Sports

EPL: Arsenal Begin Season on Winning Note, Beat Palace 2-0

Published

2 years ago

August 5, 2022

Eric

Arsenal opened the Premier League season with a 2-0 win at Crystal Palace on Friday, thanks to Gabriel Martinelli’s first-half header and Marc Guehi own goal at Selhurst Park.

The Gunners avoided a repeat of their 2-0 defeat at Brentford on the opening night of last year’s season for a perfect start as they aim to reach the Champions League for the first time in seven years.

Arsenal ensured there was no repeat of their disastrous start to last season as Mikel Arteta’s men saw off Crystal Palace to open the 30th season of the Premier League.

The Gunners were beaten 2-0 at Brentford on the opening night of last year’s season, which triggered their worst start to a league campaign for 67 years.

But they backed up their blistering pre-season form as Gabriel Martinelli’s first-half header and a late Marc Guehi own goal made amends for a 3-0 defeat at Selhurst Park in April.

That defeat sparked a run of five defeats in the final 10 games of the season to cost Arsenal a place in the Premier League top four for a sixth straight year.

But the board has kept faith with Arteta and backed the Spaniard with over £100 million to spend in the transfer market.

Gabriel Jesus’ arrival to fill the need for a centre-forward has been Arsenal’s marquee signing of the summer and the Brazilian nearly marked his debut in style after just four minutes.

Jesus slalomed through the centre of the Palace defence and when his initial effort was blocked, Martinelli should have done better than slot the rebound wide of the target.

The visitors were utterly dominant in the opening quarter, but it took a set-piece to make the breakthrough.

Another debutant Oleksandr Zinchenko nodded a corner back across goal and Martinelli’s header had just enough power to beat Vicente Guaita.

Palace had suffered a far more problematic pre-season with a number of key players left at home during a tour of Australia due to their coronavirus vaccination status.

The Eagles took half an hour to find their feet, but will be disappointed not to have at least taken a point once they got to the tempo of the game.

Arsenal were guilty of causing their own problems in raising the Palace fans from their slumber as a clearance from Aaron Ramsdale was charged down and fortunately for the England goalkeeper rebounded to one of his own defenders.

Ramsdale made amends before the break with a fine stop to deny Odsonne Edouard’s header levelling before the French striker had another effort deflected inches over the bar.

Palace penned Arteta’s men back in the second period, but again failed to take their chances when they came along.

Eberechi Eze was the most guilty as he fired tamely into Ramsdale’s body with just the Arsenal number one to beat.

Arsenal had barely even threatened on the counter-attack in the second half, but got lucky to give themselves breathing space for the final five minutes.

Bukayo Saka’s driven cross caught his England teammate Guehi off guard as the Palace centre-back’s header flew into his own net.

Sports

PSG Bundle Barcelona Out of Champions League

Published

1 week ago

April 17, 2024

Eric

Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) have kicked 10-man Barcelona out of the Champions League as they qualified for the semi-final after winning 4-1 at the Camp Nou.

Barcelona had won the first leg 3-2 in Paris, but PSG won 6-4 on aggregate to qualify for the semi-finals.

Kylian Mbappe grabbed a brace in the encounter to see PSG through.

A Superb work from Lamine Yamal squared the ball to Raphinha, who beat Gianluigi Donnarumma with a brilliant shot into the bottom right corner to give Barcelona a 12th minute lead.

In the 29th minute, Ronald Araujo made an ugly tackle on his opponent and was sent off by the referee leaving the homers with 10 men to play the entire duration.

PSG capitalised on their advantage and equalised in the 40th minute. A former Barcelona player, Ousmane Dembele equalised for the visitors.

Bradley Barcola played the ball to Dembele, who showed great determination to get to the ball before a couple of defenders and from inside the box he shot into the top right corner of the net to make it 1-1.

PSG made it 1-2 in the 54th minute from a fantastic finish by Vitinha from just outside the box. He wasted little time in getting away a bullet of a shot that flew past the goalkeeper into the bottom left corner of the net.

Mbappe added another goal for PSG from the penalty spot in the 61st minute. He put the ball into the top left corner past the outstretched arm of Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

A minute to duration time, PSG made it 1-4. Mbappe fired the rebound into the bottom right corner after the ball broke to him in the box.

Sports

IGP Salutes Exceptional Performances of Police Athletes at 2023 African Games

Published

2 weeks ago

April 11, 2024

Eric

The Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, Ph.D, NPM, has commended the exceptional performances of the Police Athletes who distinguished themselves, as Nigeria’s ambassadors at the recently concluded 13th African Games in Accra, Ghana.

The IGP notes that their remarkable performances across various sporting events have brought immense pride to the Force and the country at large.

While receiving the athletes, the IGP, who was represented by the Force Director of Sports (FSO), CP Patrick A. Atayero, likened the African Games to a continental Olympics, and harped on the significance of young and talented Police Sports Men and Women showcasing their skills, passion, determination and courage on such a prestigious stage to emerge Medalists. He emphasized that the success of Police Athletes at the 13th African Games which held from 8th to 26th March, 2024, shortly after the 14th Biennial Police Games (Oluyole 2024) that concluded on 2nd March in Ibadan, is a veritable testament to the effectiveness of the sports development initiatives of the Force.

The medalists – Inspr. Aisha Adamu, Sgt. Mohammed Inuwa, Sgt. Emmanuel Bala, Sgt. Matthew Deshi, Corporal Chika Blessing, Corporal Nathaniel Samson, Corporal Victor Ikechukwu, Corporal Eweh Emmanuel, Corporal Collins Obi, Corporal Godwin Sunday, Corporal Emmanuel Ochayi, Corporal Aminu Garba, PC Olayiwola Zainab, PC Mabel David, PC Precious Joel, PC Esther Peter, and Bello Tunde Muiz (Education Officer II), demonstrated exceptional dexterity in Arm wrestling, Athletics, Badminton, Mixed Martial Arts, Swimming and Hockey. These Police Athletes garnered 1 Gold, 2 Silver and 5 Bronze totalling 8 Medals, for Nigeria at the Continental Sports Fiesta.

The Inspector General of Police appreciates all Police Athletes for their dedication, hard work, and commitment to sporting excellence, national unity and development in all spheres in Nigeria. He reiterates that their collective success serves as an inspiration to other Police Officers and fellow aspiring Athletes and inestimable potentials across the nation.

Sports

Super Falcons Draw Goalless with South Africa, Quality for Paris Olympics

Published

2 weeks ago

April 9, 2024

Eric

Nigeria’s female national football team, Super Falcons have qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Nigeria beat South Africa 1-0 on aggregate to reach the Summer Olympics.

Rasheedat Ajibade scored from the spot in the first leg of the qualifiers in Abuja on Friday.

That goal was enough for the Super Falcons to pick one of Africa’s tickets for the women’s football event of the Paris Olympics as the second leg tie ended goaless in South Africa.

The last time Nigeria’s Super Falcons reached the Olympics was 16 years ago.