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Villa boost top five bid, Southampton beaten at Leicester

LONDON: Unai Emery vowed Aston Villa will fight until the end for a place in the Champions League after boosting their bid with a 1-0 win against Fulham on Saturday. Emery’s side are back in the hunt to finish in the Premier League’s top five thanks to Youri Tielemans’ 12th-minute header at Villa Park. Seventh-placed Villa extended their unbeaten run on home turf to 20 games in all competitions, lifting them level with sixth-placed Nottingham Forest and fifth-placed Chelsea on 60 points. After bouncing back from their dismal FA Cup semifinal loss to Crystal Palace last weekend, Villa will hope their rivals falter over the weekend as the top five race heads for a dramatic climax. “If we weren’t winning today, forget it completely,” Emery said. “Today, we got more or less to be close to Europe. Wow, fantastic, brilliant.

Leipzig put Bayern and Kane’s title party on ice

MUNICH: Bayern Munich and Harry Kane’s German Bundesliga title party was delayed by at least a day after RB Leipzig’s Yussuf Poulsen scored a stoppage-time equalizer in a 3-3 home draw on Saturday. With Kane sitting in the stands due to a yellow card suspension, Bayern fell two down by half-time, Leipzig scoring twice in teaming rain in Saxony through Benjamin Sesko and Lucas Klostermann. Bayern then scored twice in 46 seconds through Eric Dier and Michael Olize to level things up with just under 30 minutes remaining. Leroy Sane looked to have completed the comeback and clinch the title, hitting an unstoppable shot from the right of goal on the 83rd-minute mark. But Poulsen, subbed on with 30 minutes to go, chipped the ball over Urbig in the fifth minute of stoppage time to snatch a draw. The result keeps Bayer Leverkusen’s slim chances of defending their Bundesliga title alive. Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen play at Freiburg on Sunday and need to win their three remaining games, with Bayern, who have a significant goal difference advantage, needing just a point to lift the title. Leipzig grabbed the lead 11 minutes in when Sesko pounced on a mistake from visiting ‘keeper Jonas Urbig, who was slipped while well outside of his penalty box, allowing the Slovenian to hit a long-range shot home. Klostermann doubled Leipzig’s lead shortly before half-time, heading in from a David Raum header. Leipzig, who needed a win to boost their hopes of Champions League football next season, were in control and looked on track for victory until Bayern shocked the hosts with two goals in 46 seconds. Dier headed in from a corner, his third goal in his past four games, before Olize made the most of a Leipzig defensive mistake to level the

Atletico held at Alaves in dry Liga draw

VITORIA, Spain: Atletico Madrid were held to a dull 0-0 draw at relegation-battling Alaves on Saturday in La Liga. Diego Simeone’s side have little to play for in the final weeks of the season, sitting third with Champions League qualification virtually assured and leaders Barcelona nine points ahead of them. Alaves, however, moved provisionally 16th, three points clear of the relegation zone with an important point against their illustrious visitors. Julian Alvarez was sent off in the only moment to get pulses racing in the first half when he connected high on Argentine compatriot Facundo Garces’ leg, but the referee downgraded his red card to yellow after a VAR review. Simeone took off his son Giuliano and Antoine Griezmann as he looked for more energy, bringing on Samuel Lino and regular super-sub Alexander Sorloth. Antonio Sivera saved a Lino long-range effort, Atletico’s first shot on target, with around 20 minutes remaining as what had been a soporific battle burst belatedly into life. Jan Oblak made a superb low stop to thwart Kike Garcia from close range as Eduardo Caudet’s hosts almost found a way through. Sivera clawed out a Clement Lenglet effort and Angel Correa could not convert at the end of a swift counter-attack as Atletico threatened but could not find a winner. “Neither side could get the upper hand, either in possession or in attack, there were no shots in the first half — the game was played in the middle of the pitch without any danger,” admitted Simeone, who turned his attention to the Club World Cup this summer. “We’ve earned (qualification) on our merit...