Arsenal’s title hopes on line in Chelsea clash…See full details

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(From L, second row) Arsenal's Swiss midfielder Granit Xhaka, Arsenal's Colombian goalkeeper David Ospina, Arsenal's German defender Shkodran Mustafi, Arsenal's French defender Laurent Koscielny, Arsenal's French striker Olivier Giroud, Arsenal's German midfielder Mesut Ozil, Arsenal's English defender Carl Jenkinson, (from L, first row) Arsenal's Chilean striker Alexis Sanchez, Arsenal's English defender Kieran Gibbs, Arsenal's Welsh midfielder Aaron Ramsey and Arsenal's French midfielder Francis Coquelin pose for a photograph prior to the UEFA Champions League Group A football match between PFC Ludogorets and Arsenal, on November 1, 2016 at the Vassil Levski stadium in Sofia.<br />NIKOLAY DOYCHINOV / AFP

Arsenal will look to shrug off recurring doubts about their mental fortitude and the weight of recent history when they visit runaway Premier League leaders Chelsea on Saturday.

Chelsea dropped points for only the second time in 17 matches in Tuesday’s 1-1 draw at Liverpool, but Arsenal could not take advantage as they crashed to a 2-1 home defeat by Watford.

It means the gap between the teams remains nine points and should Arsenal fall to defeat again at Stamford Bridge, it is likely to spell yet another premature end to a title challenge.

“When you play at the top of the league like that, that is the most disappointing,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said in the aftermath of the loss to Watford.

“It’s really worrying the way we turned up in the first half. Of course we want to respond against Chelsea.

“When you lose a game, you want to respond straight away and we have to analyse well what happened and respond straight away on Saturday in a very convincing way.”

The defeat by Watford, who scored twice in the opening 13 minutes, was Arsenal’s fourth of the campaign and curbed a resurgence that had seen them take 13 points from a possible 15.

Arsenal’s season is slipping into familiar territory and if they are to avoid yet another campaign boiling down to the race for Champions League qualification, beating Chelsea would be a good place to start.

They have already beaten Antonio Conte’s men once this season, but it was to prove the catalyst for a surge to the top of the table for the vanquished, rather than the victorious.

It was in the 55th minute of Chelsea’s 3-0 defeat at the Emirates Stadium on September 24 that Conte switched to the 3-4-3 system that revitalised his side’s season.

The win left Arsenal third, five places above their London rivals, and came amid a run of six straight wins that would culminate in Wenger’s men drawing level on points with leaders Manchester City.

Four months on, however, Arsenal find themselves back in third, with Chelsea threatening to disappear over the horizon as they go in search of an 11th consecutive win in front of their own fans.

– Arsenal’s midfield hole –
Arsenal’s supporters, many of whom took to social media to vent their frustrations after the loss to Watford, will not travel to the Bridge with quite the same spring in their step.

They have not seen their team win there since 2011, Arsenal having lost on each of their last four visits, including a humiliating 6-0 loss on the occasion of Wenger’s 1,000th game in March 2014.

Wenger will be absent from the dug-out on Saturday as he serves the third match of a four-game touchline ban for manhandling fourth official Anthony Taylor during the 2-1 win over Burnley.

Further complicating matters for the Frenchman is a raft of missing midfielders, Aaron Ramsey having joined the list of absentees after sustaining a calf strain against Watford.

Granit Xhaka is banned, Santi Cazorla remains injured, Mohamed Elneny is preparing for the Africa Cup of Nations final with Egypt in Gabon and Jack Wilshere is still on loan at Bournemouth.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who replaced Ramsey against Watford, is likely to partner Francis Coquelin in the holding roles.

Chelsea are a man lighter after Branislav Ivanovic departed for Zenit Saint Petersburg on Wednesday, but Conte again has a fully fit squad to choose from.

His only dilemma concerns whether to persevere with Willian on the right of his attacking trio or recall Pedro, who started on the bench at Liverpool.

