Football
Fulham Relegated From Premier League Following Burnley Loss
Fulham were relegated from the Premier League on Monday after losing 2-0 at home to fellow strugglers Burnley, who secured their spot in the top flight next season on the back of the result.
The defeat left Fulham in 18th spot on 27 points, 10 behind Southampton with three games left to play, while Burnley rose from 17th to 14th on 39 points.
“I’m bitterly disappointed, I’m hurt. There’s no words that I can really put together, other than I’m gutted that we’ve not managed to be successful this year,” Fulham boss Scott Parker said after the match.
“In between both boxes this year, we’ve had our moments and looked a very, very good side. Where we’ve fallen short at times is the other side of that, and tonight again defensively, the two goals are poor goals.”
Though a draw would have briefly staved off relegation, Fulham desperately needed to win and they started well, with Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa and Ivan Cavaleiro both registering shots on target that Nick Pope saved comfortably.
Fulham were punished in the 35th minute when Matej Vydra chased a ball down the left flank and beat Joachim Andersen before pulling it back for Westwood to steer home as Burnley took the lead.
Burnley were soon two up thanks to Chris Wood, who rifled Josh
Brownhill’s return pass into the top right corner a minute before half-time.
The home side looked more dangerous in the second half as they finally started to get some crosses into the box for Aleksandar Mitrovic, and the Serbian striker went close with two headers before the hour mark.
Fulham’s French goalkeeper Alphonse Areola was lucky to stay on the field when he seemed to handle the ball well outside penalty area, but neither the on-field referee nor the VAR deemed the incident worthy of a red card.
Despite plenty of possession, Fulham failed to create many decent scoring chances and return directly to the Championship after a single season in the top flight.
“It’s a tough time. We failed tonight, we failed this season. It’s hard to find the words,” Mitrovic told Sky Sports.
“We didn’t deserve it, and I’ve played football long enough to know that football is a really honest game, sometimes you get it in the season, sometime you don’t. In the end, you always finish where you deserve to be.”
Fulham will join West Bromwich Albion, who were relegated on Sunday after losing to Arsenal, and bottom side Sheffield United in the Championship next season.
According to the Italian publication II Mattino, Chelsea, Arsenal, and Paris Saint-Germain are prepared to make an offer of €90 million for Victor Osimhen, the top striker for Napoli.
According to the report, Osimhen’s contract has a release clause worth about €120 million, although Napoli President Aurelio de Laurentiis might accept a price less than that.
The Nigerian forward signed a new contract with Napoli last December, but the club is ready to let go of him at the end of the current campaign.
PSG, Chelsea, and Arsenal have all been mentioned frequently as potential suitors for the forward.
To resolve the striker’s future, intermediaries are allegedly collaborating with Roberto Calenda, his agent.
Osimhen, who left Ligue 1 team Lille in 2022 to join Napoli, has made 125 appearances for the Partenopei and scored 72 goals.
Super Eagles of Nigeria goalkeeper, Maduka Okoye has won Udinese’s Player of the Month Award for February after having one of the best runs of his football career.
Maduka Okoye is just coming out from a very difficult phase of his football career after losing his place in his club and international teams.
Recall that after the 24-year-old Nigerian goalkeeper made an error that contributed to the Super Eagles’ exit from the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cameroon, the goalkeeper has found it impossible to retain his first spot in the team.
Things got more complicated for Maduka Okoye when former Super Eagles coach, Jose Peseiro, didn’t invite him for the just concluded 2023 AFCON in which Chippa United goalkeeper, Stanley Nwabali made his name and grabbed the team’s first spot.
As he was struggling with the national team, Okoye was also struggling in Europe as he couldn’t get game time at Championship side, Watford.
His lack of game time forced him to move to Udinese on August 24, 2023. Initially, Okoye couldn’t make the first team at the Italian side until last January.
Okoye’s best month at the club came in February 2024 in which he helped the struggling team to win two games, draw once, and suffer one defeat. The Nigerian out-of-favour goalkeeper kept two clean sheets in the said month.
Due to that, before Udinese’s 2-0 defeat at home to Torino on Saturday, March 16, the Italian Serie A club presented him with the Player of the Month Award.
Note that the Nigeria international has made 13 Serie A appearances for the Italian club in which he conceded 18 goals. Football statistics platform, Opta, claimed that Maduka Okoye has never made an error leading to a goal since he joined Udinese.
Power Minister bags exemplary leadership award
Mahama, genuine friend of Nigeria – Gov Adeleke
Couple begs UK Court over deportation as wife claims IVF unavailable in Nigeria
-
News3 years agoMines ministry achieved milestone contribution in 2020 – Minister
-
News4 months agoFCTA expresses support to promote tourism development in Abuja
-
News4 months agoSenator Wadada feeds over 150 orphans in 4 orphanages
-
Business4 months agoNNPC Ltd denies allegations of owing $6.8bn to int’l oil firms, others
-
Education4 months agoPrepare to go with your child over altercation with teachers – Commissioner warns parents
-
News4 months agoJubilation as abducted Commissioner, wife regain freedom 24hrs after
-
News4 months agoSERAP threatens to sue Akpobio, Abba over NASS monthly running costs
-
News4 months agoListen to Anyaoku, Abdulahi, Nwafor – Orizu tells Tinubu
Pingback: DevOps Strategy