The Sports Matrix: Thursday 29 September 2011

Late penalty spoils Chelsea’s evening

Chelsea were denied an away win last night at Valencia by a Roberto Soldado penalty with three minutes left. Frank Lampard had put Chelsea ahead, and Ramires and Fernando Torres missed chances for a second, but Salomon Kalou’s handball was punished. MORE

Beware of Scots bearing plaudits...

Scotland head coach Andy Robinson has praised England’s Courtney Lawes ahead of Saturday’s collision. “He times his tackles so beautifully and he hits so hard,” he said. Coach Graham Steadman said of Chris Ashton that “rugby comes naturally to him”. MORE

Donald targets money list double

Luke Donald is determined to pursue both the American and European money lists this season. The world No 1 has a £1.4m lead in the European race, but Lee Westwood said that Donald “doesn’t believe he is out of sight” yet. MORE

Arsenal hold out after early strikes

Early goals from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Andre Santos helped Arsenal to a 2-1 win over Olympiakos at the Emirates, but Arsène Wenger’s side were left hanging on in the second half. An unmarked David Fuster pulled a goal back for the Greeks. MORE

Williams in line to return against Fiji

Shane Williams could play for Wales in Sunday’s Pool D match against Fiji. Full-back James Hook and flanker Dan Lydiate will not return, though, before a potential quarter-final with Ireland on 8 October. Williams is now able to run in training.

Spurs ring changes for Shamrock visit

Harry Redknapp will change nearly his entire team for tonight’s game with Shamrock Rovers, due to Sunday afternoon’s derby with Arsenal. Tom Huddlestone will certainly be absent as he needs a second operation on his ankle. Aaron Lennon may play. MORE

Hard-up Leigh fail to pay players

Leigh's players have not been paid this month as the Championship club goes through its latest cashflow crisis. The club’s board met yesterday to resolve the problem. “Hopefully, it’s just a blip which we can sort out,” said chief executive Trevor Barton. MORE

Opinion: James Lawton

Manchester City should heap maximum inconvenience on Carlos Tevez. If he goes unpunished, City have not just let down themselves, and compromised their own values, but will have let down the game itself. MORE

City suspend Tevez for what he calls ‘misunderstanding’

Manchester City last night suspended Carlos Tevez pending an internal investigation into his conduct at Bayern Munich on Tuesday night. Tevez has been told to stay away from training for a period of up to two weeks while City conduct a review of his alleged refusal to take the field as a second half substitute on Tuesday. The investigation will be seeking witnesses from among the unused substitutes – including Pablo Zabaleta, Joleon Lescott and James Milner – and the first-team coach David Platt. Should City find that Tevez did disobey instructions, that may well constitute a breach of contract, in which case the club would be entitled to terminate his deal. The player, though, insists that there was a “misunderstanding” over his not coming on, and that he was merely saying he did not need to warm up a second time. If City terminated his deal they would then lose out on a transfer fee for a player for whom they paid at least £25m, although he has 30 months remaining on a £1m per month contract. MORE

Bramble arrested for sexual assault

The Sunderland central defender Titus Bramble was released on bail last night after being arrested on suspicion of sexual assault and possession of a class A drug, Cleveland police said. The defender was questioned after an early Tuesday-morning incident.

St Leger winner may buy Arcrun

Masked Marvel may be added to the field for Sunday’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.With the ground coming up too firm for John Gosden’s Nathaniel, the trainer is to ask the St Leger winner’s owners today to consider the £90,000 late-entry fee. MORE