Rise of a Football God

(Premier league:)

(Matchday 24 of 38:)

(Nottm Forest – Brighton)

(Date: 1st February, 2025)

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(Newcastle – Fulham)

(Date: 1st February, 2025)

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(Everton – Leicester City)

(Date: 1st February, 2025)

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(Ipswich Town – Southampton)

(Date: 1st February, 2025) Continue your journey on empire

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(Bournemouth – Liverpool)

(Date: 1st February, 2025)

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(Wolves – Aston Villa)

(Date: 1st February, 2025)

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(Man United – Crystal Palace)

(Date: 2nd February, 2025)

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(Brentford – Tottenham)

(Date: 2nd February, 2025)

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(Arsenal – Man City)

(Date: 2nd February, 2025)

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(Chelsea – West Ham)

(Date: 3rd February, 2025)

"Max, it's another exciting matchday of the English premier league, what do you think is the trending news of this new matchday and which do you think is going to be the most exciting matchup?"

Max, the premier league pundit smiled at the show host. "From a historical point of view, Arsenal vs Man City is the highlight game of matchday 24".

"The champions have been a shadow of their former self in recent months. They've been struggling all season".

"And the fact remains that the game will be played at the Emirates Stadium".

"In past seasons, Arsenal never really had much luck against Manchester City when they clash. Mikel Arteta even had to tweak his coaching style, adapting a bit of the dark arts just to get a result against Pep Guardiola's team".

"I still remember that particular game during their title run-in 2 seasons ago when Kevin De Bruyne singlehanded tore Arsenal apart, scoring 2 goals".

"Besides, this fixture did not lack drama this season either as earlier in the season, it was this same fixture that produced Erling Haaland's infamous 'stay humble eh' that was directed at Mikel Arteta, the Arsenal coach". The pundit chuckled.

"Since then, Man City have been a shadow of their former selves. Some say its karma but the fact remains that their squad comprises of veteran players that have won a lot of trophies in the game".

"You can't really brutally criticize a club with talents at the level of Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden, and Bernardo Silva in their ranks, most especially after their success in recent years".

"Another thing though, we're used to other football clubs having an off season but for Man City and maybe Real Madrid too, we automatically view these 2 football clubs as above every other club".

"That is why we're being extra critical of Man City this season. I still feel that it's the lag and fatigue of their incredible success in recent seasons finally settling in".

"I believe that next season, the Pep Guardiola juggernaut will be off again".

"Who knows? Maybe we won't even have to wait that long, maybe they'll just go ahead to create an upset against Arsenal".

"Or there's always the scenario of Arsenal simply blowing them out of the way". Max chuckled in a good-natured manner. "Either way it goes, it will be an extremely exciting clash to neutral fans, this is why I rate it as the most anticipated and exciting game of matchday 24".

"And of course, a lot of people these days want to watch Liverpool play. The Egyptian King is putting together a season even greater than his legendary debut season for Liverpool, seeing him in action is a treat to fans".

"The odds are on them to extend their lead at the summit of the premier league table".

"And of course Fulham". Saying to this point, Max grinned. "There have been a lot of rumors swirling around in Fulham these days".

Hearing that, Charles laughed. "Do you think they're just rumors? Didn't you watch the video?"

"I did but that's it, just a video".

"We're in an era of revolutionary A.I and bots. I won't be surprised if that video was photoshopped and created in a lab, technology is capable of just about anything these days".

"Besides, neither Sam in any of his social media platforms nor Fulham have released any official news about the rumors".

"Some feel that they're just using it to create hype around their team again to distract from their recent run of less than impressive results, they believe that Fulham were the ones who created the video".

"There's so many Sam conspiracy theories flying about these days". Max chuckled again.

"So, what do you think Max?" Charles looked at the pundit.

Hearing that, the premier league pundit rubbed his chin. "What I think? I don't really think anything, I just want Sam to recover as fast as possible".

"From the beginning, I've never shied from it. All I needed was to watch the young Nigerian prodigy in action a few times and I'm his number 1 fan". He laughed.

"Despite all of that, in the end, no matter how much I want to believe it, the truth is that it is impossible to recover from such a cruciate ankle injury so fast".

"It's just like Rodri's injury, hoping that because Man City is going through such a rough patch of form, the Spaniard suddenly recovers from his ACL injury to help the team".

"Yeah, Man City fans do wish though but it'll always remain that, just wishes".

"I think that's the same situation with Sam".

"All of you seem to forget but Sam actually had a surgery!" His voice rose up a crescendo for emphasis as he said this. "Do you all think it's normal to recover from a surgery in just a month?"

"In the end, yeah," he nodded. "Though I hate to admit it, I have a stronger belief that they're just rumors created by Fulham fans to comfort themselves.

"We still have 3 more months before we'll see Sam on the pitch again".

"As for their fixture itself, Newcastle United against Fulham is going to be an absolutely exciting matchup.

"Newcastle United is currently having somewhat of a mixed season, but of course, they'll relish the opportunity to take points off a weakened Fulham at home. So yeah, my money is on Newcastle winning the game".

Hearing that, Charles chuckled. "Max, Sam won't like that".

The pundit shook his head. "Sorry buddy, if you don't like that, you better work hard to return to the pitch as soon as possible".

Chuckling again, Charles, the host paid attention to the camera one last time. "And that, fans, is our take before we delve into the action of matchday 24".

"Stay tuned and don't miss an inch of the action!"

…

These days, the media and a lot of attention was on Fulham.

Some of the veteran players in Fulham missed the days when they were just side characters in the premier league. These days, they were one of the protagonists that fans and paparazzi stalked, wanting to get information from.

And in recent days, it was always one question. "Is it true that Sam is back from his injury?"

"Where is he?"

"Why has he not made an appearance in public yet?"

"Will he play in the game against Newcastle United?"

From just pestering, all the stalking and questioning quickly grew annoying but the Fulham players learned to cope with it.

The reason why all of them kept quiet was simple. Coach Marco Silva had no intentions of announcing the sudden recovery of his star player to the world, he wanted to use Sam's return as a hidden trump card in the Newcastle game.

Though the Newcastle United coach was more inclined to believe that it was just propaganda by Fulham, he won't stop worrying about the hidden threat of a returning Sam. All in all, it was part of Coach Marco Silva's psychological warfare in the buildup to the game.

After the run of results in recent weeks, this coach was ready to use any means to get his team back to consistent winning ways.

While the outside world was left in the dark, speculating and asking questions, the same thing could not be said about the Fulham players though.

Fulham training was now behind closed-doors in preparation for the Newcastle United game and that was where they re-bonded with their superstar teammate, Samuel Moses.

Sam was just returning from injury and he just started closed-door training with them, it was clear that he was not in perfect football shape yet.

He was lacking a bit of sharpness but it didn't really show much, this was because with Sam's return, the positive vibes returned to training.

Even when he was not fully fit, Sam still loved training.

And with his return, his teammates loved training again.

Noticing this change, Coach Marco Silva truly felt blessed. "I think I may have used all my luck in another life to get to coach a player like Sam". He muttered, overwhelmed by emotions.

Just like that, taking it one day at a time, the suddenly more positive Fulham team trained as they prepared for their next game.

And just like that, in no time, D-day was here.

It was February 1st…

Just like expected, both teams started with their strongest lineups, approaching this game with the intention to claim all 3 points as the battle for this season final table placement grew hotter.

And when Fulham's squad for the game was dropped by Coach Marco Silva 30 minutes into the game, the premier league was shocked.

Samuel Moses… was part of the squad lineup!