LIVERPOOL: Liverpool are looking more and more like Manchester City’s main title rivals after beating resurgent Chelsea 2-1 on Sunday to stay top of the Premier League table.
After City needed an injury-time header from John Stones to beat last-placed Wolves 2-1 in the early kickoff, Liverpool answered with a composed performance at Anfield to hand Chelsea their first league loss since the opening round.
Having seen third-placed Arsenal lose at Bournemouth on Saturday to raise questions about the Gunners’ title hopes, Liverpool and City took full advantage to build a small gap atop the standings. Arne Slot’s team leads on 21 points from eight games, one ahead of City and four above Arsenal.
It was Slot’s most significant win at Anfield so far and prevented Chelsea from moving into third place, with the visitors remaining sixth instead.
“Many other games were hard but this might have been the hardest maybe, because of the amount of quality players they (Chelsea) have and the structure they have,” Slot said. “We had to fight really hard to get this one over the line.”
Curtis Jones orchestrated the win for Liverpool, earning a penalty for Mohamed Salah’s first-half opener and then scoring himself to restore the host’s lead in the 51st minute, shortly after Nicolas Jackson had equalized for Chelsea.
Jones also thought he had earned a second penalty in first-half injury time, but it was overturned after a VAR review judged that Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez got the ball before bundling over the Liverpool player.
But he capped a stellar performance by beating the offside trap to get on the end of a ball into the box from Salah and slot in the winner.
“As soon as Mo had the ball I made the run, but it bounced so I had to have a touch, and then thankfully it went in,” Jones said.
Liverpool was the last team other than City to win the title, in 2019-20, and pushed Pep Guardiola’s team to the very end several times under Jurgen Klopp before finishing just fifth two years ago and a distant third last season.
In Slot’s first season in charge, though, the Reds are looking like credible challengers again and have now won 10 of 11 games in all competitions.
And City are looking far from unbeatable, needing another last-gasp goal from Stones to avoid a third league draw in four games against a Wolves team that only has one point so far.
It also needed a VAR intervention for the goal to stand, as referee Chris Kavanagh was called to the sideline monitor to review whether Bernardo Silva was interfering with goalkeeper Jose Sa from an offside position.
“We are not used to winning games at the end,” said Guardiola, whose team has won four straight league titles by regularly overwhelming most opponents. “It is a good flavor for us.”
It also extended City’s unbeaten streak to a club-record 31 league games, beating a mark Guardiola’s team had set in 2018.
With prolific striker Erling Haaland held scoreless for a third straight league game, City’s defenders provided the goals instead after Jorgen Strand Larsen had given the hosts a surprising early lead in the seventh minute.
Josko Gvardiol curled in a superb right-foot shot from outside the area to equalize in the 33rd minute but Wolves then repelled wave after wave of City attacks before the late intervention from Stones, who also netted a last-gasp equalizer against Arsenal in the eighth minute of injury time last month.
“These moments don’t come often for us,” Stones said. “We’ve come up with a few over the years and today was one of them.”
Slot hails ‘hardest’ win as Liverpool stay above victorious City by beating Chelsea
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Slot hails ‘hardest’ win as Liverpool stay above victorious City by beating Chelsea
- Third-placed Arsenal lost at Bournemouth on Saturday, leaving Liverpool and City the main title rivals early on in the season
Leclerc wins US Grand Prix and late penalty gives Verstappen 3rd place over Norris in title chase
- Verstappen stretched his championship lead over Norris from 54 points to 57 with five grand prix and two sprint races left
- Leclerc earned his third win of the season and Ferrari pulled a 1-2 finish with his teammate Carlos Sainz in second
AUSTIN, Texas: Charles Leclerc gave Ferrari its first US Grand Prix victory since 2018 with a commanding drive Sunday, and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen strengthened his lead in the F1 season championship with a podium finish awarded by a late penalty on McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Verstappen finished third after Norris was given a five-second penalty for leaving the track to pass Verstappen in the final laps.
Norris’ pass came after the two drivers had battled for the final podium spot and critical championship points over several laps and Verstappen had stubbornly refused to give ground.
Verstappen immediately complained after Norris passed him. The McLaren driver insisted Verstappen also left the track.
