Big blow: Jose Mourinho delivers Eric Bailly update after he injures knee again

JOSE MOURINHO is optimistic for Eric Bailly's recovery after he picked up another knee injury.

By Colin Harvey

Jose Mourinho is confident about Eric Bailly's injury

The Ivorian defender limped out of Manchester United's 2-1 win over Crystal Palace last night just weeks after returning from a previous problem.

However, Mourinho confirmed the injury was not in the same knee that ruled him out for six weeks earlier this season.

Eric Bailly injured his knee last time against Chelsea

And he praised the centre back for his resilience in playing on through the pain at Selhurst Park.

Mourinho said: "It is not the same knee, it is the other one, so it is not previous injury.

Eric Bailly receives treatment last night

"He has a problem, we don’t know the dimension. He showed character to try and try until he reached the limit.

"He had an injury in the right knee and he recovered fantastically well. Now it is the left knee.

"I don’t know really what he has, but let us see and wait. He could resist for so long.

"I would say for about 75 minutes he could resist. He is a special guy and his pain level is really high."

dailystar

Sunderland 0 Chelsea 1: Fabregas fires Blues to tenth Premier League win in a row

CESC FABREGAS gave Antonio Conte a reminder of his special qualities with his first league goal of the season last night.

By Ian Murtagh

Chelsea star Cesc Fabregas celebrates his goal against Sunderland

The Spaniard has spent recent weeks warming the bench as his team-mates have reeled off win after win.

Last night he decided it was time to join the party.

Sunderland had proved stubborn opponents, just as Conte predicted, and the Black Cats were five minutes away from going in at half-time level when Fabregas stamped his class on proceedings.

Taking a Pedro ball in his stride, he skipped past Jan Kirchoff and after swapping passes with Willian, stroked a sublime right-foot shot between Jordan Pickford's outstretched hands and left-hand post.

The Premier League's bottom club should have equalised two minutes after the restart when Jermain Defoe fed the overlapping Adnan Januzaj inside the box but the Manchester United loanee's shot was turned behind by Thibaut Courtois.

Moments later, a Willian drive clipped the bar after taking a heavy deflection off former Chelsea defender Papy Djilobodji before Victor Moses tested Pickford.

David Moyes' side had matched Chelsea's 3-4-3 formation but whereas the visitors' wing-backs spent the first period marauding down the flanks, their Black Cats counterparts concentrated on defence.

If the Sunderland gameplan was cautious, it looked effective until Fabregas struck.

While they were prepared to concede territory and possession to the league leaders, Chelsea struggled to get behind them.

And Pickford produced a blinding save to deny Pedro, even though the linesman's flag was already raised with the Spaniard just offside.

Antonio Conte's Chelsea have extended their lead at the top of the table

Chelsea's first shot on target did not arrive until the 39th minute but David Luiz's 30-yard free-kick brought a regulation save out of Pickford.

Within a minute, though, Conte's men were ahead, thanks to Fabregas' gem.

They were within a whisker of doubling their lead in first-half injury-time when John O'Shea fouled Diego Costa and Willian's free-kick brushed the roof of the net.

Despite being pushed back for long periods, Sunderland did carve out two half-chances of their own.

Defoe released Billy Jones whose cross-shot was just wide, while Januzaj couldn't get enough curl on his 25th-minute effort.

Thibaut Courtois made a stunning late save

Sunderland opened up after the break although Chelsea had the better chances with Willian again going close.

But it took a stunning injury-time save by Courtois to keep Chelsea's winning run going, diving to his right to push away a piledriver from Patrick van Aanholt.

SUNDERLAND (3-4-3): Pickford; Kone, O'Shea, Djilobodji; Jones, Denayer, Van Aanholt, Kirchhoff; Borini, Januzaj, Defoe. Subs: Mannone, Larsson, Khazri, Love, Asoro, Maja, Honeyman.

CHELSEA (3-4-3): Courtois; Azpilicueta, Luiz, Cahill; Moses, Kante, Fabregas, Alonso; Willian, Costa, Pedro. Subs: Begovic, Ivanovic, Zouma, Matic, Loftus-Cheek, Batshuayi, Chalobah.

Referee: Neil Swarbrick.

dailystar

Chelsea transfer bombshell: Blues star wants to quit Stamford Bridge

JOHN OBI MIKEL is 'ready to quit' Chelsea, according to former Nigeria coach Samson Siasia.

