Romelu Lukaku came off the bench to lead Chelsea to a much-needed 3-1 victory at Aston Villa with midfielder Jorginho scoring two penalties in the Premier League on Sunday.

Lukaku has not started a league game since picking up an injury in October and missed the last two games after testing positive for COVID-19. But the Belgian transformed his team's display after coming on at halftime at Villa Park, providing a constant threat, putting his side ahead and then earning the late penalty that secured the three points for Thomas Tuchel's side.

NORWICH, England - Arsenal cruised to a 5-0 win at hapless bottom side Norwich City on Sunday, with Bukayo Saka's double helping them to secure the victory as they consolidated fourth place in the Premier League.

Saka opened the scoring early on before Kieran Tierney added another goal just before the break. The England forward got his brace midway through the second half, while Alexandre Lacazette, with a penalty, and Emile Smith Rowe wrapped up the victory.

Manchester City and Leicester delivered a Premier League classic on Sunday by exchanging nine goals, including a four-goal salvo in the match's opening 25 minutes from Pep Guardiola's team that the Foxes reduced to a one-goal advantage over the space of 10 ridiculous second-half minutes.

Last Wednesday, Leicester had suffered crushing disappointment in a League Cup quarterfinal defeat to Liverpool. Brendan Rodgers' side had led by margins of 2-0 and 3-1 but was still eliminated in a penalty shootout. 

RABAT — Hakim Ziyech was the notable absentee as Morocco coach Vahid Halilhodzic on Thursday named his squad for next month's Africa Cup of Nations finals in Cameroon.

The Chelsea winger had a fallout with the coach earlier this year and was overlooked for the six World Cup qualifiers played between September and November, making his omission no shock although the Dutch-born Ziyech is seen as Morocco's key player.

Christian Pulisic is in a bit of a form slump heading into the holidays with only one goal in his last 11 appearances. An inconsistent number of starts can be attributed to the poor form with only four of those 11 appearances being starts. Another issue comes in the form of a question. What position does Pulisic play?

LONDON — Britain's advertising watchdog warned Arsenal on Wednesday over ads for its "fan tokens," a type of cryptocurrency embraced by soccer clubs this year as coronavirus pummelled their revenues.

Tottenham Hotspur may appeal UEFA's decision to eliminate them from the Europa Conference League and are confident of getting the verdict overturned, manager Antonio Conte said on Tuesday.

BREAKING: #THFC are out of the Europa Conference League after UEFA awarded Rennes a 3-0 victory for the group stage match Spurs were unable to play earlier this month due to a Covid-19 outbreak.