San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
ARSENAL STRETCHES LEAD
Arsenal stretched its Premier League lead to seven points with a 4-2 win at Brighton on Saturday capped by a well-worked breakaway goal from Gabriel Martinelli.
Goals from Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Eddie Nketiah had Arsenal 3-0 up by the 47th minute and seemingly cruising to an easy win, but Kaoru Mitoma kept Brighton in the game with a goal 25 minutes from time.
Odegaard then provided a sublime throughball for Martinelli to race half the length of the field and poke in a fourth to restore the threegoal advantage.
Brighton substitute Evan Ferguson claimed his first Premier League goal in the 77th and Mitoma thought he had set up a tense finish with an 89th-minute strike, but it was disallowed for offside.
Despite an unnecessarily nervy end, the win meant Arsenal took full advantage of second-place City’s slip-up earlier as the defending champion was held to a 1-1 draw at home against Everton. Third-place Newcastle, meanwhile, saw its six-game winning streak end with a 0-0 draw against Leeds.
“It’s still a long, long run to go,” Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said of the title race. “My excitement comes when I go in the dressing room and the players are talking about what they should have done better today. And that means that they know that we can still play better and be better.”
Brighton had won three of its last four but Saka put the visitors ahead after just a little more than a minute when he reacted quickly to control a deflected shot from Martinelli before sidefooting into the net.
Odegaard was once again Arsenal’s main orchestrator in midfield and nearly set up Martinelli for a second with some remarkable footwork in the area but ended up doubling the lead himself in the 39th. The ball fell to the Norway international in the area after a corner and, while he scuffed his shot into the ground, it bounced perfectly to sail into the net.
Nketiah then seemingly put the result beyond doubt just after the restart when he was on hand to send in a rebound after another shot from Martinelli, making it two goals in two starts for the Arsenal academy product in the absence of injured striker Gabriel Jesus.
Brighton refused to surrender, though, and Mitoma stayed just onside to collect a pass in the area and slot a shot past Aaron Ramsdale
to give the hosts some life.
More soccer
Barcelona stumbled in its first game since a sevenweek World Cup break after being held 1-1 by Espanyol at Camp Nou in a Catalan derby that finished with both teams having a player sent off.
Local colleges
The San Diego State women’s basketball team (11-3, 1-0 MW) cruised to an 89-55 win at Utah State (3-10, 0-2). SDSU shot 57 percent from the field, its highest in a conference game in 12 seasons. SDSU had six players score at least nine points and were led by Abby Prohaska’s 18.
• The University of San Diego women’s basketball program (8-7, 2-2 WCC) exploded on the offensive end for its highest point total of the season, defeating visiting Pacific (5-9, 0-3), 84-74. Kiera Oakry led all Torero scorers with 15 points, while Laura Erikstrup added 11 points and eight rebounds.
• UC San Diego women’s basketball (4-8, 1- Big West) defeated UC Santa Barbara (8-4, 1-1), 68-58, at home. Freshman Junae Mahan scored a game- and careerhigh 16 points.
Tennis
Rafael Nadal ended a mostly successful 2022 with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 loss to Britain’s Cameron Norrie at the United Cup mixed teams tournament in Sydney. Britain later took a 2-0 lead over Spain after Katie Swan had a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 win over Nuria Parrizas-diaz. Top-ranked Iga Swiatek beat Yulia Putintseva 6-1, 6-3 as Poland and Kazakhstan ended level at 1-1 in Brisbane.
Death
Brigham Young University offensive lineman Sione Veikoso was killed in a construction accident in his hometown in Hawaii. His family confirmed that the 22year-old died Friday after a retaining wall he was helping repair during holiday break from school collapsed.
Sports and courts
Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Cameron Batson faces multiple charges after allegedly getting involved in an altercation with an officer and fleeing the scene on Saturday morning.
Hockey
Minnesota freshman Jimmy Snuggerud had a goal and three assists and the United States beat Finland 6-2 to win Group B in the world junior hockey championship. The Americans will face Germany — the fourthplace team in Group A — in the quarterfinals Monday.
Horse racing
Favored Queen Goddess ($6) dictated terms throughout in the Grade III, $100,000 Robert J. Frankel Stakes at Santa Anita and waltzed to an emphatic 2½-length score. Trainer Leonard Powell’s Air Force Red ($16.40) employed front-end tactics, as he shortened up to about 6½ furlongs over the hillside turf course, taking the Grade II, $250,000 Joe Hernandez Stakes by 1¾ lengths. Unhurried early, Lady T ($6.80) came running late to take the Grade III, $100,000 Las Flores Stakes under Victor Espinoza.
Dear Car Talk:
My wife and daughter freak out when the tire pressure warning light comes on in their cars. I bought pumps that plug into what we used to call the cigarette lighter, but it’s just too complicated for them.
If the tire isn’t visibly low, is it OK to drive for a while until someone else can pump it back up?
— Larry
Larry, if you had a roof leak, would you patch the roof, or try to find a bucket that your wife and daughter could empty more easily? I think you’re taking the wrong approach here. The real question is, why do their tires keep losing air?
For most people, seeing the low tire pressure warning light is a rare occurrence. A tire in good working order shouldn’t lose any air at all or should lose it so slowly that the light comes on somewhere between once a year and never.
The problem with many low-pressure warning lights is that they don’t tell you a lot. They generally come on once the tire pressure falls about 10 percent below where it’s supposed to be. So, if your tire calls for 32 psi, for instance, and your pressure drops to 28, the light will come on. And at that point, you’re probably not in a lot of immediate danger.
But how fast is it dropping? Are you losing 1 psi per month? Or 1 psi per hour?
The light won’t tell you that. And once the light is on, it can’t come on again to say “Hey, now you’re really low. I mean it, pull over!”
A visual inspection isn’t much use either. To the untrained eye, it can be hard to tell the difference between a tire that’s down 10 percent from a tire that’s down 30 percent. And the danger is that if you drive on a tire that’s under-filled, the tire can overheat. That’s particularly true if you’re driving at high speed and in hotter weather.
If the tire overheats, its inner structure can pull apart and cause a blowout, leading to a loss of control of the car and other unpleasant things. So, I generally recommend you address a low tire as soon as reasonably possible. Obviously, if it’s warm out and you’re driving at highway speed, you should act with much greater urgency.
But the bigger question for you, Larry, is, why do these tires keep losing air? You could have a leak that’s caused by a flaw or nail hole in the tire itself, it could be a bad filler valve or it could be a problem with the rim, where the rubber of the tire meets the metal of the wheel.
If you’re losing air regularly, a tire shop can submerge each tire and find the leak and fix it for you. That’s the best solution, Larry. And you can finance the repair by selling those air pumps on ebay.