“It was a tough battle. I tied to do everything I could to keep him behind. To be on the podium is a good result,” Verstappen said. “I have my opinion (on the penalty). I’ll let the stewards do their thing.”
The penalty and fourth place finish may cost Norris dearly in the title chase. Verstappen stretched his championship lead over Norris from 54 points to 57 with five grand prix and two sprint races left.
Leclerc earned his third win of the season and Ferrari pulled a 1-2 finish with his teammate Carlos Sainz in second. Kimi Raikkonen had been the last Ferrari winner at the Circuit of the Americas in 2018.
“We couldn’t have dreamed for better,” Leclerc said. “It was a bit of a lonely race, but a good kind of lonely.”
The bigger battle was raging behind them. Verstappen and Norris tangled at the start and fought over every inch of the track in the final dozen laps.
Verstappen has not won a grand prix since June and Norris has steadily chipped away at his lead as the Red Bull car has faded. Yet Verstappen still stretched his lead by five points over the weekend by also winning Saturday’s sprint race.
Norris leaves Austin knowing he squandered a big chance to gain ground. He had even earned pole position for Sunday’s race.
Verstappen started right beside him and the fireworks between the drivers ignited in the first turn.
Both cars run wide, leaving room for Leclerc to pounce on the opening. The Ferrari driver jumped from fourth and straight into the lead, and quickly drove off for the victory.
Norris complained Verstappen forced him off the track. It was just the start of a scrap they would rejoin late in the race.
Verstappen said he “enjoyed the battle today” and had little sympathy for Norris losing the podium. Verstappen noted he was stripped of a podium finish in Austin in 2017 for a pass that was determined to be illegal.
“I just tried to remain calm and bring the car to the end,” Verstappen said.
That was key. Norris’ pace late in the race was good enough that he could have given the place back to Verstappen and tried to pass him again.
Instead, Norris chose to try to stretch the gap ahead of Verstappen to more than five seconds to nullify the penalty. He only got to 4.1 seconds.
“He defends by going off-track, he overtakes by going off-track. But I’m not going to complain. Max drove well and he defended well, we had a good race together. But the rules are the rules.” Norris told Sky Sport F1.
McLaren team principal Andre Stella said race stewards “interfered with a beautiful piece of motorsport.”
“Both cars went off track so both cars gained an advantage,” Stella said. “It’s a shame because it cost us a podium.”
Hamilton misery
It was a race weekend to forget for Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton who once dominated at COTA.
Hamilton’s race ended on the second lap after poor qualifying left him starting from 17th. He quicky shoot up to 12th, then spun his car into gravel and retired. It was the first time the seven-time champion failed to finish a race in the US
Hamilton was disqualified from his second-place finish in 2023 after his car failed a postrace inspection. Hamilton has five wins at COTA but none since 2017. He will race for Ferrari next season.
Sunday wasn’t a total loss for Mercedes. George Russell started in pit lane after a crash in qualifying and stormed through the field to sixth.
“Thanks to everyone for fixing the car. Drinks on me tonight,” Russell said over team radio.
Team title
The 1-2 finish has pulled Ferrari within eight points of Red Bull in the lucrative team constructors championship and within 48 points of McLaren.
“We are still targeting the (team) title,” Leclerc said. “It’s an optimistic goal, but that’s what we’re here for.”
‘Once in a lifetime’ Kerr leads New Zealand to Women’s T20 World Cup triumph
- New Zealand captain Sophie Devine: We all know she is a once in a generation player
- The win came 14 years after the White Ferns lost to Australia by just three runs in the 2010 final
- They also lost to England in the 2009 championship match
DUBAI: New Zealand all-rounder Amelia Kerr reached new heights with a superb performance with bat and ball that led her team to their first ever Women’s T20 World Cup title as they beat South Africa by a commanding 32 runs in Sunday’s final in Dubai.
Kerr, who was named Player of the Match and Player of the Tournament, top-scored with 43 as New Zealand posted an imposing 158-5 in their 20 overs.
The 24-year-old from Wellington then took 3-24, crucially picking up the key wickets of Laura Wolvaardt and Anneke Bosch, to restrict South Africa to 126-9 in their 20 overs.
“We all know she is a once in a generation player,” said New Zealand captain Sophie Devine.
