IN ENGLAND
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Tottenham has defeated Manchester United four-three to reach the Carabao Cup semi-final.
Ange Postecoglou’s side were cruising at three-nil up in less than an hour until two calamitous errors from Spurs keeper Fraser Forster opened the door to an unlikely United revival.
Dominic Solanke scored a brace, Dejan Kulusevski and Son Heung-min scored a goal each for Tottenham, while Manchester United’s three goals were scored by Joshua Zirkzee, Amad Diallo and Jonny Evans.
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Holders Liverpool has been drawn against Tottenham in the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup while Arsenal will face Newcastle.
Premier League leaders Liverpool, who has won the cup competition a record ten times, will face Spurs at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the first leg before the return at Anfield.
Arsenal will play Newcastle at Emirates Stadium in the first leg of their tie before the second leg at St James’ Park.
The semi-final first legs will be played in the week commencing 6th January 2025, and the second legs in the week beginning 3 February.
Wembley Stadium will host the final on 16th March.
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Chelsea star Marc Guiu scored a first-half hat-trick as the team beat Shamrock Rovers five-one to finish top of the Conference League league phase with a perfect record.
Already assured of a last sixteen spot, Enzo Maresca’s youthful Blues followed heavy early pressure by taking a deserved lead when Guiu capitalised on a misunderstanding between Darragh Burns and goalkeeper Leon Pohls.
Kiernan-Dewsbury Hall and Marc Cucurella scored a goal each for Chelsea, while Shamrock Rovers’ only goal was scored by Markus Poom
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Arsenal star, Bukayo Saka says he and his team-mates are not scared of saying they want to win the Premier League or Champions League this season.
The Gunners has finished runners-up to Manchester City in each of the past two domestic campaigns, and head into the festive period this year third in the table six points off top spot.
It is four years since Arsenal won a major trophy, and Saka is determined to help them end that run this season.
Saka was part of the Arsenal squad that won the FA Cup in 2020 but has also experienced the disappointment of losing two European Championship finals, and twice finishing second in the Premier League.
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Premier League strugglers Wolves has appointed former Porto boss Vitor Pereira as its new head coach.
The experienced Portuguese joins from Saudi Pro League side Al-Shabab on an 18-month contract, with Wolves paying about eight hundred and twenty-five thousand pounds in compensation.
He replaces Gary O’Neil, who was sacked on Sunday following Saturday’s two-one defeat to Ipswich, which left Wolves second bottom of the Premier League.
Pereira took charge of training for the first time on Thursday and his opening game is Sunday’s trip to Leicester, who is 17th in the table and five points clear of Wolves.
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The Friedkin Group has completed its takeover of Everton, ending the turbulent tenure of Farhad Moshiri.
The deal for ninety-nine point five percent of the club was believed to be worth in excess of four hundred million pounds and the Toffees become the 10th club in the Premier League under majority American control.
The group reached an agreement with Moshiri on 23rd September and were awaiting regulatory approval, with the Premier League having the final say on the deal, and this has now been granted.
Friedkin has been proposed as the chairman of Everton’s board, with Marc Watts serving as executive chairman.
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Farhad Moshiri says the end of his Everton ownership has left him with mixed emotions and that he wonders where the club might have been had Carlo Ancelotti remained at Goodison Park.
In an open letter to supporters Moshiri acknowledged a sense of sorrow when reflecting on the past after a challenging time on Merseyside but said he leaves the club in a materially better place than the one he inherited.
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IN NIGERIA
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Flamingos has defeated Benin Republic two-nil to reach the final of the Under-seventeen WAFU B Girls Cup.
The win means the Flamingos will now take on Black Maidens of Ghana in the final on Sunday.
The Ghanaian team booked their placed in the final after an emphatic five-nil win against Cote d’Ivoire.
To get to the final the Flamingos hammered Niger Republic nine-nil in their first Group B game of the tournament.
The team faced Cote d’Ivoire in their second group game and triumphed three-two with Harmony Chidi bagging a hat-trick.
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Former Nigerian international Obafemi Martins believes Super Eagles star Ademola Lookman has the potential to play in any top Premier League club.
Martins, who lauded Lookman’s consistency for both club and country, said the Super Eagles star was capable of excelling at Arsenal, Man United, and Liverpool.
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Atalanta manager Gian Piero Gasperini says the entire club deserved commendation for Ademola Lookman’s rapid growth and not an individual.
Gasperini has been praised by many for helping Lookman fulfill his potentials since his arrival at the club.
