Leicester back in third after victory at Palace
WATFORD: Leicester City underlined their Premier League topfour credentials as goals by Caglar Soyuncu and Jamie Vardy sealed a clinical 2-0 victory at Crystal Palace on Sunday.
Soyuncu, who has replaced centre back Harry Maguire, broke the deadlock when he headed in James Maddison’s 57th-minute corner for his first Leicester goal. Leicester never looked like relinquishing their lead and Vardy added some late gloss with his 10th goal of the season. As impressive as last week’s 9-0 win at 10-man Southampton was, Sunday’s display was perhaps more meaningful in terms of Leicester’s ambitions.
Palace could have gone fifth with a win but Leicester were in control throughout and thoroughly deserved a third successive league victory to put them back above Chelsea into third place on goal difference with 23 points from 11 games. They are only two points behind champions Man City, who are second, and six above Arsenal.
LAMPARD UNHAPPY Frank Lampard said “sloppy” Chelsea need to be more clinical after they survived a tense finish to climb to third place in the Premier League with a 2-1 victory at lowly Watford.
Lampard’s side bounced back from their midweek League Cup defeat to Manchester United to make it five successive league wins. The Blues have won eight of their past nine matches in all competitions as Lampard continues to make a good impression in his first season. His decision to go with unproven youngsters like Tammy Abraham, who opened the scoring, has been a shrewd move, while Christian Pulisic, scorer of the second, is justifying his hefty price tag. Gerard Deulofeu’s late Var-awarded penalty came too late to stop Chelsea recording a seventh successive away win in all competitions.
DE LIGT ON TARGET
TURIN: Matthijs de Ligt made sure Juventus kept hold of top spot in Serie A after his first goal for the club saw off local rivals Torino, leaving Inter Milan in second despite Romelu Lukaku taking his league tally to nine with a brace in a 2-1 win at Bologna. Maurizio Sarri’s side stay a point ahead of Inter thanks to a hardfought derby win that saw both sides exchange blows.
BENGALURU HELD JAMSHEDPUR: Bengaluru FC had to settle for their third draw in as many matches in the ISL after being held 0-0 by Jamshedpur FC. Goalkeeper Subrata Paul was the star of the show for the home team, making several stunning saves. The result takes Jamshedpur to the top of the table with seven points from three outings. Bengaluru, meanwhile, rose to seventh with three points from three.