By Alex Harris

John Obi Mikel is ready to quit Chelsea, according to Samson Siasia

The 29-year-old is yet to make an appearance this season with N'Golo Kante, Nemanja Matic and Cesc Fabregas ahead of him in the pecking order.

He missed the start of the campaign because he opted to represent his country in the Olympic Games.

Mikel is out of contract at the end of the season but could seal a move away from Stamford Bridge when the transfer window reopens.

"He is ready to quit Chelsea because he said this man [Antonio Conte] does not have anything for him and that was what he told me before he came down to the Olympics," Siasia, who bossed Nigeria at the Olympics, revealed.

"That was why they bought [N’Golo] Kante.

"It will be better for him to leave now because he has done very well after 11 years at Chelsea, not even Didier Drogba did not last that long there.

Samson Siasia has been speaking about John Obi Mikel's Chelsea future

"He already has a British passport and two girls, he has done very well and will now leave."

Chelsea boss Antonio Conte last week suggested Mikel will stay put until next summer.

He said: "The situation with Obi Mikel is simple: he’s in the squad. He stays with us.

John Obi Mikel is yet to play for Chelsea this season

"We know that, at the end of the season, probably his contract will expire. But I don’t know what happens now.

"He’s a player who is part of this squad and every single game I take my decision about him."

Nigeria Spends N793bn Annually on Importation of ICT Equipment by Emma Okonji

Despite her economic situation, Nigeria spends over N793 billion ($2.6 billion) annually on importation of information and communications technology (ICT) equipment, the Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Dr. Isa Ali Pantami has said.

Pantami who made the disclosure at a technology forum in Lagos recently, said the trend in importation of ICT equipment into the country is on the rise and could hit N44.835 trillion ($147 billion) by 2020, if it remained checked.

Besides, he said, the trend would impact negatively on Nigeria’s local content development, since a lot of local equipment manufacturers would suffer defeat and loss of businesses as their products would not be patronised.

“If you look at the amount of money we spend annually on the importation of goods and services of ICT you will be amazed. It is approximately around $2.6 billion annually and this amount is projected to reach around $147 billion in 2020. It is almost six times our current budget. And that is why we are putting more pressure on our local currency (the Naira). There is no strategy on developing our local content. We are focused on sourcing forex and importing something into our nation without cross-checking whether we have it in our nation locally or not,” Pantami said.

He insisted that Nigeria would continue to lose huge amount of money to capital flight, if the trend persists, and called for the right policy implementation to address the ugly trend.
He said ICT regulation and the promotion of local content remained essential to sustaining real growth and the building of indigenous capacity for Nigeria.

“Without regulation, you cannot in any way promote our local content; you cannot in any way encourage and motivate people to patronise locally developed products, and this has to change fast in order to protect our local industries,” Pantami said.

Industry stakeholders who supported the views of Pantami, blamed the situation on weak enforcement of government policies, which they said could be good and practicable, but lack the willpower to implement and control.

One of the stakeholders, who is the President of the Institute of Software Partitioners of Nigeria (ISPON), Mr. Olorogun James Emadoye blamed the federal government for policy inconsistencies and poor implementation. He recalled that the federal government, through the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Ufot Ekaette, wrote a letter with Ref No SGF/OP/1/S.3/VII/795, to head of civil service commission, ministries department and agencies (MDAs) of government, on the need to patronise made -in -Nigeria products, including procurement of locally assembled computers and locally developed software. He said the letter directed all federal MDAs to comply with the directive, but expressed deep dissatisfaction that such directive was never implemented. The situation, he said, has grounded several local manufacturers of ICT products and equipment in the country, whereas importation of ICT equipment still thrives in the country.

Emadoye therefore called on government to expedite action in putting in place, policies and the right implementation that would support local content development in a sector where there are willing and talented people that could develop ICT equipment with global standard and best practice.

Don't give Paul Pogba the man of the match award... give it to me! - Zlatan Ibrahimovic

FORGET Paul Pogba - Zlatan Ibrahimovic was Manchester United's man of the match at Crystal Palace.

By Rhys Turrel

That's the verdict of the Swedish star anyway!

He joked that he should keep the award when asked to hand the gong to his Man United pal after the win at Selhurst Park.

The duo were in blistering form in south London.

