Category: Sports

According to the official FA Cup draw which was done recently, Crewe Alexandra have found out that they will be going head to head against League One outfit Barnsley and will be traveling to their opponents in the second round of the FA Cup this season. The club that advances from this tie is set to pocket a sum it £67,000 in prize money and the two clubs will be hoping that they would end up on the victorious side if the clash. The two clubs have locked horns four times in the past, with the first tie ending in a 1-1 draw in the 1905-06 season. There was a replay of the match in that same season and Crewe lost the tie 4-0 at Oakwell,

Fast track to the 26/27 season, Crewe would also lose a match between the two clubs by a huge scoreline if 6-1 at the same venue. The last time the Teo clubs met was three seasons ago, with the Tykes coming out victorious after recording a 3-1 win at the Alexandra Stadium. The weekend if the 26th of November is when their next tie will take place and they will both have a replay on 6th/7th of December.

Here’s the draw in full:

Accrington Stanley vs Barnet/Chelmsford

Barnsley vs Crewe Alexandra

Bracknell Town/Ipswich Town vs Buxton

Bristol Rovers vs Boreham Wood

Burton Albion vs Chippenham Town

Charlton Athletic vs Stockport County

Curzon Ashton/Cambridge United vs Grimsby Town

Dagenham &Redbridge vs AFC Fylde/Gillingham

Ebbsfleet United vs Fleetwood Town

Forest Green Rovers vs Alvechurch

King’s Lynn Town vs Stevenage

Newport County vs Torquay United/Derby CountyPortsmouth vs MK Dons

Sheffield Wednesday vs Mansfield Town

Shrewsbury Town vs Peterborough United/Salford City

SolihullMorrs/Hartlepool United vs Harrogate Town

Walsall vs Carlisle United

Weymouth/AFC Wimbledon vs Chesterfield

Woking/Oxford United vs Exeter City

Wrexham vs Farnborough

French winger Allan Saint-Maximin (ASM) is a big doubt for Newcastle United ahead of their Premier League trip to face London team Brentford at the Brentford Community Stadium. The Frenchman was confirmed as doubtful for the game by his manager due to injury. In his pre-match chat with media practitioners on Friday, Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe said that Saint-Maximin has been getting intensive treatment away from the team and that a late call would be made on his availability for the Brentford game.

Saint-Maximin missed the 1-1 draw at West Ham United in the league last weekend after he picked up a calf injury during the penultimate league game against visitors Aston Villa. He has been one of the best players at Newcastle United this season as they set sights on pulling away from the relegation zone between now and the remainder of this season starting with the Brentford game.

In the earlier league fixture between hosts Newcastle United and Brentford, there was no winner after the game ended in a thrilling 3-3 draw. It was the first game under the Eddie Howe managerial era at Newcastle United, but he missed it due to Covid-19 with assistant manager Jason Tindall taking his place in the dugout.

Newcastle United have picked up ten points from their last four league games and that has enabled to move out of the relegation zone as far as the Premier League log is concerned. They are currently two points clear of Burnley who are third from bottom on the log.

For Brentford, they have been boosted with the news that new signing Christian Eriksen will make his debut against the Magpies. The Dane is expected to play his first competitive game since he suffered a heart attack while playing for his country at the Euro 2020 tournament.

Former Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fabregas has refused to be combined that his former teammate, Lionel Messi, is struggling woefully at his current club, Paris Saint-Germain. The Argentina international attacker has not been in his best form since he signed for the French Ligue 1 heavyweights last summer and he has since attracted a lot of criticism for his poor and unexpected performances. After joining the French Principality club, Messi was expected to go and carry on with the remarkable reputation and career he has built for himself as one of the greatest football players of all time. But with his struggle to regain his form still a real challenge for him, he has not reached that height yet.

Since signing for PSG before the commencement of the present season, Messi is still yet to score more than two goals in the French Ligue 1, even though he has a better record for his team in the UEFA Champions League. His poor league goalscoring record can, however, be backed by the fact that he has provided as many as six assists in the league so far, although that figure is still somewhat very low when compared to the numbers he was making in the previous seasons.

Fabregas has now leapt to the defence of his former teammate, citing that Messi is not a player to get a lot of criticism for just one season, especially judging by how remarkable he has been in the other seasons. According to former Chelsea star Fabregas, Messi has what it takes to change a game around and that alone should earn him some credits despite his current firm.

