Arsene Wenger admits the lack of experience in his Arsenal defense proved costly as his team spurned the opportunity to give themselves a glimmer of hope in the Premier League title race.

Wenger's side endured more misery at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday as Stoke hung on for a deserved 3-2 victory to place fresh pressure on the Frenchman.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho insisted his side were still the team to beat despite the Premier League leaders seeing their unbeaten start to the season ended by Newcastle United.

Saturday's dramatic 2-1 setback against 10-man Newcastle, their first loss since April, saw Chelsea fall one game short of setting a club-record mark of 24 matches without defeat.

Lindsey Vonn led the United States to a historic World Cup podium sweep Saturday, cementing her return from injury with a triumph in second race of a weekend downhill doubleheader.

The 30-year-old ski racer and four time overall World Cup champ delivered her first victory since a high-speed crash in early 2013, charging down the Lake Louise World Cup course in a time of one minute, 50.48 seconds.

Brendan Rodgers knows he faces a huge task to successfully replace Steven Gerrard after leaving the Liverpool captain out of his team's starting line-up for the 0-0 draw with Sunderland at Anfield.

Reds boss Rodgers was left to rue his decision to rest Gerrard on Saturday in order to have the former England midfielder fully fit for Tuesday's vital Champions League clash with Basel.

Draymond Green's career-high 31 points helped the Golden State Warriors stretch their NBA winning streak to a club record 12 games Saturday with a 112-102 victory over Chicago.

Green made seven three-pointers and provided seven rebounds, four steals and three blocks for the Warriors, who improved their league-leading record to 17-2.

Gamba Osaka won their second J-League title on Saturday as Urawa Reds imploded once again in a fitting finale to a topsy-turvy Japanese season.

Perspiration poured off Gamba's jittery players at Pocari Sweat Stadium despite the bone-chilling cold as they were held to a goalless draw at Tokushima Vortis -- by far the worst team in the top flight and long since relegated.

Olympic 100m freestyle gold medallist Nathan Adrian won the 200-yard freestyle Friday at the USA Swimming's Winter Nationals.

Sprint specialist Adrian won in 1min 32.83sec for his first national title over a longer distance, albeit in yards rather than over the international race standard of 200 meters.

Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola and Germany's Joachim Loew have both welcomed the decision to introduce goal-line technology into the Bundesliga for next season.

The 18 clubs in Germany's top-flight on Thursday voted to use the Hawk-Eye system, which notifies the referee if the ball has crossed the goal-line, for the 2015/16 season.

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti heaped praise on his striker Karim Benzema on Friday as the in-form Frenchman looks to build on 11 goals in ten games at home to Celta Vigo this weekend.

"Karim's form is a reflection of the team's form, good on every level," said Ancelotti, who also praised Benzema's work ethic.

Liverpool will start the $150-million expansion of Anfield early next year after plans to build a new stadium were thwarted in recent years by financial and ownership disputes.

The Premier League club says the addition of 8,500 seats in the Main Stand will take Anfield's capacity to around 54,000.