“What she was able to do tonight was incredible. Physically to do what she did with the bat, I think she can’t feel her legs.
“She is not a bad cricketer but the person that she is, the world is her oyster.”
Victory marked a sweet finish to Devine’s own career.
The win came 14 years after the White Ferns lost to Australia by just three runs in the 2010 final. They also lost to England in the 2009 championship match.
It also marks a remarkable change of form as they had lost 10 T20Is coming into the tournament. They had won just five of their previous 22 before their eye-catching win over India in their opening game.
“I started to dream last night about what it feels to hold the trophy with this team,” said Devine.
“The great thing about this group is we know what we have been trying to achieve in the last 15, 18, 24 months.
“We kept taking steps in right directions, you want momentum and we came to the World Cup on the back of 10 successive losses. But everyone starts on zero.”
For South Africa, who demolished six-time winners Australia in the semifinal, it made for a double disappointment having lost last year’s final to the Aussies in Cape Town.
“Our focus was just to reset, not get too ahead of ourselves,” said skipper Wolvaardt.
“We knew that we still had a really quality opponent in New Zealand to go and yeah, we just didn’t play our best cricket tonight.”
After being put in to bat, the New Zealand openers began aggressively with Suzie Bates, playing in her 334th international, making a rapid 32.
When Devine was leg before to Nadine de Klerk on review, the innings appeared to be faltering but the arrival of Brooke Halliday lifted the tempo as she added 57 in seven overs with Kerr for the fourth wicket.
Halliday hit three boundaries in her 38 but was dismissed when she picked out Bosch on the midwicket boundary.
Kerr slammed back-to-back boundaries off Mlaba before finding Tazmin Brits to fall for 43 from 38 balls.
Maddy Green, however, maintained the momentum with 12 off six balls including the only six of the innings.
Wolvaardt (33) and Brits (17) got South Africa off to a roaring start bringing up the 50 in the seventh over before three wickets fell in quick succssion.
Brits was caught by Green at long-on before Kerr in her second over removed both of South Africa’s main batters, Wolvaardt for 33 and Bosch, who had played so well in the win over Australia
South Africa had slumped to 64-3 and New Zealand were in command.
With the required run rate rising, South Africa’s middle and lower order, who have barely batted in this tournament, struggled to get going with wickets tumbling at regular intervals.
Kerr took a catch to remove Nadine de Klerk and then claimed a third wicket when Bates, arguably the outstanding fielder at the tournament, took her third catch of the innings to remove Annerie Dercksen. Kerr finished with a tournament-leading 15 wickets.
Fast bowler Rosemary Mair made her presence felt with 3-25 as the tail folded.
The last pair held out for the final over but could not prevent New Zealand from celebrating their first title.
Victory completed a memorable day for New Zealand cricket after the men’s team clinched a first Test win in India for 36 years earlier Sunday.
Martinez keeps Inter on Napoli’s tail with Roma winner
MILAN: Lautaro Martinez made sure that Inter Milan kept pace with Serie A leaders Napoli by netting the Italian champions’ only goal in Sunday’s 1-0 win at Roma.
Argentina striker Martinez lashed home his fourth goal of the season in all competitions on the hour mark to give Inter a hard-fought win at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.
Inter remain two points behind Napoli, 1-0 winners at Empoli, as Italy’s top four all won this weekend, with a huge match against Juventus at the San Siro coming up in a week’s time.
Before that Inter will try to continue their positive start to their Champions League campaign in Bern, where Simone Inzaghi’s side will take on Young Boys potentially without Hakan Calhanoglu and Francesco Acerbi who both forced off with injuries in the first half.
Inter will however be buoyed by a solid performance in the Italian capital which could have easily ended with a bigger win as Roma goalkeeper Mile Svilar did well to charge off his line and keep out Marcus Thuram and Denzel Dumfries.
Roma meanwhile are lagging behind in 10th following a second league defeat of a what is already a troubled season for the capital club.
The match began in a strange atmosphere as Roma’s hardcore fans stayed outside the ground for the first 15 minutes in protest at the direction of the club under billionaire American owner Dan Friedkin.
Fans are still unhappy about idol Daniele De Rossi being sacked last month and frustrated by the management of Roma, who last qualified for the Champions League in 2018.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia struck the only goal, and his fourth of the season, from the penalty spot in the 63rd minute to give Napoli their fourth straight win in all competitions.
