Sport

Nigerian defender Ola Aina is targeting an extended run in the FA Cup competition after his goal secured a place for Hull City in the fourth round at the expense of Blackburn Rovers whom the Tigers beat 1-0 last Saturday.

The win was the Tigers’ second away from the KCOM Stadium in 14 months and Aina is delighted at the feat.

Hull City will face Nottingham Forest in the fourth round of the competition following the draw on Monday.

“It was an exciting feeling (scoring his first goal),” Aina told Hull’s official website. “I’d always wondered when it was going to come and happily it came as the winning goal.

Arsene Wenger has stated that Super Eagles forward Alex Iwobi would be fined if it turns out to be true that he attended a wild drug-fuelled house party the day before Arsenal’s 4-2 shock defeat to Championship club Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup.

According to British tabloid The Sun, Iwobi was videoed screaming and dancing at 2.37am on Saturday in Soho, central London, at the wild bash where partygoers smoked cannabis and inhaled laughing gas.

Reacting to the issue in Tuesday’s press conference ahead of Arsenal’s first-leg Carabao Cup away clash against Chelsea on Wednesday, Wenger said he will have a one-on-one with Iwobi.

“If that is true he will be fined,” Wenger said. “It’s unacceptable.

“I will have to see him and see if that is right or not.”

Heartland team manager, Mobi Oparaku, says that the club is back to take its place among the elites in the Nigeria Professional Football League after securing promotion to the top flight.

The Naze Millionaires were relegated to the Bet9ja Nigeria National League in the 2015/2016 season after finishing in 18th position in the NPFL table.

It was the the first time the Owerri club who are one of the most successful clubs in the history of the NPFL with five titles will be relegated in its 40 years existence.

Arsenal were eliminated in the FA Cup third round for the first time in Arsene Wenger’s reign as they fell to a humiliating 4-2 defeat to Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.

Right-back Eric Lichaj’s first-half brace, either side of Per Mertesacker’s scrambled equaliser, set Forest on course for the upset before Ben Brereton doubled the hosts’ advantage from the penalty spot.

Danny Welbeck gave the visitors hope just before full-time, but Kieron Dowell converted Forest’s second penalty with five minutes left.

Wenger, serving the first of a three-match touchline ban, was forced to watch from the stands as Forest tore through his four-man Arsenal defence from the off. Mertesacker’s last appearance in the FA Cup had seen him snuff out Diego Costa as Arsenal won the Final in May; this time he was being left hopeless by 18-year-old Brereton.

The Home-based Super Eagles will leave for Morocco on Monday, January 8 ahead of their participation at the 2018 African Nations Championship.

Super Eagles Midfielder, Joel Obi, became the first Nigerian player to make 100 Serie A appearances on Saturday while in action for Torino in their 3-0 win over Bologna on Saturday.