Chelsea of England winger, Victor Moses appears to be putting in extra work to egt a shirt for Saturday’s London derby against Arsenal, or is so busy running round in search of a new club, such that he ended up skipping a rare night of watching basketball in the British capital.
Footballlive.ng gathered that, while several London-based football stars gathered at The O2 Arena to watch America’s latest NBA live match outside God’s Own Country, Moses was missing among the numbers.
Fellow-Nigerian, Alex Iwobi joined a handful of Arsenal pals at the game, which came less than 72 hours to their potentially explosive derby with Moses’ club at Emirates Stadium.
However, players from both rival clubs put aside their differences for once to gather for the night of basketball action, minus Moses, as the ninth installment of the annual NBA regular season game in London saw Washington Wizards ‘host’ New York Knicks.
While the match sold out in an under an hour when tickets went on sale back in October, that did not stop some famous faces attending, as many players from other London clubs also joined the spree, without Moses.
There was a strong contingent of Arsenal players past and present, as The Gunners took a break from their preparations against The Blues, who are fourth on the EPL log and six points ahead of their bitter rivals.
Arsenal Defenders Hector Bellerin, Shkodran Mustafi, Carl Jenkinson and midfielder Lucas Torreira were all present enjoying the Eastern Conference spectacle, as were forwards Alex Iwobi, Alex Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
The septuplet could face Ruben Loftus-Cheek at Emirates, but there was no animosity when the Chelsea midfielder crossed paths with them, stopping to have a chat with Arsenal midfielder, Matteo Guendouzi.
The London rivals meet in a clash which could have a major bearing on their UEFA Champions League qualifications, which would have played on the minds of the players, even when the basketball was in full swing.
Loftus-Cheek’s team-mate, Andreas Christensen attended the game alongside his girlfriend, Katrine Friis, while Blues left back, Marcos Alonso and midfielder Ethan Ampadu also managed to secure tickets.
Former Arsenal centre back, Per Mertesacker was also attending and even popped his head in to listen to NBA commissioner, Adam Silver’s pre-game press conference.
Mertesacker is the head of Arsenal’s youth academy but snubbed their Youth Cup match to be a television pundit at the O2.
West Ham United’s pair Michail Antonio and Lukasz Fabianski as well as Crystal Palace duo Patrick van Aanholt and Christian Benteke were also spectators at the NBA game outside America.
Footballers from the north west also ventured south, with the injured Joe Gomez back in his hometown.
The Liverpool defender is currently injured with a broken leg but took time out from his rehabilitation to enjoy an evening of NBA in person.
Fresh from keeping a clean sheet against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, Manchester United defender, Victor Lindelof was also back in London to watch the NBA encounter, but his name sake, Victor Moses was not to be found anywhere near the crowd.
