Arsenal and Chelsea win as Manchester United draw with Southampton at Saturday,

Arsenal opened up a two-point gap at the top of the Premier League after thrashing Norwich City at home as Manchester United stuttered again in their wobbling title defence.


Sunderland boss Gus Poyet endured an afternoon to forget in his first match in charge, while Steven Gerrard scored a landmark goal as Liverpool drew at Newcastle United.

Chelsea striker Samuel Eto'o finally got off the mark in a home win over Cardiff City, Everton edged past Hull City and Stoke City were held at home by West Bromwich Albion.

Arsenal claimed the outright lead in the Premier League as Mesut Ozil scored a second-half brace in a 4-1 win over Norwich at the Emirates Stadium.

Quick passing and clever improvisation brought Arsenal's opener on 18 minutes as Olivier Giroud and Jack Wilshere combined for the England midfielder to side-foot past John Ruddy.

Another excellent move led to Arsenal's second goal on 58 minutes when the leaders broke from outside their own penalty area before Giroud crossed for Ozil to head beyond Ruddy.

Norwich pulled a goal back with 20 minutes to go when Arsenal could only clear a cross to the edge of the box where Jonny Howson collected the ball and drilled a low shot past Wojciech Szczesny.

But any hope of an equaliser was snuffed out seven minutes from time when substitute Aaron Ramsey bamboozled two Norwich defenders before guiding his shot past Ruddy.

Ramsey was involved in Arsenal's fourth goal two minutes from the end when he laid Tomas Rosicky's cross back to Ozil to finish first time.

Manchester United's frustrating start to the season continued after Southampton scored a late equaliser to earn a deserved 1-1 draw at Old Trafford.

United went ahead on 26 minutes when Adnan Januzaj's superb pass sent Wayne Rooney through on goal. Rooney's shot was saved by Artur Boruc, but the ball bounced out to Robin van Persie and he skipped past the stranded Saints keeper before rolling his shot beyond a sliding defender.

Rooney struck the crossbar with a thumping volley moments later and Van Persie headed against the bar in the second half before Southampton snatched a deserved equaliser a minute from time.

A corner was curled in from the left which United failed to deal with and Dejan Lovren got some sort of touch before the ball trickled past David de Gea.

Cameroon striker Eto'o scored his first Chelsea goal and Eden Hazard notched a brace in a 4-1 home victory over promoted Cardiff.

Cardiff stunned Stamford Bridge after 10 minutes when David Luiz left Ramires' back-pass and Jordon Mutch nipped in to dink the ball over the exposed Petr Cech.

Chelsea equalised in controversial circumstances on 33 minutes when Eto'o kicked the ball away from David Marshall as the Cardiff keeper bounced it.

Hazard fed possession back to Eto'o and, after the former Barcelona forward had dithered six yards out, the ball broke to his Belgian team-mate to score.

Eto'o then finally broke his duck for Chelsea on 66 minutes as he controlled Hazard's pass before firing a low shot past Marshall.

Jose Mourinho's side put the game beyond Cardiff with two goals in four minutes as Oscar hammered a 25-yard effort beyond Marshall before the visiting keeper failed to keep out Hazard's low shot.

Liverpool captain Gerrard scored his 100th Premier League goal as his side twice came from behind to draw 2-2 with 10-man Newcastle United at St James' Park.

Newcastle took the lead midway through the first half when Yohan Cabaye's dipping shot from 35 yards bounced beyond Simon Mignolet's dive.

But Liverpool equalised three minutes before half-time when Gerrard scored from the penalty spot after Newcastle defender Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa was sent off for pulling back Luis Suarez.

Alan Pardew's side regained the lead on 56 minutes when substitute Paul Dummett took advantage of poor defending to side-foot home Cabaye's free-kick at the far post for his first Newcastle goal.

Liverpool hit back for a second time on 72 minutes when Daniel Sturridge headed home Luis Suarez's cross before the Uruguayan clipped the crossbar with a volley three minutes later.

Steven Pienaar made an instant impact as a substitute to hand Everton a 2-1 victory over Hull City at Goodison Park.

Everton enjoyed a flying start by taking the lead on eight minutes when Kevin Mirallas' low shot from outside the area crept inside the post.

Hull responded with the equaliser on the half-hour mark when Sone Aluko pulled the ball back from the right-hand side for Yannick Sagbo to slam home his first goal for the club.

