Paul Merson's Premier League predictions - Round 13

 Paul Merson foresees away wins for Chelsea, Arsenal and Man City as well as victories for Liverpool and Manchester United in his latest round of predictions...
Sunderland v Chelsea - 5:30pm, Sat,

I think Sunderland will be well out of their depth here. Chelsea are so good at the moment, it’s just phenomenal. Sunderland can play at 100 miles an hour and they’ll just get picked off. Chelsea can mix it at one stage and then they can play football, play with pace or slow the game down. They are the complete team; they don’t have a weak link.
Their time may come later on when there are a few injuries but at the moment, I just can’t see anything but a Chelsea win. I wouldn’t get disheartened if I was Sunderland though. Sometimes you give your all in these games, you may pinch a draw or get a win then great, but if you don’t move on, don’t worry, Chelsea are a top team.

PAUL PREDICTS: 0-3
Southampton v Man City - 1:30pm, Sun,
I watched Southampton last week and I was disappointed. Everybody is telling me how great they are. I hadn’t seen them play before and I watched the Villa game and they didn’t look like a second-placed team to me. I said on Soccer Saturday they will finish seventh or eighth and I’m not going to change my mind from Monday’s performance. I didn’t think their attitude was great and I think they thought they just had to turn up and that wasn’t the case.
I think they’ll be better against City, but how do you stop Aguero? I don’t see how you can stop him; he’s up there with the best in world. City are a great team to watch at the moment because if it goes to form, and Chelsea beat Sunderland, they have to win - draws are no good. We know they’re going to finish in the top four but they’ve got to go out every week and try to win.

PAUL PREDICTS: 1-3  
Tottenham v Everton - 4pm, Sun,
Spurs have won two away games when they should have got beat, thanks to the other team having players sent off, and then they got beaten by Stoke, so I think there are really struggling at the moment. I watched them last week and they never looked like scoring.
I wasn’t impressed with Everton last week if I’m being honest either but they won. So I fancy Everton again this week, and that’s not my Arsenal head talking, that’s my football head!

PAUL PREDICTS: 1-3
West Brom v Arsenal 
I fancy Arsenal, I think they’ll go on a roll now after Wednesday's win over Dortmund. Defensively the other night, they were very good. We all know they can score goals. I watched West Brom last week and they got well rinsed at Chelsea and they were well beaten the week before at home to Newcastle.

If they don’t pick up from either of those two performances, they’ll be well beaten again. I fancy Oxlade-Chamberlain to score; he’s getting better and better. So I’m going to go 2-0 Arsenal, and another clean sheet.

PAUL PREDICTS: 0-2

Burnley v Aston Villa

Well, I’m hoping I’m wrong here but I think Burnley will win this game 1-0 but, like I said, I hope I’m wrong. Villa have one shot in a game and that’s it - they can’t keep doing that. If Burnley play like they did in the first 20 minutes against Hull, I think they’ll be hard to beat. When you look at the match, you think that if Burnley are able to get one goal, then that will be enough. Hopefully I’m wrong but I’m going for a home win. 

PAUL PREDICTS: 1-0

Liverpool v Stoke
I think just Liverpool here. Stoke have been better away from home this season than at home which is a surprise. I know Liverpool are all over the place at the moment but I'm going to go with Liverpool here on the strength that they have got to turn the corner sooner rather than later, otherwise I couldn’t see them winning this game to be honest.

PAUL PREDICTS: 2-1
Manchester United v Hull

 
 I thought Hull were unlucky last week against Spurs. If Gaston Ramirez doesn’t get sent off, they win the game and they definitely don’t lose. If Man United got back on that coach on Saturday and thought that was a good performance at the Emirates, then they better start worrying. That could have been any scoreline in the first 30 minutes so you can’t tell me that was good. I think they’ll struggle again here as they haven’t shown any form to change my mind yet. Saying that, I think they’ll just nick it.

PAUL PREDICTS: 2-1

QPR v Leicester
This is a cup final, a six-pointer! I don’t think Leicester have recovered since Burnley scored that last-minute free-kick against them. They beat Man United, but Burnley fought back and if they had won that, there would have been a bit of momentum. Instead they just haven’t recovered. QPR, at home especially, are a different team now with Zamora in there. They have a lot of energy so I’m going for a home win.

