Leicester City brought West Ham United crashing to earth and returned to the top of the English Premier League standings with a 2-1 victory at Upton Park on Saturday.
West Ham opened their campaign by beating Arsenal on the opening day, but they were 2-0 down by half-time as Japan striker Shinji Okazaki headed in his first goal in English soccer and Riyad Mahrez scored his third goal in two games.
Dimitri Payet replied for West Ham, but it was not enough to prevent Claudio Ranieri’s Foxes reclaiming first place on goal difference from Manchester United, three months on from their rousing escape from relegation.
Photo: AFP
“We are playing well,” said Ranieri, who last month succeeded the sacked Nigel Pearson and saw his side overcome Sunderland on the opening day.
West Ham’s misery was compounded in stoppage-time when their Spanish goalkeeper Adrian was sent off for a high foot after going up to contest a corner.
Swansea City also built on an impressive opening performance, following up their battling draw at champions Chelsea with a 2-0 win at home to Newcastle United that left Garry Monk’s side in fourth place.
Bafetimbi Gomis rounded Tim Krul to put Swansea ahead in the ninth minute and Newcastle’s afternoon took a further turn for the worse shortly before half-time when Daryl Janmaat was sent off for two bookable offenses.
After Jefferson Montero and Gylfi Sigurdsson had both made the woodwork shudder, new recruit Andre Ayew sealed victory by polishing off a cross from the elusive Montero to register his second goal in two games.
“We dominated the whole game from start to finish,” Swansea manager Monk said.
A late Stoke City fightback prevented Tottenham Hotspur claiming a first win of the season in a 2-2 draw at White Hart Lane.
Spurs, who welcomed back goalkeeper and captain Hugo Lloris, went 2-0 up through an Eric Dier header and a deflected Nacer Chadli volley.
However, after striker Harry Kane had been taken off, Stoke stormed back to level courtesy of a Marko Arnautovic penalty and a Mame Biram Diouf header.
Sunderland’s early-season woes continued as they went down 3-1 at home to promoted Norwich City, leaving Dick Advocaat’s side at the foot of the table.
Goals from Russell Martin, Steven Whittaker and Nathan Redmond put Alex Neil’s visitors in command at the Stadium of Light, before 21-year-old substitute Duncan Watmore replied for Sunderland.
“Together, we have to find out if we can find the solution,” Advocaat said.
Watford, another promoted side, remain unbeaten, but also winless after a goalless draw at home to West Bromwich Albion.
LIGUE 1
Reuters, PARIS
Claudio Beauvue returned to haunt his former club En Avant de Guingamp as last season’s runners-up Olympique Lyonnais triumphed 1-0 in Ligue 1 on Saturday.
The 27-year-old forward, who left Guingamp last month, scored the only goal for the visitors in the 79th minute.
All eyes were on France midfielder Mathieu Valbuena, who joined Lyon from Dynamo Moscow this week.
Valbuena, 30, who has 48 caps and previously spent eight years with Olympique de Marseille, was booed by the Guingamp fans every time he touched the ball.
Lyon now have four points from two games, while Guingamp have lost both their opening fixtures.
Elsewhere, promoted ESTAC Troyes scored twice in a thrilling last 16 minutes to recover from 3-1 down and hold OGC Nice to a 3-3 draw.
Angers SCO and Nantes shared a 0-0 draw, while Kamil Grosicki’s late goal earned Stade Rennais a 1-0 victory over Montpellier Herault.
Stade Malherbe Caen beat Toulouse 1-0 thanks to Damien da Silva’s goal, while Girondins de Bordeaux held AS Saint-Etienne to a 1-1 draw.
BUNDESLIGA
AP, BERLIN
Schalke 04 started their Bundesliga season with a 3-0 victory at Werder Bremen on Saturday, while promoted Ingolstadt 04 claimed their first top-level win.
Bremen defender Theodor Gebre Selassie scored an own goal with an unstoppable chip in off the underside of the bar while trying to clear Joel Matip’s cross in the 34th minute.
Matip then set up Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting in the 68th minute and Klaas Jan Huntelaar rounded off the scoring in the 85th minute after a brilliant run from Leroy Sane.
“The scoreline is a bit deceptive. The whole game was not quite so clear,” Schalke coach Andre Breitenreiter said.
Ingolstadt defeated FSV Mainz 05 1-0 away thanks to Lukas Hinterseer’s 66th-minute winner, Hertha BSC won 1-0 at Augsburg as both sides finished with 10 men, Bayer 04 Leverkusen came from behind to beat TSG 1899 Hoffenheim 2-1 and SV Darmstadt 98 marked their return to the Bundesliga with a 2-2 draw at home with Hannover 96.
Borussia Dortmund thrashed visitors Borussia Moenchengladbach 4-0 at home.
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
A man fell from the 6.4m-high Clemente Wall in right field at PNC Park in Pittsburgh during Wednesday night’s game between the Pirates and the Chicago Cubs. Right after Andrew McCutchen hit a two-run double in the seventh inning to put the Pirates ahead 4-3, players began waving frantically for medical personnel and pointing to the man, who had fallen onto the warning track. The fan was tended to for approximately five minutes by members of both the Pirates and Cubs training staffs as well as PNC personnel before being removed from the field on a cart. The team issued a statement shortly
PAINFUL VICTORY: Ruud said that felt pain in his rib during the warmup and was put on painkillers so that he could finish the match against Argentine Francisco Cerundolo With the help of painkillers, Casper Ruud overcame a rib ailment to defeat Francisco Cerundolo in straight sets and reach the Madrid Open final on Friday. Ruud is to face Jack Draper, who beat Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the other semi-final to make his third final of the year. Ruud received treatment on his rib three games into the match and went on to win 6-4, 7-5 on the Caja Magica center court. The 15th-ranked Norwegian saved 15 of the 18 break points he faced against the 21st-ranked Argentine. Ruud said he felt something in his rib during the warmup, just before
RSS