The continual absence of Kelechi Iheanacho from Manchester City matchday squad has generated lot of talks in the media in Nigeria and the world at large.

Iheanacho was for the third premier league game missing from the match day squad of the Etihad outfit when they left secured a late 2-1 win over Swansea City.

Gabriel Jesus scored both goals for Manchester City, and it has been widely speculated that the January signing is the reason why the Nigerian is now in the cooler at the Etihad.

However Fernandinho believes the team needed a lift following a string of results, which forced the manager to ring changes and Jesus has taken his chance with both hands.

” A new signing always lift the mood of the other players, especially a talented one like Gabriel Jesus. He came at a time when the manager was searching for solutions and he took his chance”, Fernandinho said.

” He is doing very well at the moment, not for himself but also for the team, we are all happy for him even those who are out of the team are backing him. We are united as one for the good of the team.”

Fans of Leicester City who are disappointed in their team 0-3 loss to Manchester United have singled out goalkepper Kasper Schmeichel and Wilfred Ndidi as two players who did very well in the loss.

Summer signing Ndidi bossed the midfield but his efforts and that of goalkepper Scheimechel was rendered useless by some dire defending, which gave Man United all three goals.

The fans of the team took to social media during and after the game to post their disappointments in their players bar Ndidi and Schmeichel.

See post below.

Ahead of their September World Cup 2018 qualifiers against Nigeria Cameroon defender Ambrose Oyongo says they will approach the back to back games with the mentality of champions of Africa.

Cameroon will face group leaders Nigeria in back to back World Cup Qualifiers, with Nigeria four points ahead of them in the race to be in Russia following two straight victories while Cameroon have drawn their opening two games.

However Oyongo believes there’s a change of mentality in the squad, which will make them approach their remaining World Cup Qualifiers game as the number one team in Africa after winning the Cup of Nations.

” We have to allow the joy of lifting this trophy sink in quickly, because there is the big issue of qualifying for Russia 2018. As African champions we deserve to be there”, he said.

” The Confederations Cup in Russia will help us perfect our strategy before the game against Nigeria. We will be up against some of the best team in the World. We are champions of Africa we are not scared of Nigeria”.

Coach of the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon Hugo Broos says his team have put themselves in the best possible shape to beat Nigeria when the World Cup 2018 qualifiers resume.

A delighted Brooks told the Cameroonian media shortly after lifting the Africa Cup of Nations title, that there focus will shift to the World Cup 2018 qualifiers tie against Nigeria.

Nigeria are currently leading their group with Cameroon sitting four points behind in second place, but Brooks believes it will be a different ball game when they take on Nigeria in back to back World Cup Qualifiers in September.

” You have to allow us enjoy the joy of this remarkable victory before focusing on other task ahead. We won the trophy in style beating teams like Senegal, Ghana and Egypt in the final”, he said.

” Considering the pedigree of the teams I mentioned earlier are either better or same as Nigeria, it’s normal that if we can beat them in a tense situation like at the Cup of nations, we should also be confident against Nigeria”.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has replied fans of the club who are keen on knowing why Nigerian forward Kelechi Iheanacho is no longer in the team.

Iheanacho has not been listed in the last three matchday squad of the club, and he appears to have lost his spot since the signing of Brazilian forward Gabriel Jesus.

The Brazilian scored both goals against Swansea City, his third goals in as many games. A form that has also kept star forward Sergio Aguero on the bench.

Shortly after the Swansea City game Guardiola spoke on the difficulties of leaving some players out of the team including Kelechi Iheanacho.

“It has not been easy for Sergio, but there are five guys in this position and he remains one of the most important players in our squad.

“He’s going to play with and without Gabriel, but today I decided to stick with the three guys up front because they played so well against Palace and West Ham

“His reaction to not starting today was perfect. Don’t worry about that. It is difficult to leave players like Bravo, Fernando, Otamendi and Kelechi out because they all deserve to play.”

Fit again former Flying Eagles forward Suleiman Abdullahi scored his first goal for German side Eintracht Braunschweig, but ended up on the losing side as they fell 1-2 to St. Pauli.

Abdullahi joined Eintracht Braunschweig in the summer from Norwegian side Viking and started off on a high with goals for the team in their pre season games.

However he picked up ligament damage in their last pre season game, which required surgery and ruled him out of almost all their games in the first stanza of the Bundesliga 2.

He has been slowly eased into action, making substitutes appearances before finally getting off the mark against St. Pauli in today’s game.

Daddy like he is fondly called by friends and admirers in Kaduna state, Nigeria came on in the 59th minute for Dominik Kumbela with his team 2-0 down at home, and he scored what ended up as a late consolation on the stroke of full time.

Michael Folorunsho says he is keen to cement his place in the first team of Serie A side Lazio after his first team experience in the Coppa Italia tie against Inter- Milan at the San Siro.

Folorunsho has been one of the star performers for the Primavera side of the Rome based club, and was named on the bench of the first team in their 2-1 Coppa Italia win over Inter, although he didn’t get to play.

” Since I was little, my dream has always been to play for the first team, and to go and sit on the bench in a stadium like the San Siro in a quater-final tie against a like Inter-Milan leaves me with lot of emotions”, Folorunsho told the official website of Lazio.

” Inzaghi didn’t tell me anything in particular, he asked me to join the first team and I was ready for the step up. He knows me very well from my day at the youth team where he was my coach.

” For me and Allesandro Rossi to be called up to the first team shows we have to work hard with the Primavera team, to have more chances with the main team.”

Manchester City rave of the moment Gabriel Jesus got both goals for Manchester City to hand them a 2-1 win over Swansea City, further cementing his reputation in the heart of City fans.

However respected football writer Chris Winterburn who writes for Spanish newspaper Marca, and covers Manchester United for Metro Sport says there was nothing special in his brace.

Winterburn went as far as saying the praises he is getting for his goals were not as loud as the ones given to Kelechi Iheanacho when he was scoring similar kind of goals.

” Really like Gabriel Jesus but seems odd to me that Kelechi Iheanacho is rarely given the credit for doing exact same thing as today’s goal scored by Gabriel Jesus”, he posted on twitter.

KAS Eupen Nigerian forward Henry Onyekuru has revealed that an agreement has been reached for him to join the club of his choice in the summer.

Onyekuru who went on strike to push a move to Celtic during the January transfer window returned back to the team during the week, and played a part in yesterday’s game against Waasland Beveren.

The forward who has 10 goals for Eupen this season revealed shortly after the game which his team lost 0-2, that an agreement has been reached for his transfer in the summer to the club of his choice.

“It wasn’t easy while it lasted but I thank God it’s been resolved.

“An agreement was reached with Eupen that I will be allowed to move in the summer to my club of choice. For now, I remain with Eupen until the end of the season,” he said.