The Stagcom Weekly Round Up 18th April
How was your weekend then, lads? It's not very often that we get to enjoy a four-day weekend and some of you may be paying the price for it today.
Easter Weekend can be a busy one and you may have struggled to keep on top of all the sport over the weekend. Fortunately for those that applies to, we were on hand to watch it all and bring you all the talking points from a dramatic weekend.
TITLE RACE
A few weeks back it looked as if the title race was already over, with Chelsea ten-points clear of second placed Tottenham Hotspur. But, fast forward to now and the lead has been reduced to four-points.
Spurs reduced that gap with another convincing win at White Hart Lane, this time a 4-0 thumping of Bournemouth. Moussa Dembele opened the scoring with a close-range finish, before Son Heung-min made it two with a classy finish. The returning Harry Kane scored just after the break and Vincent Janssen added a fourth late on to give Spurs their seventh consecutive win.
Chelsea had the opportunity to re-establish their seven-point lead, but succumbed to a 2-0 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford. Jose Mourinho got one over on his former employers, thanks to goals from Marcus Rashford and the superb Ander Herrera. We could now have a title race on our hands.
With regards to the other end of the Premier League, there was little movement with no teams winning. With Sunderland and Middlesbrough looking doomed, the remaining relegation spot looks to be between Swansea and Hull. The Swans fell to a defeat at Watford and the Tigers suffered the same fate at the hands of Stoke. Two points separate the sides with just five games remaining.
SEAGULLS PROMOTED
Brighton secured promotion to the Premier League yesterday after beating Wigan Athletic and Huddersfield Town could only manage a draw at Derby County.
Glenn Murray opened the scoring for the Seagulls with a crisp shot and Solly March tucked away a second, with Nick Powell grabbing a late consolation.
Next season will be Brighton's first at top-flight for 34 years and the club have come a long way since nearly dropping out of the Football League at the turn of the century. One more win in their final three games will also confirm Chris Hughton's side as Championship winners, with second placed Newcastle United seven-points back.
VETTEL WINS
Sebastian Vettel won an action-packed Bahrain Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton's chances of winning were hit by a penalty for gamesmanship.
Mercedes' Hamilton was penalised five seconds for driving slowly on pit entry to hold up Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo.
With it being his second and final stop, Hamilton rejoined in third place. Team-mate Valtteri Bottas was ordered to let Hamilton by so he could chase Vettel, but 12 seconds in nine laps was too big a task and he had to settle for second place.
The win for Ferrari's Vettel gives him a seven-point lead over Hamilton at this early stage of the season, with the next race coming in Russia at the end of May.
AS EXPECTED
The opening weekend of the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield saw routine wins for the pre-tournament favourites.
Defending champion Mark Selby saw off Irish qualifier Fergal O'Brien comfortably with a 10-2 victory. Ronnie O'Sullivan also won comfortably; defeating Gary Wilson 10-7 in his opener.
Image credits: BBC Sports, Seb Vettel News, Shamoon HafeZ, The Sun