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The 'Celebrate Me' crooner is one of Africa's biggest celebrity football fans and has never hidden his love for the Emirates outfit on social media.
Nigerian dancehall artiste Patoranking has been known to be an ardent supporter of Arsenal.
The 32-year-old singer and songwriter has never been shy of publicly drumming support for the Gunners whenever they are in action.
He has often times been seen cheering on specific members of the team via his social media account regardless of the situation the Gunners find themselves in.
The dancehall hitmaker was present at the Emirates during Arsenal’s disappointing defeat against Manchester City on Wednesday night, February 15, in the Premier League.
Arsenal 1-3 Manchester City: As it happened
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The Gunners missed a crucial chance to go six points clear of the defending champions who are now firmly in the quest for a third consecutive league title.
Kevin de Bruyne opened the scoring for the Cityzens in the 24th minute, before Ederson’s howler saw Arsenal awarded a penalty 17 minutes later.
Bukayo Saka stepped up and placed the ball exactly where Ederson expected him to but the City shot-stopper could only watch as it hit the back of the net.
Both teams went into the break one goal apiece with either side determined to get all three points after the restart.
City thought they had a penalty in the 58th minute with Erling Haaland ready to strike but VAR eventually ruled it out.
However, Guardiola’s team’s resilience would see them restore their lead once more with Jack Grealish firing home for the visitors in the 72nd minute to put City 2-1 up.
Arsenal sought to level the playing field once more, but the difference in quality between both teams saw the defending champions jubilate once more.
Erling Haaland would not be denied this time in the 82nd minute, firing home for City’s third of the encounter.
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In the end it finished Arsenal 1-3 Manchester City at the Emirates with City back on top of the summit on goal difference, and level on points with Arsenal, who had been landed a significant blow in the title race.
Patoranking opens up on love for Arsenal, relationship with Thomas Partey
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The Nigerian singer was at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday and gave his pre-match thoughts ahead of the crucial clash in the title race.
“The energy is high..nerves…I’m a very religious person so…prayers gone up as well.” he told The Breakdown Live.
When asked about his favourite Arsenal player, he answered:
“It’s countles…you know. It’s hard. I end up having a fave every two weeks..you know.
“After every game..you know…I love Zinchenko, TP(Thomas Partey) is my guy…every one of them. Inasmuch as you’re on that red and white shirt, Trust me I’m a fan”.
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Patoranking also admitted his happiness about Arsenal’s position this season, despite the recent run of disappointing results.
“Yeah..most definitely.” he said when asked if he’s happy about Arsenal’s performances in the Premier League this season.
He also spoke about his relationship with Arsenal’s Ghanaian midfield star Thomas Partey who missed the encounter due to injury.
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“Yeah, he’s my guy. We link(up)..like outside the whole thing. Big ups TP5!!.” he said.
‘We’re definitely gonna win though, he’s with us in spirit. So sad that I got to hear about the news in the car and I was like..I don’t know how to feel but I was just positive.”
The ‘Celebrate me’ hitmaker predicted for Arsenal to win the Manchester City 3-1, and also spoke about the Gunners connection with its Nigerian fanbase, citing the club’s style of play as a key reason why there’s so many supporters in Nigeria and even Africa.
“I think it’s way bigger than Nigeria,” he said.
He continued: “We got lots of fans from Nigeria and Africa. I think it’s close to 10 million Africans?..you know.
“I would say..Is it the style of play? Because you don’t wanna spend two hours on screen on Saturday and you’re bored.”
Who is Patoranking?
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Patrick Nnaemeka Okorie popularly known as ‘Patoranking’, is a Nigerian reggae-dancehall singer and songwriter.
The multi-award winning music star is one of the most popular artistes in Africa due to his exquisite brand of music.
Patoranking is famous for hits like ‘Girlie O’, ‘Abule’, 'No Kissing Baby','Available', 'Love you die', 'Heal the World', 'Celebrate Me’, 'Suh different', amongst a host of other records.
He previously said, in 2020 that he once got inspiration for song on a football pitch while playing football and he is one of the biggest Arsenal supporters in Nigeria.
Patoranking is also one of the Nigerian artistes that performed at the FIFA Fan Fest 2022 at the World Cup in Qatar.
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