PREMIER LEAGUE
Chelsea crush Southampton
Chelsea on Sunday racked up a fourth consecutive league win without conceding a goal as they outclassed Southampton with strikes from Eden Hazard and Diego Costa at St Mary’s Stadium in Southampton. Hazard cut back and rifled a shot through Fraser Forster’s legs after six minutes and Chelsea never surrendered their command. Spain striker Costa doubled the lead 10 minutes after the break when he received a pass from Hazard and beat Forster with a swerving shot from 25m.
LIGUE 1
Balotelli leads Nice to win
Mario Balotelli on Sunday further underlined his real value since joining OGC Nice on a free transfer, scoring his sixth goal in five league games as the French leaders thrashed Nantes 4-1. Brittany side Stade Rennais have one of the best youth academies in France — arguably second only to Olympique Lyonnais. Forward Wesley Said is the latest revelation to come through the ranks, and he brilliantly volleyed home the winner against Metz in the 56th minute. Despite the best efforts of winger Florian Thauvin, Olympique de Marseille could not beat resilient Girondins de Bordeaux.
LA LIGA
Villareal suffer first defeat
Villarreal on Sunday spurned the chance to move up to third in La Liga as Sociedad Deportiva Eibar struck twice in the final 10 minutes to inflict their first league defeat of the season 2-1. RC Celta de Vigo blew a three-goal lead in a pulsating 3-3 draw at UD Las Palmas, while Athletic Bilbao remain seventh after being held 1-1 at home by CA Osasuna. The game of the weekend came in the Canary Islands, as Las Palmas stormed back from conceding three times in the opening 21 minutes. Real Betis Balompie boss Gustavo Poyet’s future looks uncertain after his side lost 1-0 at home to RCD Espanyol.
BUNDESLIGA
Cologne demolish Hamburg
Hamburg SV forward Bobby Wood was on Sunday sent off in a 3-0 defeat at Cologne that left the side struggling at the bottom of the Bundesliga. Hamburg paid an immediate price for the American’s dismissal, with Anthony Modeste grabbing the first of his three goals three minutes later. Unbeaten TSG 1899 Hoffenheim defeated high-flying Hertha BSC 1-0 to go third and match their club record of five straight league wins.
SERIE A
Skorupski thwarts Roma
AS Roma were on Sunday thwarted repeatedly by Empoli goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski, as they were held 0-0 and failed to keep pace with Serie A leaders Juventus. AC Milan are emerging as serious challengers for the title and a fourth successive home win saw them leapfrog SSC Napoli into third place. Inter coach Frank de Boer’s position remains perilous as his side fell to a fourth defeat in five league matches. Fabio Quagliarella scored the only goal of an entertaining match on the stroke of halftime. SS Lazio are just a point behind Milan after a hard-fought 2-1 victory over US Sassuolo. Earlier, Atalanta BC comfortably beat Genoa 3-0 with a first-half double from Jasmin Kurtic and a late goal from Papu Gomez.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two