Yamaha have appealed against Valentino Rossi's penalty for a collision at the Malaysian Grand Prix with the Italian claiming it has "cut me off by the legs" ahead of the MotoGP title decider.

Championship leader Rossi denied kicking out at defending champion Marc Marquez and sending him sliding out of the race during a tense fight for a crucial third-place finish at Sepang on Sunday.

Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli haul their aging bodies back for another punishing NBA season with the San Antonio Spurs in what could be Big Three's last stand.

But combined with newcomer LaMarcus Aldridge from Portland and rising star Kawhi Leonard, a solid supporting cast and US sport's longest-tenured coach in Gregg Popovich, the Spurs might just be a threat for their second title in three seasons next June.

Besieged Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho and his Liverpool counterpart Jurgen Klopp are both in pressing need of a change of fortune going into this week's League Cup fourth-round matches.

Cup holders Chelsea, dealt a fifth Premier League defeat of the season at West Ham United on Saturday, visit Stoke City on Tuesday, while Liverpool, who have drawn all three games since Klopp's appointment, host Bournemouth the following evening.

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal attempted to shield Wayne Rooney from criticism after the striker turned in a laborious display in a 0-0 draw with Manchester City.

United controlled possession in Sunday's 170th derby at Old Trafford, but had to wait until the closing stages to create any chances, with Jesse Lingard hitting the bar and Chris Smalling forcing Joe Hart to save.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic was among the scorers as Paris Saint-Germain opened up a seven-point gap over their nearest rivals at the top of Ligue 1 with a 4-1 victory over Saint-Etienne on Sunday.

Layvin Kurzawa and Edinson Cavani netted before Ibrahimovic, PSG's all-time leading scorer, got his seventh goal in his last four matches against Saint-Etienne to put the game beyond the visitors at the Parc des Princes.

First-half goals from Mohamed Salah and Gervinho in a 2-1 win over leaders Fiorentina fired Roma to the top of Serie A as the Giallorossi underlined their scudetto credentials in style on Sunday.

Fiorentina dropped two places to third after Napoli marksman Gonzalo Higuain struck on the hour to secure a 1-0 win over Chievo and send Maurizio Sarri's men up to second place.

Three designs for closed cockpits for Formula One cars will be tested next month, the sport’s ruling body, the International Motoring Federation (FIA) confirmed on Sunday.

The FIA's safety director Laurent Mekies said: "We are trying to find concepts that can do the job – and we will find a way that can deal with the other matters like visibility and extraction – so we are scanning quite a broad range of solutions.

Tim Sherwood was sacked as Aston Villa manager on Sunday less than 24 hours after a defeat against Swansea that left his side languishing in the Premier League relegation zone.

Sherwood had been under increasing pressure during Villa's dismal run of six successive league defeats and Saturday's 2-1 home loss proved the final straw for the club's owner Randy Lerner.

Spain's Dani Pedrosa won the Malaysian MotoGP on Sunday, as Jorge Lorenzo snatched second place to cut into championship leader Valentino Rossi's points lead.

The result at Malaysia's Sepang track sets the stage for a thrilling climax to the season, as Yamaha teammates Lorenzo and Rossi will battle it out in the year's final race next month at Valencia in Spain.

Five storylines to track in the 2015-16 NBA season that tips off on Tuesday:

- Kobe's last stand? -