The international future of Watford star Emmanuel Dennis with the senior national team of Nigeria is looking bleak despite his fine form for newly promoted English Premier League side Watford.

Dennis has been in the international wilderness since after the 0-0 draw against Sierra Leone in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, where he was alleged to have questioned the decision of the coach not to hand him a start in the away game after sitting out the shock 4-4 draw days earlier.

Rohr saw his petulance as bad for team spirit hence decided to leave him out of the squad but his form for newly promoted English Premier League side Watford, where he has scored three goals with three assists in nine games has led to calls for him to be handed a recall.

Speaking in an interview on Elegbete TV monitored by OwnGoalNigeria.com editorial team, Rohr said his omission from the team is same like every other player who is doing well but isn’t in the team at the moment, terming the question as not interesting to him.

‘Dennis is another striker, why not Ademola Lookman, why not Ovie Ejaria, why not Terem Moffi, why not Henry Onyekuru , why not Taiwo Awoniyi. These kind of questions are not really interesting to me”, he said.

The coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr has submitted a list of 4 players from which he will pick his final 28 man list for the 2021 Africa Cup Of Nations in Cameroon.

The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic made the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to shift the tournament to next year with same host. Teams are expected to submit their final squad for the tournament on the 27th of December.

However teams are expected to submit a preliminary list of 40 players and Nigeria have already done that according to Rohr, he also confirmed that the duo of ex England youth international in Ovie Ejaria a and Ademola Lookman made the list.

Both players represented England at several youth levels and even won the 2017 Under-20 World Cup but they have both decided to switch allegiance to Nigeria at senior level with FIFA approving their switch.

In an interview on Elegbete TV, Rohr confirmed that the duo are in his 40 man list for the Africa Cup of Nations, where he has set a target of at least a semi final spot for his team.

Coach of Villarreal Unai Emery says back to fitness Nigeria international winger Samuel Chukwueze hasn’t reached the expected level yet in his career.

The 22 year old recently returned from a long injury lay off and has so far played three games with a goal to his name as he continue to work towards regaining his sharpness.

Emery believes the winger who is a top prospect hasn’t progressed as expected especially in the final third where he is expected to be delivering assists and goals.

Those numbers are still not at the level of the manager’s expectations and in an interview the coach said the injury has taken a bit of the progress he should make but

“Those are positive things we found in the game. For Samu to return after the important injury. In Bilbao it cost him a little more and now he has had more minutes. We are finding Samu’s qualities. “

Former Serie A striker Giampaolo Pazzini says AC Milan are favourites to win the Italian league this season ahead of early season title rivals Napoli due to the presence of experienced strikers in their ranks.

Both teams are tied at the top of the Serie A table on same point after 11 games, but the former AC Milan striker who scored 115 goals during his playing days in the league believe the duo of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Olivier Giroud means AC Milan have the edge.

He said the duo have experience of competing for a league title unlike Napoli who are a team built around Osimhen, who hasn’t been involved in a title scrap in his young career.

“Ibrahimovic and Giroud have more experience than the Napoli strikers,” he told DAZN. “In certain situations, they know how to move and know how to solve the games.

His statement isn’t much different from what coach of the Nigerian team Gernot Rohr said about why he wants to bring back Al Shabab forward Odion Ighalo back to team.

Rohr said even though Osimhen has the talent, Ighalo has the experience needed to push for glory at next year Africa Cup Of Nations and also the business end of the World Cup qualifiers.

With just over a quarter of the Premier League season gone the title race is beginning to take shape as is the relegation battle. There is however the looming spectre of the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) on the horizon that could wreak havoc on a number of Premier League clubs.

As soon as the Boxing Day fixtures are over, African Premier League players representing their countries at the national tournament will jet off to Cameroon to meet up with their international teammates.

Those who make it to the latter stages of the tournament could not return to Premier League action until the second week of February which would see them missing at least 6 games for their clubs. In this article we take a look at the team’s set to suffer most from AFCON absences.

Arsenal

Mikel Arteta has a job on at the Emirates Stadium not only to turn around the club’s fortunes but to convince large swathes of the fan base that he is up to the job. His task will be made harder at the end of December when Thomas Partey, Mohamed Elneny, Pierre Emerick Aubameyang and Nicolas Pepe head off to Cameroon for the AFCON.

888 Sport Expert correct score prediction have repeatedly cited Thomas Partey as key to Arsenal’s success.

With the former Atletico man in Cameroon for potentially the majority of January, the Gunners will have to rely on Albert Sambi Lokonga and Ainsley Maitland-Niles in central midfield with Granit Xhaka side-lined with a medial knee ligament injury.

Regardless of the potential of both of those players, they wouldn’t be manager Mikel Arteta’s preferred midfield two.

https://youtu.be/ked_J27FuaY

(Thomas Partey has just started to hit his groove in North London so his absence in January will be particularly hard felt.)

Chelsea

At the time of writing Chelsea sit atop of the Premier League table after dispatching a beleaguered Norwich City 7-0. One of the most notable moments of that game came when Chelsea ‘keeper Edouard Mendy saved a one-on-one against Milot Rashica and celebrated wildly with his teammates.

That demonstrated the dedication to clean sheets that has seen Chelsea concede the fewest goals in the Premier League this season. The week before in his side’s victory over Brentford Mendy was once again in top form, making a stunning string of saves to help his side to the three points.