PAUL PREDICTS: 2-0
Swansea v Crystal Palace
I’m doing this game on Soccer Saturday. I’ve watched Palace a few times this season and Liverpool made them look like the Harlem Globetrotters last week and they're not, believe me! I think Swansea will win this game. Palace shouldn’t get too carried away, they did very well the other day but there’s a long way to go yet and Swansea are a decent team, especially with Bony up front.

 
 Swansea gave a good account of themselves last week and Man City and they only lost by the odd goal, they’ve beaten Arsenal at home as well so they're doing well. They're floating around the top part of the table so I can’t see anything other than a home win.

PAUL PREDICTS: 2-0

West Ham v Newcastle
I watched West Ham last week at Everton and I thought they were bang unlucky. I thought they were decent. They should have at least got a draw out of the game. They had a lot injuries - Sakho, and Valencia didn’t play and Carroll played up front. Downing was out last week as well and he’ll be back, he’s a big player them.

Was it a blessing in disguise they lost? Maybe. If they had won that game and Carroll and Nolan played well, what happens this week? Do they play again and then we're back to last season's team? Look what happened last season when the crowd were on their backs and they didn’t win but the team played well, so do you go and put the big boys back in again? I know they’re on a roll Newcastle, but I can’t see anything but a West Ham win this week. 

 

Nigeria unrest: Kano mosque explosions 'kill dozens'

 

Dozens of people have been killed in explosions during Friday prayers at one of the biggest mosques in the Nigerian city of Kano, reports say.

Many more people have been hurt, with one rescue official putting casualty figures at just under 200.
The Central Mosque is where the influential Muslim leader, the Emir of Kano, usually leads prayers.
The emir recently called for people to arm themselves against Islamist militant group Boko Haram.
The group has killed more than 2,000 people this year, rights groups say.

Some reports said there was gunfire in Kano after the explosions.
The rescue official, speaking to Agence France-Presse, put the casualty toll at 64 dead and 126 hurt, although this has not been independently confirmed.
One worshipper, Aminu Abdullahi, told the agency: "Two bombs exploded, one after the other, in the premises of the Grand Mosque seconds after the prayers had started."
He said the third blast was on a nearby road.
BBC Hausa editor Mansur Liman said one witness at a local hospital had described the scenes there as being the most horrible he had ever seen.
Our editor says Boko Haram will be the main suspects, as the attack bore all the hallmarks of the group.
No-one from the group has yet commented.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has declared an Islamic state in the north-east

Who are Boko Haram?

• Founded in 2002
• Initially focused on opposing Western education - Boko Haram means "Western education is forbidden" in the Hausa language
• Launched military operations in 2009 to create Islamic state
• Thousands killed, mostly in north-eastern Nigeria - also attacked police and UN headquarters in capital, Abuja
• Some three million people affected
• Declared terrorist group by US in 2013

Who are Boko Haram?
Profile: Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau

'Call for anarchy' The emir, Lamido Sanusi, is currently in Saudi Arabia.
Reliable sources in the emir's palace told the BBC that he had arrived in Saudi Arabia late on Thursday night from Paris.
Boko Haram has targeted the city, the largest in northern Nigeria, several times during its five-year insurgency.

  Lamido Sanusi (C) has become one of Nigeria's most powerful Muslim leaders

But most of its attacks are further east.
Earlier this month, the emir told a prayer meeting that people should "acquire what they need" to protect themselves.
A police spokesman said the emir's comments were a "call for anarchy" and should not be acted on.
The emir, who until earlier this year was governor of Nigeria's central bank, normally stays silent on political matters.

Breaking News: Austria arrests 13 suspected jihadi recruiters for Syria

Hundreds of European Muslims are known to have travelled to Syria to join jihadist groups such as Islamic State

Police in Austria have arrested 13 people suspected of radicalising young people and recruiting them to fight in Syria, prosecutors say.

