Sheffield United climbed to seventh in the Premier League table thanks to an accomplished 3-1 victory against Tottenham Hotspur at Bramall Lane.

Sander Berge netted his first for the Club since his January arrival to get the ball rolling before Lys Mousset and Oli McBurnie added to the tally in the second half with Harry Kane’s late effort proving nothing more than a consolation for Jose Mourinho’s visitors.

Within the opening minute, the Blades had a sight of goal. Baldock started and finished the move, combining with McBurnie, before seeing a left-footed effort saved by Lloris.

On 18 minutes, Basham needed to produce a timely touch to knock the ball off stride for Son, after Sissoko and Aurier had fashioned some space for later down the Blades right. The visitors continued to look at their most dangerous on the break, but from Bergwijn’s pass, Kane fired high and wide into the Kop.

On 31 minutes it was United who hit the front with a free-flowing move of their own. It started with Stevens spreading play across to Baldock, he found the run of the overlapping Basham who cut the ball back for Berge, he took one touch out of his feet before firing low and hard into the far corner.

Less than two minutes later though it appeared that Spurs had restored parity, only for VAR to intervene in the Blades favour this time. Lucas Moura went to ground under pressure from a host of defender, but Egan’s clearance hit him as he was falling and landing at Kane’s feet.

The start of the second half was quiet, with little in the way of goalscoring opportunities, with Tottenham making an early change with Lamela replacing Bergwijn.

United’s first change saw he impressive McGoldrick replaced by Mousset and within seven minutes of his arrival onto the pitch, the Frenchman had doubled United’s lead, finishing another excellent move. McBurnie’s perseverance started the move, he found Stevens on the left, who combined with Osborn, before lying it on a plate for the substitute to score from yards out.

There were 77 minutes on the clock when Kane had the ball in the net again, but this time it was the assistant referee who denied as he was comfortably offside. But it was the Blades who made sure of the points entering the later stages of the contest with a third excellent team goal. Norwood, Baldock and Berge were all involved in the build-up, before the latter teed up the excellen McBurnie to net what a deserved goal with a defy near post finish.

Spurs did get a consolation goal with Lamela and Son linking up before Kane scored from close-range. Four minutes of added time were signaled, but they passed with any incident of note as United deservedly returned to winning ways.

Sheffield United go seventh, with 47 points, while Spurs drop to ninth, with 45.

Sheffield United: Henderson, Baldock, Stevens, Basham, McBurnie (K. Freeman 90), Egan, Norwood, McGoldrick (Mousset 62), Robinson, Osborn, Berge.
Unused: Sharp, Jagielka, Moore, Rodwell, Zivkovic.

Spurs: Lloris, Aurier (Ndombele 70), Dier, Sanchez, Davies (Vertonghen 81), Sissoko (Dele 70), Lo Celso, Bergwijn (Lamela 56) Lucas, Son, Kane.
Unused: Gazzaniga, Alderweireld, Winks, Skipp, Gedson.

Photo Credit: premierleague.com

Chelsea slipped up in the race to secure Champions League football after falling to a 3-2 defeat at West Ham.

And fans pointed the finger at the Blues new sponsors Three for jinxing them before kick-off.

Many fans were particularly unhappy with their new sponsors who had tweeted ahead of kick-off: “We hear that ‘Three’ is a magic number.”

After the match, West Ham’s three goals were not only the spooky coincidence surrounding Chelsea’s new cursed number.

One fan pointed out that three was also “how many minutes it took for Marcos Alonso to track back.”

Photo Credit: premierleague.com

Chelsea fans have descended on their goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga for his roles in the Blues defeat during London derby cracker.

Andriy Yarmolenko’s 89th-minute winner earned three precious points for West Ham United in a 3-2 success over Chelsea.

Christian Pulisic went close for the visitors before Tomas Soucek’s effort at the other end on 34 minutes was ruled out for offside.

Pulisic was then fouled by West Ham’s Issa Diop, and Willian calmly converted the penalty on 42 minutes.

But Soucek was not to be denied, heading in Jarrod Bowen’s corner in first-half stoppage time.