The home side regained the lead on 57 minutes when Pienaar steered the ball home with his first touch from Mirallas' cross into the box.

Poyet suffered a miserable start to his Sunderland tenure as the recalled Phil Bardsley's own goal set Swansea on the way to a 4-0 win at the Liberty Stadium.

A flurry of three goals in seven minutes started on 57 minutes when Jonathan de Guzman's corner from the right was diverted past Sunderland keeper Keiren Westwood by defender Bardsley, who was making his first appearance of the season.

Within a minute, Swansea had taken a 2-0 lead as De Guzman received the ball 25 yards from goal and curled a brilliant shot beyond the reach of Westwood.

And on 64 minutes, Swansea had a third goal to celebrate when Wilfried Bony scored from the penalty spot after Leon Britton had been fouled by Craig Gardner.

Swansea made Poyet's afternoon even worse 10 minutes from time when Chico Flores' header from another De Guzman corner bounced past Westwood off Sunderland striker Steven Fletcher.

Stephane Sessegnon missed golden opportunities in each half as West Brom drew 0-0 with Stoke at the Britannia Stadium.

(Sky Sports)

Liverpool Moves Into Top Spot of The Premier League Table

Liverpool moved to the top of the Premier League table with a comfortable 3-1 win over Crystal Palace at Anfield.
Liverpool began in fine style taking the lead just 13-minutes in when Luis Suarez managed to sweep the ball home 12-yards despite being surrounded by defenders.

Just moments later and Daniel Sturridge's kept up his brilliant start to the new season when firing home after turning Damien Delaney inside-out.
The third, just before the break, was somewhat harsh on Palace as Dean Moxey was adjudged to have pulled Raheem Sterling back just inside the back and skipper Steven Gerrard made no mistake to slot him his 99th Premier League goal for Liverpool.
Palace did improve after the break and they claimed a goal with 15-minutes left as Dwight Gayle flicked home Jose Campana's free-kick from close-range - but it proved to be nothing more than a consolation.
The win takes Liverpool above Arsenal into top spot, whilst Palace remain second from bottom after their sixth defeat of the season.

Owoeye becomes SuperSports’ 1st pidgin-English commentator

Timi Owoeye has become SuperSports’ first Pidgin-English commentator.


Owoeye emerged on Friday to clinch the position out of more than 1,000 candidates who entered for the month-long maiden SuperSports ‘Follow Ya Mouth’, Pidgin-English commentator search.

SuperSports said in a statement in Lagos on Friday that Owoeye was given one year contract with effect from Nov. 1.

He would be expected to thrill followers of the Glo Premier League (GPL) via the Pidgin- English commentaries.

The `Follow Ya Mouth search’ took the contestants from Lagos to Warri, Port Harcourt and Uyo in the quest to pick a lucky Nigerian.

No fewer than 12 contestants emerged from the regional auditioning.

At the end, three finalists: Babah Kay, Benedict Wakama and Owoeye were short listed

The Chairman of the League Management Company (LMC), Nduka Irabor, witnessed the event

The judges were veteran broadcaster, Deji Omotoyinbo, Tega Onojaife and Nedu Ani

Owoeye said, “winning the search is a golden opportunity that will have positive impact on me and I appreciate everyone who contributed to my emergence.’’


The General Manager of SuperSports, Felix Awogu said: “we are making available a new window of opportunity to young talented Nigerians to contribute to the development of our football.” (NAN)

Teenager, Januzaj scores twice to save Manchester United

Teenage starlet Adnan Januzaj scored twice as Manchester United came from behind to win 2-1 at Sunderland on Saturday and revive their flagging Premier League title defence.



The champions had made their worst start to a season since 1989 and were set on course for a third consecutive defeat when Craig Gardner scored an early goal for bottom club Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

However, on his first league start for the club, 18-year-old Januzaj scored two fine goals in the space of seven minutes early in the second half to snatch victory and send United up to ninth place in the table.

United manager David Moyes has been bullish about his ability to turn United’s season around, but he saw Gardner give Sunderland a fifth-minute lead after Nemanja Vidic fluffed an attempted clearance.

The visitors were then indebted to goalkeeper David de Gea for a breath-taking full-stretch save to touch away a header from Emanuele Giaccherini, who also blazed wastefully over on the verge of half-time.

United had struggled to cope with their hosts’ furious work rate, but they levelled in the 55th minute when Januzaj met Patrice Evra’s drilled cross with a measured side-foot finish that flashed into the net.

