CHELSEA BEATEN BY EVERTON; MANCHESTER DERBY A TIE

The People’s Club welcomed back its fans and Chelsea felt the full force.

With 2,000 supporters allowed back into Goodison Park after nine months, Everton won 1-0 on Saturday to end Chelsea’s 17-match unbeaten run in all competitions.

It means third-place Chelsea can be overtaken — if Leicester beats Brighton today — and front-runners Tottenham and Liverpool can pull further away at the top of the Premier League.

It was an uncharacteristic mistake by Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy —bringing down Dominic Calvert-lewin — that allowed Gylfi Sigurdsson to score a penalty in the 22nd minute and spark home celebrations as Everton rose to seventh.

There was no atmosphere, no intensity and no goals as Manchester United and Manchester City drew 0-0 in the 183rd derby.

The rivals are both unusually low in the Premier League, too. United is eighth and City, which has won the league three times since its neighbor last lifted the trophy in 2013, is a point and place behind.

“We’re not happy to draw 0-0 at home at Old Trafford,“United captain Harry Maguire said, “and not create any big chances for fans to get off their seats and get excited about.“

There has been little joy for them watching from home this season — with United failing to score in three games at Old Trafford.

More soccer

They weren’t allowed inside the stadium but Union Berlin fans let their team know they were outside as Union held Bundesliga leader Bayern Munich 1-1. Union is flying high in sixth place, two points behind Borussia Dortmund, which slumped to a 5-1 loss at home to Stuttgart. The defeat extended Dortmund’s winless run in the league to three games.

• Lazio caused its own downfall as two mistakes saw the hosts beaten 2-1 by Hellas Verona in Serie A.

• Real Madrid beat city rival Atletico Madrid 2-0 to tighten the Spanish league title race, dealing the leader its first loss in the competition in 10 months.

• Marseille moved on from a disappointing European campaign to continue its strong domestic form by beating Monaco 2-1.

Baseball

Free agent catcher James Mccann and the New York Mets were close to completing a $40 million, four-year contract as the team continues to upgrade its roster under new owner Steve Cohen.

Mccann, 30, was an Allstar with the White Sox in 2019 when he hit .273 with 18 home runs and 60 RBIS. He batted .289 with seven homers and 15 RBIS for Chicago this year in 31 games.

The Mets also decided on a new general manager, Jared Porter, an assistant with the Diamondbacks who has helped build four championship teams.

Also

Marta Bassino won her second straight World Cup giant slalom of the season at Courchevel, France, and Mikaela Shiffrin placed fourth in her return to the event after an 11-month gap. Bassino produced the fastest second-run time after trailing world champion Petra Vlhova the first time down in the morning. The Italian racer finished 0.46 ahead of hard-charging Sara Hector, and 0.59 clear of Vlhova, whose three-race winning streak was ended.

• Former New York Yankees infielder Phil Linz, who knocked a Game 7 home run off Bob Gibson in the 1964 World Series but made even more noise by hitting a few sour notes on his harmonica, died. He was 81. Former teammates said Linz’s family told them he died Wednesday night in Leesburg, Va. Linz had been in poor health since a stroke five years ago.

• Sensible Cat ($11) provided trainer Carla Gaines with her first stakes win at Los Alamitos with a comefrom-behind victory in the $100,000 Soviet Problem Stakes.