Man. City: Manchester City could face Christmas without any senior strikers and their captain following a costly 1-0 victory at Leicester. Forward Edin Dzeko picked up a calf injury in the warm-up at the King Power Stadium and skipper Vincent Kompany suffered a recurrence of a hamstring problem 77 minutes into his comeback. Dzeko joins fellow strikers Sergio Aguero and Stevan Jovetic on the sidelines and there is little chance of any of them being fit in the next fortnight.

New stand: Pop music great Elton John opened a new stand named after him at English Championship club Watford’s Vicarage Road ground yesterday, describing it as “one of the greatest days of my life”. The 67-year-old singer-songwriter, who had two spells as club chairman and is now life president, addressed fans before second tier Watford’s home clash against Wigan Athletic. Watford won 2-1.

Sociedad: Real Sociedad have been depleted by injuries as new coach David Moyes prepares to take charge of his first Basque derby at home to Athletic Bilbao today. Gorka Elustondo and Joseba Zaldua picked up ankle problems in this month’s King’s Cup game against Real Oviedo and missed last weekend’s 4-0 La Liga reverse at Villarreal, the first defeat for Moyes since he took over last month.

CSKA Sofia: CSKA Sofia outclassed Cherno More Varna 3-1 at home yesterday to surge six points clear at the top of the Bulgarian league heading into the two-and-a-half-month winter break. CSKA earned the honorary title of winter champions after collecting 44 points from 19 games, followed by Ludogorets, who play Botev Plovdiv today, on 38.

Galatasaray: Galatasaray regained top spot in the Super Lig – and in the process outdid rivals Fenerbahce – with a 5-0 win over Konyaspor yesterday. Fener had moved ahead on Friday with a 4-1 win against Sivasspor but any victory would take Gala a point ahead once more. And they managed it in some style, Umut Bulut and Emre Colak setting them on their way in the first quarter of the game before Burak Yilmaz struck either side of half-time and Hamit Altintop rounded off the scoring.

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