The Belgian youngster’s work was not finished, and minutes later he claimed a glorious winner, thumping a sweet left-foot volley into the bottom-right corner after Nani’s cross was headed into the air by United old boy John O’Shea.

Robin van Persie spurned a late chance to make the game safe, but Sunderland, for whom caretaker manager Kevin Ball remains at the helm, could not find an equaliser.

Liverpool returned to the top of the table after in-form strike duo Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge both found the net in a 3-1 win at home to Crystal Palace.
David Moyes

David Moyes

Suarez was making his first Anfield appearance since completing a 10-game ban for biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic last season and with new-born son Benjamin in attendance, he broke the deadlock in the 14th minute.

The goal showcased the Uruguayan’s flair for improvisation, as he hooked the ball into the net from a prone position after slipping as he shaped to shoot.

Top scorer Sturridge added a second three minutes later, turning Damien Delaney inside out before lashing home his fifth league goal of the season.

Captain Steven Gerrard made it 3-0 with a 38th-minute penalty, taking his tally of Premier League goals to 99, before substitute Dwight Gayle replied for the visitors with a late glancing header.

Victory took Brendan Rodgers’s side a point clear of Arsenal, who can reclaim top spot if they avoid defeat at West Bromwich Albion on Sunday.

Liverpool manager Rodgers heralded strike duo Suarez and Sturridge, saying: “They were exceptional today. Their combination play was outstanding and they are right up there with the best in this league.”

Earlier, Manchester City bounced back from defeats by Aston Villa and Bayern Munich to end Everton’s unbeaten start to the season with a 3-1 win at the Etihad Stadium.

Everton took a 16th-minute lead through on-loan Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku, but Alvaro Negredo equalised immediately from Yaya Toure’s fine reverse pass.

City lost captain Vincent Kompany to injury, but Sergio Aguero put the hosts ahead just before the interval.

A foul by Seamus Coleman on Pablo Zabaleta gave Aguero a chance to extend City’s lead from the penalty spot in the 69th minute and although Tim Howard turned his shot onto the post, the ball bounced against the American goalkeeper and into the net for an own goal.

“Equalising immediately was important, but more important was the character of the team, playing against Everton — the only unbeaten team in the league,” said City manager Manuel Pellegrini.

“After a defeat (by Bayern) on Wednesday, it was important for me to see how the players reacted.”

Loic Remy scored twice in the space of eight first-half minutes as Newcastle United claimed a first win in three games with a 2-1 victory at Cardiff City, who replied through Peter Odemwingie.

Fulham climbed out of the relegation zone after a neat 83rd-minute strike from Darren Bent secured a 1-0 win at home to Stoke City, while Aston Villa were held to a 0-0 draw at Hull City.

Osaze — I Regret Insulting Keshi But He Wasn't Fair To Me

Estranged Super Eagles attacker Osaze Odemwingie has said he regrets his abusive Twitter comments. He claimed they were made because coach Stephen Keshi was not fair to him. He even described Chris Green, whom he had also abused, as a good man:

“I remember it was Green who settled my case with Siasia then, but I was too angry when he called me over this matter, and was impatient to listen to him.”  

“My comment was not directed at him personally, but to those who made the decision, but I think I overreacted then.”

On his face-off with Keshi, Osaze said:

“I called the coach two or three times within that period, maybe two or three days before the list was made public and told him of my commitment to be part of the Nations Cup, and have told my (club) coach I will be going to the Nations Cup.

“I told the coach I was ready to report to camp by January 3, even before other professionals start reporting to camp, if I were in his programme for the Nations Cup, and even told him to feel free to drop me, if I were not in his programme.

“I felt betrayed after that seeming heart-to-heart discussions with the coach few days to the release of the team list and he could not hint me I was not in his plan for the Nations Cup.

“I am human and open to errors by the way I may have taken the issue, and regret the whole controversy, and want to put all this behind me now and focus on my club career, while wishing the team the best of luck as a Nigerian.”

Recall that the West Bromwich striker had in the wake of the release of the Nigeria provisional team list for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations taken to his Twitter account and made disparaging comments against Keshi, the team captain and some Nigeria Football Federation officials. 

Past coaches, including Samson Siasia and Lars Lagerback, were not spared and continued days later with direct hits at ex-Nigeria international Victor Ikpeba.

However, Osaze said his mistakes were made in a fit of anger.

