Sylvia Ikeji's Blog

Mourinho meanwhile has done something unusual especially for him. 55 seconds was all it took! The Chelsea boss after yet another loss that seems to have become the new order of the day for the club, gave what could be his shortest post match press conference yet. The Portuguese was asked 12 questions most of which he responded saying 'Nothing' or 'I have nothing to say'. See full transcript of his press conference after the loss to Liverpool. Read after the cut...

As Chelsea's worst ever start to a season continues, today's performance by the players highlights how low their confidence level has sunk to. Having started the game in astonishing fashion, the home side took a fourth minute lead against Liverpool through Ramires as he seemed to reward the club for his new contract that will see him remain at the Stamford Bridge till 2019. Some would have thought they had finally kick started their season, However, the early goal turned out to be a bad decision as the team lacking any form of confidence gave up on their attacking prowess relinquishing as much as seventy percent possession to Jurgen Klopp's boys during some spells.

Ahead of their tie this weekend, Wilfried Zaha reveals shocking details of his short stint at Old Trafford as Sir Alex Ferguson's last buy. In this interview, the Ivory Coast born England international reveals that he spoke to Ferguson just once from the day United made their interest known till date as well as addresses reports that he slept with David Moyes' daughter Lauren. He now has an opportunity to show United what they missed having released him to Alan Pardew's Crystal palace. Despite his inconsistencies at Crystal Palace this term, the once promising teenager that England hoped will be the core of the Three Lions looks very comfortable and confessed that he has indeed had a supeerb relationship with Pardew who has already substituted him at halftime three times this season.

To usher in the weekend's games, Chelsea host Liverpool in what is the attraction of the premier league. Clashes between the two clubs in recent years has been somewhat of a fierce rivalry with the controversies that often surround them. Would there be another 'Gerrard slip' that will end up preJose Mourinho his job? 90 minutes will tell. See Saturday's fixtures across the top five leagues...and good luck to your team, except of course you are playing against mine! Sorry I no do brother for that one. Lol...

Ahead of Chelsea's game versus Liverpool on Saturday, Jose Mourinho used his press conference to hint that the current problem with his squad is not with the manager. Speaking during his customary Friday press conference, the Chelsea manager who these days seems to be under increased pressure at the end of every match, hinted to the club know that sacking him would not necessarily bring an instant end to their plight.

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has hit back at the club's legend Paul Scholes insisting his criticism means nothing to him. The midfielder accused the Dutchman of being too pragmatic and not taking enough risks while claiming that his style was so boring and he could not have enjoyed playing in the current squad. However, Van Gaal, speaking ahead of United's trip to Crystal Palace tomorrow, responded to Scholes by insisting his words do not affect him.

Chelsea are set to make move for Shakhtar Donetsk star Alex Teixeira in the January transfer window with the 25-year-old eager to push a move through to the premier league. The Londoners have struggled to match their last season's performance having lost six of their fifteen matches so far this season. Jose Mourinho could look to him to revive his struggling side and potentially save his job at the capital.

Wenger during his traditional press conference ahead of the weekend's matches, has confirmed that two of his injured players Theo Walcott and Oxlade Chamberlain will be out until at least after the international break. He also revealed that the Ox is expected back before Walcott who has been more of a makeshift striker in recent times. “We played a different team in midweek. We are now focused to do well at Swansea. We are on a strong run in the Premier League. Last year Swansea were the only team to beat us twice so it is a good challenge. We need a strong defensive performance,” Wenger said.

As long expected, former Chelsea first team doctor Eva Carneiro is suing the club. Carneiro through her lawyers have served notice on the club that she intends to seek a claim for constructive dismissal. According to reports, the legal papers were served on the club this week. The action is expected to trigger an employment tribunal except both parties are able to agree an out-of-court settlement before a hearing takes place.

Didier Drogba scored what was his 12th goal in 12 appearances for Montreal Impact against rivals Toronto in the Major League Soccer play-offs. The former Chelsea man struck the third and final goal for his side as they went on rampage in the first half with strikes from Patrice Bernier and Ignacio Piatti making up the numbers Toronto could also boost of having a good season as it was their first time of reaching the play-offs in their history, unfortunately, they could not go further than that.

The Nigeria League Management have come down hard and issued a strong punishment to defaulting clubs, players and officials following total chaos that occurred during their matches.

Former United maestro Paul Scholes has slammed Manchester United's defensive style under Louis van Gaal. In a brutal assessment of the club's approach, the Old Trafford legend declared that Van Gaal's XI is not a team he would have enjoyed playing for. Scholes who was known to be relatively quiet during his playing days has now suprisingly become the out outspoken of his peers since he took up the role of punditry. He has also quickly jumped to the defence of club and England captain Wayne Rooney, who has been under heavy criticism in recent times following a poor run of form, by blaming throwing Van Gaal under the bus, with claims that any centre forward during his time at the club would struggle in this line-up.

Brazilian midfilder Ramires has signed a new contract to extend his Chelsea stay to 2019. Ramires, 28, first signed for Chelsea from Benfica in 2010. He has gone on to make over 150 appearances for the Londoners. The two parties break the news.

Following the reaction from surprised Nigerian fans at the exclusion of Manchester City striker, Kelechi Iheanacho from the list of invited players for next month's World Cup qualifier, coach Sunday Oliseh has now made a late decision and has invited him for the tie.

Barcelona defender Javier Mascherano has admitted to two counts of tax fraud totalling a little over £1million before a judge on Thursday. The Argentine arrived at the court in Gava, a coastal town on the outskirts of Barcelona where he lives, accompanied by his lawyers for the hearing which lasted only five minutes. It has been revealed that in the hearing, he admitted to failing to declare his earnings from 2011 and 2012 - ceding his image rights to companies he owns in Portugal and the United States.

Cristiano Ronaldo will return to the Premier League one day because he loves English football that is according to his best friend, Jose Semedo, who plays as a midfielder for Sheffield Wednesday. The Portuguese pair are known to be close friends after they grew up playing football together at the Sporting Lisbon academy from 1998 to 2002.

Following on from what I saw on Tuesday during the Capital One Cup game against Stoke, what do you think of these pictures below? Do you think something is up between Hazard and Mourinho?? They are from the team's training session today. Look at pictures of the two together and another of Mourinho with some other players...

Coach Sunday Oliseh has released the names of Super Eagles players for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying fixture against Swaziland. The 23 man list has 6 home based players in its rank. The names on the list obviously scream 'current form' all over it. And there is no way the list would have been complete without the inclusion of Seattle Sounders striker Obafemi Martins! Am so happy for his return having not featured for the Eagles in the past 2 years. Welcome back 'Obagoal'!

Barcelona could link up with Zlatan Ibrahimovic's Paris Saint Germain, atleast if it were all in the hands of France Prime minister Manuel Valls. The French president has revealed he would be willing to offer Barcelona a place in Ligue 1 next season, should the club be forced to leave Spain's top flight - although it is not in his power to do so.

Jose Mourinho may be trying to minimize how much he spends after he vowed to appeal the 50,000 pounds fine handed to him by the FA, but having decided to make a bet with a West Ham ball boy last weekend, he would have to pay and in full or risk dragging his name through further mud. The Chelsea boss reportedly had a bet with the ball boy on who was going to win the London derby tie last Saturday. The cheeky youngster had reportedly bragged to the Chelsea boss that the Hammers would win the tie, and Mourinho took him up on the bet.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp last night claimed his first win as the Reds' manager against premier league side Bournemouth as Nigerian, Kelechi Iheanacho saw off favourite opponent Crystal palace in Wednesday cup ties. After seeing his side fail to clinch a win since Lopp's appointment, former Southampton player Nathaniel Clyne scored a goal in the first half and it was enough to seal their route through to the last eight, After a wonderful back-heel from Joao Teixeira was cleared off the line.