Conte has urged his side to focus only on their own performances and centre-back Gary Cahill knows victory on Saturday would represent a big step towards the title.

“We keep going because we want to win the league,” he said.

“It’s as simple as that. This is a very big week for us.”

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Djokovic, Kyrgios in lead roles at star-stripped Davis Cup…See full details

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Novak Djokovic / AFP PHOTO / JOHANNES EISELE

Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios hope the Davis Cup heals the wounds of their painful Australian Open exits this weekend when they will be the only two men in the top 15 taking part.

World number one Andy Murray has opted out of Britain’s trans-Atlantic trip to Ottawa where Canada will be without fourth-ranked Milos Raonic for the World Group opener.

Meanwhile, Australian Open champion Roger Federer and world number three Stan Wawrinka miss Switzerland’s tie in the United States.

Rafael Nadal, the runner-up to Federer in Melbourne, will sit out Spain’s match in Croatia, who will be missing Marin Cilic, while Japan and France meet in Tokyo with Kei Nishikori, Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on the sidelines.

Tomas Berdych is out of the Czech Republic team to face Australia in Melbourne while David Goffin skips Belgium’s short hop to Germany.

Just as worryingly for the 117-year-old tournament is Juan Martin del Potro sitting out defending champions Argentina’s home tie against Italy.

Despite seeing all of his Grand Slam rivals take a breather, world number two Djokovic — stunned in the second round in Melbourne by unheralded Denis Istomin for his earliest exit at a major in nine years — is relishing leading 2010 champions Serbia against Russia in Nis.

“I am overjoyed to be back amongst these guys as we are all close friends and it’s a very special atmosphere every time we get together,” 29-year-old Djokovic told daviscup.com.

“But Russia are a young team and we can’t underestimate them.”

Russia, who won the last of their two titles in 2006, will be led by world number 52 Karen Khachnov.

A win for Serbia will set-up a quarter-final against either five-time winners Spain or 2005 champions Croatia who meet in Osijek.

In the absence of Nadal, Spain will be led by 16th-ranked Roberto Bautista Agut and Pablo Carreno Busta, the world 26.

Croatia, however, have to rely on Franko Skugor and Nikola Mektic, ranked at 223 and 319 respectively, neither of whom have ever won a Davis Cup singles tie.

– Reputation to repair –
At Kooyong in Melbourne, number 15 Kyrgios will try to restore his battered reputation after being accused of tanking in his five-set, second round loss to Andreas Seppi at the Australian Open.

Australia, the 28-time champions, face a Czech side led by world number 54 Jiri Vesely in the absence of world number 12 Berdych.

“I’ve got to improve a lot of things in my game, I’ve got to work harder,” said 21-year-old Kyrgios.

For Great Britain, Murray dropped out the Canada tie after his shock fourth-round defeat to Mischa Zverev at the Australian Open. World number three Raonic is missing after injuring his groin in his quarter-final loss to Nadal.

With top 50 players Dan Evans and Kyle Edmund, Britain will be favourites as Canada’s top singles player is Peter Polanksy, ranked at 128.

The winners of that tie will face either Japan or nine-time champions France in the quarter-finals.

Japan are missing fifth-ranked Nishikori, who was bothered by a hip injury in his defeat to Federer in Australia.

In his absence, Yoshihito Nishioka, ranked 85, leads the Japanese challenge against a French squad who can still boast Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon, both inside the top 25.

Without Federer and Wawrinka, Switzerland will look to Henri Laaksonen and 35-year-old Marco Chiudinelli, both outside the top 100, to shock their American hosts led by Jack Sock, John Isner and Sam Querrey, all in the top 30.

Top seeds Argentina are without Del Potro and Federico Delbonis, the men who won the reverse singles to beat Croatia in the 2016 final, when they start their title defence on clay in Buenos Aires against Italy.

The winners will face either Germany or Belgium who meet in Frankfurt.

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Yung6ix prevents area boys from lynching his cleaner who stole his properties (see photo)

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Rapper, Yung6ix shared a video (which he has deleted) of his cleaner whom he saved from being lynched by area boys who caught him stealing his properties.