Talking Horses

They race on Wednesday on the all-weather at Lingfield, above, where Yarroom is the best bet in the opening race. Photograph: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

11.45am Dettori gets six month ban for positive drugs test

Tony Paley: Frankie Dettori has been suspended from riding for six months after being found guilty of taking a prohibited substance, his legal representative Christopher Stewart-Moore said on Wednesday morning.

The three-times British champion jockey, 41, tested positive for what is believed to be cocaine following a routine examination at Longchamp on September 16. Dettori's suspension runs from November 20 to May 19 and is likely to be reciprocated by racing jurisdictions worldwide, including by the British Horseracing Authority.

He will be back in time to ride in the Epsom Derby. You can read more details throughout the day in our story here.

9.30am Catterick gets go-ahead but more weather worries for racing

Tony Paley: Wednesday's meeting at Catterick goes ahead following an early-morning course inspection. With temperatures having only dipped to minus 1C, allied to a dry night, the jumps fixture was promptly given the go-ahead at 7.30am.

Catterick clerk of the course Fiona Needham said: "It's very good news. We had no snow and overnight temperatures got down to minus 1C, which wasn't a problem." The going is soft, good to soft in places.

Meanwhile, Thursday's meetings at Wincanton and Leicester must pass 8am precautionary inspections on raceday morning. Although the Somerset circuit is raceable, course officials are taking no chances. Overnight temperatures are set to drop to minus 2C, but the inspection has been called in case the frost is sharper than has been forecast.

Wincanton Clerk of the course Barry Johnson said: "I'm very confident we'll be fine - we'll be OK with minus 2C - but some forecasts are predicting minus 4C. There's no frost in the ground now, but the ground is quite wet. It's very much a precautionary inspection."

Frost is the main issue at Leicester, with temperatures set to drop to as low as minus 5C. A maximum daytime temperature of 2C on Thursday has also been forecast.

Clerk of the course Jimmy Stevenson said on Wednesday morning: "There's no frost whatsoever this morning - we are perfectly raceable - but there is quite a severe frost forecast tonight. If we think we have a chance at 8am, we'll probably call another inspection later in the morning and then, possibly, look again. We've got to be patient."

Wednesday's best bets, by Tony Paley

It was snowing, OK it was sleeting, this morning in north London, but with the weather forecast suggesting freezing temperatures overnight, more flurries of snow and heavy rain on the way by the end of the week it's probably best to grab that all-weather form book and take a peek at life on the sand.

Lingfield is a good place to start as the course is starting an extended run of eight days racing caused by the temporary closure of Wolverhampton and flooding at Southwell which is likely to set to keep that track out of action until the new year.

The first race there on Wednesday features the best bet of the day in the shape of Yarroom (12.00) from Roger Varian's yard. The Cape Cross colt impressed when getting off the mark at Wolverhampton last time, easing clear to win by seven lengths and it will be disappointing if he can't follow up off top weight on his handicap debut.

Hometown Glory (1.30), who should be suited by stepping up in trip to a mile for trainer Brian Meehan, is another to consider on the Polytrack card. He has a good record on the surface and everything looks in place for him to give a good account on Wednesday afternoon.

Catterick getting the go-ahead on Wednesday is a bonus as Rear Admiral (12.20) looks well worth a very close look in the opener at the Yorkshire track. He has been in excellent form in the point-to-point field since his last run over hurdles with four easy wins from five starts. The selection hails from the shrewd Mick Easterby camp and they could well have a very well handicapped runner on their hands.

Tipping competition, day two

Perhaps the Anglo French race at Folkestone wasn't the friendliest race we could have chosen yesterday. In any event, no one had the winner, Fitandproperjob (9-1). Yossarian24 had the other two, Rouge Et Blanc (100-30) and Angel Cake (6-1), giving him the early lead.

This week's prize is a copy of the Racing Post's annual, now in its second year and a really good-quality offering that any fan of the sport will enjoy, with masses of lovely pics and contributions from Tony McCoy, Richard Hughes and Willie Mullins. If you don't win, you can buy a copy here.

To kick things off, we'd like your tips, please, for these races: 2.40 Hereford, 2.50 Catterick, 5.50 Kempton.

You'll see that we have a new presentation format for comments in the sports section of the website, below. Apparently, a bug means that you can't display more than 50 comments on the same page, but they're working to fix this so that you will, once again, be able to display all comments at once.

