A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
Champions Manchester United begin the second half of their Premier League title defence at the top of the league on Saturday but manager Alex Ferguson will be hoping for better luck at West Ham United.
An injury-time goal from Fulham's Darren Bent inflicted more pain on struggling Manchester United as the bottom club rescued a 2-2 Premier League draw on Sunday while Tottenham Hotspur beat top-four rivals Everton 1-0.
Saturday's EPL meeting is crucial as champions United were beaten home and away by West Ham last year.
Chelsea host Villa on Wednesday, Newcastle United on Dec. 29 and are away at neighbours Fulham on new year's day.
La Liga leaders Barcelona moved 10 points clear with a 4-1 win at Real Betis on Sunday after second place Atletico Madrid slipped up at Athletic Bilbao on Saturday in a 2-0 defeat.
The 18-year-old, who broke the world record in Saturday's 50m event, smashed his own world junior mark while winning the 100m final in a Russian senior record of 52.53 seconds.
Fulham's abject season reached a new low as third-tier Sheffield United snatched a last-gasp winner in extra time to dump the Premier League side out of the FA Cup 1-0 in a fourth round replay on Tuesday.
Liverpool took the lead against West Ham United but then had to come from behind in another game of thrills and spills for Juergen Klopp's unpredictable side who where held to a 2-2 home draw in the Premier League on Sunday.
Brazilian Felipe Massa finished second for Ferrari with Australian Mark Webber third for Red Bull.
Villarreal missed their chance to stay in touch with Real Madrid at the top of the Primera Liga when they went down 2-0 at Valladolid on Sunday. The defeat kept Manuel Pellegrini's side level with Barcelona on 28 points in third spot in the table and four adrift of leaders Real, who won 3-1 at home to Racing Santander on Saturday.
Daniel Chopra has set himself for a top-10 finish at the New Zealand Open after rising to the tied 11th.
Real Madrid's reliance on their talisman Cristiano Ronaldo was more evident than ever on Tuesday as the Spanish and European champions meekly lost 1-0 at Espanyol in La Liga.
Arsenal kept alive their slim hopes of securing a Champions League spot next season with a 2-1 Premier League victory at Middlesbrough on Monday that left the hosts in deep danger of relegation.
Top seed Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin Del Potro set a record for the longest semi-final ever played at Wimbledon on Friday as the Serb favourite eventually triumphed in the fifth set after four hours 43 minutes of scintillating action.
Alonso finished second while Massa was third on Sunday.
Chinese swimmer Li Yang clocked 28.09 seconds to better the World record in the 50 metres backstroke at the 4th World Military Games in Hyderababd.
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton will start the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix from pole position after setting the fastest time in qualifying on Saturday.
IMAGES from the EPL matches played on Wednesday
Juventus raced into a 2-0 halftime lead after Napoli goalkeeper Alex Meret was sent off in the 25th minute. The visitors then had Pjanic dismissed and Napoli's Jose Callejon pulled one back before Insigne let the Turin side off the hook.
Have control over your finances, especially when you are going through a separation.
Pepe has blasted the Liga club's fans as "unenthusiastic", contrasting the hushed atmosphere of the Santiago Bernabeu stadium with the cauldron of noise he is now exposed to with Turkish champions Besiktas.
Naomi Broady was branded the 'bad girl' of British tennis.
Barca's second-half stamina key to their massive lead in the standings this season
The former captain engineered a 3-0 win over Estonia and put them back in the race to qualify for Euro 2008.
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has described his Football Association fine as a 'disgrace' and branded his suspended one-match stadium ban 'astonishing' after his comments about referees, British media reported on Thursday.
The Frenchman won the 14th stage of the Tour de France, but Spaniard Oscar Pereiro retained his overall leader's yellow jersey.
Tottenham Hotspur have shown impressive durability in the Premier League lately, but they will need to be at their most steadfast to deny champions and league leaders Manchester City who travel to Wembley on Monday.
Renault's Formula One world champion scored his fourth consecutive victory of the season.
Virat Kohli enters the three match ODI series against Bangladesh starting on Wednesday as the highest-ranked batsman on either side, in fourth place in the ICC rankings.
Cristiano Ronaldo became the first player to score 400 goals in Europe's top five leagues as Juventus dropped points for the first time this season following a 1-1 Serie A draw with Genoa on Saturday. The Portuguese striker's fifth league goal for Juve carried him to the milestone, adding to his 84 strikes for Manchester United in the Premier League and 311 for Real Madrid in La Liga.
Borussia Dortmund eased past nine-man Hamburg SV 3-0 to keep their slim Bundesliga title hopes alive on Sunday as they moved seven points behind leaders Bayern Munich with four games remaining.
Karim Benzema scored his sixth goal in four games as Real Madrid beat Alaves 3-0 on Sunday for a fourth successive La Liga victory which took the European champions to within eight points of leaders Barcelona.
Lewis Hamilton led a Mercedes 1-2 at the top of the timesheets for the first free practice session at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Friday, while McLaren's hopes of a clean start were tempered by reliability issues.
Barcelona squandered the chance to go 11 points clear in La Liga on Sunday after blowing a two-goal lead in the space of six minutes in a 2-2 draw at Villarreal overshadowed by a controversial penalty.
The Indian ace drew with Wang Yue of China in the fifth round to maintain a half point lead in the Marx Gyorgy Memorial international chess tournament.
Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, find themselves in the bizarre situation of having made poor starts to the campaign
Chelsea's hopes of winning a third consecutive Premier League title have taken a knock with a third straight draw, their first match this season without scoring.
The teenage scored 6.5 points in the Andorra International Open Chess tournament, which was enough to earn him the Grandmaster's norm.
