Sports

MANCHESTER, United Kingdom — Manchester City moved to the top of the Premier League as lowly Luton were eased aside 5-1 at the Etihad, while Newcastle thrashed Tottenham 4-0 on Saturday.

Amid a gruelling schedule, Pep Guardiola could hardly have wished for a kinder fixture in between the two legs of his side’s Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid.

Guardiola made six changes from a thrilling 3-3 draw in the Spanish capital on Tuesday and City seemed set for a stress-free afternoon from the moment they opened the scoring after just two minutes.

Erling Haaland’s shot deflected in off the unfortunate Daiki Hashioka into his own net.

Yet, the floodgates refused to open as the English champions had to wait until after the hour mark before making the points safe when Mateo Kovacic smashed in Julian Alvarez’s cross at the edge of the box.

Haaland scored five then the sides met in the FA Cup in February.

The Norwegian had to settle for just one time this time when scored from the penalty spot for his 20th Premier League goal of the season.

Ross Barkley netted a late consolation for Luton but they have just five games left to save their top-flight status.

Jeremy Doku fired into the far corner after jinking through the Luton defence before Josko Gvardiol scored his second goal in a week after opening his City account in Madrid.

Victory takes City two points clear of Arsenal and Liverpool, who both have a game in hand, and are in action on Sunday.

Liverpool host Crystal Palace at Anfield looking to bounce back from their shock Europa League defeat to Atalanta.

Arsenal entertain Aston Villa, who moved back into the top four without kicking a ball on Saturday thanks to Tottenham’s trouncing at St. James’ Park.

Isak double 

Alexander Isak scored twice, while Anthony Gordon and Fabian Schar were also on target as the Magpies moved up to sixth and kept their slim chances of Champions League football next season alive.

Newcastle are 10 points adrift of Tottenham and Villa with six games remaining but have the far easier run-in.

“We’ve just got to keep doing our bit which is trying to win every game,” said Newcastle boss Eddie Howe.

“We’re hopefully returning to somewhere near our best and we’ve got to keep heading in that direction.”

Manchester United can move back above Newcastle into sixth with victory away to Bournemouth later on Saturday.

At the bottom of the table, Nottingham Forest edged one point clear of the bottom three after a thrilling 2-2 draw against Wolves.

Matheus Cunha struck twice for the visitors at the City Ground to deny Forest a vital three points after goals from Morgan Gibbs White and Danilo had put them 2-1 in front.

Brentford’s first win in 10 games pulled the Bees seven points clear of the drop zone as Ollie Arblaster’s own goal and Frank Onyeka earned a 2-0 victory over Sheffield United.

Burnley’s chances of survival are fading fast after a 1-1 draw at home to Brighton left them still second bottom, six points adrift of safety.

AMMAN —  The U-23 national team left home for Qatar on Saturday where they will play two friendlies this week before they kick off the 6th AFC U-23 Asian Cup on April 15 – a qualifying tournament to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Jordan will face China on Sunday before playing Vietnam on Wednesday in the final tune-up before they start the U23 Asian Cup  where they were drawn in Group A alongside hosts Qatar, Australia and Indonesia. 

The Kingdom is eyeing a spot at the Olympic Games for the first time as three teams will qualify to the Olympics while the fourth will play a playoff to advance. 

Group B includes Japan , Korea, UAE and China. Group C includes Saudi Arabia, Iran, Thailand and Tajikistan;

The Kingdom’s record at the U23 Asian Cup (previously the Asian Championship), was 3rd in 2013, the quarterfinals in 2016 and 2020 and elimination from the first round in 2018 and 2022.

Last week Jordan overcame Iraq to take fifth spot at the 5th West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) Championship in Saudi Arabia.  Jordan beat Thailand to qualify to the 5th spot match after losing to Saudi Arabia in a dramatic, disappointing penalty shootout in their opening match. Korea beat Australia on penalties to win the title, while Saudi beat Egypt for third place.

AMMAN — Hussein are in the lead 7 points ahead of Faisali as teams head into Week 16 of the Professional Football League as of Thursday.

Standings remained mostly unchanged after week 15 as teams resumed matches after a  two week break as the national team played two World Cup qualifiers  eating Pakistan 7-0 and 3-0 to move to second in Group G while the U23 team took  fifth spot  at the 5thWest Asian Football Federation (WAFF) Championship.

Hussein are still in the lead after they beat Ma’an 2-1. This week, the leaderswill face Wihdat who lost 2-0 to Faisali and now trail the lead by 12 points. Faisali play Aqaba who beat Mughayer Sarhan 2-1.

Ramtha scored a vital 2-0 win over Shabab Urdun next play Salt, who moved 3 spots to 6th after overcoming Sahab 2-0.

Ahli are trying to move away from the relegation zone. They were held 1-1 with Jalil and next play Mughayer Sarhan. Shabab Urdun who dropped to 7th play Ma’an who also dropped to 9th, while the two at the bottom - Sahab and Jalil - come head to head.

