Liverpool's margin atop the Premier League slipped to one point after a 1-0 loss at Middlesbrough. Second-place Arsenal won 1-0 at home against Newcastle.
Arsenal, with five losses in its last six matches, got a victory at Highbury after three straight home losses with Sylvain Wiltord getting the decider in the 24th.
In the 127th Manchester derby, Manchester City used two goals from Shaun Goater -- his 99th and 100th for the side -- and another from French international Nicolas Anelka to upset Manchester United 3-1. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored for Man United.
Italy
Inter Milan's loss coupled with Juventus' 2-1 victory on Sunday over AC Milan tightened up the race in Italy's Serie A.
After nine weeks, Inter leads with 22 points followed by Juventus (21) and AC Milan (19).
Juventus capitalized on early goals Sunday from Marco Di Vaio and Lilian Thuram with Inter Milan losing 2-1 on Saturday to Udinese.
AC Milan scored at the half-hour mark when Juve defender Alessandro Birindelli was called for a hand ball while trying to keep a pass from Milan's Dutch midfielder Clarence Seedorf. Andrea Pirlo converted the shot from the spot to make it 2-1.
Spain
Real Sociedad, the surprise of the season, drew 1-1 at home against Deportivo to stay on top in La Liga. Sociedad has 21 points followed by defending champion Valencia (18), Mallorca (18), Celta Vigo (17), Real Madrid (16), Barcelona (15) and Malaga (15).
Two goals by Uruguayan forward Walter Pandiani helped Mallorca stretch its winning streak to a club-record six games Sunday in a 3-1 victory over Alaves.
Germany
Bayern Munich, ousted from the Champions League, picked up a 2-1 victory over second-place Borussia Dortmund to stretch its lead to five points over Dortmund at the top.
France
Nice are set for another week as France's league leaders as their charmed season continues -- six months after being ordered to play third division football.
With Paris St Germain held to a 1-1 draw by Sochaux over the weekend, Nice's 1-0 derby win over Monaco on Friday means the newly-promoted club are once again top of the table.
Yet Nice's spectacular rise has defied all the laws of gravity, starting with a Football League ruling in May that their finances were so shaky they should be relegated to the third division -- much less promoted to the first.
That hurdle was overcome just three weeks before the new season kicked off, following a second appeal, and expectations for the Cote d'Azur club were limited in the least.
Instead, Nice have been nothing short of a revelation.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB