The demands of my non-footballing world took its toil on me in the last 7 days but the unique world of soccer continues to fancy even every tom, dick and Harry.

Arsenal Returns to 4th

After the hard fought victory over Wigan in the FA cup semi final at Wembley, the gunners had to climb back to fourth on the Premier League. Everton had usurped the gunners and it seemed that the gunners may not be finishing in their traditional top 4 spot.

A brace from Podolski and a beauty right footed goal by Olivier Giroud saw off Sam Allardye’s Hammers. Westham found the net first but The Arsenal win score three to get maximum three points.

Crystal Palace did Arsene Wenger a great favour as they defied the odds and grabbed maximum points at Goodison Park. Martinez was left devastated as his Everton side lost 3-2 at home to Crystal Palace. Tony Pulis must have hard-wired Palace.

FA-Cup Final Pre Match

The gunners travelled to Hull City on Sunday. The two sides will meet later in Wembley for the final of the FA cup. The gunners were buoyed with the return of Ozil, Koscienly and Ramsey. The latter would open the scoring chart before Podolski continued his goal-scoring form by adding another double to his season tally. 3 goals, 3 points and another clean sheet.

Aaron Ramsey’s Man of the match performance summarized what the gunners have missed. What might have been if he wasn’t injured. Wenger had this to say:

He’s a threat. We looked like we had problems to score goals away from home recently. Him and Ozil give us a cutting edge in the final third that makes us look more dangerous to score.

Mourinho’s Moaning

The Premier League continues to exhibit so many twist and turns. The biggest of which was at Stamford Bridge at the weekend. Jose Mourinho has always basked in the euphoria of not being beaten at home while coaching Chelsea. Earlier in the season, Westbrom were denied a famous victory no thanks to a Ramirez dive that earned the Portuguese talk-active a point.

On Sunday, Eto’s goal seemed to have pointed the game in the Blues direction but an 82nd minute penalty gave Sunderland an expected victory. replays show that it was a dive but they had benefited from such decision against Westbrom and Jose could only itemized 4 points, swiping ironically to the referee and Mike Riley.

“I only have four things to say,” a clearly agitated Mourinho said.

“Congratulations to my players because they gave what they have and what they don’t have. Congratulations to Sunderland because they won.

“Congratulations to Mike Dean because he made a fantastic performance. And congratulations to Mike Riley because what they did during the season was fantastic for the way the championship is going.

“So congratulations to all of them, and I have nothing more to say. I’m sorry.”

I want to congratulate again, but this time it’s Mike Dean. His performance was unbelievable. When referees have an unbelievable performance, it is fair also that, as managers, we give them this, so fantastic performance. He came with one objective: to make a fantastic performance, and he did that

Of a truth, the officiating this season have been questionable but Mourinho’s loss at Stamford bridge was like a trophy won in some footballing circles.

Nigeria Premier League

The Nigeria Premier League continued last weekend with week 7 games.

Akwa United 1:0 Kano Pillars
Abia Warriors 1:0 Sunshine Stars
Crown FC 1:0 Kaduna United
FC Taraba 0:1 Giwa FC
Gombe United 1:1 Dolphins
Heartland 0:0 El-Kanemi Warriors
Lobi Stars 1:0 Nembe City
Sharks 2:0 Nasarawa United
Warri Wolves 1:0 Rangers

Others

Mikel Arteta lost his tooth, David Moyes loses again, and Barcelona finally wins. The Premier League is all of Liverpool’s to lose. They are now 5 points clear with 3 games left. Burnley Returns to the Premier League

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