METUH MACDONALD BLOG (MMB)

Midfielder, Cesc Fabregas has reacted to the sack of Antonio Conte by Chelsea on Thursday. Fabregas played under Conte and won the Premier League and FA Cup with the head coach in the last two years Febregas shocked many when he appeared to like a post celebrating Conte’s sack earlier on Thursday, but quickly apologized, insisting it was accidental, before then deleting the tweet. The Spaniard, who had earlier blamed Conte for his exclusion from Spain’s team to the World Cup in Russia, has now issued an official farewell to the Italian. He tweeted, “Thank you Mister for another Premier League title and FA Cup. “It wasn’t easy for me to convince you in the beginning but in the end I hope I did you proud! Good luck for the future.”

Following his recent appointment, Unai Emery has reportedly penned down names of some of the players he wants to bring to Arsenal. Arsenal manager, Unai Emery has reportedly revealed three signings he want to make after succeeding Arsene Wenger. Arsenal confirmed Emery as their manager this morning with statements from the Spaniard, Stan Kroenke and Ivan Gazidis. The 46-year-old takes over from Wenger knowing the Gunners squad is in dire need of an overhaul following two turbulent Premier League campaigns. And the Mirror say Emery has handed Arsenal a three-man wishlist as he aims to steer them to the title at the first time of asking. Top of his list is Bayer Leverkusen star Bernd Leno. Arsenal have recently dismissed talk of a Petr Cech exit by giving the veteran the No 1 shirt. However, despite that, Emery wants Leno, who could leave with just two years left on his current deal. Borussia Dortmund ace Sokratis Papastathopoulos is also on his radar. With Shkodran Mu...

On the day tennis champion, Serena Williams married Reddit co-founder, Alexis Ohanian, she walked down the aisle alone though her father is alive and they have a cordial relationship. She has now explained why that was the case. The mother-of-one said that just one hour before her wedding on 16 November 2017, she received a text from her father, Richard Williams, saying he couldn't do it. In her new HBO documentary called Being Serena, the tennis superstar said her father and former longtime coach told her in the message that he didn't feel comfortable giving her away. Serena explains in the documentary: "He was in New Orleans, he had a suit, and I know he was really excited. "But then he wrote me and said, 'Serena, I don't want you to be mad at me, but I just can't walk you down the aisle. I'm not myself anymore. I'm just too nervous.'" But Serena wasn't angry with her dad and didn't panic, instead, she remain...

AFP The last trident get ready to knock down Real Madrid Liverpool are coming, but first there is a training camp in Marbella. There are 10 days left for Real Madrid to wait before seeing the faces of Klopp's men, but on Wednesday, the English team arrive in Spain to start four days of work. Therefore, Liverpool can already devote one hundred percent of their thoughts to the final of the Champions League. A change to their usual Melwood facilities was thought to be of benefit, given they had also taken advantage of another small break in fixtures back in February when they went 10 days without playing, and they arrive after securing qualification to the Champions League next year. The only concern for Klopp in the coming days will be to have as many of his injured players back as possible. There are several confirmed losses ahead of the final. Joe Gomez and Matip are completely discarded until the next preseason, as is Oxlade-Chamberlain, who will not return unti...

© SilverHub Arsenal are reportedly hoping to speed up the appointment of Mikel Arteta as Arsene Wenger's successor due to seeing a number of other candidates drop out of the running. The Gunners are understood to have interviewed all of their main targets to replace the long-serving Frenchman, who will step down after 22 years at the helm this summer. Arsenal have reportedly whittled their search down to two targets - Arteta and Julian Nagelsmann - but Hoffenheim have since rejected the possibility of the latter leaving the club. Massimiliano Allegri has also ruled himself out of the running, while Germany boss Joachim Low has signed a new contract which will keep him in charge of the national team until 2022. Patrick Vieira is understood to have viewed his approach as a 'token gesture', and The Telegraph  reports that Arsenal are now planning to accelerate Arteta's appointment after the Spaniard was left as their only serious candidate. The Gunners had ...

Super Eagles of Nigeria have qualified for the semi final of the CHAN tournament in Morocco. After going behind in the 55th minute, the Eagles rallied to overpower the Angolan side 2-1 to extend their stay in Morocco. A defensive miscalculation helped Angola take the lead after what was supposed to be a clearance deflected off an Angolan player and bounced into an unguarded goal. Seeing that it was now or never, the Eagles threw everything they had at their opponent and got the breakthrough in the 91st- Anthony Okpotu brilliantly beating his marker to make it all square. Substitute Gabriel Okechukwu who had earlier missed a clear chance made up for it with a fine solo effort, dribbling past three defenders before putting the ball beyond the goalkeeper. Nigeria will now play Sudan in the semi-final.