Empoli beat Napoli home and away last season and their victory in Naples last November cost Rudi Garcia his job as coach, as a disastrous league title defense ended with southern Italy’s biggest club in 10th.
And the hosts were the better team for large portions of the match, with Kvaratskhelia’s winning spot-kick Napoli’s only shot on target in front of thousands of enthusiastic traveling supporters.
Napoli don’t have European football as a result of their collapse following a first Scudetto since 1990 and the days of Diego Maradona.
And under Antonio Conte Napoli have quickly re-established themselves as title challengers, with the advantage of not having the expanded Champions League jamming up their schedule.
“We’re trying to build something here, something that isn’t just a flash in the pan but lasts long-term,” said Conte to DAZN.
Fiorentina hammered 10-man Lecce 6-0 to move up to fifth and six points behind Napoli with their best performance since Raffaele Palladino took over in the summer.
Braces from both Danilo Cataldi and Andrea Colpani, the latter’s first goals since following Palladino from Monza, drove Fiorentina to a thumping away win which also featured strikes from Lucas Beltran and Fabiano Parisi.
Fiorentina were helped by Antonino Gallo being harshly sent off for fouling Dodo with the score 2-0, the offense considered the denial of a clear goalscoring opportunity despite the presence of other defenders.
Level on points with Fiorentina in sixth place are Atalanta who eased to a 2-0 win at bottom side Venezia thanks in large part to in-form striker Mateo Retegui.
Italy attacker Retegui helped Mario Pasalic open the scoring early on and then sealed the points two minutes after the break with a delightful chipped finish.
Retegui, who only signed for Atalanta after Gianluca Scamacca suffered a serious knee injury before the start of the season, leads the Serie A scoring charts with eight goals.
Lewandowski powers five-star Barca to Sevilla rout
BARCELONA: Red-hot Robert Lewandowski and Pablo Torre struck twice each as Barcelona hammered Sevilla 5-1 on Sunday to stay three points clear of Real Madrid at the top of La Liga ahead of next weekend’s Clasico.
Los Blancos beat Celta Vigo on Saturday to pull level with Hansi Flick’s side but Barca swiftly restored their advantage with a dominant display of attacking football.
Veteran striker Lewandowski reached 12 goals in 10 La Liga matches, his strikes sandwiching Pedri Gonzalez’s effort from the edge of the box, before substitute Torre added the fourth.
Stanis Idumbo grabbed a consolation for Sevilla in the final stages but Francisco Garcia Pimienta’s side were roundly beaten on his return to the club he spent nearly three decades with in various roles.
Torre finished the rout with a crossed free-kick which flew beyond Nyland and in at the far post.
Despite upcoming clashes against Bayern Munich in the Champions League and Saturday’s visit to the Santiago Bernabeu, Hansi Flick started arguably his strongest fit and available side.
The coach was able to name Dani Olmo, Fermin Lopez and Gavi on the bench after injury, the latter sidelined since November 2023 following a knee operation.
Ansu Fati started for the first time this season after Eric Garcia felt discomfort in the warm-up, with Raphinha shifting into a central attacking midfield position.
Lamine Yamal, starting after recovering from a minor hamstring strain which saw Spain release him from international duty early, curled off target early on after a spritely burst past two Sevilla players.
The Catalans took the lead when Raphinha went down in the box under light contact from Peque, a former Barca youth player, and the referee pointed to the spot.
Lewandowski, stuttering in his run-up, sent Sevilla goalkeeper Orjan Nyland the wrong way to fire Barca ahead.
The 36-year-old striker is enjoying a second wind under Flick and leads Spain’s scoring charts with 12 strikes in 10 matches, twice as many as any other player.
Pedri soon doubled Barcelona’s lead from the edge of the box after the active Yamal set him up. The teenage Spain star then threaded through Lewandowski but Nyland made a fine save to deny him.
Polish veteran Lewandowski netted his second before the break by guiding home Raphinha’s drive from distance with a flick of his boot.
Suffering Sevilla were dealt more bad news before the break when explosive winger Chidera Ejuke limped off injured.
Raphinha fired home early in the second half but was offside, as Barcelona strolled, carving open the Andalucians at their leisure.