So on a night when both Manchester clubs were playing at home, something that rarely ever happens, resulting in the police being called to monitor situations hours before the game. Old Trafford witnessed the second goalless draw at home while the Etihad residents emphasized again why they are the new 'Manchester club' with a resounding 5-1 win against Crystal Palace.

Argentine play maker Lionel Messi, has never been closer to leaving Barcelona that is according to Sky Sports' Spanish football expert Guillem Balague. The four-time Ballon d' Winner has been inquired of in recent times by Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City according to The Sun, but the Spanish giants have always maintained that the Argentine will finish his at the club.

With this week being week 35 of the 2014/15 Nigeria Premier League season, see final scores of eight completed games for today and the current league standings as Enyimba of Aba march towards their 7th league title.

Following Tuesday night's game vs Stoke City, Chelsea have now lost seven in fifteen games all season. The good thing from the game though is that just like versus West Ham, the performance was an improvement from the earlier ones at the start of the season. In my opinion, they should have been at least three goals up at half time but for their poor finishing or some sort of confusion that gets into their head once they get to the final third - their passes become inaccurate, sometimes it seemed like they just wanted to dribble the ball over the line, only then will their goal count. All the same, kudos to Stoke players who performed admirably despite playing a little over 30 minutes with 10 men.

Sergio Aguero is 'hooking up' with fellow Manchester City striker Toni Duggan. Duggan is a Manchester City Ladies striker who moved to the club from Everton Ladies in 2013.

What a silly thing it was to say especially in their current form. Chelsea lost on penalties to Stoke City last night...

Having revealed a while back that he is unhappy at Manchester City despite all his achievements at the club, reports have come up now that Yaya Toure admitted he was so close to exiting Manchester City this summer, but chose to stay back out of loyalty to Manuel Pellegrini. Since the death of his younger brother Ibrahim last year, the City powerhouse has struggled to cope and retain his form that helped his side to the league title, two times in three seasons.

So after last night's entertaining Capital One Cup ties, I am torn between which game to discuss here first - Arsenal's total capitulation in the hands of Championship side Sheffield Wednesday or Chelsea's continued xxx (help me with a word there) against Stoke City who they play again next week away but in the league. Talking about Arsenal, as soon as I saw the line up an hour before kick-off, I knew Arsene Wenger was just not in the mood and then he confirmed it as he sat on his seat throughout the game except when he had to 'go' at halftime!

Yes,  Chelsea played last night and they lost on penalties, thanks to Eden Hazard. But something is still wrong with this headline. Spot the error...

Today, October 27th is Kurt Zouma's birthday. The France and Chelsea central defender was born on this day in 1994. Despite just turning 21 today, he has made over a decade appearances in his career. Did you know that he is from Central African Republic by birth? Well, his parents emigrated to France from the African country many years ago.

Liverpool Football Club have confirmed that Anfield was evacuated earlier today, Tuesday, after it was discovered that two men were missing inside the stadium, a story corroborated  Merseyside Police who said that a crew were sent to the ground at 3.05pm today following a report that two individuals had disappeared at 1.30pm.

See this 4-yard sitter that our very own Sammy Ameobi - well, not really our very own after he chose England over us - missed for his Cardiff side. And the most painful part is that the miss came in the 90th minute. Disaster!

Chelsea's Brazilian midfielder Ramires has shot down claims of any form of mutiny towards manager Jose Mourinho. There were reports earlier this month that the Portuguese was losing control of the Chelsea dressing room with players using an unflattering nickname to refer to him. Backing his manager, Ramires insisted that the team are giving 'their life' to end the poor run of form which has seen the champions at 15th in the Premier League table.