Six minutes after half-time, Antonio swept in Bowen’s cross to give the Hammers the lead.

Willian’s stunning free-kick on 72 minutes levelled matters before Yarmolenko broke away to win it late on.

The Blues no.1 looked extremely unconvincing at a corner as he came off his line with the intention of coming to claim the ball, only to backtrack and seconds later he was picking the ball out of his net.

This came shortly after Willian had given the west London outfit the lead from the penalty spot after Christian Pulisic had been fouled in the area.

And before that, Kepa breathed a huge sign of relief when Tomas Soucek – scorer of the Hammers’ equaliser – had a goal chalked off when VAR intervented.

After the match Chelsea fans took to Twitter to express their anger:

Photo Credit: premierleague.com

Sometimes it just takes a change of scene for a player to unveil himself before the watching world. Having earned his stripes previously with Go round Fc and Abia warriors, Obinna Ukwu is now well established as Yobe Desert Stars key man.

He has excelled in a central midfield role ever since he made the switch to the northern city of Damaturu in 2018, where his technical prowess has allowed him to dictate the play and involve himself with the majority of the side’s moves, racking up an impressive number of assists in the process for the Damaturu-based outfit.

In many ways, he is the complete package. He is powerful and provides a defensive presence; yet at the same time he has an excellent turn of pace and knows how to reclaim the ball from opppsiton attackers, devoid of penalized tackles, he constantly proves to be adept at carrying the ball out of defence, a feat that caught the eyes of the then under 17 national team coach, Monday Odigie in 2010 for an invite.

Unsurprisingly he turned to be fans favourite on his debut season in the north-eastern part of Nigeria for Yobe Deserts Stars, thanks largely to his consistency in marshaling the midfield duties with zest and precision much to the delight of Coach Sallau Naira Sani.

In an exclusive chat with footballflakes.net, the 52- year- old- Yobe State-born tactician spoke highly of his revered midfield prodigy.

Sallau said:”Obinna Ukwu is an integral part of yobe desert stars, a player that is worth working with, a team player, always striving for the productivity of the team in both home and away matches with his assiduous efforts in the middle of the park. He is poised for giant strides in his career.”

Obinna Ukwu has developed a reputation of changing the complexion of a contest in a split second, this was more evident in most away games in the NPFL last season.

He may have proved to be a key component in Coach Sallau’s midfield as the Yobe State-born tactician seeks to return the Damaturu based side in the Nigerian topflight, but doubts still remains if he is willing to extend his loyalty to Yobe desert stars, as he has recently been on the radar of top teams within the shores of Africa, in as much as a deal from Europe is in the offing. Time shall tell of this creative Abia state-born superstar.

Gospel Lekams

Victor Osimhen’s representative has identified the Napoli project as the main attraction for the Nigeria international for a summer move to the La Liga club.

Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham have been linked with a move for the pacy striker, with Lille owner claimimg he had received “multiple bids” for the Nigerian.

But his agent, Osita Okolo, who is also his brother-in-law, confirmed that the Osimhen is ‘very impressed’ by what Napoli have to offer.

The Lille star has been in Naples since yesterday, when he met coach Gennaro Gattuso at the club’s base in Castel Volturno, amidst talk of a €70m deal being in the pipeline.

Okolo admits the trip is going so well that they are meeting President Aurelio De Laurentiis today.

“Yesterday, when he arrived in Naples, he headed straight to his first meeting with the club,” Okolo told Radio Punto Nuovo as cited by Football Italia.

“On the way, he watched people walking around the city streets and confessed to me that he was positively impressed.

“Then he met the coach, Gattuso: they talked about the Napoli project and he was also very impressed on that occasion.

“Today he’ll meet the President, Aurelio De Laurentiis. He was impressed by Naples and its people, even though the tour around the city was short.

“However, everything went in the right direction. Now, all we need to do is make a decision about the lad’s future.

“I’m not sure what Napoli’s fans think of him, but I knew that everyone who crossed paths with him was very happy to see him in the city.

“I thought that was very nice of the Neapolitan people. I’m convinced the fans would also really like Victor’s style of play and that could impact positively on his final decision.”