Nigeria Content Online

Milan
are top of the Serie A despite boasting one of the oldest squads in
Italy and they will do all today to remain at the summit. They face
neighbours and rivals, Inter at the San Siro but will be without the
injured veteran striker, Fillipo Inzaghi.

Tests carried out on
Thursday showed Pippo Inzaghi will not just miss this weekend’s derby
but also Milan’s game against Fiorentina. The initial prognosis is worse
than first thought as latest reports also claim Inzaghi’s season could
even be at risk – owing to the fact that the injury has affected his
meniscus and the ligaments around his knee.

Though the San Siro
is home to both teams, Inter will boast more fans in the stadium today
as this is a home tie for the Nerrazurri. Inter have gone on a backward
slide in the last three weeks with three draws from matches where they
had the lion share of possession and new coach, Rafael Benitez must be
feeling the shadow of Jose Mourinho more and more.

Last season,
erstwhile coach, Mourinho blew away the Rossoneri on the two occasions
they met in the league without conceding any goal.

Sneidjer promises a win

Inter midfielder
Wesley Sneidjer has told his teammates to forget their former coach,
Mourinho and concentrate on doing well with new tactician, Rafael
Benitez.

“Mourinho is in the
past,” Sneijder wrote on his Twitter account. “We must think about the
present and no longer in the past. We will get over these moments of
fatigue, and I will be at my best soon. This rest has helped me to relax
and reflect.

“We might be in some
trouble, but there are explanations for this. We come from a fantastic
season that will be difficult to forget. The real fans will never jeer
their own players, especially when they are going through a tough
period.

“I don’t want to
lose the derby because it was my debut match last season. I will never
forget it. I am getting better and need help from the fans and Benitez.

He is a great coach just like Mourinho,” he concluded.

Inter players,
Esteban Cambiasso, Julio Cesar, Maicon, MacDonald Mariga, Thiago Motta
and Sulley Muntari were put through individual sessions on Friday
morning to check on their fitness ahead of Sunday’s derby. They were
joined by Lucio and Dejan Stankovic, who did light training. All eight
players were supervised by rehabilitation coaches Eduardo Parra and
Stefano Rapetti, and physiotherapists Marco Dellacasa, Alberto Galbiati
and Luigi Sessolo.

The stakes are high
in this derby with Inter keen to return to the summit of the league,
despite notable absentees. Walter Samuel is supposed to be out until
February and Maicon will need more time to recover from a back injury.

This will also be
the first time that former Nerrazurri striker, Zlatan Ibrahimovich will
be playing against his former colleagues.

Derby origin

This rivalry started
in 1908 as a group of AC Milan players broke off to form their own
club, Inter Milan. In another parallel, Inter became associated with the
city’s middle classes while AC continued to identify themselves with
workers and migrants. Although these associations no longer exist within
the clubs – AC Milan is now owned by Italy’s Prime Minister – the
rivalry between the two sets of fans is as fierce as ever, and
culminated in a game in 2005 which saw Inter fined 200,000 euro and
ordered to play their Champions’ League games behind closed doors after
fans threw flares onto the pitch, one of which hit Milan goalkeeper
Dida, forcing him out of the game, which was soon abandoned.

Arsenal will hope for last season’s result

Historically,
Everton have normally had the upper hand on the Gunners at Goodison
Park. Everton coach, David Moyes will be hoping to add a fourth home win
to the four defeats and two draws he has witnessed against this
afternoon’s visitors during his tenure.

There was a rude
shock for Everton in the first match of the 2009/10 season when Arsenal
destroyed history by giving them a 6-1 bashing. The Blues of Everton
recovered a bit of pride in the return leg when they got a creditable
2-2 draw. They were leading 2-1 with a Steven Pienaar break-away goal
till the dying minutes of that encounter but in the second minute of
stoppage-time Tomas Rosicky curled home the equaliser to salvage a point
for the home side.

Everton are
undefeated in five consecutive games and Moyes has just been named as
Manager of the month for October. This will be the incentive to keep
their good home record that has seen them draw 3-3 with Manchester
United even though they were losing the match 1-3 in the 90th minute.

Marouane Chamakh
scored two goals against Wolves, on the day that acclaimed forward,
Robin Van Persie returned to action. That has already generated a debate
about how Arsene Wenger will accommodate both players in his starting
line-up.

