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Everton forward Richarlison threw a lit flare after picking it up from the field while celebrating scoring to secure a 1-0 victory over Chelsea on Sunday that helped his team’s push to avoid relegation from the Premier League, Associated Press reported.

In the celebrations that followed Richarlison’s goal, a lit blue smoke canister was thrown on to the pitch by supporters. Richarlison responded by picking the object up and throwing it off the field, although it was unclear where it landed.

“We will look into the matter but, as far we are concerned, Richarlison was attempting to throw it out of the ground,” an Everton spokesperson was quoted as saying by Britain’s Press Association. 

Everton moved two points from safety with five matches remaining and a game in hand over both Leeds and Burnley.

The goal came 59 seconds into the second half at Goodison Park. Richarlison and Demarai Gray pressured Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta into losing possession and the Brazilian benefited by sweeping a shot past goalkeeper Edouard Mendy. 

Chelsea remained third in the standings despite losing to the team managed by its former player and coach, Frank Lampard, according to the Associated Press.

Richarlison’s four goals in his last five league matches is as many as he scored in his first 21 games of the season. They are helping Everton’s bid to extend its 67-year stay in the top division.

But it relied on Jordan Pickford’s saves to preserve the win, having faced no shots on target for almost an hour.

There was a superb denial of Azpilicueta after Pickford scrambled across his goal, having been beaten by Mason Mount.

Then came a one-handed save from Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s shot and a low save in stoppage time to block Thiago Silva’s effort, Associated Press reported.

Mumbai Indians played for pride and they would be happy to finally get on the board with a five-wicket victory against Rajasthan Royals on Saturday, The Indian Express reported.

A win on the back of eight consecutive defeats is way too little and way too late, but at least, the five-time champions have broken their duck in this IPL.

A good, collective bowling performance from MI had restricted Rajasthan Royals to 158/6. Kumar Kartikeya, the debutant left-arm spinner, was impressive and returned with 1/19 from his four overs. Riley Meredith worked up good pace, hit Jos Buttler on the helmet with a sharp bouncer and bagged 2/24, according to the Indian Express.

Then, MI chased down the target via an 81-run third wicket partnership between Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma. There were jitters in the camp when Surya perished after scoring a 39-ball 51 and Varma departed a couple of deliveries later. Even in the final over, when only four runs were required for victory, Kieron Pollard’s dismissal had kept MI on the edge. But Daniel Sams hit the first ball he faced for a six and the MI fans were dancing in the aisles.

Manchester City remained the front-runner in the English Premier League title race after winning at Leeds 4-0 on Saturday, Associated Press.

Liverpool won at Newcastle 1-0 in an early kickoff to keep the pressure on City, which responded.

Rodri headed City into a halftime lead, and further goals from Nathan Ake, Gabriel Jesus and Fernandinho lifted it back above Liverpool by a point.

City coach Pep Guardiola made five changes after the midweek Champions League win against Real Madrid, but it made little difference as the defending champion secured a third straight league win for the first time in 2022.

However, it was not as easy as the scoreline might suggest against an embattled Leeds side hungry for points in their fight to beat the drop. Leeds’ first league defeat in six games left it one place and five points above third-from-bottom Everton, which has two games in hand.

Leeds was dealt another injury blow before kickoff when captain Liam Cooper limped out of the warmup and was replaced by Mateusz Klich. The new-look defence was undone in the 13th minute, according to the Associated Press.

Stuart Dallas was penalised for his foul on Raheem Sterling and Phil Foden’s excellent out-swinging free kick was headed home by Rodri.

Leeds’ wretched luck with injuries continued in first-half stoppage time when Dallas twisted his knee in a 50-50 challenge with Jack Grealish and was carried off the field on a stretcher.

City doubled its lead from another set-piece nine minutes after the break when Foden’s corner was headed goalwards by Ruben Dias and Ake turned to sweep the ball home from six yards at the far post.

Ake hobbled off soon after and was replaced by Oleksandr Zinchenko. Leeds went close through Raphinha, whose shot was deflected over by Aymeric Laporte, Associated Press reported.

But City sealed the match in the 78th when Ederson’s clearance was chested into Foden’s path and his throughball was buried by Jesus.

The Leeds players didn’t let their heads go down and Daniel James and Sam Greenwood saw successive goalbound shots blocked and fellow substitute Joe Gelhardt’s effort was saved by Ederson.

Fernandinho, a late replacement for Rodri, arrowed home a low shot in stoppage time, according to the Associated Press.

Real Madrid made it look easy this time.

With a title-winning campaign few could contest, Madrid clinched its record-extending 35th Spanish league title on Saturday, lifting the trophy with four rounds left after routing Espanyol 4-0 with its backup players, Associated Press reported.

Led by a red-hot Karim Benzema, Madrid was in control from the start, successfully fending off every run made by its challengers and comfortably winning its second league title in three seasons.

“We were very consistent throughout the season,” coach Carlo Ancelotti said. “We faltered in very few matches.”

Barcelona thought it could have had a chance to catch Madrid after improving late in the season, but it never came close. Sevilla was near the top for a period but could not keep up, eventually seeing its chances disappear after a demoralizing 3-2 loss to Madrid at home after leading 2-0 at halftime a few rounds ago. Defending champion Atlético Madrid got off to a slow start and never had enough momentum to contend, according to the Associated Press.

After its win over Espanyol, Madrid was 17 points ahead of Sevilla, 18 points in front of Barcelona and 20 points ahead of Atlético.

Madrid led in all but six rounds early in the season, being at the top since the 14th round in November.

It was Madrid’s third league title in the last six seasons, one more than Barcelona and two more than Atlético in that period. Before that, Barcelona had won six titles in eight seasons, with Madrid one and Atlético another, Associated Press reported.