IN ENGLAND
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Arsenal has missed the chance to restore their six-point lead at the top of the Premier League in a frustrating one-all draw at Brentford.
The Gunners’ lead at the top was halved when Manchester City beat Fulham on Wednesday and Mikel Arteta’s side faced a tough assignment against a Brentford side who had lost just twice at home this season.
Arsenal’s only goal was scored by Noni Madueke, while Brentford’s only goal was scored by Keane Lewis-Potter.
Both sides had chances to win it late on, with Igor Thiago denied by an excellent tackle from Cristhian Mosquera and Arsenal’s Martinelli denied by Kelleher in stoppage time.
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Former Tottenham manager, Ange Postecoglou has criticised the team’s transfer strategy while claiming his former side are not a big club in the wake of Thomas Frank’s sacking.
Frank, who replaced Postecoglou as head coach last summer, was sacked on Wednesday with Spurs five points above the Premier League relegation zone.
The Australian praised the club’s unbelievable facilities but said financial limitations meant they could not sign his main targets, such as Pedro Neto, Bryan Mbeumo, Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi, in 2024.
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Tottenham says the team’s winger Wilson Odobert will have surgery after rupturing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.
The 21-year-old Frenchman sustained the injury during the first half of Spurs’ two-one home loss to Newcastle United.
Spurs lost forwards Mohammed Kudus and Richarlison, midfielders Rodrigo Bentancur and Lucas Bergvall, and defender Ben Davies to significant injuries in January.
Meanwhile, playmaker James Maddison has also been out since he ruptured his ACL in August.
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Nottingham Forest is close to appointing former Wolves boss Vitor Pereira as their new head coach.
The Premier League club sacked Sean Dyche shortly after being held to a goalless draw by bottom club Wolves on Wednesday, leaving them three points above the relegation zone with twelve games remaining.
The 57-year-old quickly emerged as the preferred option to replace Dyche, having worked previously under Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis at Greek club Olympiacos.
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Former Chelsea and Manchester City winger Raheem Sterling has joined Dutch club Feyenoord on a deal until the end of the season.
The England international left Chelsea by mutual consent in January after agreeing a settlement package with the Stamford Bridge club over the final eighteen months of his contract, worth in excess of three hundred thousand pounds-per-week.
Sterling has spent time discussing numerous options, but joined Feyenoord, who are second in the Eredivisie table and managed by former Manchester United and Arsenal striker Robin van Persie.
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Former West Ham star, Michail Antonio has held initial talks with Championship club Charlton Athletic about a possible return to domestic football after his near fatal car crash.
Antonio has not played a competitive game in England since the highly-documented accident in December 2024 that left the 35-year-old with multiple leg fractures.
He played for Jamaica in the CONCACAF Gold Cup in June last year after recovering but was released by West Ham before the start of this season.
Antonio had held talks with Brentford and Leicester over proposed transfers but those deals did not materialise.
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Chelsea women manager, Sonia Bompastor wants to keep it private and confidential as to why Paul Green suddenly left the club after thirteen years.
Green left his role as head of women’s football on Monday, despite having a significant impact on their success in the last decade.
During his time at the club, the majority spent working with former boss Emma Hayes, Chelsea won nineteen trophies, including six Women’s Super League titles in a row.
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England will face Spain, Croatia and the Czech Republic in the 2026-27 Uefa Nations League group stage, while Wales are in the same group as champions Portugal.
England and Wales, who will also play Denmark and Norway in a bid to qualify for the knockout stages, both secured promotion to League A in the 2024-2025 competition.
Scotland, who will compete at their first World Cup since 1998 this summer, will meet Switzerland, Slovenia and North Macedonia in their League B group.
Also in League B, Northern Ireland will play Hungary, Ukraine and Georgia, while the Republic of Ireland face Israel, Austria and Kosovo.
The fifth edition of the Uefa Nations League will take place between September 2026 and June 2027.
The competition features four groups each containing four teams in Leagues A, B and C, and two groups of three teams in League D.
The draw took place on the same day that Thomas Tuchel extended his contract as England manager through to Euro 2028.
