Sports

Chukwuemeka Makes FA Cup Debut, Man City Thrash Chelsea

Premier League champions, Manchester City, powered to a second victory against Chelsea in the space of four days as Riyad Mahrez inspired a 4-0 rout in the FA Cup third round at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday evening.

City made the strongest possible start by dominating the game against a Chelsea side that paraded a side not on full strength.

Pep Guardiola made seven changes from the City side that won 1-0 at Chelsea in the Premier League on Thursday.

But City were still far too dynamic for struggling Chelsea as Algerian forward Mahrez struck with a brilliant free-kick and a late penalty, with Julian Alvarez and Phil Foden also scoring.

In the 23rd minute, Riyad Mahrez scored a fantastic free kick which was his third goal against same opponents this season.

World Cup winner, Julian Alvarez slotted the ball past Kepa Arrizabalaga from the penalty spot in the 30th minute while Phil Foden made any sort of comeback impossible for Chelsea with a 38th minute goal from close range.

Chelsea have won just three of their last 12 games in all competitions and sit 10th in the Premier League, 10 points adrift of the top four place.

For City, they have avoided defeat in their last 16 matches when scoring the opening goal in the FA Cup dating back to 23rd April 2017 against Arsenal (L1-2).

From a Nigerian perspective, Super Eagles-eligible midfielder, Carney Chukwuemeka, made his debut in the competition when he came off the substitute bench in the 70th minute in place of England international Mason Mount.

The former Aston Villa youth prodigy, Chukwuemeka, made one tackle and was fouled once in his 20-minute cameo appearance on Saturday evening.

Mahrez scored the fourth City goal from an 85th penalty.

Izuchukwu Okosi

Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc. In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio. He worked there for 13 years until October 2017. Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch. He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations. Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ). He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line. Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.