England

LONDON - Chelsea kept alive their remote Premier League title chances with a 2-0 win over London rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, set on their way by an exquisite strike from Hakim Ziyech which was quickly followed up by a Thiago Silva header.

Ziyech scored one of the best goals of the season in the 47th minute when he received the ball on edge of the box after a surging run by Callum Hudson-Odoi, and the Moroccan's curling, dipping shot dropped into the top corner with Spurs goalkeeper Hugo Lloris rooted to the spot.

LIVERPOOL — Everton's first match of the post-Rafa Benitez era began with a 1-0 Premier League defeat by Aston Villa on Saturday amid a tense and feisty atmosphere at Goodison Park where the visiting team were hit by missiles thrown from the crowd.

A lively first half ended with Emiliano Buendia scoring with a flicked header that arced over Jordan Pickford in goal and the provocative celebrations led to a bottle being launched from the stands and hitting the Villa players.

Is it too late for Gregg Berhalter to rethink his USMNT roster? Mere minutes after the U.S. roster for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers was made public — a squad that didn’t include Josh Sargent — the Norwich City forward scored an absurd goal in the Premier League. The Josh Sargent goal vs Watford may just be a Puskás Award-worthy goal for the sheer audacity of it, not to mention the acrobatics and improvisation required to turn the ball into the back of the net.

What a past 12 months it has been for New England Revolution goalkeeper Matt Turner. Once an undrafted free agent out of Fairfield University, in 2021 Turner:

Cristiano Ronaldo is a marvel; the 36-year-old continues to be one of the best forwards in the history of the beautiful game. But sometimes marvels can pout like spoiled kids, as happened when we saw Ronaldo benched by Manchester United coach Ralf Rangnick on Wednesday. 

The English Football Association (FA) announced it’s looking into suspected abnormal betting patterns involving an Arsenal player during the 2021-22 Premier League season.

The FA is investigating a yellow card received by an Arsenal player in a Premier League fixture this season, amid concerns of suspicious betting patterns.

— The Athletic UK (@TheAthleticUK) January 19, 2022