Joshua Oha, Author at Matchplug Blog

Thiago Silva disappointed about Jorginho’s decision to join Arsenal

Chelsea defender Thiago Silva has spoken out on the shock exit of Jorginho on deadline day for a £12m deal.

The Italian midfielder left Chelsea for London rivals Arsenal on the last day of the January transfer window after spending four and half years at Stamford Bridge.

His transfer surprised many, including his Chelsea teammates, who admitted Chelsea’s players did not expect him to leave this winter.

Speaking about his departure, Brazil defender Silva outlined his disappointment at Jorginho’s decision but insisted ‘it happens’ in football.

“It was for a direct competitor, but these are football things. It happens,” Silva said.

“He wanted to stay in England because he has family here. There are things that we have no control over, but we have to understand the player’s side of things.

“I know we have a lot of work ahead of us, especially as we have lost one of our great leaders in the dressing room.

“Jorginho is a guy who spoke a lot, and this hole will remain, but we have to move on.

“We didn’t expect him to leave, but it has happened. We have to make up for his absence in the best possible way.”

Nottingham Forest target free agent Andre Ayew

Nottingham Forest are reportedly interested in signing Ghana international Andre Ayew on a free transfer.

The attacker is a free agent after settling his contract with Qatari club Al-Sadd and is keen on a return to the Premier League.

Struggling Premier League side Everton were thought to be in the lead for his signature. However, Matchplug understands that Nottingham Forest have now joined the race for his services.

The Tricky Trees were active in the January transfer window, with defender Felipe from Atletico Madrid, goalkeeper Keylor Navas from Paris St Germain and midfielder Jonjo Shelvey from Newcastle, Chris Wood, Danilo and Gustavo Scarpa all joining last month.

But they now want to add Ayew, who can still be registered outside the transfer window due to his status as a free agent. The 33-year-old is familiar with Forest boss Steve Cooper as both men worked together at Swansea.

Cooper wants to improve his attacking options as he is without Taiwo Awoniyi due to injury. In addition, the recent injury to Morgan Gibbs-White and the poor form of Jesse Lingard has also led to a space opening in the attack.

Ayew has experience at the top level and can play anywhere across the front three. His addition will significantly help Forest, who are fighting hard to secure their top-flight status this season.

Juventus vs Lazio: Match Preview and Expert Football Predictions

Juventus will look to qualify for the semi-final stage of the Coppa Italia when they host Lazio on Thursday.

Amid their administrative issues, the Old lady of Italy have continued to battle hard to maintain their top-flight status. However, they come into this tie without a win in their last two games (D1, L1), with a 2-0 loss to lowly Monza last weekend, the most embarrassing of both results.

Apart from the scoreline of the game, the loss against Monza was the hosts’ first loss at the Allianz Stadium since a 2-1 loss to Paris Saint Germain in the UEFA Champions League.

So they will be desperate to get back to winning ways in this game when they welcome a Lazio side that they have defeated in three of their last four meetings at this stadium (D1).

Lazio come into this tie in good form, having extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to five games with a 1-1 draw with Fiorentina last time out (W3, D2).

They are sitting in third position in the league after 20 games and will see this as an opportunity to win a trophy this season, especially as strong teams like AC Milan and Juventus have already been knocked out.

With just three clean sheets in the last ten games between both sides, we back both teams to score in this game. Get best BTTS prediction site here.

Real Madrid vs Valencia: Match Preview and Expert Football Predictions

Real Madrid will look to get back to winning ways in La Liga this Thursday when they welcome a struggling Valencia side to the Santiago Bernabeu.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side come into this tie on the back of a goalless draw against Real Sociedad. The result, coupled with Barcelona’s narrow 1-0 win over Girona, means that Los Blancos are now trailing the league leaders by five points.

While Ancelotti described the performance against Sociedad as one of his side’s “best performances of the season”, he knows that it will take more than good performances for his side to catch Barca. So far, just half of the league games have been played, so there is still time to cut the gap.

For now, having not lost in the league at home since March 2022 (W8, D4), they will fancy their chances of beating a Valencia side that are without a manager after recently sacking manager Gennaro Gattuso.

The former Napoli was sacked last week after leading Valencia to just five wins in 18 games this term (D5, L8). The visitors are winless in their last four league games and come into this tie sitting in 14th place, just one point above the relegation zone.

Los Che are also without an away win in La Liga since early October (D2, L2), so it will be hard to predict anything more than a loss here.

They have also lost their last four games against Real Madrid, although they scored in their last three, so we expect over 2.5 goals.

Joshua Oha

Thiago Silva disappointed about Jorginho’s decision to join Arsenal

Nottingham Forest target free agent Andre Ayew

Juventus vs Lazio: Match Preview and Expert Football Predictions

Real Madrid vs Valencia: Match Preview and Expert Football Predictions

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