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England star Jude Bellingham is a doubt for the team’s March friendlies amid fears from Real Madrid his hamstring injury is worse than first thought.
The 22-year-old Real midfielder damaged his hamstring against Rayo Vallecano earlier this month but was only expected to miss around four weeks.
It is now thought he will miss longer, with a new potential recovery timescale of six to eight weeks.
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IN NIGERIA
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Former Super Eagles defender, Jose Peseiro has revealed the reason behind Ademola Lookman’s decision to switch allegiance from England to Nigeria.
Lookman was part of the England side that won the FIFA Under-twenty World Cup in 2017.
The 28-year-old turned down approaches from Nigeria thrice before finally accepting to play for the three-time African champions in January 2020.
Peseiro said Lookman took the decision after failing to break into England’s first team.
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Former Nigerian international, Garba Lawal has disclosed that Nigerian international Oladimeji Abdulmuiz has taken a good step by joining Swedish side Elfsborg.
Lawal stated that he played a key role during the negotiation process because there were other clubs interested in him.
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Bayelsa United has confirmed the signing of two Calabar Rovers players, Ettah Ekoi and Okim Divine Okim and four other players, as the Restoration Boys bolster their squad ahead of the closing stages of the second stanza of the 2025/2026 NPFL season.
The team also completed the signing of Otunuya Kennedy from Godswill Akpabio United, Nasidi Abdulrasak Danladi from Kebbi FC, and Stephen Ikechi Wisdom from Akwa United.
The club also promoted Kenus Godswill from its feeder team.
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Nigeria defender, Olisa Ndah has penned a farewell message to Orlando Pirates following his exit from the club.
Ndah parted ways with the South African club last month, officially ending his three-and-a-half-year stay with the Soweto giants.
The centre-back made eighty-one appearances across all competitions for the Buccaneers.
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Wolves head coach, Rob Edwards has commented on Nigerian international Tolu Arokodare’s performance in the club’s away draw with Nottingham Forest.
Arokodare was in action for ninety minutes in the keenly contested encounter.
The Nigeria international threatened the Forest defence in the second half, and was unlucky not to get on the score sheet.
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Nigeria’s most decorated young fencer, 18-year-old Inkosi Brou, will spearhead the nation’s four-man contingent to the 2026 African Junior Fencing Championships in Dakar, Senegal, scheduled for 16th–20th February.
Brou, the grandson of the late Prof. Dora Akunyili, former Director-General of NAFDAC, has already etched his name in history as Nigeria’s first global fencing medallist, winning silver at the World Tournoi Satellite Cup in 2024.
Ranked among Africa’s top junior fencers and currently 13th in the world in men’s sabre, Brou also claimed bronze at the 2025 African Junior Championships and is widely regarded as a strong contender for Olympic qualification ahead of Los Angeles 2028.
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Team Nigeria has been handed a feisty World Group II draw in the 2026 Davis Cup, where they will face Morocco for a place in World Group I in September.
The draw for the world’s premier international men’s team tennis competition renews the recent rivalry between Nigeria and Morocco, which was reignited at the just-concluded 2025 Africa Cup of Nations hosted by the North Africans.
After a tense 120 minutes of football, marred by controversial refereeing decisions, Nigeria lost the semi-final 4-2 on penalties.
TIMA Godbless will spearhead a strong Nigerian contingent as 16 of the country’s top athletes prepare to clash at the Tyson Invitational on Friday in Arkansas.
The fastest African woman in 2025 will open her 2026 campaign in the women’s 60m, returning to the meet where she set a personal best of 7.08s last year.
Godbless will face a formidable field including World Indoor Champion Julien Alfred, 2024 NCAA Indoor Champion Brianna Lyston, Jacious Sears, and Daryll Neita, among other elite sprinters.
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OTHER LEAGUES
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Atletico Madrid has produced an outstanding first-half display of attacking football as they thrashed La Liga leaders Barcelona four-nil in the first leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final.
This was the second time in as many years these two sides had met at this stage of the competition, with Barcelona winning last year on their way to lifting the trophy for a 32nd time.