Messi will be hoping to hit top form for the second half of the season as he looks to help Paris Saint-Germain to win the UEFA Champions League title for the first time

There is plenty to be getting on with at Stoke City at the moment, what with another five fixtures to squeeze in before the Championship breaks up for the World Cup next month. But always in football there is an eye on the next transfer window and the chance to make improvements. In truth, Stoke might find it more difficult to find new players who are better than ones who are returning from the treatment room: Nick Powell, Josh Tymon and Harry Souttar have made four starts between them so far this season and, if they can stay fit, should make a huge difference in the second half of this term.

Neil’s transfer record at Norwich

Neil reflected that he should have been more active following relegation, putting too much faith in players who had gone up a couple of years previously. He left Carrow Road in March 2017. In his time in charge, Norwich also sold Nathan Redmond to Southampton for £10m, Bradley Johnson to Derby for £7m and Lewis Grabban to Bournemouth for £8m.

2014/15

In – Tony Andreu (midfielder, undisclosed, from Hamilton Academical); Graham Dorrans (midfielder, loan, from West Bromwich Albion)

2015/16

In – Graham Dorrans (midfielder, £3m, from West Brom), Youssouf Mulumbu (midfielder, free, from West Brom), Robbie Brady (winger, £7m, from Hull), Jake Kean (goalkeeper, free, from Blackburn), Matt Jarvis (winger, £2.5m, from West Ham), Ivo Pinto (right-back, undisclosed, from Dinamo Zagreb), Ben Godfrey (centre-back, undisclosed, from York), James Maddison (midfielder, £2.5m, from Coventry), Timm Klose (centre-back, undisclosed, from Wolfsburg), Steven Naismith (forward, undisclosed, from Everton), Andre Wisdom (right-back, loan, from Liverpool), Dieumerci Mbokani (forward, loan, from Dinamo Kyiv), Patrick Bamford (striker, loan, from Chelsea).

2016/17

In – SergiCanos (winger, £2.5m, from Liverpool), Michael McGovern (goalkeeper, free, from Hamilton), Paul Jones (goalkeeper, free, from Portsmouth), Alex Pritchard (midfielder, £8m, from Spurs), Nelson Oliveira (forward, undisclosed, from Benfica).

Chelsea legend Didier Drogba hasadvised Liverpool attacker Mohamed Salah to make a return to the club. Didier Drogba talked up Salah going back to Chelsea in a chat withAl-Axis TV. The former Blues striker said that he will tell Salah to leave Liverpool and return to Chelsea if he’s selfish.

Egyptian international Salah was in the Chelsea squad for a few years on the back of his transfer from FC Basel in 2014. Salah was sold to AS Roma in the Italian Serie A after three years at Stamford Bridge upon his return from loan spell at Fiorentina. He had spent the second half of his debut season at Fiorentina before Roma signed him on loan for the entireduration of 2015/16 season. He moved to Roma permanently from Chelsea at the end of his loan spell at the club.

Speaking further about Salah, Ivorian legend Didier Drogba said that the Egyptian international would make any team better.Salah and Liverpool are yet to reach an agreement over a new contract withhis current deal set to expire next summer. The Reds could lose his services for free at the end of this season.

Salah has not allowed the his contract dispute to affect the performances on the pitch as he has scored 17 goals in 17 Liverpool games in all competitions.

He has 11 goals in 12 Premier League games and six goals in five Champions League games this term. Salah is the leading goalscorer on the Premier League scene this season and he has four more goals than the nearest challengers for the Golden Boot Award. Liverpool teammate Sadio Mane and Leicester City star Jamie Vardy have seven goals each in the league this season. The Egyptian national team talisman is the overwhelming favourites to secure another Golden Boot Award for himself.

Feyenoord have sealed second spot behind leaders Ajax Amsterdam on the Dutch Eredivisie standings after the slim win over Heracles in their outstanding game. Hosts Feyenoord were initially scheduled to take on Heracles in Rotterdam as part of the week four fixtures, but the game was postponed due to their participation in the European Conference League.

