{"id":24460,"date":"2025-09-28T13:49:23","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T13:49:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/?p=24460"},"modified":"2025-09-28T13:49:23","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T13:49:23","slug":"aston-villa-v-fulham-premier-league-live-premier-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/?p=24460","title":{"rendered":"Aston Villa v Fulham: Premier League \u2013 live | Premier League"},"content":{"rendered":"

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45+3 min <\/strong>Iwobi coaxes a decent ball over the top and into the middle for the marauding Lukic, whose first touch is poor, taking him wide. But he recomposes, squaring for Wilson, who can\u2019t quite dig the ball out from under his feet, poking a shot wide.<\/p>\n

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45+1 min <\/strong>Silva, on a rolling boil now, is booked for mouth after complaining about a booking handed to Wilson for a foul.<\/p>\n

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45 min <\/strong>We\u2019ll have eight additional minutes, most of them for the treatment Jimenez took prior to departing injured.<\/p>\n

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44 min <\/strong>Villa like that ball over the top and McGinn clips a beauty seeking Rogers, running in behind, but he can\u2019t quite take it down as it drops over his shoulder. Still, though, this is much better from the home side; Fulham could do with half-time.<\/p>\n

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42 min <\/strong>Marco Silva will be seething \u2013 a phrase I might stick on my clipboard \u2013 at the penalties his side didn\u2019t get. For what it\u2019s worth, I don\u2019t think either satisfied what should be a high bar for an 80% chance of a goal, though the handball in particular is one we\u2019ve seen given.<\/p>\n

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41 min <\/strong>Villa needed that goal badly \u2013 they\u2019ve been third-best in this game so far. Now they have it, though, the onus is on them to push the pace, and that\u2019s what they\u2019re trying to do, Fulham pinned back for the first time.<\/p>\n

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39 min <\/strong>VAR wants to see if Watkins was offside \u2026 and he wasn\u2019t!<\/p>\n

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GOAL! Aston Villa 1-1 Fulham (Watkins 38)<\/h2>\n

RELEASE! Digne clips a good long pass over the top, Watkins running in behind and away from Bassey. But really, the ball shouldn\u2019t get anywhere near him because Andersen os underneath it, somehow clearing fresh air so, as Leno comes out, Watkins loops a terrific finish over him, ending the drought! Villa are level!<\/p>\n

<\/span>Bonza: Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins celebrates scoring their first goal.<\/span> Photograph: Andrew Boyers\/Action Images\/ReutersShare<\/p>\n

Updated at\u00a009.46 EDT<\/p>\n

36 min <\/strong>We see a graphic telling us that Watkins has touched the ball twice in 35 minutes; the same as Jimenez, who\u2019s been off for half an hour. As Chris Sutton notes, his penalty in midweek was that of a man bereft of confidence, so he ought to have whacked it with his laces \u2013 likewise Bruno Fernandes yesterday, given how long he had to wait before taking it and how goods Caiomhin Kelleher is at saving them.<\/p>\n

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35 min <\/strong>But Villa pick up the loose ball, pump it into the box again, and when another clearance drops to the edge, Cash leathers way over the top.<\/p>\n

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34 min <\/strong>Rogers is starting to assert himself, holding off then running away from Lukic, who introduces him to grass and is booked. Free-kick Villa, 30 yards out, almost in line with the corner of the box; McGinn will swing in \u2026 and Wilson will head away.<\/p>\n

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32 min <\/strong>Pau Torres replaces Mings, so Villa lose a bit of physicality but now have a better passer to help them build the play.<\/p>\n

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31 min <\/strong>The first flash of Rogers, who wriggles past a challenge on halfway and finds Elliott, dashing into position for a return \u2026 but the ball goes backwards. Villa need to take more risks in possession because currently, Fulham are keeping them out of the box pretty easily.<\/p>\n

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30 min <\/strong>Jimenez has sustained an adductor injury, we\u2019re told, and another with knack is Mings; on the touchline, Pau Torres is getting stripped.<\/p>\n

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28 min <\/strong>\u201cIn the interests of balance,\u201d begins Paul Oakes, \u201cI\u2019m expecting a detailed review of the expensive bit of Villa Park\u2019s catering offer, as today\u2019s Grace Dent review is a restaurant inside Craven Cottage, and not on a match day! Features a really weird attempted deception as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

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26 min <\/strong>Looking again at the King booking, he goes to ground before Martinez\u2019s challenge comes; if he\u2019d stayed up, he\u2019d have been cleaned out, and that would\u2019ve been a penalty.<\/p>\n

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24 min <\/strong>King is an absolute menace, twinkling in off the right, skipping across McGinn and shooting; Cash, spreading his body to block, wears the shot on his hand. Naturally Fulham want a penalty, but the ref turns them down \u2026 and so does VAR, I guess because the defender wasn\u2019t looking at where the ball came from, so couldn\u2019t do much to get out of the way. It\u2019s a marginal one.<\/p>\n

