Yakubu sends Keshi a four-goal reminder

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    PARIS (AFP) – Out-of-favour Nigeria striker Ayegbeni Yakubu sent a four-goal reminder to new coach Stephen Keshi at the weekend that he is not a spent force.

    The astonishing one-man scoring show featured two goals in each half and earned English Premier League strugglers Blackburn Rovers a 4-2 home victory over Swansea.

    It was the second time Yakubu has struck four goals in a league game as he also achieved the feat for Portsmouth against Middlesbrough at Fratton Park seven years ago.

    ENGLAND

    AYEGBENI YAKUBU (Blackburn)

    The Nigerian striker bagged an incredible four-goal haul to fire Rovers to a 4-2 victory over Swansea that lifted the struggling side off the bottom of the Premier League. Yakubu scored in the 20th minute and then netted again on the stroke of half-time. His 57th-minute strike made it 3-1 and an 82nd-minute penalty sealed Blackburn’s second league win of the season.

    YAYA TOURE (Man City)

    The Ivory Coast midfielder scored his first goal at Eastlands this season as the league leaders crushed Norwich 5-1. Toure had got on the scoresheet three times away from home, but he finally hit the net in front of City fans with a curling finish from the edge of the area in the 68th minute.

    DIDIER DROGBA (Chelsea)

    The Ivory Coast striker grabbed only his second league goal of the season to set Chelsea on the way to a much-needed 3-0 win at Newcastle. Drogba’s only other league goal had come in September against Swansea and he ended that drought with a bullet header from Juan Mata’s cross in the 38th minute.

    SALOMON KALOU (Chelsea)

    The Ivory Coast forward came off the bench to settle Chelsea’s nerves as his strike gave them a two-goal lead at Newcastle. Chelsea were looking shaky at the back when Kalou was sent on as a substitute for Juan Mata in the 74th minute and he rose to the occasion with a neat finish in the 89th minute for his third goal in his last three appearances.

    GERVINHO (Arsenal)

    The Ivory Coast forward ended a seven-match goal drought in his side’s 4-0 win at Wigan. Gervinho has gone without a goal since scoring against Stoke in October, but Wigan’s leaky defence gave him the chance to end that barren sequence with a close-range finish in the 61st minute.

    GERMANY

    JEAN-ERIC MAXIM CHOUPO-MOTING (Mainz)

    The Germany-born Cameroon international striker grabbed his fourth Bundesliga goal of the season in the 2-2 draw at Wolfsburg. His team, who stunned mighty Bayern Munich 3-2 last week, had been 2-0 down in the 70th minute. But Austrian midfielder Andreas Ivanschitz reduced arrears from the penalty spot before Choupo-Moting made sure of a point in the 81st minute.

    PAPISS CISSE (Freiburg)

    Senegalese striker Cisse took his season tally to nine, almost half of his team’s total of 20, with a headed goal in the 67th minute after teammate Felix Bastians had scored an own goal just before half-time in a 1-1 draw with Hanover. Freiburg stayed second from bottom of the Bundesliga.

    FRANCE

    JOHN UTAKA (Montpellier)

    Nigerian forward Utaka, formerly of Portsmouth, found the target in the second half as his side defeated Lorient 4-0 to open a three-point lead at the top of Ligue 1. Rene Girard’s side were leading 2-0 when Utaka chested down a right-wing cross from Olivier Giroud and prodded the ball past Lorient goalkeeper Fabien Audard to claim his third league goal of the season.

    PIERRE-EMERICK AUBAMEYANG (Saint-Etienne)

    On loan from AC Milan, Gabonese attacker Aubameyang was his side’s saviour as he claimed a brace in a 2-2 draw at Brest that enabled Saint-Etienne to hold on to eighth place. Both his strikes cancelled out efforts from Nolan Roux, but his second equaliser in the 87th minute caused controversy as Brest were waiting for defender Jonathan Zebina to return to the pitch after receiving treatment for an injury when Aubameyang struck.

    ANDRE AND JORDAN AYEW (Marseille)

    Both Ayew brothers, the sons of Ghana great Abedi Pele, found their way onto the score-sheet in a 2-1 win at Caen that lifted Marseille to seventh in the table. Elder brother Andre put OM ahead when he tapped in after Morgan Amalfitano’s shot had hit the crossbar in the 21st minute, with Jordan netting the winner by applying the finishing touch to a crisp counter-attack early in the second period.

    ITALY

    KEVIN CONSTANT (Genoa)

    The France-born Guinea midfielder had a frustrating night as Genoa lost 2-0 at home to AC Milan. Playing on the left, Constant had few opportunities to get forward and use his pace to put Milan under pressure. And once team-mate Kakha Kaladze had been sent off Constant became an even less visible figure as he spent his time covering Milan right-back Ignazio Abate’s forward thrusts.

    KWADWO ASAMOAH (Udinese)

    The Ghana midfielder was a crucial presence in the middle of the park as his side stunned Inter Milan 1-0 at the San Siro. In fact, he was one of the main reasons that Udinese wrested control of midfield in the second half and peppered Inter with counter-attacks. It was he who won the penalty that should have given his captain Antonio Di Natale the chance to wrap up the points late on, only for goalkeeper Julio Cesar to save the spot-kick.

    SPAIN

    ODION IGHALO (Granada)

    Nigerian striker Ighalo, on loan from Italian side Udinese, scored the only goal when Granada beat Zaragoza in a bottom-of-the-table La Liga clash. He reacted quickest in a packed penalty area on 45 minutes to a cross from Mikel Rico to steer the ball home for a vital win.

    IBRAHIMA BLADE (Osasuna)

    Senegalese striker Blade played the final 39 minutes of Osasuna’s 2-1 home win over Real Betis. The game was won with the last kick of the match with a curling free-kick by Javal Nekounan. Balde has scored three goals for his new club since transferring from Atletico Madrid before the season started.

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    Yakubu sends Keshi a four-goal reminder