Just like Ramtha, who  surprised fans in 2021, when they won the League crown for the third time in their history after 39 years, Hussein seem to have the chance to grab the crown and change the usual Faisali-Wihdat dominance of the title.

So far in the season, Wihdat beat Faisali to win the Jordan Super Cup for their 15th time, reigning Pro League champs Faisali won their 9th Jordan Football Association Shield, while the Jordan Cup is still under way. Regionally, this season saw Wihdat and Faisali failing to advance beyond Round 1 at AFC Cup and Champions League respectively.

MIAMI — Jannik Sinner’s third victory of the year, at the Miami Open on Sunday, will lift the Italian to number two in the world and has convinced his coach, Darren Cahill, that tennis is set for years of exciting battles at the top.

Roger Federer has retired, Rafael Nadal is battling with injuries and 36-year-old Novak Djokovic is entering the twilight of his career but Cahill, the Australian former coach of Andre Agassi, believes 22-year-old Sinner’s rivalry with Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz ensures a bright future for the sport.

“He’s getting to play a sport that he loves and do it at the highest order — and he’s loving every piece of his life at the moment. So he appreciates every single moment that is happening to him,” Cahill told reporters after Sinner’s straight sets win over Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov in the final at Hard Rock Stadium.

“But he has also got his feet on the ground, knowing it’s just a sport. It’s just a tennis match. And beyond this, whilst he’s professional in everything he does, he enjoys his life. He’s a normal 22-year-old kid.

“So there’s a lot to learn from him, a lot of good to learn from both him and Carlos. I think they’re very similar in many meaningful ways and that’s why I think tennis is in great hands at the moment with the likes of those two and many other players coming through that are going to carry the torch through a generation that we’ve been so fortunate to sit through the last 20 years.

“It is important to have these types of sports people coming through.”

Cahill, who coached Australian former world number one Lleyton Hewitt and worked with Andy Murray, says that while the future looks bright, it would be wrong to make comparisons between Sinner and Alcaraz and the previous generation.

But he believes the new wave of talent are benefitting from the methods used by Federer, Nadal and Djokovic.

“What they were able to achieve for so many years is remarkable and I don’t think we’ll ever see that domination again, no matter what,” said the Australian.

“It has been remarkable how they’ve pushed the frontier of the game and made everyone more professional and made everybody play better. What you’re seeing with the players coming through now is a direct result of their professionalism, of the teams they put together, the way they’ve tried to inch out every piece of improvement in each of their games.”

Sinner’s ‘playing a 10’ 

Cahill works alongside Sinner’s Italian coach, Simone Vagnozzi, as part of a large support team and those structures flow directly from the approaches taken by the “Big Three” of tennis.

“They’ve got big teams, they go from the physio to the mental coach, to a couple of tennis coaches now, to a fitness trainer,” Cahill said.

“But I wouldn’t start comparing what Carlos or Jannik or Holger [Rune] or these types of players are doing just yet to the generation prior. Because I think that’s unfair.

“They need time to establish themselves but the level is right up there and it’s a good level. But they need to win a lot more before you start comparing it to those boys.”

Cahill said there is no doubt that Sinner’s form — with three tournament wins in the opening three months of the season, starting with January’s Australian Open — is outstanding and he believes he will get even better.

“For where he is at the moment, right now, he’s playing a 10,” Cahill said. “You can’t sugarcoat it. He’s playing great and his level [in Miami] was fantastic. But he can get better.

“You evolve, you get a little bit older, a bit stronger, a bit faster, a bit smarter, all those things are going to start coming into his game. “We’ve been working on improving his serve, improving his transition game, his slice backhand to use it as a change-up shot, direction on his forehand and return of service.

“But credit where it’s due — he’s playing terrific tennis at the moment.”

NEW YORK — LeBron James delivered another epic performance on Sunday, scoring 40 points and matching a career-high with nine 3-pointers on 10 attempts as the Los Angeles Lakers rolled to a 116-104 NBA victory at Brooklyn.

James, a four-time NBA Most Valuable Player and the NBA’s oldest active player at 39, made 13-of-17 shots from the floor overall and added seven rebounds and five assists in an effort that had Brooklyn fans giving him a standing ovation.

“I was feeling pretty good today, obviously, shooting the ball from the perimeter,” James said. “I just try to continually put my game where I have no weaknesses out on the floor, especially offensively. Tonight I had it going from the 3-point line.”

James achieved his 77th NBA career 40-point game to match Oscar Robertson for seventh on an all-time list topped by Wilt Chamberlain’s 271.

“I love this game. I try to put everything into the game and with it, it gives back to me,” James said.

“Anytime I’m linked with the greats — and obviously Big O was a big inspiration for me growing up, reading about his history — it’s pretty cool.”

Anthony Davis added 24 points and 14 rebounds while Japan’s Rui Hachimura had 20 points and 10 rebounds as the Lakers seized a 17-0 lead and never looked back.

