Sevilla takes Spanish league lead with win over Valladolid

A day after seeing its rivals falter, Sevilla took care of business.

Sevilla moved past Atletico Madrid and Barcelona to go top of the Spanish league by beating Valladolid 1-0 on Sunday.

Atletico and Barcelona had played to a 1-1 draw on Saturday, opening the way for Sevilla to take the lead with a home win.

Sevilla also benefited from setbacks by other teams near the top of the standings. Alaves had a chance to go top on Friday but lost 1-0 at Leganes, while Real Madrid is sixth after a shock 3-0 defeat at Eibar on Saturday. That result ended the team's perfect run under coach Santiago Solari and left the Spanish powerhouse six points off the lead.

Sevilla, which had already led the league after the eighth round, has 26 points from 13 matches, one point more than Barcelona and two more than Atletico. Fourth-place Alaves is three points back.

Looking to avoid its own setback, Sevilla controlled the match from the start at Ramon SanchezPizjuan Stadium. It didn't create many significant scoring chances but was always closest to scoring.

Silva got the winner with a 30thminute header after a well-placed cross by Pablo Sarabia, giving Sevilla its seventh straight home win in all competitions. It was the eighth league goal for the Portuguese forward who hadn't scored for Sevilla in five matches.

Valladolid had a 74th-minute goal disallowed for offside, and its biggest chance was a stoppagetime shot by substitute Enes Unal that forced a difficult save by Sevilla goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik.

The team owned by former Brazil striker Ronaldo hasn't won in two matches and dropped to 12th.

Gladbach reclaims 2nd in Bundesliga despite early Wood goal

Borussia Moenchengladbach reclaimed second place in the Bundesliga on Sunday with another fine attacking display in a 4-1 rout of Hannover.

Only league leader Borussia Dortmund has scored more goals (35) in 12 rounds so far, as Gladbach took its tally to 30 despite starting on the wrong foot.

American forward Bobby Wood scored just seconds into the game for Hannover, staying calm after Niclas Fuellkrug sent the ball on to score his third goal of the season. No Gladbach player had even touched the ball.

But Thorgan Hazard replied minutes later for the home side, finishing with a brilliant strike to the top left corner after some fine buildup play from Lars Stindl, Jonas Hoffmann and Florian Neuhaus.

The game was held up late in the half after a collision between Hannover's Noah Joel Sarenren Bazee and Germany defender Matthias Ginter. After receiving treatment on the field, Ginter was transported off on a stretcher as he held his head.

Sarenren Bazee eventually followed in first-half injury time, shortly after Michael Lang scored his first goal for Gladbach.

Stindl made it 3-1 with a brilliant volley from Hazard's cross before the hour mark.

Gladbach substitute Denis Zakaria wrapped it up late with another fine finish.

The home side stayed four points behind Dortmund after the latest round. Defending champion Bayern Munich is a further five points behind after being held 3-3 at home by relegationthreatened Fortuna Duesseldorf on Saturday.

Napoli draws 0-0 against Chievo in blow to title hopes

Napoli's hopes of pushing Juventus all the way in the title race diminished on Sunday and the boos rang out after it was held to a surprise 0-0 draw by bottom-ofthe-table Chievo Verona.

Carlo Ancelotti's side is now already eight points behind Juventus, which beat Spal 2-0 on Saturday and looks to be on an unstoppable march to a recordextending eighth Serie A title.

Napoli is also just a point ahead of third-placed Inter Milan, which also won on Saturday. It would not have been the buildup it wanted ahead of Wednesday's Champions League match against Red Star Belgrade.

Arsenal is knocking on the Champions League door

In its second season away from the Champions League, Arsenal is showing signs it intends to return to the elite competition.

The Gunners won 2-1 at Bournemouth on Sunday to move within one point of fourth-placed Chelsea and the Champions League spots.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored his eighth Premier League goal of the season as Arsenal extended its unbeaten run to 17 matches in all competitions.