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On Saturday, Ghanaian brothers Jordan and Andre Ayew faced up against each other for the first time in the Premier League as Aston Villa welcomed Swansea City to Villa Park, and the latter scored the wining goal in a 2-1 Swans victory which ultimately cost Villains boss Tim Sherwood his job.
But the pair had spent the majority of their careers playing together at Ligue 1 side Marseille, where Andre spent eight years, whilst his brother Jordan spent four years.
During his time at Marseille, Andre spent a season on loan at Lorient, and this would be the first time the brothers would face each other on opposing sides, before a return to the Stade Vélodrome.
But last season was the first time the duo would face each other on a permanent basis for the first time as younger brother Jordan made a switch to Lorient. And with Marseille battling it out at the top of Ligue 1 and Lorient looking to avoid the drop, Jordan had the last laugh when the sides met in April as he scored twice in an impressive 3-5 victory at the Stade Vélodrome. Andre managed to net for Marseille, but the defeat ultimately cost Les Phocéens their chance of the title, whilst for Les Merlus it was the catalyst result to their Ligue 1 survival.
At the end of the season, Andre Ayew, who had netted 10 goals in the league for Marseille, made the switch the the Premier League after joining Garry Monk’s Swansea City. Undeterred by his older brothers transfer, Jordan, who scored an impressive twelve goals for Lorient, also made the move, joining beaten FA Cup finalists Aston Villa.
It’s fair to say that both Andre and Swansea have had the better start to the season in the Premier League. He has netted five goals from ten appearances and won the August Player of the Month award, whilst Jordan has scored just once from six appearances, with Villa sitting around the bottom three for large parts of the season.
Despite their differences of seasons, the pair made Premier League history at the weekend as they became the first African siblings to score in an English domestic game. Jordan opened the scoring for Villa, his first goal for the club, but after Gylfi Sigurdsson leveled for the Swans, Andre netted the winner late on.
And considering how many top class sets of brothers, including Rio and Anton Ferdinand, Yaya and Kolo Toure, Gary and Phil Neville and Fabio and Rafael Da Silva to name a few, have faced each other, the Ghanaian brothers have taken little time to light up the Premier League, particularly Andre, and I’m sure both will go on to have a successful season.
