Odion Ighalo hopeful of doing the double over Liverpool

Nigeria and Watford top marksman Odion Ighalo is being optimistic of his team doing a double over Liverpool when both teams meet at the Merseyside on Sunday in the English Premier League.

Ighalo was on target scoring two of the goals in a 3-nil win over the Reds at the Vicarage Road in the first leg encounter in December with Chelsea's loanee Nathan Ake the other scorer.

Liverpool has been in imperious form lately, and just on Thursday defeated Spanish team Villareal 3-0 (3-1 on aggregate) to confirmed their place in the Europa League final in Basel - their first European final since 2007.

But the former Udinese and Granada striker says he is aware of the expectations for the game. Speaking to the club's website, he said:

“It’s going to be a tough game. When we played them last time they had a new coach, they weren’t doing well, but now they are a better team.

“The whole team fought from the first minute for each other, we chased down every ball, we didn’t give them time to play.

“We have to fight the same way, probably even more than we did in the last game. It’s possible for us to win there, but we have to be determined and work hard to get the result,” he continued.



The 26-year old has been on a goal drought for a while, he has scored only 3 goals since the turn of the year and 14 goals overall in the Premier League this season with most of them coming in the first half of the season.

The Premier League Player of the month for December has remained positive and he is hopeful of ending the campaign with more goals.

“I’m really proud of what I’ve achieved,” he continued. “I’m happy, but I need to end the season on a good note. I’m still fighting and working hard every day.

“I know the goals will come though, and the most important thing is that the team is winning.

“We have got to the 40-point mark, which was our main target, and everything that we get now is a bonus. We want to keep winning and see how high we can finish,” he concluded.

The Super Eagles striker scoring abilities have also earned him a place in Nigeria’s squad for the friendlies against Luxemburg and Mali later this month.

LEICESTER CITY'S TITLE TRIUMPH-- A complete transformation!

On 2nd May, 2015, Leicester City F.C. fans were celebrating a 3-nil win over Newcastle, which pushed them further away from the drop to the second division as their relegation battle began to seem realistic but none could have imagined that exactly a year later, they would be celebrating the EPL title.

If the Pre-Season Friendlies in 2014 had raised hopes in some quarters that they wouldn't battle relegation in the new season, after going unbeaten in 7 matches, a run that saw them come out tops against Everton which they had not won in 5 encounters dating back to Feb 10, 2001. Winning 6 out of 7, one of which was a 6-1 thumping of Likeston in preparation for a celebration laden season with the then Leicester coach, Nigel Pearson stating he was happy with the team performance. None would have dared to hope more that at the end of the 2015/16 season, they would still be in the top tier.

They had not only remained in the top tier but also did that in magnificent style; winning the league with 2 matches left after Chelsea held Tottenham to a 2-2 draw in a match Spurs which had gone 2-0 ahead in. With pictures later surfacing online showing Leicester players watching the match with rapt attention in the home of striker Jamie Vardy to watch the Tottenham match, evidently, tensions were on the higher end all over England as all sought to see if the day would be the one inwhich the unlikeliest of teams would win the EPL title.

Leicester coach, Claudio Ranieri has at several points in the season played down their title hopes, content instead to take a match at a time, secure qualification for Europe before daring to dream of the prestigious title. Perhaps that has been the key to the final triumph, with the experienced coach bringing stability to the team and ensuring players do not go overboard or ahead of themselves as the title run drew nearer to completion. A wise approach by the coach considering any further slip ups toward the tail end of the season would have only driven 2nd placed Spurs towards fighting more for the title.

Now, there are no more deliberations or speculations, no more mathematics and stated statistics as to why Leicester would or would not win the league... Only a celebration of the obvious and a widespread belief that anything is possible. Although it has looked to be inevitable over the last few weeks with Tottenham dropping points, several pundits and former players still see it as unbelievable. Former Leicester, Everton and England striker Gary Lineker describing the hometown team's achievement as "the biggest sporting shock of his lifetime".

To cap the complete turn around that the team experienced in less than a year, 29 year-old club top scorer, Jamie Vardy said, "It's an unbelievable feeling. I've never known anything like it. We were scrapping to stay in the league last season and on Saturday we'll be lifting the trophy... It's the biggest achievement in the history of a great club and we all feel privileged to be part of it".

From relegation battlers to EPL winners, it is truly a tale of a complete transformation!

Written by: Bravedave Abisoye Osifeko (@bravedave01)

Is it Nico Rosberg season in Formula One

German and Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg won the Russian Grand Prix in Socchi over the weekend, and thereby became the first man to win the first 4 races of the season since Michael Schumacher did it in 2004.

The 30-year Rosberg started in the pole position since he clocked the fastest time in the Test practice 1 and 2, and led every lap of the race afterwards.

Nico's victory at Socchi is his seventh consecutive win dating back to last October at the Mexican Grand Prix, the race after Hamilton had clinched his third world title. Only three other drivers in F1 history have achieved that feat - Alberto Ascari, Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel - and all went on to win the championship that year.

Defending champion and team-mate Lewis Halmiton came second in the race with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen coming third to stand on the podium alongside the Mercedes duo.

Rosberg said: "I am well aware Lewis is going to bounce back when he has a clean weekend and it will be the usual tough battle against him."

"Sport is all about ups and downs. I just need to mentally prepare.""The other people did not have Lewis Hamilton as their team-mate.

"Yes, I have a good points lead but there are 425 points to go and I have only a 43-point lead. It is completely not worth talking about.

"Lewis is driving as strong as ever. For sure he will bounce back massively. He doesn't have an issue with fighting back either with his head.

"I am sure we will see a lot more of the battle between us and it is always going to be a tough battle."

As it stands Rosberg is leading the championship by 43 points over Lewis Hamilton with 17 races left in the season and next will be the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona in mid-May.