The other Marouane, big-hair Fellaini, will miss the match on account of a red card in his first match back from injury.

Jermaine Beckford is
the new hero at Goodison. He scored the injury-time equaliser against
Bolton and proving to fans that he can finish.

“Anyone who has
watched Leeds United over the last few seasons will tell you he can
score an array of goals. It was a fantastic finish, it really was. We
needed something; it was probably the last 10 or 15 seconds of the
game,” Moyes said on Everton FC website.

“I think that is
what Jermaine has got but there is a lot he will have to learn in being a
Premier League player. I put him in a bit earlier than I should have
done. My idea was always to bring him off the bench in games where we
needed a goal.

Going into today’s match, Moyes has Yakubu Aiyegbeni, Loius Saha and now Beckford to choose from.

Victor Anichebe is recuperating from a knee injury and Leon Osman on the sidelines.

Arsenal will be
without Abou Diaby and Thomas Vermaelen while the game may come too soon
for Manuel Almunia. Victory this afternoon for Everton at Goodison will
make it a 98th victory in all competitions, while an Arsenal win will
be their 31st at the stadium.

Chelsea chase another home victory

Stamford Bridge has
been turned into a fortress in the 2010/11 season with six matches
played and six won. Petr Cech has not conceded any goal in that run. The
last time Sunderland won at Stamford Bridge was 2001 when they won 4-2
but last season’s 7-1 hammering is still fresh in the memory.

Chelsea have lost
their assistant coach, Ray Wilkins. His contract was terminated with
immediate effect on Thursday after a 32-year liaison with the club, both
as a player and coach.

As a former Chelsea
captain and coach – he had worked under Gianluca Vialli. Wilkins also
served under Felipe Scolari, Guus Hiddink and Ancelotti, and he would
address press conferences on occasion, to take the pressure off the
manager, most notably when things began to go wrong for Scolari.

Michael Essien will
also be missing as his red card takes effect but Frank Lampard is
supposed to make his come-back from hernia operation that has seen him
miss about 11 weeks – the longest that he has been injured in his
career.

Carlo Ancelotti said Lampard may play on Sunday but surely not for 90 minutes.

“I think he’ll be okay for Sunday. He started to train two days ago with the team.

“He doesn’t have a
problem, (and) is showing confidence. I hope he will be ready, not
necessarily to play for 90 minutes but just to be involved in the squad.
If he’s okay, he can start. I don’t think he will be able to play 90
minutes, but he can play part of the game – he can do that.”

But on Friday,
Lampard got injured with an adductor muscle injury which has set back
his appearance by another three weeks.. He will likely be replaced by
Ramires.

Sunderland’s record
signing, Ghana’s Asamoah Gyan has scored four goals in his last three
matches and will be a threat as Darren Bent continues to be sidelined
with a knee injury. Chelsea’s Didier Drogba should have fully recovered
from the Malaria fever that laid him low last week while Nicolas Anelka
is only likely to be fit enough for the substitutes’ bench.

LA LIGA

Mourinho keen to continue winning

Jose Mourinho and
his Real Madrid side warmed up for the trip to Gijon with a 5-1
demolition of Segunda Division B side, Real Murcia at the Santiago
Bernabeau on Wednesday. There were fears Madrid could have suffered
another embarrassing defeat at the last-32 stage, having been knocked
out in this round by other third-tier outfits Alcorcon and Real Union in
the last two years but goals from Esteban Granero, Gonzalo Higuain,
Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema (penalty) and Xabi Alonso put paid to
Murcia’s ambitions.

It is now 12 wins out of 16 matches for Mourinho and Madrid are yet to taste defeat in the 2010/11 season.

Meanwhile, French
striker, Karim Benzema has promised to repay Mourinho’s faith by scoring
goals for the Blaugrana before their Copa Del Rey match against Murcia.

“I want to score
goals against Murcia to thank [Jose] Mourinho for what he has done for
me. His actions and words help me. He is always here to help me to
become better,” Benzema said before scoring a goal from the penalty spot
against Murcia.

“He says things like, ‘You’ve played well, and you have to continue.’ I want to restore the trust that he has given me.”

Mourinho will expect to be repaid if the striker gets to play against Gijon today.