As ever, our champion will be the tipster who returns the best profit to notional level stakes of £1 at starting price on our nominated races, of which there will be three each day up until Friday. Non-runners count as losers. If you have not joined in so far this week, you are welcome to do so today but you will start on -3.

In the event of a tie at the end of the week, the winner will be the tipster who, from among those tied on the highest score, posted their tips earliest on the final day.

For terms and conditions click here.

IKHANA: WHY WE FAILED IN EQUATORIAL GUINEA

Former chief coach of Super Falcons, Kadiri Ikhana has shed light on why the senior women’s national team he led to the African Women’s Championship in Equatorial Guinea failed to retain the trophy and the reason why he resigned his appointment. He told RICHARD JIDEAKA that the host country's antics and absence of two key players frustrated his team from doing well…

How did you feel leading the Super Falcons to relinquish the AWC title without a fight in Equatorial Guinea?

Well, I felt very sad and disappointed that we failed to retain the cup as we planned to do from the beginning. A lot of factors actually affected the team from performing at its optimal best. To show how devastated I felt after we lost in the semi-final to South Africa, I took a decision to resign and which I did as soon as we returned to Nigeria.

Coach, were you forced to resign or you did that out of your own volition considering the fact that your contract said you should at least reach the semi- final of the championship?

But you know me very well that nobody can force me out. I resigned because I failed to meet the target I set for myself. My target was to win the trophy but having surprisingly lost in the semi-final, I just knew it was all over for me.

You mentioned that so many factors were responsible for the Super Falcons’ poor outing in anAfrican championships; can you divulge some of these factors?
 
Yes, one of them was that 10 days to our departure on a training tour of Ghana, the NFF technical department with the directive from the technical committee chairman released two of my key attackers to a foreign club without my consent. I protested this action which I regarded as a deliberate attempt to frustrate and weaken the team. I expressed my bitterness when I went to defend the list before the technical committee members but I was assured that the club would release the players for the competition which they never did. The players in question- Desire Oparanozie and Francisca Ordega, are by all standard players who could have turned things around for the team. When it became obvious that I would not have them for the championship, I had to quickly draft in some new players as replacements.

Another factor was the late arrival of foreign-based players to join the team. Five of the foreign-based players invited for the AWC were only able to join us three days to our departure to Ghana and the sixth player, Perpetua Nkwocha, joined us on the day of our departure to Ghana. This short period did not allow us to evaluate their fitness level; psychological and mental preparedness but having registered them based on their pedigree, we had to make do with them.

Could there be any other factor that led to your dismal outing at the AWC?


Of course, the major factor why we lost was the antics of the host and organizers. It was as if they had mapped out strategies to frustrate us and this began as soon as we landed at the Malabo airport on Thursday October 25. They made things difficult for us and easy for other teams. They succeeded because at the end, our players lost concentration and became frustrated. Some of them even fell sick and could not play some games. They made us stay for about five hours at the airport before we could board our flights to and from Malabo and Bata. They provided inadequate rooms for the team and some of us had to stay in different hotels. Can you imagine that for us to eat we had to move from one hotel to another three times in a day and none of these took nothing less than an hour. We were made to shuttle between Bata and Malabo. We traveled more than all other teams during the championship.

Back to your preparation for the championship, would you say it was adequate and that the NFF played their role very well?

To be fair to the federation, they gave us the best of preparation any team can ask of. The team lost because we fell to the antics of the hosts and despite all the efforts made by Dr. Sanusi Mohammed and others to lift the girls’ spirit, nothing came out of it.

What is the way forward for Nigerian women’s football?

The NFF should settle the feud in the women’s league and ensure that the league becomes competitive and attractive. Again, they should use the age grade teams for developmental competitions and not the ‘you must qualify’ idea that is ruining the progress of the senior team. I mean players must not be allowed to play any age grade competition twice and any player in the senior team must not be allowed to return to the junior team no matter how young she may be. I think, we still have what it takes to rule Africa again if the whole of next year is used to build a new team since there would be no competition next year. I also think that the so- called foreign based players should be made to join camp at least two weeks before any major competition or we forget about them. From my observation, it seems that they either do not play football regularly over there or that the standard of the league they play is too low.

Would you give female football another try if given the opportunity?

In my resignation letter, I thanked the NFF president for the opportunity given me to serve the country and I hope to serve again if they find me suitable for any job. So, I would be ready to coach the girls again because I was able to instill discipline in the team and I know I can do better than I did last time.