take maximum points from their seven matches on home turf this season.

They have lost just two of their last 56 Premier League games at home and beat Arsenal - who sit second after their 0-0 draw with Chelsea on Monday - 6-3 in their last outing at the Etihad.

City followed that win up with a 4-2 victory at Fulham last Saturday but free-scoring Liverpool will take heart from the fact Pellegrini's team have conceded nine goals in their last four league matches. 

However Luis Suarez's scintillating form has been the driving force behind Liverpool's run, with the Uruguayan notching 10 goals since the loss at the KC Stadium to take his Premier League tally to 19 in just 12 appearances this term.

That total puts Suarez six goals clear of City's Argentine striker, Sergio Aguero, in the race for the golden boot and he has the opportunity to extend that lead further on Thursday as his South American counterpart is sidelined with a calf problem.

Liverpool news: Clash of the Titans!!! Battle of who wants it more

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers insists Manchester City are favorites to win the Premier League this season.

The Reds lead City by one point ahead of their Boxing Day trip to Etihad Stadium but could be overtaken if Arsenal beat Chelsea on Monday.

Rodgers said: "I still believe the title is Manchester City's to lose.

Rodgers, whose side finished seventh in his first campaign in charge last season, says there is still work to do.

"We can't ever think we have cracked it," he said. "We can't become complacent. You have to be focused and move on to the next game.

"We are very calm. We are not getting carried away. We are focusing on improving our performance level.

"We know the natural consequence will be to win games and if you win games you will be in a good position."

Match dey oo !!! Boxing day fixtures

Hull City       vs         Man Utd        1:45pm

Aston Villa    vs     Crystal Palace   4pm

Cardiff          vs    Southampton      4pm

Chelsea         vs    Swansea           4pm

Everton         vs      Sunderland       4pm

Newcastle    vs      Stoke City        4pm

Norwich       vs      Fulham             4pm

Tottenham    vs     Westbrom         4pm

Westham     vs      Arsenal             4pm

Man City     vs      Liverpool          6:30pm

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

May almighty God shower you all with His blessings during this festive season, may He grant you love, joy, success, good health and all your heart desires, in Jesus name.. Amen
Merry Christmas!!!

Liverpool fact: Did you know? Liverpool have failed to win the league title in each of the last three seasons when they were top at Christmas. Can Suarez make this season different

Liverpool finished second in 1990/91 came fourth in 1996/97 and runners-up in 2008/09.
But can Louis Suarez make the difference this season with his scintillating form, scoring 19 goals in 12 appearances this season, with 10 goals in December alone, he simply is the messiah that Liverpool needs to break that jinx.

Arsene wenger is yet to beat Jose Mourinho after 10 Meetings... Wenger but y???

Arsenal failed to reclaim top spot in the Premier League as they played out a dreadful stalemate with Chelsea at Emirates Stadium.

The result means Liverpool will top the table at Christmas - ahead of the Gunners on goal difference - as two teams with title pretensions of their own produced a spectacle almost devoid of entertainment and quality.

Jose Mourinho is now unbeaten against Arsenal in all 10 competitive matches as Chelsea manager (all against Wenger), winning five, with five draws.

Frank Lampard came closest to breaking the deadlock when he hit the woodwork in the first half, while Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud wasted two good opportunities late on to claim the win that would have seen the Gunners leapfrog Liverpool.

Tim Sherwood Appointed Tottenham head coach until 2015. I feel Adebayor's 3 goals in 2 matches had a hand in the appointment

Tottenham have appointed Tim Sherwood as head coach on a full-time basis.

The former England midfielder guided Spurs to a 3-2 win at Southampton on Sunday as interim boss and has now been handed a contract until the end of the 2014-15 Premier League season.

Sherwood, 44, replaces Andre Villas-Boas, who was sacked last week.

"We believe Tim has both the knowledge and the drive to take the squad forward," Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy told the club's official website.

Sherwood, who won three caps for England, joined Tottenham as a player in 1999 from Blackburn, where he won the Premier League title in 1995.

He left White Hart Lane in 2003 and moved to Portsmouth but returned as part of the club's coaching staff in 2008 under manager Harry Redknapp.

Sherwood was working as technical co-ordinator when chairman Levy asked him to look after the first team following the departure of Villas-Boas.

Sherwood has no previous managerial experience, but Spurs rejected an approach by Championship side Blackburn in October 2012 for him to become their boss.