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23 min <\/strong>Lovely from Fulham, Castagne and Wilson combining nicely to release Traore, who moves on to King; he drives towards into the box, goes down as Martinez comes out, and is booked for diving. I can\u2019t argue with that, though I\u2019m sure he\u2019d run the anticipating contact defence.<\/p>\n

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22 min <\/strong>\u201cPoints of pedantry,\u201d begins Benjamin Gravestock, \u201cbut VP\u2019s camera viewpoint is in the Doug Ellis Stand not the Trinity Road one\u2026<\/p>\n

Can\u2019t really blame you – I once was involved in considering the club as a venue for a corporate event, and was startled to see VP was mirrored in their own brochure, with all the stands in the wrong place\u2026!<\/p>\n

Other Villa thoughts: our issues with wing-back systems really haunted us with Crystal Palace and Manchester United at the end of last season, and I think Rashford being shoehorned in unbalanced the side slightly. Morgan Rogers\u2019 club decline started after being pushed into the wider forward role by the presence of Asensio, too. Asensio created and scored enough that it didn\u2019t really matter, but Rogers\u2019 seems to still be struggling to adapt either to being wide or being back in the middle.<\/p>\n

I still think this squad is good. The summer was frustrating, but if we can just keep going I think it\u2019ll come back to us eventually. Personally I\u2019m not among the bubbling Emery-doubters – this is certainly the best squad I\u2019ve seen in my 30 years of following, and whilst no one can argue they\u2019re playing well, I have faith!\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s odd \u2013 I checked, and Google told me the dugouts, opposite our view, are in the Doug. On Rashford, I totally didn\u2019t buy the line we were fed that he was good at Villa, he wasn\u2019t \u2013 and I don\u2019t think the players were impressed with or by him either \u2013 and agree there\u2019s a good side in there.<\/p>\n

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19 min <\/strong>Fulham\u2019s attackers run the channels really well, and the balls down the line to bring them into play are hit really accurately. One finds Traore, who can\u2019t make anything of it, but the tactic is giving them plenty of joy, and I see no reason why that won\u2019t continue given how high Villa defend.<\/p>\n

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Updated at\u00a009.21 EDT<\/p>\n

18 min <\/strong>A poor touch from Bassey, followed by a poor, panicked pass, allows McGinn to steal the ball on the edge of the box, and he\u2019s in! But opening his body, his curler wafts wide, and that\u2019s a really good chance spurned.<\/p>\n

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16 min <\/strong>McGinn delivers left-footed \u2013 why aren\u2019t more players able to take with both feet? \u2013 and Elliott peels away to the back post, clearly a planned move, then lashes back across, so Sessegnon blocks behind. The second corner comes to nowt.<\/p>\n

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15 min <\/strong>We\u2019ve barely seen Villa as an attacking force. So far, the game is going exactly as Fulham want it \u2013 though, as I type, Guessand wins a corner down the right.<\/p>\n

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14 min <\/strong>Castagne humps a long pass forward and Wilson, who looks not unlike Fernando Torres, is in hectares. I\u2019m pretty sure he went early, and sure enough the flag goes up for offside once he\u2019s taken a bum touch and poked a shot wide of the near post.<\/p>\n

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12 min <\/strong>I said earlier I was looking forward to seeing Josh King today, and he diddles Bogarde on the touchline by allowing the ball to run through his legs, then drives towards the box. He\u2019s got Traore alongside but he wants his first goal, opening his body to shoot low \u2026 and too close to Martinez. So far, he\u2019s been the best player on the pitch.<\/p>\n

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11 min <\/strong>Ach, Jimenez has to go off; he\u2019s replaced by Adama Traore. I\u2019m not yet sure if he\u2019ll go up front, but we\u2019ll soon see.<\/p>\n

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10 min <\/strong>By the looks of things, Jimenez landed awkwardly when leaping to score. Life!<\/p>\n

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8 min <\/strong>Jimenez is down and looks in a fair bit of pain. With Muniz injured, Fulham don\u2019t have much to bring on in the way of direct replacement if he can\u2019t continue.<\/p>\n

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6 min <\/strong>It\u2019s giving me so much naches to see set-pieces taken so well. This really shouldn\u2019t be a fresh or retro development in the game \u2013 I\u2019ve no idea why they were so widely ignored for so long. And the near-post corner, perfected by Anders Limpar and Steve Bould at Arsenal, is almost undefendable when done properly \u2013 a hard, flat cross, a flick-on, and bodies charging the middle of the six-yard box to bundle in. Glorious.<\/p>\n