Reports in the Austrian media said 500 police were involved in searches at mosques, flats and prayer rooms in Vienna and the cities of Linz and Graz.
Authorities also seized "terrorist propaganda material", prosecutors said.
It comes amid a European crackdown on fighters who have joined jihadist forces in Syria and Iraq.
A statement from Austria's state prosecutor's office said 16 people had been questioned following the searches in the early hours of Friday.
The 13 suspects had been arrested on suspicion of membership of a terrorist organisation.
Local media said a Bosnian preacher, who was the main suspect, was among those held.

Along with "propaganda material", officers seized electronic material, cash and brass knuckles, according to reports.
In recent months, the Austrian authorities have said they are investigating more than 150 people believed to have joined radical militant groups in Iraq and Syria.
Hundreds of European Muslims are known to have travelled to Syria to join jihadist groups such as Islamic State fighting in the country's civil war.
EU member states are trying to prevent radicalisation at home and are also taking measures to tackle the security threat from jihadists returning from Syria.

Breaking News: Top prison boss gets 7 years in prison for obtaining money by false pretense

Find the EFCC press statement below

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on  Friday 28, 2014, secured the conviction of a top prison officer as Justice J.J Majebi of the Kogi State High Court, Okene, convicted and sentenced Joseph Friday Idachaba, Deputy Controller of Prisons, to 7 years imprisonment for offences bordering on obtaining money by false pretense. 

The convict is to pay the sum of N1, 403,114.09 in restitution to Nigeria Prison Service.

Arraigned in 2012 on a three-count charge, the convict was found guilty on count three of the charge by the trial judge, who, however, acquitted him on two remaining counts.

Count three of the charge reads: "That you Joseph Friday Idachaba (m) being a deputy comptroller of Nigeria Prisons Service, and Onoja D. Ruth (IP) also a staff of Nigeria Prison Service, sometime between July, 2012 to February 2013 at Lokoja, Kogi State did with intent to defraud obtained N1,403,114.09 only from the Federal Government of Nigeria via the Nigeria Prison Service with pretence that same amount was the payment of monthly salaries from Nigeria Prison Service, which amount was credited into the UBA Plc account No 2054047736 belonging to one Opia Mohammed Ugbade (now at large), through NIGSS electronic fund transfer (NEFT) between July 2012-to February 2013, that the said Opia Mohammed Ugbade’s name found in the Nigeria Prison Service electronic payroll is not a staff of the Service which pretence you knew to be false and hereby committed an offence contrary to section 1(1) paragraphs A&B and punishable under section 1(3) of the Advance Free Fraud and Other Related Offences Act."

Breaking News: 63 senators back plan to impeach President Jonathan?

Punch is reporting that 63 senators as of yesterday Thursday November 27th have signed up to the plan to impeach President Goodluck Jonathan in the upper legislative chamber. 

They reported that one of the arrowheads of the move to remove Jonathan in the Senate showed one of their correspondents the list containing the signatures of the senators. A source told the paper that 8 PDP senators were among the signatories to the planned impeachment notice. There are 109 members in the Senate.

 From Punch

An All Progressives Congress senator from the North-West zone, who asked not to be named, told our correspondent that the lawmakers’ major grouse was the President’s handling of the economy and political affairs of the country.

The senator cited poor implementation of the national budget since 2011, alleged high level of corruption and “gross disregard” of the legislature at both the federal and state levels as topping the list of lawmakers’ anger against Jonathan.

Asked whether he realised that the process of impeachment could be tedious and cumbersome, the senator said, “ We know and we are prepared to show the President that we have responsibility to the people and the nation in general.

“We are prepared to lay the impeachment notice anytime from next week. Meetings are already being held.”

Senator Ibrahim Musa (APC Niger North) confirmed that there were moves by some members of the Senate to initiate impeachment proceedings against the President but failed to give details.

“I think there is something like that but I don’t have the details, it is still coming as a rumour,” Musa said.

Read the rest on Punch

American wife to get $530million in Britain's biggest divorce payout

A judge in a London High Court ruled that the American wife of a British Tycoon be given $530m in a divorce payout. This is considered to be the biggest divorce settlement so far in British history. The estranged wife of finance tycoon Christopher Hohn will receive an equivalent of N96 billion.

