Spurs too good for outclassed Chelsea
TOTTENHAM Hotspur outclassed Chelsea 3-1 in the Premier League yesterday to inflict a first defeat of the season on Maurizio Sarri’s team, reports Reuters.
Dele Alli opened the scoring after eight minutes, heading in a Christian Eriksen free kick for his sixth goal in his last five games against Chelsea in all competitions.
Eight minutes later it was 2-0 when Harry Kane was given time and space to drive at the Chelsea defence and smash the ball past a motionless Kepa Arrizabalaga from 25 metres.
Chelsea came out more fired up in the second half but individual brilliance from Son Heung-min made it 3-0 to the hosts. The South Korean ran on to the ball from inside his own half, sprinted past Jorginho and took it past David Luiz before slotting coolly past Arrizabalaga. Sarri’s men pulled one back late on through substitute Olivier Giroud who rose unmarked to head in a cross from Cesar Azpilicueta.
But it was not enough to stop Spurs moving ahead of Chelsea into third place in the table.
Man City maintained their twopoint lead at the top of the Premier League as Leroy Sane scored twice in a 4-0 win over West Ham United at the London Stadium.
Liverpool kept up the pressure with a 3-0 win at Watford, but Manchester United misfired at Old Trafford once again in a drab 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace. Goals from David Silva, Raheem Sterling and Sane’s double helped Manchester City record their eighth consecutive victory and Guardiola was full of praise for his team.
“If you see the result which was 0-4 especially after the international break EPL FIXTURES & TV TIMES it is good, you see Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Manchester United they struggle.” Guardiola told the BBC.
Liverpool remained two points behind City with an impressive win over Watford at Vicarage Road.
Juergen Klopp’s side had to be patient but were rewarded when Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-arnold and Roberto Firmino netted late goals. The only downside was captain Jordan Henderson being shown a red card for two bookable offences but Klopp was more focused on his side’s spirit. “I think it (the result) tells the story because we stayed stubborn, they defended and counter-attacked so we had a few really good moments we didn’t score which is not a big problem if we stay on track. How we closed down the game was just brilliant especially the third goal.” Klopp said.
Man U failed to close the gap on the top four as they were held by Crystal Palace – the sixth time they have failed to win in the league at Old Trafford this season.
Claudio Ranieri celebrated a winning return to the Premier League as his Fulham team moved off the foot of the table with a thrilling 3-2 victory over Southampton at Craven Cottage.
Two goals from Aleksandar Mitrovic helped Fulham record their first top-flight win since August. SOUTH African lifesaving has a new world champion and record holder.
Calvin Coetzee broke the world record in the line throw at the Lifesaving World Championships in Adelaide, Australia.
There was also gold for the Western Cape’s Nicholas Notten in the surf ski, while South Africa’s queen of the beach sprints, Mandi Maritz, took silver.
South Africa’s celebrated beach sprint champion Ryle de Morny had to settle for fourth. De Morny, the most experienced among the South African squad, is a former beach sprint world champion.
Earlier in the week, Matthew Fenn and Ally Chislett won silver in the youth surf ski and surf swim respectively.
Connor Botha celebrated his 17th birthday with a third place in the board race and Daniel Jacobs also got a bronze in the surf ski.
Team South Africa’s Kira Bester, Tamryn Mckie, Alice Edward and Milan Erasmus won gold on the opening day in the junior mixed simulated emergency rescue competition (SERC).