England

MANCHESTER, England — Manchester United returned to winning ways in ruthlessly emphatic fashion with a Premier League record-equalling 9-0 home win over Southampton, who ended the game with nine men.

The victory moves Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side level on 44 points with leaders Manchester City although United have played two more games, with City travelling to Burnley on Wednesday.

Five years after joining Leicester City from Birmingham, Demarai Gray's time with the Foxes has come to an end. On Sunday, Gray completed a $2.2 million move to Peter Bosz's Bayer Leverkusen, currently fifth in the Bundesliga.

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Demarai Gray joins Bayer 04 from @LCFC ! pic.twitter.com/ghumQF412O

With Sadio Mané injured and Roberto Firmino on the bench, Liverpool turned to Mohamed Salah for attacking inspiration against West Ham on Sunday. The men charged with feeding him the ball included Xherdan Shaqiri, Thiago, Georginio Wijnaldum and James Milner, but the opening 45 minutes passed without any clear chances generated. 

Chelsea notched up their first win under Thomas Tuchel on Sunday with a 2-0 victory over Burnley thanks to goals by Spanish defenders César Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso who have both been given a chance to shine under the German coach.

Azpilicueta was entrusted with a place in Chelsea's starting lineup by Tuchel in his two games since replacing Frank Lampard and he scored with an angled shot in the 40th minute after sprinting 80 yards to seize on a lay-off by Callum Hudson-Odoi.

Liverpool supporters would have found themselves sighing in exasperation when Joel Matip came off injured at halftime against Tottenham on Thursday.

There is a genuine argument to be made that, when fit, Matip is a top-five center back in the league. Much to the chagrin of Reds everywhere, the Cameroonian international is seldom fit for more than a few games at a time. He was substituted at halftime against Fulham due to injury, subsequently missing out against last month's game against Spurs, before returning against Crystal Palace.

Manchester United on Thursday condemned the racial abuse of some of their players following Wednesday's shock 2-1 Premier League home defeat by Sheffield United.

Sky Sports reported that former England under-21 defender Axel Tuanzebe and France forward Anthony Martial were targeted on Instagram, with several users posting racist comments and symbols on their pictures. Tuanzebe also suffered abuse on Twitter, the report added.

UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin on Wednesday reiterated the ruling body's commitment to holding the rescheduled European Championship this year in 12 cities across the continent as originally planned.

The 24-nation event, which was due to take place in June-July last year, was postponed by 12 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The tournament, scheduled to start on June 11, is to be played in 12 cities across Europe and Ceferin is also optimistic that fans will be allowed inside stadiums again.