D’Angelo Russell scored 18 points and cracked the 10,000 career point barrier in the triumph as the Lakers improved to 42-33, just ahead of Golden State in the last two Western Conference play-in spots.

“Just extremely thankful that he packed the cape on this road trip,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said of the super-heroic display by James.

“We needed all nine of those threes. [We] kind of dropped the rope in terms of what we were doing... turned the ball over way too much, but that said, you have to just overcome these things... And we were able to do that by some huge shot-making by him.”

James wasn’t the only superstar with nine 3-pointers on Sunday.

Luka Doncic scored 47 points on 18-of-30 shooting, 9-of-16 from 3-point range, to lead Dallas over host Houston 125-107, snapping the Rockets’ 11-game win streak and stretching the Mavericks’ win streak to seven games.

Golden State kept pace with the Lakers by winning 117-113 at San Antonio. Stephen Curry scored 33 points to lead the Warriors while rookie Victor Wembanyama led the hosts with 32 points.

Jokic has triple double

Nikola Jokic posted his 23rd triple double of the season, sparking defending champion Denver’s 130-101 home victory over Cleveland.

The 29-year-old Serbian centre, a two-time NBA MVP, scored 26 points, grabbed 18 rebounds and added 16 assists for his 128th NBA triple double.

“It speaks to why he’s going to be a three-time MVP,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “[It was] him showing up and saying, ‘I’m going to do what MVPs do. I’m going to lead us to a win.’”

The Nuggets sank a season-high 21 3-point shots and clinched a play-off berth.

“We came out and really showed who we are, just getting after it defensively, rebounding, making shots. I thought we played amazing basketball,” said Nuggets guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who scored 22 points.

Denver hit 50-of-87 from the floor overall (57.5 per cent) and 21-of-33 (63.6 per cent) from 3-point range while outrebounding the Cavaliers 51-28.

The Nuggets improved to 52-23, a half-game behind leader Oklahoma City in a three-team fight for the West lead.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander sank the last of his 19 points on a game-winning basket with 2.1 seconds remaining to give Oklahoma City a 113-112 victory at New York.

Jalen Williams led the Thunder with 33 points while Jalen Brunson, who missed a shot at the final buzzer, led New York with 30.

Minnesota fell a game out of first with a 109-101 home loss to Chicago. DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points for the Bulls, who snapped the Timberwolves’ four-game win streak.

Paul George scored 41 points to lead the Los Angeles Clippers over host Charlotte 130-118.

Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 32 points to lead Philadelphia over host Toronto 135-120, extending the Raptors’ losing skid to 13 games.

Terry Rozier netted 27 points to lead Miami’s 119-107 victory at Washington.

WASHINGTON — Jayson Tatum scored 23 points to lead a balanced Boston attack in a 104-92 victory at New Orleans on Saturday, snapping a two-game losing skid for the NBA-best Celtics.

Latvian forward Kristaps Porzingis contributed 19 points, 10 rebounds, four blocked shots, three assists and two steals while Jaylen Brown added 17 points for the Celtics.

Jrue Holiday had 13 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for Boston, which avoided a first three-game losing streak this season after back-to-back losses in Atlanta.

“We want to be a hungry team no matter what,” Porzingis said. “We haven’t done anything and back-to-back losses to Atlanta is not in our DNA. It just didn’t sit right with us, so we came out here tonight and got us a W.”

The Celtics, who have clinched the Eastern Conference crown, improved to 58-16, moving closer to securing a home-court edge throughout the NBA play-offs.

New Orleans, fifth in the Western Conference, fell to 45-29, a half-game ahead of Dallas and two atop Phoenix in a fight for the last two guaranteed West play-off spots.

“We just knew we couldn’t be in cruise control,” Porzingis said. “These teams are hungry. They need these wins. Maybe we at this point of the season don’t need them as much, but still we want to come out here and compete at a high level every night.”

Porzingis was unhappy at shooting only 6-of-14 from the floor, and just 1-of-6 from 3-point range but pleased with his all-around effort.

“There are so many ways we can impact a game if things are not going perfect for us,” Porzingis said. “That’s what I did tonight. I turned up another notch and that’s what we’re going to need the rest of this regular season and then even more in the post-season.”

Boston began the third quarter on a 15-7 run to open a 74-64 advantage on the way to an 83-68 lead entering the fourth quarter and the Celtics kept the Pelicans at bay over the final minutes.

“Once we hit another gear, the game just flipped,” Porzingis said.

Derrick White, who scored 15 points, sank a 3-pointer at the second quarter buzzer to cap an 8-1 Celtics run for a 59-57 half-time Boston lead.

Tatum had 13 first-half points for Boston while Brown and Porzingis each scored 11.

Zion Williamson led New Orleans with a game-high 25 points, 12 in the first quarter, and nine rebounds while CJ McCollum added 24 points for the Pelicans.

Later games find Milwaukee at Atlanta and Memphis at Orlando.