Table fbl | FRA | Ligue1  Paris, France | AFP | Sunday 9/17/2017 – 23:00 UTC+2 | 179 words  French Ligue 1 table after Sunday’s late match (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points):  Paris SG 6 6 0 0 21 3 18  Monaco 6 5 0 1 17 8 15  Saint-Etienne 6 4 1 1 7 4 13  Bordeaux 6 3 3 0 10 6 12  Lyon 6 3 2 1 11 7 11  Marseille 6 3 1 2 9 10 10  Nantes 6 3 1 2 3 4 10  Nice 6 3 0 3 8 6 9  Caen 6 3 0 3 5 4 9  Guingamp 6 3 0 3 7 8 9  Angers 6 1 4 1 7 6 7  Montpellier 6 2 1 3 4 5 7  Toulouse 6 2 1 3 8 12 7  Amiens 6 2 0 4 4 9 6  Rennes 6 1 2 3 9 10 5  Troyes 6 1 2 3 4 6 5  Lille 6 1 2 3 4 7 5  Dijon 6 1 1 4 6 13 4  Strasbourg 6 1 1 4 4 11 4  Metz 6 1 0 5 3 12 3

CAF Champions League quarter-final, first leg results this weekend:  At Alexandrie, Egypt  Al Ahly Tripoli (LBA) 0 Etoile Sahel (TUN) 0  Note: match moved from Libya for security reasons  At Pretoria  Mamelodi Sundowns (RSA, holders) 1 (Zakri 71) Wydad Casablanca (MAR) 0  At Alexandria  Al Ahly (EGY) 2 (Samir 11-pen, Azarou 67) Esperance (TUN) 2 (Khenissi 21, Chaalali 48)  At Beira, Mozambique  Ferroviario Beira (MOZ) 1 (Kanda 89) USM Alger (ALG) 1 (Darfalou 63   Second legs: Sept 23-24

Romelu Lukaku showed little room for sentiment on Sunday scoring one and creating another as Manchester United ran out ultimately comfortable 4-0 winners over his former club Everton to ruin Wayne Rooney’s Old Trafford return.  Manchester United’s Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku takes his penalty which was saved by Leicester City’s Danish goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel during the English Premier League football match between Manchester United and Leicester City at Old Trafford in Manchester, north west England, on August 26, 2017. / AFP PHOTO Right-back Antonio Valencia gave United an early lead with a spectacular half-volley before late goals from midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan — set up by Lukaku just before he got on the scoresheet himself — and an Anthony Martial penalty sealed the win. With United’s rivals Manchester City having clinched a dominant 6-0 victory over Watford 24 hours earlier there was an expectation from United fans for Jose Mourinho’s side to keep pace with the...

Manchester City and Manchester United sit atop the table with exactly the same statistics but the former ahead by dint of C coming before U in the alphabet. Manchester United players celebrate a goal City demolished Watford 6-0 on Saturday and United tore apart Everton in the final 10 minutes of their encounter to prevail 4-0 on Sunday. Champions Chelsea are three points adrift of the duo after they were held 0-0 at home by Arsenal for whom it was the first time in six visits they even garnered a point. Pochettino can’t solve Wembley woes Having dispatched Borussia Dortmund with a swaggering display in the Champions League on Wednesday, it seemed Tottenham had finally vanished their Wembley curse. Mauricio Pochettino’s side had struggled badly at the national stadium, which is their home while White Hart Lane is rebuilt, but the victory over Dortmund was expected to trigger a resumption of the home form that saw them win 17 of 19 league games last term. Swansea had other ideas howev...

SPORTS Chelsea midfielder, Tiemoue Bakayoko said beating Tottenham at Wembly is a motivation for the Blues to do the same as they face Arsenal today in another English Premier League. The Frenchman is in his debut season in English football, but he is well versed in the various rivalries that come with playing for a London club and the heightened importance supporters place on certain fixtures, especially when facing a neighbour who also has ambitions of lifting silverware this season. Given that his first competitive appearance for Chelsea came in a London derby victory, when they  beat Tottenham 2-1 at Wembley last month, Bakayoko is not daunted by the prospect of taking on the Gunners this weekend. ‘I think that actually in terms of rivalries that Chelsea have, the one with Tottenham is perhaps even bigger than Arsenal,’ said the 23-year-old. ‘Having already played that match, being able to win that match, being able to bring so much happiness to our fans was really a wonder...