Antoine Griezmann, Ademola Lookman, Julian Alvarez and own-goal from Eric Garcia scored a goal each for Atletico Madrid.
The loss has left Barcelona with it all to do when they host the 10-time winners in the return leg on 3th March.
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Northern Ireland manager, Michael O’Neill says there are no easy games in the Nations League after being drawn with Hungary, Ukraine and Georgia.
The campaign begins with a quadruple-header from 23th September until 6th October, and two final matches in November.
Before starting their Nations League campaign, Northern Ireland travel to Italy in March for a World Cup play-off semi-final as they look to reach the tournament for the first time since 1986.
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Wales manager, Craig Bellamy says the team’s aim will be to keep their place among the elite of European football after being grouped with Portugal, Denmark and Norway in the Nations League.
Bellamy said he was excited at the prospect of taking on top-tier teams after returning to League A.
He stressed that remaining in League A would be a start in realising ambitions of qualifying automatically for major finals.
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OTHER SPORTS
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In Cricket, Italy has dominated with both bat and ball as they claimed their first-ever T20 World Cup victory with a stunning 10-wicket win over Nepal.
Italy were overpowered by Scotland in their tournament opener, losing by 73 runs, but looked a completely different side at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
After a slow and conservative Nepal limped to 123 all out, brothers Justin Mosca and Anthony Mosca wasted no time making inroads into Italy’s chase.
Italy face England on Monday, while Nepal will be hoping to get their first points on the board against the West Indies on Sunday.
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In Formula one, Four-time world champion Max Verstappen says the new cars in Formula 1 this year are not a lot of fun and like Formula E on steroids.
The Red Bull driver says the increased demands for energy management with new hybrid engines are just not Formula one.
The new engines are energy starved because of the way the rules have been structured and require several kinds of recovery to ensure the battery has sufficient levels of charge for optimum lap times.
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In Rugby, Gregor Townsend says Scotland’s biggest game of the season against England at Murrayfield is even more important after a dismal opening loss to Italy.
The head coach has made four changes for his 100th match in charge of the national side as he seeks to maintain an excellent Six Nations record against Saturday’s opponents.
Hooker Ewan Ashman, loosehead Pierre Schoeman, lock Grant Gilchrist and back-rower Matt Fagerson drop out from the side that were beaten 18-15 in rain-soaked Rome.
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In Golf, England’s Mimi Rhodes shot a three-under-par 69 to take the outright lead after the second round of the PIF Saudi Ladies International.
The 24-year-old made birdies on the 10th, 13th, first and second holes, with the only blemish on her scorecard a bogey on the 16th, to reach eleven under overall.
The 2025 Ladies European Tour rookie of the year is a stroke clear of South Africa’s Casandra Alexander and Japan’s Chizzy Iwai at Riyadh Golf Club.
Spain’s Carlota Ciganda and Japan’s Rio Takeda are one shot further back in a tie for fourth place.
South Korea’s Choi Hye-jin, who was alongside Rhodes at the top of the leaderboard after an opening 64, is among eight players on eight under.
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TODAY’S FIXTURES
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IN FA CUP- FOURTH ROUND
Hull City vs Chelsea
Wrexham vs Ipswich Town
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SOCCER ACTION CONTINUES THIS WEEKEND
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IN FA CUP- FOURTH ROUND
ON SATURDAY
Burton Albion vs West Ham United
Burnley vs Mansfield Town
Manchester City vs Salford City
Norwich City vs West Bromwich Albion
Southampton vs Leicester City
Aston Villa vs Newcastle United
Liverpool vs Brighton
ON SUNDAY
Birmingham City vs Leeds United
Grimsby Town vs Wolves
Oxford
United vs Sunderland
Stoke City vs Fulham
Arsenal vs Wigan Athletic
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IN SPANISH LA LIGA
ON SATURDAY
Espanyol vs Celta Vigo
Getafe vs Villarreal
Sevilla vs Alavés
Real Madrid vs Real Sociedad
ON SUNDAY
Real Oviedo vs Athletic Club
Rayo Vallecano vs Atletico
Madrid
Levante vs Valencia
Mallorca vs Real Betis
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT.
Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable…words from John Wooden.
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