Yamal produced an outrageous shot from distance with the outside of his boot which Nyland clawed to safety.
Dodi Lukebakio struck at the other end on a rare Sevilla forray forward but had strayed offside.
Barca midfielder Pablo Torre rattled home the fourth with the aid of a deflection before Gavi made his first appearance in 11 months as a substitute with a few minutes remaining to a rapturous reception.
Idumbo pulled one back for Sevilla but Torre wrapped up Barcelona’s night with a stroke of fortune when his free-kick crept in at the far post.
Stones bags controversial winner as Man City survive Wolves scare
- City remain in second place, one point behind Liverpool after the leaders beat Chelsea 2-1 at Anfield later on Sunday
WOLVERHAMPTON, UK: Manchester City snatched a controversial 2-1 win at Wolves on Sunday as John Stones’ last-gasp goal was given after a VAR review, sparking accusations of “subconscious” bias from fuming boss Gary O’Neil.
Pep Guardiola’s side trailed to Jorgen Strand Larsen’s surprise opener for Wolves early in the first half.
Josko Gvardiol dragged City back on level terms before the interval and, with just seconds left in stoppage time, Stones headed the visitors to a dramatic sixth win in eight league games this season.
Bottom-of-the-table Wolves claimed Stones’ goal should have been disallowed for offside and interference by Bernardo Silva on goalkeeper Jose Sa.
But referee Chris Kavanagh ignored their protests after consulting the pitchside monitor.
Wolves manager O’Neil raged: “There’s no chance that people are purposely against Wolves. But is there something in the subconscious around decision-making or, without even knowing it, are you more likely to give it to Manchester City than Wolves?
“Manchester City scoring a last-minute winner is a big thing. I might be miles off, but if I had to upset someone in a street and there was a little guy and a big guy, I’m upsetting a little guy. Nothing against little guys.”
Guardiola added: “Of course I didn’t understand it. I don’t know the reason why the linesman did it, but Bernardo isn’t disturbing the position. Sa had the perfect vision. The header by John Stones were magnificent.”
City remain in second place, one point behind Liverpool after the leaders beat Chelsea 2-1 at Anfield later on Sunday.
Chasing a fifth successive English title, Guardiola’s men have set a new club record as their unbeaten run in the league reached 31 games since their loss to Aston Villa in December.
In English top-flight history, only six times has a side gone more than 30 matches without losing, most recently Liverpool’s run of 44 games from 2019 to 2020.
“We are not used to winning games at the end, like Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool it many times happened. It is a good flavour for us,” Guardiola said.
The champions were rocked after just seven minutes when Nelson Semedo’s pin-point low cross reached Strand Larsen at the far post and the striker eluded Stones for a simple close-range finish.
City nearly hit back immediately as Ilkay Gundogan’s dummy gave Silva space for a low shot from 12 yards that was pushed away by Sa.
Unusually sloppy at the back, Guardiola’s side were almost breached again when Semedo sprinted through a gaping hole in the visitors’ defense, only to be denied by Ederson’s save.
Savinho’s air-shot drew mocking cheers from Wolves fans, but Gvardiol silenced the locals in the 33rd minute.
Taking possession on the edge of the Wolves area, the Croatian defender looked up to set his sights before unleashing a superb curler that whistled into the top corner.
It was Gvardiol’s fifth goal in his last seven away league games.
Haaland had scored eight goals in his four previous league appearances against Wolves, averaging a goal once every 40 minutes.
He was far more anonymous this time and it took 49 minutes before he finally had a chance, which the 24-year-old squandered with a complete miskick from eight yards.
Faced with Wolves’ massed defense, City center-back Ruben Dias tried his luck with a 25-yard drive that was well saved by Sa.
Matheus Cunha was close to putting Wolves back ahead against the run of play with a fizzing drive that was just off target.
Gundogan’s free-kick deflected wide and Jack Grealish’s drive was held by Sa as City kept probing away before finally snatching the winner.
Stones rose to head home from a corner, with Silva initially blocking Sa’s view and briefly making contact with the keeper before ducking down as the ball flew past him.
The goal was initially disallowed but VAR told Kavanagh to check the pitchside monitor and he overturned his decision as Guardiola and his players danced a relieved jig of delight.