According to Yung6ix, he went for a gig over the weekend, by the time he returned home, his cleaner had stolen some of his properties including over a million naira.

The area boys who caught him almost lynched him but he intervened and handed him over to the authorities. Read what he wrote after the cut…

“Apparently before I got back from my gig over the weekend my cleaner took off with some of my properties including cash of a million plus. Area boys who where aware caught him and was beating him before I intervened and handed him over to Police after he agreed to take us to his accomplice to recover the money and other valuables. Sad shiii people do to those tryna help them.”

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Payet leads stars who forced transfer showdown…See full details

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Olympique de Marseille's French forward Dimitri Payet celebrates at the end of the French Cup football match between Marseille and Lyon, on January 31, 2017 at the Velodrome stadium in Marseille, southern France. / AFP PHOTO / ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT

Dimitri Payet and Leonardo Ulloa led industrial action by European stars to force a transfer and top clubs may have no choice but to grin and bear the battle.

French international Payet refused to play for West Ham in order to get a 30 million euros ($32 million) move to Olympique Marseille.

The 29-year-old hero of France’s Euro 2016 campaign showed little regret over reports that he had to give back £500,000 (580,000 euros/$625,000) in wages for the January games missed before West Ham finally let him go.

Ulloa branded the strike threat after demanding that English champions Leicester City’s manager Claudio Ranieri let him leave.

“I feel betrayed by Ranieri and let down by the club. I will not play again for them,” he said on Twitter ahead of the final day of football’s horse-trading. Ulloa has struggled to get a first team place this season.

With the stakes so high, other players also decided on a go-slow to pressure their clubs. Julian Draxler dragged his feet at German side Wolfsburg after one transfer request was rejected last year until he signed for Paris Saint Germain on January 1.

– No respect –
And they are not the first. Since George Eastham went on strike in 1959 at Newcastle United over a rejected transfer to Arsenal, it is a tactic that has been regularly used.

“You cannot compel a player to play for you. You cannot get an injunction to force your player onto the team bus,” said Chris Lynn, a labour and employment lawyer at Squire Patton Bloggs in London.

But he said even a fine would not make much difference “considering the modern football salary.”

Lynn said football clubs are at a major disadvantage compared to ordinary companies.

“Usually, an employer can simply dismiss an employee who is refusing to carry out their duties or the inherent threat of such a dismissal will prevent an employee refusing in the first place.”

“It is not so simple for a football club” as players are clubs’ most valuable assets as they seek playing success and build up commercial revenue through image rights, shirt sales and potential transfer fees.

West Ham could not dismiss Payet for refusing to play because it would then not be able to sell him, the lawyer said.

“The club’s equivalent of recruitment costs will also be rather more painful than the ‘normal’ employer given they will likely need to buy a replacement for a potentially large transfer fee.”

“The easy route is to simply accept the player’s position and sell him, but then the club sets a precedent for the future which it is unlikely to want. Any player who wishes to move will simply go on ‘strike’ as per Payet, knowing the club will likely avoid the fight and simply cash in.”

West Ham co-chairman David Gold slammed his former French player, saying “Payet did not show the same commitment and respect to West Ham United that the club and fans showed him.”

“With a number of top Premier League players holding clubs to ransom is it time to close the January transfer window?” Gold said in a recent Twitter comment as the showdown with Payet mounted.

Yet despite West Ham’s protests, club manager Slaven Bilic has also acknowledged that insisting they did not want to sell Payet was part of their campaign to get a higher price.

Bilic and co-owner David Sullivan vowed throughout January that they would not sell Payet for any price.

But Bilic acknowledged: “That was part of the the tactics. It was obvious from the day I announced it openly that he would go and we wanted the best price possible, of course.

“I want to thank him for everything he did for us – he was brilliant last year. We were brilliant for him also. Now that story’s finished I wish him luck and all the best in Marseille.”

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