Manchester United stars Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba were on fire at Crystal Palace

Zlatan Ibrahimovic celebrates his goal with manager Jose Mourinho

Ibrahimovic set up Pogba for United's first just before the break.

And the Frenchman then returned the compliment in the 88th minute to secure a dramatic win for Jose Mourinho's men.

And when the striker was asked to hand the man of the match award to Pogba by BT Sport reporter Des Kelly after the game, Ibrahimovic joked: "No. Keep it for me!"

Paul Pogba puts Manchester United in front at Crystal Palace

The win for Mourinho's ensures they keep pace with their top six rivals.

Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester City all won after Arsenal lost at Everton last night.

And United's win ensures they remain well in the hunt for a European spot for next season.]

dailystar

GBBO’s Nadiya Hussain subjected to racist abuse on train: 'I ain't sitting near a Muslim’

NADIYA Hussain may have carved out a successful career for herself as a popular TV chef.

By Jazmin Duribe

SKILLED BAKER: Nadiya won the competition in 2015

But The Great British Bake Off 2015 winner is still subjected to racist abuse.

The skilled baker, whose parents are Bangladeshi, shared an appalling moment with her Twitter followers whereby she was abused on a train.

Speaking to her 126,000 followers, Nadiya tweeted: "A man refused to sit next to me on the train today 'I ain't sitting near a Muslim' he said. His ignorance is his own ruin."

ABUSE: Nadiya was verbally attacked on the train

Rav Bansal, who starred in the most recent series of the hit BBC baking show, revealed he too been racially abused.

He tweeted her: "@BegumNadiya Unfortunately a similar this happened to me again recently.

"You are a much better person then he will ever be."

SUPPORT: GBBO’s Rav tried to comfort the star

While this year's winner, Candice Brown, tweeted her support to Rav writing: "@RavSBansal love you Rav."

Sadly, this isn’t the first time Nadiya has been subjected to racist abuse.

She faced racist backlash when she won Bake Off, with many hounding her with comments on her religion.

TV STAR: Nadiya has had a problem with racism in the past

And while appearing on Loose Women, the mum-of-three admitted she suffered from anxiety from the age of seven when school bullies targeted her for her "dark skin".

She said: "These boys, they kind of held me up against the whiteboard… you know when we were younger we had the chalkboards and the chalk would all fall at the bottom.

"They held me against this chalkboard, they got the chalk dust and they smothered my face in it."

dailystar.co.uk

DRONE INVASION: Furious North Korea blasts 'human scum' behind shock attack

A SHOCK drone attack on North Korea has been branded the work of “human scum” by the fuming regime.

By Michael Havis

UNDER ATTACK: Kim's propaganda blasted the South for sending over drones

State-owned propaganda outlet Uriminzokkiri revealed drones had entered the hermit kingdom via its Chinese border.

The drones – which may have been packed with explosives – then targeted statues of former leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il.

Now Pyongyang has accused the government of disgraced South Korean president Park Geun-hye of coordinating the operation, pledging revenge.

BORDERLANDS: North Korean city of Hyesan with the statue location and border highlighted

Uriminzokkiri stormed: "We will never forgive anyone who desecrates our leaders and will ruthlessly end the life of those who participate in such activities."

The article also branded the attackers "human scum" and emphasised the "highest dignity" of the statues, believed to be in the border town of Hyesan.

A defector from the activist group, Fighters For Free North Korea, admitted they had sent a drone across the border last month for a dry run.

Park Sang-hak, who lives in the South Korean capital, Seoul, told NK News he had “no idea” how the North found out who was responsible.

But he warned that the next provocation from Pyongyang would lead to statues – and not necessarily the same ones – being blown up.

He said: "We will not harm the lives of North Korean people as they are strictly aimed at bringing down those statues."

Mr Park would not comment on what type of drones were tested or what kind of explosives they intended to use.

But experts have raised doubts about how effective any attack launched via commercial drones could be.

Jeong Jin-man, a researcher at South Korea’s Yongin University, told NK News total demolition was "almost impossible".

Commercial drones can’t be expected to carry more than two to three pounds of TNT, he said – too small an amount to do the job.

"Even if the NGO somehow manages to get their hands on TNT, one would need far more than that amount to demolish the target completely," he said.

Mr Jeong added that it would be a diplomatic disaster for Seoul if South Koreans carried deadly explosives into China for the operation.

dailystar.co.uk