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5 min <\/strong>And it isn\u2019t. Fulham lead, and Villa need to find some confidence from somewhere.<\/p>\n

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4 min <\/strong>VAR wants a look at the goal; McGinn claimed he was fouled by Berge, but it\u2019s clear immediately that they were wrestling each other. I\u2019d be shocked if this was ruled out.<\/p>\n

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Updated at\u00a009.10 EDT<\/p>\n

GOAL! Aston Villa 0-1 Fulham (Jim\u00e9nez 3)<\/h2>\n

Lukic swings a powerful cross towards the far post and Jim\u00e9nez, dashing across the face of the six-yard box, guides a beautiful cushioned header into the far side-netting. More grief for Villa.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Fulham’s Raul Jimenez (centre) heads his teams first goal.<\/span> Photograph: Jacob King\/PAShare<\/p>\n

Updated at\u00a009.23 EDT<\/p>\n

3 min <\/strong>Now Fulham attack with King, who finds himself down the left side of the box, in space. He feeds Sessegnon, whose cross is blocked behind.<\/p>\n

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2 min <\/strong>There we go, Watkins attacks the space in behind, but Guessand takes a touch too many, so up goes the flag.<\/p>\n

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1 min <\/strong>I do not like this Villa Park camera angle \u2013 it\u2019s way too high. Someone needs to trim the Trinity Road Stand.<\/p>\n

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Updated at\u00a009.01 EDT<\/p>\n

1 min <\/strong>Aaaand away we go!<\/p>\n

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\u2026and here they come!<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Our players are tunnelled\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

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It\u2019s really great to see Ryan Sessegnon playing regularly.<\/strong> He was, of course, lauded as a stellar talent when really young, but struggled to establish himself at Spurs. I\u2019m not totally confident in his defensive work, but I\u2019m excited to see what he can do going forward.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s been a poor start to the season for Morgan Rogers<\/strong>, but given how well he played for England \u2013 admittedly against limited opposition \u2013 I wonder if his club travails are closely related to the absence of Tielemans. I also wonder if he\u2019d expected to leave Villa this summer \u2013 I heard from someone I trust that he was off to Chelsea \u2013 and if that unsettled him. I guess it\u2019s also the case that teams are wiser to him now \u2013 there\u2019s a saying I\u2019ve not heard for a while that you get your first season for free, and maybe he needs to adjust his game a little because opposition teams will be making specific plans for him.<\/p>\n

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What are we calling Harvey Elliott\u2019s hairdo?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span> Photograph: Scott Heppell\/Reuters<\/p>\n

I\u2019m going for shaggy step, and also enjoy the way his headphones turn his ear into a heart-shape.<\/p>\n

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Marco Silva tells Sky that Tete and Muniz are injured but that the team are \u201cin a very good moment\u201d having won one cup and two league games \u2013<\/strong> and they were the better side at Chelsea, even though they lost. But they\u2019re playing a really good side who have a really good manager.<\/p>\n

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I really enjoyed Ezri Konsa\u2019s post-Bologna interview. <\/strong>He seems like an extremely sound lad.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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Email! <\/strong>\u201cThank you for your kind, and deserved, words about Fulham and Marco Silva,\u201d begins Richard Hirst. \u201cAs a lover of Bob Dylan you\u2019ve always been known as a man of great discernment, other than in your support of Man Utd. On that note, I\u2019m interested in your views of whether Marco is the kind of manager United could do with; has a clear tactical plan but is willing to be flexible and certainly won\u2019t be pictured staring helplessly at the turf or not watching penalties? Marco\u2019s contract expires at the end of this season and I imagine he\u2019ll walk if he doesn\u2019t get Fulham into Europe, and quite possibly even if he does.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure: managers have different strengths, and it might be that his is what he\u2019s doing now. I think he\u2019s got the aggression you need to manage the biggest clubs, but I\u2019m not certain he whether he can coach a side to dominate the ball, or whether anyone in the world can turn United into anything resembling a football team.<\/p>\n

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Les Ferdinand, in the Sky studio,<\/strong> has just ranked Eberechi Eze in the top five players he ever played with, even though he didn\u2019t play with him, and there can be no higher praise than that.<\/p>\n

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Also going on:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Where is the game? <\/strong>The way to get at Fulham is in wide areas, especially in the absence of the excellent Antonee Robinson. Villa, though, don\u2019t have much in the way of wingers, so will, I imagine look to their full-backs to get around the outside. Otherwise, they\u2019ll want Ollie Watkins to dart in behind \u2013 and, when crosses come in, attack the near post, with Elliott and Morgan Rogers looking for cut-backs.<\/p>\n