The judge awarded Jamie Cooper-Hohn $493 million in cash and the rest in the form of a property in Connecticut and adjustments to her share of a pension.

A full judgment will be published in December, but the figures were cited during a court hearing yesterday November 27. 

 

She was initially seeking half of her ex-husband's assets, but he said she was entitled to just a quarter on the grounds that his talents as an investor constituted a special contribution to their wealth. He also referred to himself as an "unbelievable moneymaker.”

In awarding Ms. Cooper-Hohn less than half of the couple’s $1.3 billion fortune, the case could set a legal precedent in the U.K, which has developed a wide reputation as a capital for divorce disputes between ultra-rich couples.

Mr. Hohn and Ms. Cooper-Hohn met while studying at Harvard University, and have been married for 17 years. They have four children.

 

The couple have been described as UK’s most generous philanthropists and have both said they lead relatively modest lives, given their wealth.

Breaking News: DNA result reveals two of Femi Kuti's five children are not his

Afrobeat king, Femi Kuti says he recently found out that two out of the 5 children he always thought were his, weren't. In an interview with Encomium mag, Femi said a DNA test conducted on a boy and a girl named Tosin and Dupe who were born after his first son, Made, showed he's not their biological father.

"I did a DNA test and was told two of the children are not mine. The first two (after Made), a boy and a girl. It is very serious. I never knew somebody could give you what is not yours. I’ve three boys now. I can’t father children I was tricked to believe I am their father,” he said

Femi says he has since returned the children to their mothers.

Photos: Who rocked the look? AY vs Ramsey Noah

Both men wore the blue suit and white shirt to AY's comedy movie premiere. Who rocked it?

Breaking News: Platini should keep quiet over Ballon d'Or - Ancelotti

The Madrid coach is the latest to attack the Uefa president, while the Champions League holders have hit out at the Frenchman with an official statement as well

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti has hit out at Uefa president Michel Platini in the wake of the Frenchman's comments that a German player should win the Fifa Ballon d'Or rather than Cristiano Ronaldo.
Platini stated earlier this week that a Germany international should scoop up the individual award following their successful World Cup campaign, thus causing unrest in the Madrid camp, with Alvaro Arbeloa and Fabio Coentrao both attacking the Uefa chief for his "campaign against Ronaldo".
Ancelotti has now also come to the defence of his star player and has stressed Platini should have kept his opinion to himself.
"I share Arbeloa's opinion. I don't think Uefa's president should opine about the Ballon d'Or," Ancelotti said at a press conference.
The Madrid coach then went on to praise Lionel Messi, but refused to discuss the Argentine's chances of winning the prestigious award.
"Messi is fantastic, but I will not speak about what Barcelona are doing for the Ballon d'Or."
Meanwhile, Madrid have backed Arbeloa, Coentrao and Ancelotti and have released a statement condemning Platini's comments.
"In response to the comments made by the president of Uefa, Michel Platini, concerning the winner of the Ballon d'Or," the statement reads. "Real Madrid C. F. would like to outline:
"Firstly, its surprise at the repeated comments regarding his personal preferences over the choice of the winner of the Ballon d'Or, particularly given that he is the head of European football's principal body, where our understanding is that the strictest impartiality should prevail.
"Secondly, the Ballon d'Or is an individual rather than collective prize which is awarded annually to the best player in the world, and we believe that, in order to maintain its prestige, those who participate in the vote should take into account exclusively the individual professional achievements of the players.
"Finally, we believe that Cristiano Ronaldo has without doubt had his best ever professional year individually, and has claimed the Champions League, the Golden Shoe and the record for the highest goalscorer in an edition of the Champions League, as well as the Copa del Rey and the top-scorer award in La Liga. In the current season, he has won the European Super Cup, scoring both goals in the match, and is achieving spectacular figures such as his 20 goals in the first 12 matchdays of La Liga, which confirm his great moment of form and ensure that, more than ever, he is deserving of the Ballon d'Or."