Unfortunately for Thomas Tuchel, he will lose his star ‘keeper to the AFCON and be forced to reinstate the less than consistent Kepa Arrizabalaga. The Blues will also be without the services of Hakim Ziyech as he links up with his Moroccan teammates.

Crystal Palace

Patrick Vieira has gotten off to a good start at Selhurst Park but his life will be made a lot harder in January when he is without Cheikhou Kouyate, Jeffrey Schlupp, Jordan Ayew and Wilfried Zaha.

With games against bitter rivals Brighton, high flying West Ham and title challenging Liverpool in January, the start of 2022 could turn into a bit of a nightmare for the Eagles.

(Wilfried Zaha has long being the beating heart of this Palace team, but in January he will be terrorising defenders at the AFCON for the Ivory Coast.)

Leicester City

It has been a less than ideal start to the season for Brendan Rodgers and his men but it appears that the Foxes have started to turn a corner with recent results. Their midweek victory over Spartak Moscow was followed up with an impressive win over Brentford in which Nigerian striker Kelechi Iheanacho was impressive.

He will be absent in January because of the AFCON as will Daniel Amartey, Nampalys Mendy and Wilfred Ndidi. With Europa League fixtures piling up the Foxes will be feeling the strain of a stretched squad in January and February.

Perhaps recruitments will be needed in the winter transfer window to keep Rodger’s Leicester on an upward trajectory.

Liverpool

There is no one on the planet playing better football than Mo Salah at this moment in time, not even Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi. In Liverpool’s 5-0 thrashing of Manchester United the Egyptian was simply sublime, skipping past opponents and finish with ruthless efficiency.

Yet Salah’s form comes with the caveat that he will be absent for January and most likely, the first two weeks of February. Egypt are among the favourites for the AFCON so Salah could be in Cameroon for the long haul.

https://youtu.be/A1wu3MVAnKs

(Mo Salah has been sensational for Liverpool this season and they will be a weaker side without him in January.)

In addition to that Jurgen Klopp will be without Naby Keita who has performed so well in recent weeks and the Sadio Mane, the natural goal scoring replacement for Mo Salah. With the race for the title between Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City proving to be so tight, Liverpool’s AFCON loss could be their rivals gain.

Coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr says it’s not true that his team approach game with the mindset of defending as said by many.

Speaking in an interview on Elegbete TV monitored by OwnGoalNigeria.com, the German coach said his team play a brand of football that involves moving the ball quickly and turning defence into attack.

Rohr said it’s not true that they don’t play an entertaining brand of football as suggested in some quarters as they try as much as they can to play a type of football that is effective and appealing to the fans.

“I would say we play an attacking style of football; Our strength is to have good strikers, good wingers and we try to play to our strength which is quickly transitioning from defense to the attack, having good solidarity on the pitch, playing quality football and having good touches of the ball.

“Our philosophy is to set up like a block, defending together and attacking together and don’t give any space in the midfield; and then our collective football has always been to have the best results on the field of play,” Rohr he concluded while reacting to a question on his team’s style of play.

Coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr has defended his decision to include Odion Ighalo in his squad for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers games against Liberia and Cape Verde respectively.

Rohr hasn’t hidden his desire to have the Al Shabab forward back in his team for the World Cup qualifiers and has held talks with him over rescinding his decision to quit the Nigeria national team.

Ighalo quit the team in 2019 shortly after finishing as top scorer at the Africa Cup Of Nations, a year after he was subjected to several abuses as Nigeria crashe out of the World Cup with a 1-2 loss to Argentina. He missed a chance to put Nigeria up in the game.

The coach in an interview on Elegbete TV was asked the reason why he still want the striker back in the team despite the fact that players like Victor Osimhen, Paul Onuachu, Taiwo Awoniyi, Kelechi Iheanacho and Terem Moffi are doing well for their respective teams in Europe.

“We have so many good strikers, we invited Awoniyi the last time. We had Moffi, we had the other one like you know Onuachu of course and Osimhen is actually number one but we don’t have anyone like Ighalo. Ighalo is different, he is a special player. He sees everything, he feels, he smells the football. I think our team now with his maturity, with his experience he could help us much more”, he explained.

Coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr has confirmed that Al Shabab of Saudi Arabian forward Odion Ighalo is in his provisional list of players for the World Cup qualifiers next month.

Nigeria will first play Liberia at their new home ground in Morocco before returning home to round up the qualifiers with a game against Cape Verde in Lagos.

The Super Eagles currently hold a two point lead over second place Cape Verde but Rohr is leaving no stone unturned in his bid to ensure that the finish the qualifiers on a high, and he has listed Ighalo who quit the team in 2019 among the strikers for the games.

In an interview with Elegbete TV, the German coach confirmed the invitation of the forward saying his leadership will be key for the remaining games but he however sounded unsure about the forward accepting the call, although according to Rohr Ighalo still has the ambition to help the Super Eagles.

“Because we miss his leadership, we miss his experience, we miss the goals he scores, he was the best scorer at the AFCON, the best scorer during the qualifiers and I think we have so many young players and they could learn a lot on the side of such a great player. Ighalo is a very important man. I hope that he can come back”; he said in the interview monitored by OwnGoalNigeria editorial team.

“I put him in the bigger provisional first list for the next games, we are in touch. He is doing very well at his club and he still has the ambition to help his country.