Fulham, meanwhile, will look to defend deepish, then spring into counters. I\u2019m looking forward to seeing how Josh King gets on \u2013 he, Harry Wilson and Alex Iwobi are all decent dribblers \u2013 and with his striker\u2019s instinct, he\u2019ll also look to get shots off and pick up second balls. I\u2019m sure they\u2019ll also target the space in behind Digne and Matt E. Cash, while Jim\u00e9nez might play on Mings, who isn\u2019t always the best marker.<\/p>\n

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Harvey Elliott says the midweek win was needed and lifted spirits.<\/strong> They\u2019ve been fighting but \u201csome things haven\u2019t clicked\u201d and they\u2019re hoping to put on a performance in front of their own fans.<\/p>\n

Emery recently spoke about him taking time to adapt last week; he took no offence, takes it in his stride, listens to what he\u2019s told, and needs to put the advice into practise, not forcing things on the pitch.<\/p>\n

The newer players want to help the team, and there are already some incredible ones in the team who haven\u2019t find form. As long as they stick together they can \u201cachieve many things\u201d and he\u2019s looking forward to showing that in the game.<\/p>\n

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As for Fulham, they make two changes: <\/strong>Timothy Castagne replaces Kenny Tete at right-back while, up front, Ra\u00fal Jim\u00e9nez is in for Rodrigo Muniz.<\/p>\n

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So looking at his team in more detail,<\/strong> Emi Mart\u00ednez, injured in midweek, is back in net while, at the back, Emery reverts to the back four which started against Sunderland, so Ian Maatsen and Pau Torres drop out, with Tyrone Mings and Lucas Digne returning. Then, in midfield, Lamare Bogarde comes in for Boubacar Kamara, not in the squad so presumably injured, and Harvey Elliott making his first Villa start in place of Emi Buend\u00eda.<\/p>\n

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Unai Emery tells Sky that his team are happy to play in front of their supporters and are feeling strong.<\/strong> They need to play with energy, intensity and intelligence, showing their identity.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s giving Harvey Elliott a chance to show he\u2019s adapted to his new surroundings, and he can feel comfortable in his surroundings, trying to link the play \u2013 while working hard, as every player needs to.<\/p>\n

Otherwise, he wants Morgan Rogers to look forward and rediscover his form of last season, and thinks Marco Silva is one of the best managers around.<\/p>\n

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Teams!<\/h2>\n

Aston Villa (4-2-3-1): <\/strong>Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Mings, Digne; McGinn, Bogarde; Guessand, Elliott, Rogers; Watkins. Subs: <\/strong>Bizot, Kamara, Maatsen, Pau, Sancho, Buendia, Lindelof, Malen, Burrowes.<\/p>\n

Fulham (4-2-3-1): <\/strong>Leno; Castagne, Andersen, Bassey, Sessegnon,; Berge, Lukic; Wilson, King, Iwobi; Jim\u00e9nez. Subs: <\/strong>Lecomte, Cuenca, Robinson, Reed, Cairney, Smith Rowe, Adama, Chukwueze, Kevin.<\/p>\n

Referee: <\/strong>Andy Madley (Huddersfield)<\/p>\n

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Preamble<\/h2>\n

If all the words written and spoken about the Premier League were put next to each other, they\u2019d stretch all the way to Uranus and back a total of 979,398,922,301 times. Yet if all the words written and spoken about Fulham were put next to each other, they\u2019d barely stretch all the way to your, er … nose.<\/p>\n

Frankly, it\u2019s an absolute travesty. Marco Silva is doing a fantastic job with limited resources, guiding his side to yet another solid start to a season, and they\u2019ll fancy themselves to put it on Villa this afternoon. Their strength is founded centrally, the centre-back pairing of Joachim Andersen and Calvin Bassey, protected by midfield anchors Sasa Lukic and Sander Berge, giving them power, solidity and composure. Getting through them is not and will not be easy.<\/p>\n

Especially given Villa have just one point, having scored just once in the league this season. They did manage a dicey Europa win in midweek, which will give them a bit of confidence, but only a bit: they still looked a fair way off the side that have been so impressive \u2013 and so fun \u2013 since Unai Emery became manager. They, and he, are already under serious pressure; lose today and that will increase by several orders of magnitude.<\/p>\n

All of which is to say this should be an intense and fascinating contest \u2013 and it\u2019s live!<\/p>\n

Kick-off: 2pm BST<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Updated at\u00a008.05 EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Key events Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature 45+3 min Iwobi coaxes a decent ball over the top and into the middle for the marauding Lukic, whose first touch is poor, taking him wide. But he recomposes, squaring for Wilson, who can\u2019t quite dig the ball out from under<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24461,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[7075,10543,3504,132,1706,3098],"class_list":{"0":"post-24460","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-aston","9":"tag-fulham","10":"tag-league","11":"tag-live","12":"tag-premier","13":"tag-villa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}