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Monday April 1, 2019

MANCHESTER City swept back to the top of the table with a stylish 2-0 win at Fulham, while Hudder-sfi eld equalled the record for the earliest Premier League relegation after defeat at Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Amid the drama at the top and bottom, Manchester United celebrated Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s fi rst match as permanent man-ager with a 2-1 win over Watford to climb into fourth place.

Bernardo Silva’s fi fth-minute strike from the edge of the area was followed by Sergio Aguero’s cool fi nish as City effectively wrapped up the points in the fi rst 27 minutes.

City leads Liverpool by one point with seven games remaining for both sides, but Jurgen Klopp’s men can regain pole position with victory over third-placed Totten-ham at Anfi eld the next day.

Pep Guardiola’s men remain on course for an unprecedented quadruple of Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup, which they retained last month.

A potential 14 games now stand between them and history, but there will be far tougher tests in wait than struggling Fulham, which is 16 points adrift of safety with just six games left.

“The way we started was amaz-ing. They surprised me again, the fi rst 15-20 minutes was excep-tional,” Guardiola said.

WITH the playoffs out of the question, the Los Angeles Lakers are making business decisions. The team announced Saturday that star LeBron James would sit out the rest of the season.

The move was done to ensure James’ groin can fully heal.

Lakers said in a statement: “After consulting with our team doctors and medical staff, we have decided to hold LeBron out of games for the remainder of the season.

This decision will allow his groin to fully heal, and is best

for the future success of both LeBron and the Lakers.”

As it became clear making the playoffs would be tough, the Lakers opted to rest James more frequently. With six games to go in the regular season, the Lakers decided there was no need to risk further injury to James.

The 34-year-old averaged 27.4 points, 8.5 rebounds and 8.3 assists in his fi rst season with the Lakers. He was limited to just 55 games due to a groin injury.

With James’ season over, he can get an early start on prep-

ping some free-agent pitches. The Lakers are expected to go after at least one superstar to join James in Los Angeles. The team could also try to re-engage the New Orleans Pelicans in an attempt to deal for Anthony Davis.

James has three years left on his four-year, US$153 million deal with the Lakers. If James can help the Lakers recruit another star, this might be the only time he misses the postsea-son as a member of the Lakers.

(SD-Agencies)

FOR 70 minutes on Saturday, it looked like Espanyol might just escape the Nou Camp with a point against city rival Barcelona.

Then Lionel Messi did what the planet’s greatest player does, scoring twice before the fi nal whistle to earn a 2-0 win and extend Barca’s lead atop La Liga to an all-but-insurmountable 13 points over Atletico Madrid.

The hosts dominated the match from the outset, badly out-possessing and out-chanc-ing overmatched Espanyol, which remains 14th place in Spain’s top fl ight. But the visi-tors defended stoutly, and Barca couldn’t fi nd the breakthrough from open play.

Fortunately for them, Messi

broke the deadlock by coolly chipping a “panenka” free kick over the wall and keeper Diego Lopez from just outside the 18-meter box.

The strike gave Ernesto Val-verde’s side some much-needed breathing room. And Messi, who earlier last week was credited with scoring the three greatest goals in Barcelona’s illustrious history, would kill the game off with his second tally of the match in the fi nal minute of regular time.

Home keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen started the sequence with a quick outlet pass. Twelve seconds later, the ball was in Lopez’s net, with Messi arriving in the area to fi nish Malcom’s centering feed fi rst-time.

AMID the unpredictable swirl of this year’s tennis results, with 33 different champions in 33 tournaments, Ashleigh Barty provides a change of pace.

The crafty Australian mixes backhand slices and drop shots with a deceptively strong serve and a knack for attack-ing, which is how she won the Miami Open.

Barty had a career-high 15 aces and became the newest 2019 titlist on the ATP and WTA circuits by beating Karolina Plis-kova 7-6 (1), 6-3 Saturday.

That means there still has not been a repeat champion this year among the men or women.

“Amazing, isn’t it?” Barty said. “On the women’s side, I think the level has evened out a lot, and the depth has grown over the last few years. Everyone in the draw has a legitimate chance of winning the tournament, and you try to make the most of it.”

In Miami, Barty did. The former professional cricket player won her fourth tennis title and the biggest of her career to improve to 18-3 this year. At age 22, she’ll rise next week to a career-high ranking of No. 9.

Barty became the fi fth dif-ferent Miami Open women’s champion in the past fi ve years, and she’s the 14th different WTA titlist in 2019.

Roger Federer could become tennis’ fi rst repeat champion this year when he plays John Isner in the men’s fi nal. Federer won Dubai early this month.

Barty’s large repertoire of shots is both entertaining and effective, and she kept a weary Pliskova off balance while fi nd-ing the open court for 41 win-ners.

“I’ve always tried to bring as much variety to the court as possible,” Barty said. “It’s about trying to neutralize what your opponent is doing. There was a phase in women’s tennis of big power and fi rst strikers, but physicality in tennis has grown, which has allowed more players to neutralize the big fi rst ball and work their way into the point.”

(SD-Agencies)

Barcelona’s Lionel Messi in action with Espanyol’s Mario Hermoso (front) during their match at Camp Nou in Barcelona on Saturday. SD-Agencies

Man City back on top after win

“Every game we have to win if we want to be champions. We have tough opponents, but that is the challenge.”

Bottom-of-the-table Hudders-fi eld’s two-season stay in the top fl ight came to an end at Selhurst Park as they slumped to a 24th defeat in 32 league games by losing 2-0 at Palace.

Huddersfi eld is only the

second club to be relegated from the Premier League in March after Derby went down with 11 points in 2008.

They survived just one day longer than Derby in 2008 and equalled their unwanted Premier League record of relegation after 32 games.

Already destined for the drop, Jan Siewert’s side had their fate

sealed due to their result and wins for Burnley and South-ampton.

Luka Milivojevic’s 76th-minute penalty put Huddersfi eld behind after a foul on Palace winger Wilfried Zaha.

Patrick van Aanholt’s 88th-minute strike pushed the bedraggled Terriers back to the Championship. (SD-Agencies)

Messi brace extends Barcelona’s lead atop La Liga

Lakers sit LeBron for rest of the season

The goals were Messi’s 28th and 29th in 26 La Liga games this season. The 31-year-old Argentine has now converted 11

more times than Barcelona team-mate Luiz Suarez, who is second on the circuit’s scoring chart.

(SD-Agencies)

Barty beats Pliskova for Miami title

Ashleigh Barty of Australia celebrates after defeating Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic during the women’s fi nals at the Miami Open on Saturday.

SD-Agencies

Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero (2nd R) scores their second goal against Fulham during their match at Craven Cottage in London on Saturday. SD-Agencies

LeBron James