Highlights

Chelsea kept pact with Liverpool and Watford at the top of the Premier League table by defeating Newcastle United 2-1 Sunday after an entirely forgettable opening 75 minutes sprang into life over the final quarter-hour.

For Newcastle supporters, the approach from Rafa Benitez harkened back to last December’s visit of Manchester City. The Magpies sat inordinately deep and ceded 81 percent of possession to the visitors while playing with five at the back and an incredibly grafting midfield pairing of Mohamed Diame and Ki Sung-Yueng. 

The main talking point from yesterday’s Premier League encounter between Liverpool and Brighton — outside of further confirmation that Trent Alexander-Arnold is one of the brightest young full backs in world football and Mohamed Salah’s finely taken goal — was undoubtedly Alisson’s flick over Anthony Knockaert at the edge of his own box in the 69th minute with the Reds nursing a slender one-goal advantage.

Kylian Mbappé is unplayable right now.

After helping France win the World Cup over the summer, he scored two goals in his first match back with PSG last week. He added another goal and an assist on Saturday against Angers, helping the defending champion to a 3-1 victory. 

Hirving “Chucky” Lozano made his Champions League debut and did it in style with a stunning goal in a wild 3-2 win over BATE Borisov on Tuesday. 

We brought you the news that Max Power, the man with the greatest name according to Homer Simpson, had signed for Sunderland on loan from Wigan Athletic. While we all knew his name was pretty cool, no one really had any idea of his footballing talents.

Well, Max Power has scored for Sunderland: A looping header past Scunthorpe United’s keeper was the opening goal yesterday, and a rampant Sunderland ended up winning 3-0.

The North Carolina Courage are the NWSL Shield winners. Again. The decisive match was set to be played on Saturday night but was postponed due to lighting, and when things finally did resume in Cary, North Carolina, Sunday morning, it was just another day at the office for the Courage. The team was able to bag a 3-0 win thanks to second half goals from Debinha and Lynn Williams. 

Serie A made its TV debut on ESPN this weekend with AS Roma traveling to Turin to take on Torino FC. The match was broadcast ESPNews with Mark Donaldson and Matteo Bonetti (who used to call Serie A action for beIN SPORTS) commentating.