Sports

FA Cup: Chelsea Avoids Plymouth Upset, Man City Runs Fulham Ragged

A resolute Chelsea Saturday evening avoided the ignominy of an FA Cup ouster as they rallied from a goal down to win 2-1 against League One side Plymouth.

Macaulay Gillesphey had opened the scoring in the fourth round clash.

Cesar Azpilicueta produced a delightful flick to get Chelsea back on level terms with four minutes of the first half to go but could not find the winner in regulation time.

Marcos Alonso eventually moved the eight-time winners into the lead at the halfway point of extra-time before Ryan Hardie missed an 118th -minute penalty that could have kept the Pilgrims’ cupset push going.

Manchester City overcame an early wobble as Riyad Mahrez struck twice to help them ease past second-tier Fulham 4-1 in the FA Cup fourth round at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

A frenetic opening saw the Championship side grab a surprise lead through Fabio Carvalho in the fourth minute before Ilkay Gundogan levelled for the Premier League leaders, firing home from close range after being played in by Mahrez.

Fulham’s early spark was completely extinguished 13 minutes in when centre back John Stones rose highest to turn in a Kevin De Bruyne corner for his second goal of the season.

A full-strength City ran Fulham ragged after the break as they created chances at will and secured the win through a quick-fire double from Mahrez, the first coming from the penalty spot in the 53rd minute after a foul on Jack Grealish.

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.