See what Mourinho and his goons are causing. Lol... According to eyewitness reports, winning goal scorer Andy Carroll was involved in a restaurant row with a "drunk Chelsea fan" where red win was thrown just 24-hours after West Ham defeated Chelsea and it seems like one Chelsea fan took the result particularly personal.

Eight candidates have formally submitted the intentions to run for FIFA presidency in the upcoming 2016 February elections. The confirmation has been made following Monday night's deadline. UEFA executive committee, general secretary Gianni Infantino waited until the last minute to announce his candidature for the presidency of FIFA.

Details of Jose Mourinho's foul mouthed rant at referee Jon Moss during halftime at Upton Park on Saturday has been revealed.  Having received referee Moss’s incident report detailing Mourinho’s behaviour during the interval, the FA may not have to impose the suspended stadium ban hanging over the Chelsea boss and there are suggestions that the disciplinary commission will recommend or even instruct the Portuguese to take an anger management course.

In what was quite a wordy defense of his decision to resign from the national team, Emenike gave a list of what was not part of his reasons for spontaneously quitting the team, to the suprise of even the coach. However, in all his defense he cleverly failed to reveal why he did. See what he said below as published by Linda Ikeji Blog...

Following last week's  attack on four black fans at the home stadium during the Keiv vs Chelsea match, Dynamo Kiev stadium chief has claimed that the club could segregate black fans from other supporters in a really strange strategy to win the battle against racism.

Arsenal football club have been fined £60,000 and warned over their future conduct by the FA after contravening football agent regulations during the transfer of Calum Chambers from Southampton. In 2014, when Chambers moved from Southampton to Arsenal for £15million, agent Alan Middleton and the London club are said to have violated the rule that has now seen agent Middleton fined £30,000 and suspended for three months for his part in the deal.

A Tottenham fan has claimed full responsibility after the 'eff' word was broadcast across the public address system (PAS) during the Tottenham vs Bournemouth match at the Vitality stadium last weekend.

Following the events that took place at the West Ham vs Chelsea game on Saturday (I guess its not news anymore), the FA have released a statement on their actions. Almost everything Chelsea has been charged with misconduct. Hosts West Ham have also been charged for failing to control their players.

The home-based Nigeria national team referred to as Super Eagles B team, have been awarded a suprise bonus after they overcame Burkina Faso to qualify for next years' CHAN finals. The NFF have now approved that players and officials be paid extra sums of money in US dollars as performance/qualification bonus.

Chelsea will be fined £25,000 and asked for their observations on three disciplinary incidents that occurred on Saturday during their match vs West Ham, an FA spokesman has confirmed. Speaking this afternoon, he said that the automatic fine would be implemented after Chelsea saw six players receive yellow cards in the game. With Nemanja Matic, receiving two for himself, making seven cautions in total.

Jose Mourinho seemed like the coolest man in the stadium just before halftime with all sorts of cards flying around his players. While his trusted assistant Silvino Louro was sent to the stands after reacting furiously an allegedly 'intimidating' fourth official Andy Woolmerto for Namanja Matic's send off as well as Fabregas and Diego Costa's yellow card apiece, Jose Mourinho simply stood in a corner, surprisingly silent and without letting out any emotion.

See this picture of Liverpool's Coutinho having a better view of the ball. Up close picture below, please help me caption it...

Suspended FIFA president Sepp Blatter has endorsed former Abia state Governor, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu to succeed him as the next FIFA President, reports claim. Blatter has reportedly faulted the candidature of former Secretary General Jerome Champagne and Prince Alli of Jordan while insisting Nigerian business man Kalu is the right man for the job. While speaking on Swiss Radio in Zurich on Sunday, Blatter said, 'The position of the FIFA president is too important to be left to just anybody.

People have no chill sha. Lol...

Following the sack of Tim Sherwood as Aston Villa boss  who lost six of his last eight games, reports in The Telegraph claim that Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho is next in line. See an excerpt from what they wrote below...

See final scores and fixture for Monday Night football from across the top five European leagues after the cut...