Posts

Manchester City (have almost) ended Chelsea’s title challenge in England, while Manchester United were held to a frustrating draw at Villa Park. Elsewhere, Liverpool returned to winning ways against Brentford, outclassing their rivals in match stats. In Spain (Saudi Arabia, actually), Real Madrid clinched the Spanish Super Cup title after defeating Athletic Club, giving us some impressive stats in the process. In Italy, Juventus continued their march towards a place in the league’s top four and look to be back in touch under Allegri....

Buy ‘Em Nick Markakis is 20-for-46 with five doubles and a pair of homers in his career against Mark Buehrle. Teammates Adam Jones (10-for-28, 3 extra-base hits), Delmon Young (19-for-48, 6 XBH, including 4 HRs), and Chris Davis (6-for-19, 2 HRs) have also hit Buehrle well. Derek Jeter (.305/.388/.458 in 59 at-bats) and Jacoby Ellsbury (.512 SLG in 53 at-bats) have both had a fair amount of success against David Price....

Zola is assistant to head coach Maurizio Sarri, who admitted following Wednesday’s 0-0 draw with Southampton that Chelsea have not been good enough recently in the “last 20 metres”. While many Blues fans are happy to attribute those problems to the form of struggling striker Alvaro Morata, Zola feels it is due to wider-ranging issues. Speaking ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup third-round tie at home to Nottingham Forest, Zola said: “I can tell you in the past Barcelona had problems in the last 20 metres, Bayern [Munich], [Manchester] City, everyone suffers when there is no space up there....

The Blues missed out on the Brazil international during the summer but are keen to beat Manchester United to signing the defender. And Juve are already looking at replacements, with Bayer Leverkusen’s Wendell on their radar. Chelsea eye Lemar after dropping Dembele interest Chelsea are keen on securing a January deal for Monaco winger Thomas Lemar after cooling their interest in Celtic forward Moussa Dembele, The Evening Standard reports....

Plenty still to do for Mourinho at Man Utd Antonio Conte’s men have remained unbeaten domestically since seeing a 13-match winning run broken by Tottenham in their first outing of 2017 - winning four out of their last six matches. The Blues are top of the standings, sitting 10 points clear of second-placed Spurs following their 3-1 win over Swansea City at the weekend. And Hazard thinks the mental steel and experience of Chelsea will be enough for them to emerge victorious at the end of the season....

Burton Albion managed to pry themselves off the bottom, while Aston Villa picked up their first win of the season at the fourth attempt. With round five to come this Friday and Saturday, Goal has your guide to the upcoming Championship fixtures and recent results. CHAMPIONSHIP FIXTURES Two Championship games will be broadcast live this week. Aston Villa’s visit to Bristol City opens the coverage on Friday evening as Steve Bruce’s side look to build on last weekend’s big win over Norwich City, while Nottingham Forest and Leeds United conclude the coverage on Saturday....

Born and raised in Germany, Chandler couldn't have had much experience playing in the sultry conditions he found as the U.S. national team lost to Honduras in a 2013 World Cup qualifier. In fact, he arrived in the Central American city from Germany, and needless to say, it was a tad bit colder in Nuremberg that February. Chandler struggled, and instead of looking like the fast and fearless fullback U....

India gave away a goal in the eighth minute before bouncing back strongly after halftime to lead 2-1. But Belgium struck four minutes from the hooter to snatch a 2-2 draw in an evenly-contested match. Harendra said he was not surprised by Belgium’s “full press” tactics early on. He said Belgium were left with little gas in the third and fourth quarters. “We did double tackling. Whether we are behind the ball or chasing it, we maintain pace....

Chappell, who won his first PGA Tour event earlier this season, earned the 10th and final automatic spot on the United States’ Presidents Cup team. The 31-year-old entered the second FedEx Cup play-off event neck and neck with Charley Hoffman for the final spot, but he beat the latter by two shots this week to pass him in the standings. Hoffman will still have a chance to make the USA team when captain Steve Stricker announces his two captain’s picks on Wednesday....

Floyd has been planning to retire after the 2015 season “for a few years now,” according to The San Diego Union-Tribune. MORE: NFL’s all-star cast of injured players | SN’s Week 11 picks Floyd, 34, tore the labrum in his shoulder Nov. 9 against Chicago to put his 11th and final season in the NFL in question. He’s been in San Diego his entire career after signing as an undrafted free agent in 2004....

Jones, 23, stood before a judge and pleaded not guilty on charges of raping one woman and sodomizing another. On Wednesday, Jones was named in an arrest warrant issued after a woman identified him as her attacker. A second warrant was issued on complaint of a woman who said Jones was among three men who forced her to have sex. The women were said to be 19 and 20 years old....

“If somebody gave me $200 million I’d kill a relative," Barkley said on the podcast. Well, it seems LIV Golf was listening. Because when Barkley appeared on Barstool Sports’ “The Next Round” Thursday, he confirmed that he had a meeting lined up with the Greg Norman-fronted organization designed to compete with the PGA Tour. Barkley seemed fairly optimistic, although he couldn’t dish on what his role could be within the upstart league....

Charles Barkley gave an interesting PSA of sorts regarding gun control: He likes to have control. He also has a lot of guns. More: Masked LeBron returns | Cousins suspended | Grizzlies claim Udrih One thing is for sure: You just won't find this type of analysis anywhere else.

Charles McGonigal, 54, the former head of counterintelligence for the FBI’s New York office, is accused of secretly working with Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, including attempting to have him removed from the U.S. sanctions list in 2019. McGonigal, along with Sergey Shestakov, a former Soviet and Russian diplomat who later became a U.S. citizen and a Russian interpreter for courts and government offices, has also been charged with allegedly being paid by Deripaska to investigate a rival oligarch, and then attempting to conceal the payments....

Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, a reverend at the church, was the girls track and field coach at Goose Creek High School in Goose Creek, S.C. and was employed as a speech therapist at the school. Her son, Chris, is a rising sophomore baseball player at Charleston Southern and played at Goose Creek High School, located about 30 minutes outside of Charleston. MORE: Chiefs’ Sanders Commings cousin of slain Charleston pastor | RiverDogs will play despite tragedy...

No sponsor was announced for the 19-year-old Elliott, who won the Nationwide (now Xfinity) Series title last season at Hendrick affiliate JR Motorsports and will attempt to defend that title this season. Gordon crew chief Alan Gustafson will be crew chief for Elliott. MORE: Gordon to call it quits after one more year | Gordon’s legacy PHOTOS: Gordon through the years In preparation for the debut, Elliott will drive a fifth Cup car for HMS in five races this year with sponsorship from NAPA Auto Parts....