Liverpool and Chelsea draw 0‑0 to hit Champions League hopes

A season of frustration contin‐ ued for Liverpool and Chelsea after a 0‐0 draw at Anfield on Saturday did little to help either team's hopes of securing Cham‐ pions League qualification next season.

A game that was short on chances and quality underlined why both teams are struggling in midtable in the Premier League and face a challenge to break into the top four.

Benoit Badiashile and substi‐ tute Carney Chukwuemeka had opportunities to score in each half for Chelsea, but neither was clinical enough to make Liver‐ pool pay.

It is now three league games without a win for Liverpool in what was Jurgen Klopp's 1,000th game in management and his 250th in charge of the Merseyside club.

The draw at least ended a two‐ game losing streak for his team.

Chelsea fans got a first look at new signing Mykhailo Mudryk, who showed some promising moments when coming on as a second‐half substitute.

But, like Liverpool, Graham Potter's team will need to im‐ prove quickly if it is to rise up the table and compete to get into the top four.

Klopp's Liverpool reign has seen the storied club re‐estab‐ lish itself as one of the best teams in Europe.

However, the German went into this landmark game trying to get the season back on track, with any hopes of challenging for the title effectively over after an inconsistent campaign.

Klopp described last week's 3‐ 0 loss to Brighton as the worst of his time at the club.

It's a similar story for Chelsea, which has now won just two of its last 10 games in all competi‐ tions.

The two teams were ninth and 10th in the standings going into the game, with Liverpool ahead on goal difference.

Chelsea had the better chances to take all three points but did not make them count.

Kai Havertz thought he had put the Londoners ahead within minutes of kickoff when firing in a rebound after Thiago Silva struck the post. The away team's celebrations were cut short, however, when VAR ad‐ judged the German to be off‐ side.

Badiashile later forced a save from Liverpool goalkeeper Alis‐ son when failing to get enough power on a header from around six yards out.

Mudryk, who signed from Shakhtar Donetsk in a deal that could be worth up to $108 mil‐ lion, caused Liverpool problems with his speed and dribbling after coming on in the 55th minute.

And another substitute Chuk‐ wuemeka might have settled the game when breaking into the box late on, only for Andy Robertson to snuff out the chance with a last‐ditch block.

Drone causes brief delay at Southampton's EPL game

The English Premier League game between Southampton and Aston Villa was briefly halted after a drone was spot‐ ted flying around St. Mary's Sta‐ dium late in the first half on Saturday.

Referee Michael Salisbury in‐ structed all players to leave the field minutes before the sched‐ uled halftime break, and match officials waited near the tunnel.

A short time later, the drone was gone and play resumed.

A similar incident occurred one year ago in London when play was suspended for nearly 20 minutes in the first half of a league match between Brent‐ ford and Wolverhampton be‐ cause a drone was hovering above the field.

Sociedad beats Rayo 2‑0 to pull level with Real Madrid

Led by an ageless David Silva and a striker making the most of a second chance, Real So‐ ciedad is threatening to make it a three‐way title fight in the Spanish league.

Sociedad's 2‐0 win at Rayo Vallecano in the capital on Sat‐ urday pulled it level with sec‐ ond‐placed Real Madrid a week before they face one another. Leader Barcelona is just three points clear.

Both powerhouses have two more games to play, but the San Sebastián team, which hasn't won the league since the 1980s, is coming on strong with nine straight wins across the league and the Copa del Rey.

Imanol Alguacil's Sociedad faces a big week ahead. It visits Camp Nou on Wednesday to play Barcelona in the Copa del Rey quarterfinals before visit‐ ing the Santiago Bernabéu on Sunday to face Madrid in the league.

"Right now we can compete with anyone," said Ander Bar‐ renetxea, who scored So‐ ciedad's second goal. "We have two tough matches ahead, but we are highly motivated."

Silva helped put Sociedad ahead in the 15th minute when the 37‐year‐old midfielder re‐ covered the ball and slipped a pass through Rayo's defense to meet the run of Alexander Sor‐ loth. The Norway striker used one touch of the tip of his boot to stab the ball under goal‐ keeper Stole Dimitrievski.

Sociedad doubled the lead in the 36th on a set piece. Aritz Elustondo curled around a scrum of players to shake his marker and redirected a corner kick to the far post where Bar‐ renetxea finished it off.

While Silva is still showing the playmaking skills from his best years at Manchester City and for Spain's national team, Sor‐ loth is enjoying a superb season of his own. Following a ho‐hum 2021‐22 campaign on loan at Sociedad, Sorloth was brought back again on loan from Leipzig after Sociedad sold Alexander

Isak to Newcastle for a club record haul of 70 million euros ($76 million). But Sorloth was still set to be the second option until top signing Umar Sadiq sustained a serious knee injury in September.

The 27‐year‐old Sorloth has responded by scoring eight times in 14 league games, in‐ cluding a now five‐round scor‐ ing streak, compared to just three goals in 32 league games last season.

Rayo tried to muster a come‐ back at the start of the second half, but Sociedad goalkeeper Alejandro Remiro snuffed it out when he saved a header by Flo‐ rian Lejeune.

Sociedad won the Copa del Rey in 2020. Its two Spanish league titles came in 1981 and 1982.