He lost his first game as interim manager when West Ham knocked Spurs out of the Capital One Cup.

But the north London side recovered to beat Southampton, with striker Emmanuel Adebayor, who only featured once under Villas-Boas this season, scoring twice on his first league start of the campaign.

After that game, Sherwood made it clear after that game that he wanted his future resolved 

Wednesday Nite Football: Match dey today ooo!!!

                                           England   Capital One (Quater Final)

                                                             Stoke City vs Manchester Utd     8:45pm WAT

                                                   Tottenham Hotspurs vs Westham Utd     8:45pm WAT

Capital One Cup Quater final Results: Bad luck for the Bluesss !!!

Sunderland 2-1 Chelsea AET

Leicester 1-3 Manchester City FT

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinhio admits that he may need to revisit his side's approach to matches after they were dumped out of the Capital One cup by Sunderland.

The Blues were largely in control of their quarter-final tie on Tuesday but could not build on Lee Cattermole's own goal despite numerous chances falling to the likes of Samuel Eto'o and Demba Ba. 

Mourinho's men were then made to pay as Fabio Borini levelled the tie deep into the second half before fellow substitute Ki Sung-Yueng popped up to send the Black Cats into the semi-finals just before penalties.

"Maybe the way to rectify it is not to concede goals, maybe the way is to have a different approach," the 50-year-old told the press after the match.

"When you are a very offensive team and you don't score enough goals to win matches, maybe the right approach is to be more defensive, concede less goals and win matches with the few goals we score.

"But that's not what I want because that is not what we have in mind, in the building-up of this team. We want this team to have evolution but based on the way we are playing at the moment. We want to finish opponents but we need to score goals to finish opponents."

Match dey today ooo!!!

England   Capital One (Quater Final)

Leicester City vs Manchester City         8:45pm WAT

Sunderland vs Chelsea                           8:45pm WAT

Spain  Copa Del Rey (Round of 32)

Barcelona vs FC Cartagena                    10:00pm WAT

Kelechi Iheanacho leaves camp for Manchester City contract talks.... Go do us Proud

The Golden Eaglets star has been given leave of absence to undergo trial with the English Premier League giants

Under-17 star Kelechi Iheanacho has been given leave from the Super Eagles B camp to travel to England for contract talks with Premier League team Manchester City.

Iheanacho has been training with the Nigeria squad preparing for next month's African Nations Championship (CHAN) in South Africa.  

Coach Stephen Keshi released the lad after speaking to his father James Iheanacho on the telephone on Monday afternoon.

“Initially a young man came declaring that he was the agent of Iheanacho, but I declined to deal with him until I hear from the family because the boy is still a minor,” Keshi was quoted as saying.

“It was soon after my rejection that I got a call from his father who told me that they have gotten travel visa to the United Kingdom and that I should oblige him with his son’s release. I did and told the young man to go and do the nation proud at whichever club he finally chooses to settle down with.”

The coach acknowledged that Iheanacho is a talented player who should be handled gently and professionally as he navigates his professional career.

Iheanacho was named best player at the Fifa U17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates and has since become a top talent chased by many big European club sides. 

Bye Bye AVB !!!

                                           Tottenham fires head coach Andre Villas-Boas!

The Portuguese boss has been relieved of his duties after Sunday's humiliation at the hands of Liverpool at White Hart Lane left Spurs seventh in the Premier League

Tottenham have confirmed that manager Andre Villas-Boas has been sacked following Sunday’s 5-0 thrashing by Liverpool at White Hart Lane.

The defeat leaves Spurs in seventh place in the Premier League table, eight points behind leaders Arsenal and comes less than a month after they were thrashed 6-0 by Manchester City.

But following Sunday's humiliation Levy, who looked less than impressed watching from the executive box, has decided to take immediate action.

"The club can announce that agreement has been reached with Head Coach, Andre Villas-Boas, for the termination of his services," a statement read. 

"The decision was by mutual consent and in the interests of all parties.

                      Champions Leagues last 16 draw.... Some people go hear am 

                                   

                                          Manchester City v Barcelona

                                      Olympiakos v Manchester United

                                          AC Milan v Atletico Madrid

                                  Bayer Leverkusen v Paris St-Germain

                                           Galatasaray v Chelsea

                                            Schalke v Real Madrid

                                      Zenit St Petersburg v Dortmund

                                          Arsenal v Bayern Munich