MAN CITY A WINNER AFTER CHELSEA-REDS PLAY TO A 2-2 DRAW
The only winner Sunday was Manchester City. And Romelu Lukaku certainly lost out.
What a pulsating, entertaining encounter for Lukaku to miss — not out of his own choosing — as Chelsea recovered to draw 2-2 with Liverpool without the temporarily exiled striker.
It left City 10 points clear from Chelsea at the top of the Premier League with Liverpool a further point back.
The sky blue ribbons look like remaining on the tro- phy for another year thanks to the fading challenge from the chasing pack.
“It is a big gap,” Liverpool defender Virgil Van Dijk said. “They have the title, maybe, to lose but anything can happen.”
That’s even before Liverpool is the hardest hit by players heading to the African Cup of Nations. Before leaving for what could be more than a month away, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah did contribute Liverpool’s goals.
Liverpool seemed to be coasting but was stung twice at the end of the first half with Mateo Kovacic’s volley and Christian Pulisic’s strike pulling Chelsea level.
“For the public it must have been an unbelievable game,” said Liverpool assistant manager Pepijn Lijnders, deputizing for coronavirus isolating Jurgen Klopp.
“It was a brilliant match,” Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel said. “Everybody not in the stadium missed something.”
None more so than Chelsea record-signing Lukaku, who was dropped by Tuchel for an outburst questioning his limited role in the team.
More soccer
Lionel Messi is isolating at home in Argentina after being among four Paris Saint-Germain players announced as testing positive for the coronavirus ahead of the team’s return to playing after a brief winter break. PSG coach Mauricio Pochettino is uncertain when the seventime Ballon d’Or winner will be able to return to France, or whether he can recover in time to play away to Lyon in the league next Sunday.
• After watching Real Madrid lose its first match in three months, Carlo Ancelotti had one simple message for his players: The holidays are over. Madrid’s run of 15 consecutive games without a loss in all competitions came to an end when it slumped to a 1-0 defeat at modest Getafe in the Spanish league after a nearly two-week winter break.
Winter sports
Latvia won gold in a World Cup luge team relay at Winterberg, Germany, with Austria second and the U.S. grabbing third. The Latvian team finished in 2 minutes, 24.294 seconds. Austria’s team was second in 2:24.652. The Americans — Summer Britcher, Tucker West and the doubles team of Chris Mazdzer and Jayson Terdiman — got the bronze in 2:24.802. Germany, on home ice, managed only fourth in 2:24.955.
Germany found the top of the podium in the women’s singles race earlier, with Julia Taubitz (1:53.167) rallying to overtake fellow German slider Natalie Geisenberger (1:53.408) in the second heat to claim the gold. Britcher was fifth in the women’s race, good enough to ensure that she will be selected for the U.S. Olympic team.
• Elana Meyers Taylor of the U.S. got her first World Cup women’s bobsled win in nearly three years, her 19th career victory on the circuit. She teamed with Lake Kwaza to finish two runs in 1 minute, 41.88 seconds at Sigulda, Latvia.
College football
A Sugar Bowl showdown against Mississippi and coach Lane Kiffin’s explosive, SEC-leading offense provided a high-profile platform for Baylor to validate its old-school formula of ball control and aggressive defense.
Al Walcott set a Sugar Bowl record with a 96-yard interception return, Monaray Baldwin raced 48 yards for the go-ahead score on an end around, and sixth-ranked Baylor beat No. 8 Mississippi 21-7 late Saturday night at New Orleans as injured Rebels quarterback Matt Corral (ankle) watched from the sideline on crutches.
Horse racing
Cabo Spirit ($7.60) demonstrated a nice turn of foot through the lane to take the $100,000 Eddie Logan for 3-year-olds at 1 mile on the turf course by 1¼ lengths. Irish-bred Bellabel ($7) cut a sharp figure in her U.S. debut under Flavien Prat ,as she stormed home to win the $100,000 Blue Norther Stakes 3-yearold fillies also at 1 mile on the grass by 2¼ lengths.
Tennis
Defending champion Russia defeated France at the ATP Cup at Sydney. Russia needed the deciding doubles match to clinch victory over France. Roman Safiullin beat Arthur Rinderknech of France 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 before Ugo Humbert evened the match with an upset 6-7 (5), 7-5, 7-6 (2) win over No. 2 Daniil Medvedev.
But Medvedev and Safiullin came back to beat two fresh opponents in the doubles — Fabrice Martin and Edouard Roger-Vasselin — 6-4, 6-4.