Late Newcastle own goal makes it three wins for Sarri’s Chelsea
NEWCASTLE:CHELSEA kept up their 100 percent start to the Premier League season by snatching a 2-1 win at a stubborn Newcastle United on Sunday, grabbing victory thanks to a late own goal by Deandre Yedlin.
Eden Hazard had blasted Chelsea ahead in the 76th minute from the penalty spot after defender Fabian Schar had tripped Marcos Alonso, allowing the visitors a breakthrough after they had monopolised possession.
Newcastle boss Rafael Benitez had played a dogged 5-4-1 formation in an effort to shut out his former club. They created little at the other end, but they drew level when Spanish forward Joselu headed in at the near post in the 83rd minute. Chelsea got back in front with a fortuitous goal four minutes later from Yedlin, who had stretched his foot out to block a shot from Alonso which had looked to be going wide.
SALAH’S STRIKE SENDS LIVERPOOL TOP
LIVERPOOL: Mohammed Salah’s 23rd-minute strike was enough to earn Liverpool a 1-0 win over a dogged Brighton and Hove Albion and give them an early top spot in the Premier League with three wins out of three.
The breakthrough came when James Milner robbed Yves Bissouma as Brighton tried to play the ball out from the back and a quick exchange of passes from Sadio Mane and Firmino ended with a clinical finish from Salah.
IS CHELSEA GOING UP FOR SALE?
LONDON: Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich has hired an investment bank to consider the sale of his club Chelsea, the Sunday Times newspaper reported.
A source at the club denied Abramovich planned any sale. The Sunday Times said the move by the Russian followed his rejection of an offer to buy a minority stake in the club by US private equity firm Silver Lake Partners. rari’s Sebastian Vettel sped away from first corner carnage to celebrate a commanding Belgian Grand Prix victory on Sunday and trim Lewis Hamilton’s Formula One lead to 17 points with eight races remaining.
Hamilton, last year’s winner in Belgium, started from pole position but finished second for Mercedes while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen gave his army of Dutch fans something to cheer with third place.
In the battle of four times world champions, Hamilton now has 231 points to Vettel’s 214.
“I had a great start, I’m not sure Lewis saw me as he pushed me to the left in the first lap, but after last year I ended up short, and this year it was the other way around,” said Vettel of his deci- sive pass on Hamilton.
The start provided most of the afternoon’s excitement, with Fernando Alonso’s Mclaren flying over Charles Leclerc’s Sauber at the La Source hairpin after being rammed by Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg. All three retired as the safety car was deployed for four laps but Leclerc had reason to thank the ‘halo’ head protection system — introduced this season — for allowing him to step away unscathed. Television close-up images after the race showed the structure heavily marked by the impact.
Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, a four times winner in Belgium, and Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo
also collided at the start and retired after pitting.
At the front, Vettel swiftly seized the lead from Hamilton down the Kemmel straight on the opening lap and never looked back, taking the chequered flag 11.0 seconds clear of Hamilton.
“He drove past me like I wasn’t even there on the straight,” said Hamilton, who was quick to offer congratulations.