Sports News of Wednesday, 27 December 2017

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Atsu 'stabs Ayew in the back'

Andre Ayew has a penalty saved by Rob Elliot Andre Ayew has a penalty saved by Rob Elliot

Newcastle ended a nine-game winless run thanks to Christian Atsu's 'betrayal' of his Ghana international colleague Andre Ayew.

Atsu chose loyalty to his club side Newcastle over his ties to Ghana after helping Newcastle United team-mate Rob Elliot save Andre Ayew's penalty in last Saturday’s Premier League clash at the London stadium.

The penalty miss ensured a 3-2 win over West Ham which afforded Newcastle fans to heave a sigh of relief and spared the coach who had a return to the Premier League any more bashing.

The scoreline could have been different for the Hammers, however, had Andre Ayew converted his penalty after the referee pointed to spot following Ciaran Clark’s late challenge on Michail Antonio.

Before Andre Ayew stepped up to take the penalty, Christian Atsu was seen in video footages that has now emerged talking to the Keeper.

It is believed he was lecturing the Newcastle stopper on which direction to go to save the penalty as his Ghanaian international compatriot looked set to pull one back for the Hammers.

With Elliot making the right move and denying Ayew, Toon fans were convinced that Atsu took advantage of his time with his the striker during national duty to second guess where he would strike the ball.

Andre Ayew later made amends for the penalty missed by scoring West Ham's second in the game that only ended as a consolation goal.