The gaffer has however played down his influence on the winger’s remarkable rise.
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Lagos State Head of Service Bode Agoro and the Private Secretary to the President, Hakeem Muri-Okunola, have presented trophy to the Health Service Commission, HSC, male football team for winning the football competition.
The HSC male team emerged winner at the grand finale of the 2024 Head of Service, HOS Games held at the Mobolaji Johnson sports Arena, Onikan Lagos.
In the Male football competition, the Health Service Commission, HSC, defeated SUBEB one-nil to claim the trophy and the gold medal.
In the Female football competition, the Public Service Office, PSO, mauled SUBEB one-nil to win the trophy and gold medal.
In the male category of the Tug of War, Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service defeated LAGFERRY to win the trophy, while in the female category, LAGFERRY emerged winner after beating Lagos State Sport Commission to claim the trophy.
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Lagos State Government has reiterated its commitment to promoting a healthy work life balance and fostering camaraderie among the Public Servants.
The Head of Service Bode Agoro, who stated this at the closing ceremony of the 18th Edition of the HOS Games, held at the Mobolaji Johnson sports Arena, Onikan, called on Public servants to keep fit ahead of 2025.
Agoro stressed that the success of the competition was a demonstration of the present administration’s unrelenting commitment to maintaining a fit, healthy and agile workforce towards ensuring effective and efficient service delivery to Lagosians.
He said the games which was part of the yuletide celebration aimed to unite public servants with fun after a year’s ending activities.
Agoro who congratulated the winners at different categories noted that participants would be representing Lagos at national and international levels, with the discovery of new talents among them.
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Lille President, Olivier Letang says the club earned seven million euros from Super Eagles star Victor Osimhen’s move to Napoli.
Osimhen linked up with the Partenopei in a well celebrated move in 2020.
Four Napoli players moved to Lille as part of the deal.
The revelation comes amid investigations by authorities in Italy and France into the transfer, although Napoli have been cleared of any wrongdoing.
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The 2025 ECOWAS Abuja International Marathon will hold on 1st March in Abuja as part of activities marking the Economic Community of West African States’ 50th anniversary celebrations.
The event, which features 21km and 5km categories with a prize purse of over $71,000, is expected to attract runners and fitness enthusiasts from across Africa and beyond.
Race Director Gabriel Okon revealed that the competition is open to all categories of runners.
African Games 2024 gold medalist Matthew Kuti will hope to become the first player to win back-to-back titles at the second Daniel Ford Elite Youth Table Tennis Invitational Championships which serves off on Friday at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium.
Following a successful two-day coaching clinic, players will put their new skills to the test at the tournament organised by the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation and funded by UK-based Daniel Ford International.
Kuti, who has been in excellent form recently, will rely on his experience and exposure from several international tournaments this year, including the Africa Championships in Ethiopia.
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OTHER LEAGUES
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Monaco has condemned the unacceptable racist abused directed at Wilfried Singo after the defender caused a facial injury to Paris St-Germain goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma in their French League 1 match.
The goalkeeper required ten staples to close a cut in his face after being caught by Singo’s boot when the defender attempted to jump over the on-rushing Italy international while through on goal during Monaco’s four-two home defeat by PSG.
Singo, who had been booked earlier in the game, was not punished for the incident, which saw the keeper to have to leave the pitch.
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Scottish Football Association head of referee operations, Willie Collum says VAR officials made a really poor and unacceptable decision not to award Rangers a penalty against Celtic in Sunday’s Scottish League Cup final.
The Ibrox side, who lost the final on penalties after a three-all draw, was awarded a free-kick in extra time when Liam Scales was penalised by referee John Beaton for a pull on Vaclav Cerny right on the edge of the Celtic box.
Footage shows that the infringement started outside the area but continued inside the 18-yard box.
Collum said VAR officials Alan Muir and assistant Frank Connor moved far too quickly in their analysis of the incident and were not forensic enough.
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The Confédération Africaine de Football (“CAF”) President Dr Patrice Motsepe began his two-day tour of the nations that will host the TotalEnergies CAF African Nations Championship 2025 (“CHAN”) with a visit to Tanzania on Thursday.
Dr Motsepe visited Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar on Thursday.
He will travel to Kenya and Uganda on Friday where he will meet with the Heads of State and football leadership in the two countries.
In Tanzania, the CAF President visited the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam where he inspected its readiness to host matches in the CHAN competition.
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IN OTHER SPORTS
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In Boxing, Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk shared a quite astonishing eleven minute and twenty second face-off in one of the most remarkable, perhaps the longest, head-to-heads in boxing history.