Luis Sinisterrawas a thorn in the flesh of the Heracles defenders and the attacker thought he had given Feyenoord the lead in the 13^th minute only for it to be ruled out for a foul in the build-up. Two minutes later, Heracles took the lead thanks to the horrible pass from LutsharelGeertuida as Sinan Bakis fired home to give the visitors the lead. Heracles thereafter held on to the advantage until late into the first half when Sinisterra level proceedings for the home side off an OrkunKokcucross. It was a big blow for Heracles who had earlier lost attacker Ismael Azzaoui to a serious knee issue in the half and also weathered the storm via the decent opportunities that came the way of TyrellMalacia, GuusTil and Bryan Linssen.

The late goal from Sinisterra in the first half ensured that Heracles and Feyenoord went into the break with a goal apiece.

In the second half, Delano Burgzorg wasted an opportunity to edge Heracles ahead again and he was made to rue the missed chance when Sinisterra completed his brace to win the game for Feyenoord. The second goal of the game from Sinisterra on 69 minutes gave Feyenoord a 2-1 home win over Heracles.

Feyenoord are in a three-horse race for the Dutch Eredivisie title this season alongside Ajax Amsterdam and PSV Eindhoven. The slender win over Heracles move Feyenoord above PSV into second spot behind summit recipient Ajax Amsterdam.

Ajax Amsterdam have one more point than Feyenoord in second place and two more points than PSV Eindhoven. Ajax Amsterdam have 33 points, while Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven have 32 points and 31 points respectively. All the three teams have now played 14 games. 

Holders Manchester City are overwhelming favourites to pick up three points ahead of their Premier League clash with Everton when club football resumes later this month. This is according to the soccer betting odds from various soccer betting sites.

Manchester City have surprisingly been struggling at home in recent games and the Everton encounter gives them the opportunity to make things right.

Pep Guardiola and his City players started their Premier League campaign at home with two successive 5-0 wins over Norwich City and Arsenal. It must be established that Arsenal played the majority of the game with ten men after Switzerland national team star Granit Xhaka was sent off for a dangerous foul on Manchester City fullback Joao Cancelo.

Since the victories over Arsenal and Norwich City, Manchester City have won just one of their three Premier League games and the run has seen them play second fiddle to leaders Chelsea. The Premier League champions are three points off Chelsea at the summit after eleven (11) matches.

In the first of those three games at the Eithad Stadium, Manchester City were forced to a goalless draw by Southampton despite being massive favourites according to soccer betting sites. The Southampton game was followed by the straightforward 2-0 win over Burnley who are in the bottom three.

Manchester City were big favourites for the home clash with Crystal Palace as revealed by various soccer betting sites.  In the end, Guardiola and his men were stunned by the Eagles.

Ivorian international Wilfried Zaha and England junior international Conor Gallagher were a thorn in the flesh of the Manchester City defence. The two players were on the scoresheet as Crystal Palace secured a 2-0 away win over the Citizens who had Spanish defenderAymeric Laporte sent off for hauling Zaha down when he was through on goal.

Napoli winger Lorenzo Insigne has turned down a new contract offer from the Italian Serie A club. The news of the rejected contract offer was confirmed by his agent, VicenzoPisacane in a chat Italian media portal II Roma amidst transfer rumours linking him with a move to the Premier League.

Pisacane revealed that Napoli want Insigne to take a 50% pay cut from his £80,000 weekly salary for him to sign a new deal at the club.

Newcastle United, Everton and Tottenham Hotspur have all been linked with a move for the Italian international who won the Euro 2020 tournament with his country. Insigne was an important player in the Italy attacker as they beat the Three Lions of England on penalties to win the tournament after the two teams scored a goal apiece at the end of 120 minutes.

Last month, Napoli director Cristiano Giuntoli expressed his conviction that the long-term future of club skipper Insigne is with the Italian Serie A leaders. According to him, Napolicaptain Insigne won’t walk away from the club after ten years, 114 goals and 411 games.

Italian publication Calciomercato revealed that the new owners at Newcastle United are eyeing a cut-price deal for Insigne ahead of the January transfer window. The Italian forward has less than a year to run on his existing Napoli deal. His current contract with the Italian football club will expire at the end of this season.

The Everton interest in Insigne was confirmed by another Italian publication, Tuttosport. It was stated that the Toffees are leading the race for Insigne under the stewardship of former Napoli manager, Rafael Benitez. Everton appointed Spanish tactician Benitez in the summer and his choice didn’t go down well with the Everton fans.

Everton are at the forefront of the race to sign Insigne, but the recent appointment of Antonio Conte at Tottenham Hotspur could change the situation in favour of the North London club.