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Today's sport news: What you need to know

11:00 am on 8 November 2020

Latest - Chelsea hit back in impressive fashion after going behind to crush bottom club Sheffield United 4-1 and move into third place in the English Premier League.

Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Chelsea have 15 points from eight games, one behind surprise leaders Southampton and title holders Liverpool, who visit Manchester City tonight.

Sheffield United are still looking for their first victory of the season and have picked up only one point so far.

Manchester United eased the pressure on manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer with a 3-1 win at Everton with Bruno Fernandes scoring twice and Edinson Cavani grabbing his first for the club.

United have failed to win at home in the league this season and there were questions over Solskjaer's future after the midweek defeat to Istanbul Basaksehir in the Champions League.

United are now 13th on the table, while the loss was the third straight defeat for Carlo Ancelotti's side who, after being the early season pace-setters, have now slipped to fifth in the standings.

Crystal Palace crushed Leeds 4-1 to move up to seventh, while further down the table West Ham United scored in stoppage time to beat Fulham 1-0, who missed a penalty with the last kick of the game.

-Reuters

Coll beaten in final

The New Zealand squash player Paul Coll has been beaten 3-1 in the final of the Qatar Classic by world number one and defending champion Ali Farag of Egypt.

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Farag won 11-8, 6-11, 11-9, 11-9 in 61 minutes.

For fifth ranked Coll it was his 23 PSA final and his second Platinum title match but despite having an easy semifinal the West Coaster couldn't get across the line with the Egyptian displaying some remarkable shot-making.

For Coll, it marks a second year of frustration in Qatar following his defeat to World No.3 Tarek Momen in the PSA Men's World Championship final at the same venue 12 months ago. It was his second Platinum final appearance, with his first at the Windy City Open back in March, 2020 also ending in a defeat to Farag..

Coll gave plenty of credit to his opponent after the match.

"It's a tough feeling at the moment. I'm obviously very happy to reach another final here in Qatar, it's a great tournament and a fantastic location.

"I wanted it pretty bad today but fell short. It's a tough one to swallow, but Ali is World No.1 for a reason and he played the end of every game very well, so well done to Ali."

The next tournament for Coll is the CIB Black Ball Open in December in Cairo.

Canterbury stay alive

Canterbury have fended off the threat of relegation, for now, after scoring emphatic 29-0 win over Tasman in their Mitre 10 Cup Premiership game in Blenheim.

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The four-try bonus point win ended a three game losing streak for Canterbury.

Canterbury, who led 17-0 at half time scored tries through Ngatungane Punivai, Josh McKay, Chay Fihaki and Isaiah Punavai, while Brett Cameron kicked a penalty and three conversions.

Canterbury are sixth on the table, but just a point outside the top four.

They play Auckand in their final round-robin game next weekend with a win likely to mean they'll avoid relegation and possibly getting them into the semi-finals.

Tasman remain second in the standings.

Wellington challenge Hawke's Bay for the Ranfurly Shield today.

Pumas win warmup game

Argentina will head into their first test since the Rugby World Cup with positive momentum after beating an Australian selection 57-24 in Sydney.

In a game of three 30-minute periods, Mario Ledesma's Pumas piled on the tries at a closed Leichhardt Oval against a team of fringe Wallabies and a selection of players from Super Rugby side New South Wales Waratahs and other clubs.

Argentina play their first match of the Tri-Nations in a week against New Zealand in Sydney, having prepared for a month in Sydney and completed a two-week quarantine under COVID-19 rules.

Argentina won their first Tri-Nations warmup 19-15 against another Australian selection last week.

-Reuters

Roglic one stage away from Vuelta win

Primoz Roglic is poised to retain his Vuelta a Espana title after keeping his overall leader's red jersey in the penultimate stage, a 178.2-km mountain trek from Sequeros won by France's David Gaudu.

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The Slovenian, who lost the yellow jersey on the Tour de France in the final time trial in September, was dropped by second-placed Richard Carapaz in the final ascent, a 11.4-km effort at an average gradient of 7.1%, but hung on to top spot.

Going into Sunday's 18th and final flat stage to Madrid, Roglic, who had a 45-second advantage before the start in Sequeros, leads Ecuador's Carapaz by 24 seconds and Briton Hugh Carthy by 47 seconds.

Gaudu, who claimed his second stage win, broke into the top 10 in the general classification.

New Zealander George Bennett, Roglic's team-mate, is 12th overall.

-Reuters

Canterbury remain unbeaten

Canterbury scored their third straight win in Plunket Shield first class cricket with an innings and 32 run victory over Northern Districts in Rangiora.

Canterbury executed their victory with more than a day to spare, pacemen and leading wicket-takers Will Williams and Fraser Sheat both backing up their five-wicket bags in the previous round with another bag in this encounter.

Wellington will start the final day at the Basin Reserve on 184 for seven, needing another 94 runs for victory over Otago.

The other unbeaten side, Auckland have so far been unable to get on the field in their game against Central Districts in Nelson.

Rafa beaten

Top seed Rafael Nadal's bid for a maiden Paris Masters title was halted when the Spaniard was beaten 6-4 7-5 in the semi-finals by German fourth seed Alexander Zverev.

Nadal, who reached the final at Bercy once in 2007, was only briefly in the mix, conceding serve three times.

Zverev will look to claim his fourth Masters title against Russian third seed Daniil Medvedev, who qualified with a commanding 6-4 7-6(4) victory against Canadian Milos Raonic.

Meanwhile Novak Djokovic has sealed the year-end men's world number one tennis ranking for the sixth time to go level with childhood hero Pete Sampras after closest rival Nadal opted against playing in the ATP Tour event in Sofia next week.

During the year Djokovic won the ATP Cup in January before picking up a record-extending eight Australian Open Grand Slam in Melbourne. He also won the Cincinnati Masters and a record 36th ATP Masters title in Rome.

In September Djokovic also overtook American Pete Sampras, who ended as No. 1 for six straight years between 1993 and 1998, for the most weeks overall at the top ranking and will begin his 294th week in first spot on Monday.

The 33-year-old Djokovic, the winner of 17 Grand Slam titles, has mentioned that Roger Federer's record of 310 weeks as No. 1 remains his target and he will have a chance to move past the Swiss on March 8 if he can hold on to his top spot.

-Reuters