Southampton stun Leicester as Chelsea, Man Utd cruise

Chelsea’s English midfielder Ross Barkley controls the ball during Saturday’s match against Burnley at Stamford Bridge in London. (AFP)
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Updated 12 January 2020
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Southampton stun Leicester as Chelsea, Man Utd cruise

  • Chelsea put their struggles at Stamford Bridge behind them with a 3-0 win over Burnley

LONDON: Southampton gained revenge for a 9-0 thrashing at the hands of Leicester in October to continue their resurgence with a 2-1 win at the Foxes, while Chelsea and Manchester United secured comfortable wins in the race for the top-four on Saturday.

The Saints claimed their fifth win in six games at the King Power Stadium as they came from behind against the side second in the table.

Dennis Praet fired the hosts into an early lead, but Stuart Armstrong’s deflected effort quickly pulled Ralph Hassenhuttl’s men level.

Danny Ings then scored his 10th goal in 11 games eight minutes from time and the visitors survived a late scare when Jonny Evans’s header was ruled out by VAR for offside.

Chelsea put their struggles at Stamford Bridge behind them with a 3-0 win over Burnley, who slide ever closer to the bottom three.

Jorginho opened the scoring from the penalty spot after Willian had been felled inside the area.

Tammy Abraham gave Frank Lampard’s men breathing space before half-time as Nick Pope let his downward header through his grasp.

Callum Hudson-Odoi then scored his first Premier League goal by converting Cesar Azpilicueta’s cross at the back post.

United ended a three-game winless run in style with Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial once again leading the way for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men in a 4-0 rout of bottom-of-the-table Norwich.

Rashford marked his 200th appearance for the club with a brace as the England international opened the floodgates by meeting Juan Mata’s perfectly measured cross at the back post.

Both Martial and Rashford had penalties saved by Tim Krul in United’s 3-1 win at Carrow Road earlier this season, but this time the Dutchman was beaten by Rashford from the spot early in the second half.

Martial then glanced home the third with his head from Mata’s cross and Mason Greenwood came off the bench to round off United’s biggest league win since the opening day of the season to remain five points adrift of Chelsea in fifth.

Arsenal are now 11 points off the Champions League places as their revival under Mikel Arteta was halted by a red card for captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in a 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace.

Aubameyang finished off a flowing move including Mesut Ozil and Alexandre Lacazette to give the Gunners a deserved first half lead.

However, the Eagles levelled thanks to Jordan Ayew’s deflected effort before a VAR review turned a yellow card for Aubameyang into a red for a reckless challenge on Max Meyer. Arsenal could still have own all three points in the closing stages as Nicolas Pepe hit the post and Vicente Guaita made a brilliant save to deny Lacazette on the rebound.

“The first 35 minutes is exactly what I want our Arsenal team to play like,” said Arteta. “We switched off completely for the goal and that’s unacceptable.”

Wolves bid for a return to European football next season is also faltering as they were held 1-1 at home by Newcastle. Both goals came inside the first 14 minutes as Miguel Almiron fired the Magpies in front before Leander Dendoncker levelled for Wolves. Wolves have now taken just one point from their last three league games to slip to seventh and eight points behind Chelsea.

Everton bounced back from an embarrassing FA Cup exit to a much-changed and youthful Liverpool side last weekend thanks to a moment of magic from Richarlison to beat Brighton 1-0.

The Brazilian danced round Adam Webster inside the box before curling into the far corner to give Carlo Ancelotti a third win in four league games since taking charge.


Drake Maye aims to do what Tom Brady couldn’t with the Patriots: win a playoff game in Denver

Updated 24 January 2026
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Drake Maye aims to do what Tom Brady couldn’t with the Patriots: win a playoff game in Denver

FOXBOROUGH, Mass.: Drake Maye has a chance to accomplish something not even Tom Brady did with the Patriots.
Maye is hoping to beat the Broncos in the AFC championship game in Denver on Sunday and lead New England to the Super Bowl for the first time since 2018. The Patriots have never won a playoff game in Denver — losing all four tries, with Brady going 0-3.
“Just the AFC championship, the chance to go to the Super Bowl. That’d be huge,” Maye said. “Another road environment that’s had success in the past. … I know it would be a big-time win.”
The Patriots advanced to their 14th AFC championship game in the last 25 years on Sunday when they beat the Houston Texans 28-16 in Foxborough. Denver beat Buffalo 33-30 to reach the conference title game.
New England and Denver both finished 14-3 in the regular season, but the Broncos won the tiebreaker for home-field advantage because they had a better record against common opponents: Denver beat the Raiders twice this season but the Patriots lost to them.
That loss — to the worst team in the NFL in the first game of the Mike Vrabel era — sent New England into one of the most inhospitable environments in the league. In addition to the high-energy crowd, the Patriots will also have to contend with a low-oxygen environment that they won’t have a chance to acclimate to.
“Kind of what we’ve been doing on the road all season long,” said Maye, who has guided the Patriots to an 8-0 road record this season. “They’ve got a great team, so we’re going to have a tough challenge. But I’m looking forward to getting out there. And getting a chance to possibly celebrate on an away field would be pretty special.”
The last team to go undefeated on the road with a new head coach was the San Francisco 49ers under George Seifert in 1989; they won the Super Bowl.
“Coach  has always been saying, ‘Road warriors,’” Maye said. “So, we’re trying to find that one more time and finish out strong what we’ve done this year.”
The Broncos are 18-5 in home playoff games all-time. But they’ll will be without starting quarterback Bo Nix, who broke his ankle near the end of the divisional round victory over Buffalo. Instead, the offense will be led by former Patriot Jarrett Stidham, who hasn’t thrown a pass since 2023.
That’s why New England opened as a 5½-point favorite — the biggest road favorite ever in a conference championship game. The line has since moved to Denver plus-4½.
“We always feel as though no matter what anyone else has to say, we still have something to prove,” said cornerback Marcus Jones, who returned an interception for a touchdown against Houston. “We’re trying to always prove ourselves right and not trying to prove other people wrong. That’s kind of the philosophy we’ve had for a long time.”
Win or lose, the Patriots could have trouble getting back to New England: A major snowstorm is expected to dump a foot or more of snow on the area.
Vrabel said the team is prepared if it can’t leave Denver on Sunday night.
“We have multiple plans of what could go on based on the weather.  something that they’re familiar with here,” he said. “I mean, there’s things I can control,  that I can’t control.”