Man Utd To Lose, Arsenal To Shock City, Rema Predicts All EPL Games

Nigerian Afrobeats star Rema might be a Manchester United fan but that has not prevented him from tipping the Red Devils to lose when they take on Newcastle United at St James’ Park on Saturday.

The 20-year-old star was a guest on the BBC’s Football Focus where he pitted his wits against former Liverpool defender Mark Lawrenson in making predictions for all matchday five Premier League games.

Rema, whose real name is Divine Ikubor, revealed his love affair with United was ignited by his elder brother who always used them to beat him when they played football video games as kids while growing up in Benin City.

“I love United because of him,” Rema told BBC Sport. “He used to play FIFA against me as United, and he would always win – so I always saw them as the winning team!

“We ended up having arguments over who would get to play as them – but, when I got the chance, I got attached to players like Carlos Tevez, Cristiano Ronaldo, Edwin van der Sar and Wayne Rooney, before I even saw them play in real life.”

United now have Odion Ighalo – who like Rema is an Edo State native – in their ranks and the striker could be in line to make his first start in the league for the Red Devils with Anthony Martial and Edinson Cavani both unavailable.

But despite the presence of his countryman in the squad, with United enjoying a torrid start to the season after two losses in three games, Rema has predicted Steve Bruce’s Newcastle to run out with a 3-1 win against Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men.

“I know we’re not doing so good at the moment,” he added. “Not compared to those days anyway. The way things are going this season, I am not too happy.”

Rema whose songs were included in the soundtrack for Fifa 21 when it was released last month also tipped Arsenal to shock Manchester City at the Etihad while he predicted that Liverpool will come out on top in the Merseyside Derby.

The Dumebi crooner also revealed that Super Eagles legend Austin Jay-Jay Okocha was his favourite player.

“Jay-Jay was my favourite. I idolised him and I wanted to be a striker too, but sadly I would always end up in goal because I wasn’t that good,” he said.