Sports
Arsenal Must Beat City To Shake Off Tag – Rice
Declan Rice has said that Arsenal must win at Manchester City this weekend if they want to prove they can lift the Premier League title and change perceptions of the club.
Arsenal have won their last two matches against City, in the Community Shield and at the Emirates Stadium earlier this season, but have lost on their last eight trips to the Etihad.
Victory for Mikel Arteta’s league leaders would take them four points clear of Pep Guardiola’s side as the title run-in begins for Arsenal, City and Liverpool.
“We have got to go to the Etihad, which is going to be really tough, but if you want to get past that barrier of Arsenal being labelled stuff, you have to go there and win,” said Rice.
“We have to show that steeliness and character to prove we can be one of the best teams. There’s no doubt that City are the best team in the world at the minute, but we have full confidence and belief as a group, and the manager, that we can get a result.”
Rice has excelled since Arsenal won the battle for his signature last summer, when City also tried to sign the midfielder from West Ham United.
Arsenal have beaten City, Liverpool and Manchester United in the league this season, but all of those games took place at the Emirates Stadium.
“I have obviously been in big-pressure situations this season in games where, if we hadn’t won we would be slipping away from the teams at the top,” said Rice.
“You feel that pressure before the games, you know in your mind that you have to go out there and do everything you can to win and get three points.
“I really thrive off those moments, so hopefully we can keep putting ourselves in big-pressure games. That is where you learn the most about yourself, and obviously as a team as well.”
Arsenal are hoping that Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Magalhaes will all be available for the match after injuries forced them out of international duty in the past two weeks.
Saka is recovering from a muscle problem, Gabriel has an Achilles issue and Martinelli is still recovering from a cut on his foot that forced him off against Sheffield United earlier this month.
City also have injury issues ahead of the game, with Kyle Walker and John Stones both suffering fitness problems on England duty. Manuel Akanji, another defender, is also a doubt.
England captain Harry Kane netted a hat-trick to guide Bayern Munich to an impressive victory against Stuttgart.
Kane’s goals, plus one from Kingsley Coman, helped Bayern end a three-game winless run in all competitions.
They faced a tough task against a Stuttgart side who sat back and limited their chances, leading Vincent Kompany’s side to enter the break frustrated and with the deadlock unbroken.
Bayern eventually found a way past Stuttgart’s steely defence when Kane drilled a low effort into the bottom corner from around 30 yards out after Joshua Kimmich overturned possession.
Former Nigeria goalkeeper, Dosu Joseph, is full of thanks to God after he miraculously survived another life-threatening automobile accident recent at Kara, along the Lagos-Ibadan Express Way, where a heavy-duty truck ran into his SUV.
Narrating his ordeal, the 51-year-old, who guided Nigeria to gold in the Men’s Football Tournament of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, broke the news in a statement on his social media handles on Friday.
“To God be the glory, another death escaped by Grace and Mercy of God. Me and my friend SM were at Enyo Filling Station after Ojodu Berger bus stop to get fuel on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, around 6 p.m. when this MACK truck fully loaded with iron, with registration number LND 470 XX, left the road and crushed my car beyond repairs. Thank God for life,” he stated.
This is the second time the soft-spoken club proprietor will cheat death by a whisker, having been involved in an accident in 1997 that ended his career at 23 and left his spinal cord in bad shape.
He helped Julius Berger win the Nigeria FA Cup in November 1997 shortly a memorable Olympic outing by keeping a clean sheet in the finals against Katsina United. The following year, he was involved in the auto along Ikorodu Road, Lagos, which not only cut his career short but also left him almost paralysed, ending his spell at Serie A club Reggiana.
The former Nigeria international, who also kept goal for Julius Berger FC, said the case has been reported to Isheri Police Station, Ogun State, where the driver is currently detained and the truck also seized.
According to him, the owner of the truck said he can’t fix the badly damaged SUV until after a year.
Ex – Super Eagles of Nigeria, Okwuchukwu Waobikeze has observed that sports development in Nigeria is going down.
According to him, grassroots sports is very important, without it, the administrators cannot get it right. So everybody should key into grassroots sports development, he said.
Waobikeze said this last Wednesday in an interview with sports journalists shortly after the Port Harcourt All Stars Independence football festival (OCTOBERFEST) at the Port Harcourt club, Rivers State.
He explained that for sports administrators to get it right, grassroots development is key. “They should be organising competition at the grassroots level to fish out the young ones for different sporting activities.
“Grassroots sports is very important so the administrators have to go back to the grassroots.
” Sports Development in Nigeria is going down we need to go back to the basics.
“Look at the just concluded Paris Olympics, Nigeria did not win any medal.
” Our football team did not even qualify for the Olympics. We are going down.
” If they should go back to the grassroots, they will get young ones in the games and talents will be developed.
” I started from school games, to youth games before playing for the national team. Now everybody wants to fly board to play professional football and a lot do not know the basics of the game.
” A lot of people did not know the little things about the game, they just want to play. It is not done so,” Waobikeze stated.
Kiadum Edookor