Briton Fury will challenge for Usyk’s unified heavyweight title in Saudi Arabia on Saturday.
Neither man had anything of note to say in Thursday’s news briefing, both insisting the talking was done.
The obligatory face-off, however, provided the most talked about moment of fight week and demonstrated the mind battle between arguably the two best heavyweights on the planet.
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In Tennis, British number one Jack Draper will miss the first event of the 2025 season with a hip injury but is very positive about competing at the Australian Open.
The 22-year-old cancelled a training camp with four-time major champion Carlos Alcaraz in Spain this week because of a little bit of a niggle.
Draper said he has now been advised not to play for Great Britain in the United Cup team competition starting against Argentina in Sydney on 30th December and will also sit out the Davis Cup tie in Japan in late January.
The Australian Open starts in Melbourne on 12th January.
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Still on Tennis, An artificial intelligence-led detection system says angry gamblers are behind forty-eight percent of the twelve thousand social media posts that have been deemed abusive towards tennis players this year.
The International Tennis Federation, Women’s Tennis Association, the All England Lawn Tennis Club and the United States Tennis Association joined forces at the end of last year to launch a programme that monitors posts on X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
Between January and October this year, the ‘Threat Matrix’ service monitored 2.47m posts.
Former world number one Victoria Azarenka, a long-standing member of the WTA Players’ Council, said she was pleased the system is helping create a healthier online environment”.
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In Formula one, New Zealander Liam Lawson will race for Red Bull alongside world champion Max Verstappen in 2025 following the team’s decision to ditch Sergio Perez.
The announcement that Lawson was moving up from second team Racing Bulls came a day after Red Bull and Perez announced they had agreed a termination deal following a weak season by the Mexican.
The 22-year-old moves into the Formula 1 front-line after just 11 grands prix spread over two seasons.
Lawson becomes the fourth team-mate to Verstappen since Australian Daniel Ricciardo chose to leave Red Bull at the end of 2018.
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Still on Formula one, Valtteri Bottas is returning to Mercedes as their reserve driver for 2025.
The 35-year-old Finn was a free agent after being released by Audi-owned Sauber at the end of the season following three years with the Swiss team.
Bottas drove for Mercedes from 2017-21, winning 10 races and taking 20 pole positions.
He will serve as back-up for race drivers George Russell and novice Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
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TODAY’S FIXTURES
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IN SPANISH LA LIGA
Girona vs Real Valladolid
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IN ITALIAN SERIES A
Hellas Verona vs AC Milan
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SOCCER ACTION CONTINUES THIS WEEKEND
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IN NIGERIA PREMIER FOOTBALL LEAGUE
ON SATURDAY
Kano Pillars vs Niger Tornadoes
Sunshine Stars vs El-Kanemi Warriors
Bendel Insurance vs Lobi Stars
ON SUNDAY
Abia Warriors vs Ikorodu City
Plateau United vs Enyimba
Remo Stars vs Bayelsa United
Akwa United vs Heartland FC
Enugu Rangers vs Shooting Stars
Nasarawa United vs Rivers United
Kwara United vs Katsina United
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IN ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE
ON SATURDAY
Aston Villa vs Manchester City
Brentford vs Nottingham Forest
Ipswich Town vs Newcastle United
West Ham United vs Brighton
Crystal Palace vs Arsenal
ON SUNDAY
Everton vs Chelsea
Fulham vs Southampton
Leicester City vs Wolves
Manchester United vs Bournemouth
Tottenham Hotspur vs Liverpool
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IN SPANISH LA LIGA
ON SATURDAY
Getafe vs Mallorca
Celta Vigo vs Real Sociedad
Osasuna vs Athletic Club
Barcelona vs Atlético Madrid
ON SUNDAY
Valencia vs Deportivo Alavés
Real Madrid vs Sevilla
Las Palmas vs Espanyol
Leganés vs Villarreal
Real Betis vs Rayo Vallecano
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IN ITALIAN SERIES A
ON SATURDAY
Torino vs Bologna
Genoa vs Napoli
Lecce vs Lazio
ON SUNDAY
Roma vs Parma
Venezia vs Cagliari
Atalanta vs Empoli
Monza vs Juventus
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT.
SPORTS TEACHES YOU CHARACTER, IT TEACHES YOU TO PLAY BY THE RULES, IT TEACHES YOU TO KNOW WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO WIN AND LOSE, IT TEACHES YOU ABOUT LIFE….WORDS FROM BILLIE JEAN KING.
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