Liverpool’s Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah as well as Chelsea’s Edouard Mendy and Hakim Ziyech had a remarkable weekend, as they progressed to the FA Cup final, while others had good displays in other leagues.
The Senegal star was instrumental for Liverpool in the FA Cup semi-final against their Premier League rivals Manchester City.
The forward scored twice – in the 17th and 45th minutes – to ensure the Reds progressed to the final. Mane’s man-of-the-match display saw him praised by Jurgen Klopp and his teammate Virgil van Dijk as Liverpool’s dream of ending the season with a quadruple remains intact.
The Malian was an instrumental figure for Brighton as they secured a slim win against Tottenham Hotspur.
The midfielder offered some vital protection defensively and was impressive in breaking up the Spurs attacks as well as driving forward when they were attacking.
For his and the collective effort, Brighton managed to win consecutive away league games for the first time since September 2021 and are now unbeaten in three Premier League games overall, winning the last two, after losing each of the six before that.
Lokonga, a midfielder of Congolese descent, featured all through as Arsenal lost to Southampton.
Pepe, meanwhile, came on in the 70th minute for Nuno Tavares, but his introduction could not alter the scoreline in favour of the Gunners.
The defeat at St Mary's Stadium means Arsenal have lost each of their last three Premier League games, having lost just two of their previous 13 (W11 D1). It’s their third run of three consecutive defeats in their three seasons under Mikel Arteta.
It also complicated their chances of finishing in the top four.
The Nigerians featured as Rangers defeated Celtic in the Scottish FA Cup to reach the final.
Both were yellow carded, but that mattered little as they scrambled to a semi-final win in extra time. Zambia’s Fashion Sakala and Leon Balogun of Nigeria were introduced as substitutes in the game.
The Ivorian wrote unwanted history as he missed a penalty as Burnley ended up drawing 1-1 against West Ham United in London.
The Clarets became the 20th and final Premier League side to take a penalty this season – however, Cornet became only the third Burnley player to fail to convert a penalty in the Premier League, after Scott Arfield (September 2014 vs Crystal Palace) and Matthew Taylor (April 2015 vs Leicester City).
Only Spurs (52) have given away more Premier League penalties on home soil than West Ham, with Cornet's miss the 50th spot-kick the Hammers have conceded at either Upton Park (37) or the London Stadium (13).
Despite scoring, Lookman could not help Leicester City avoid a 2-1 defeat to Newcastle.
However, the Nigerian wrote a personal career-best stat as he has scored in each of his last three Premier League starts for Leicester (v Wolves, Crystal Palace and Leicester), after only netting in two of his previous 22 starts in the competition.
On the other hand, Daka – who has failed to score in his last 12 matches for the Foxes in all competitions – could not arrest the bad run before he was replaced by Kelechi Iheanacho in the 78th minute.
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As Union Berlin registered a 2-0 Bundesliga victory against Eintracht Frankfurt, Awoniyi scored his 13th goal of the season.
The Nigerian opened the scoring in the 17th minute before Grischa Promel added the second three minutes later.
Mendy kept another clean sheet for Chelsea as they outwitted Crystal Palace 2-0 in the FA Cup’s second semi-final.
Ziyech came on in the 77th minute for Mason Mount as the Blues cruised to the final, where they will now face Mane and Salah’s Liverpool.
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