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sports Premier League’s Final Weekend
United’s Offense Starting to Click
The Premier League’s final day of the season is Sunday, and NBC is making full use of its family of networks by airing all 10 games simultaneously at 10 a.m. With most teams just playing for pride, here’s a guide to Championship Sunday. MICHAEL E. CUNNIFF (EXPRESS)
ALEX LIVESEY (GETTY IMAGES)
Meaningless fun: Southampton vs. Manchester United (SyFy) Southampton has been one of the most fun teams to watch this season, but this might be the swan song for the Saints, as financial troubles may force them to sell some of their young, homegrown core that has endeared them to Premier League fans this year. Meanwhile, Manchester United and interim playermanager Ryan Giggs will likely feature 18-year-old James Wilson, the next great United academy product, as the team closes out a likely seventh-place finish in its worst-ever Premier League season. With little to play for and talent on both sides, expect a lot of action. Other games: Tottenham vs. Aston Villa (USA), Cardiff City vs. Chelsea (CNBC), Norwich City vs. Arsenal (MSNBC), Hull City vs. Everton (Bravo), Fulham vs. Crystal Palace (E!), Sunderland vs. Swansea (Esquire), West Brom vs. Stoke City (Oxygen)
D.C. United To say goals were hard to come by in 2013 for D.C. United would be an understatement. In 34 games — only three of which were wins — the team scored a total of 22 goals, a dismal average of .65 per game. In 2014, though, United has managed to right the ship offensively. With 12 goals in eight games, United is already more than halfway to its total for last season. The team didn’t score multiple goals in back-to-back games in 2013, but United has already accomplished the feat twice this year. To understand why goals have been so much easier to come by, the place to start is with set pieces. D.C. United leads the league with four goals off corner kicks and has added another off a free kick. New center back Bobby Boswell
JOHN McDONNELL (THE WASHINGTON POST)
For the title: Manchester City vs. West Ham (NBC) and Liverpool vs. Newcastle United (NBCSN) Less than two weeks ago, Liverpool was in the driver’s seat to win its first championship in the Premier League era (since 1992-93), but a loss to Chelsea and a draw to Crystal Palace means Manchester City — led by the unstoppable force that is Yaya Toure — needs just a draw against West Ham to win it all — assuming the Reds don’t score 13 goals to make up the goal differential.
4 P.M. Saturday | CSN
United’s Fabian Espindola leads the team with four goals in eight games this year.
has been United’s main threat off corner kicks, assisting on goals against Chicago and New York, and scoring one himself off a corner against FC Dallas.
The other key to the puzzle has been Fabian Espindola, acquired in the offseason. The Argentine striker’s service off corner kicks has been crucial, and he scored
D.C. United’s free-kick goal against Chicago. Espindola has four goals on the season already. The team’s coleading scorers in 2013 only managed three. Although the surge in goals from corner kicks and free kicks is welcome, it’s not realistic to expect the team to continue scoring more than .5 goals per game on average from set pieces. Eddie Johnson, the marquee offseason addition, has yet to score his first D.C. United goal. If he doesn’t get it Saturday against Philadelphia, it might be a while. He’s expected to receive a call-up to the U.S. national team’s pre-World Cup training camp following the game. If Johnson impresses at the camp, he could be off to Brazil. His teammates, as they’ve been doing so far in 2014, would have to continue picking up the slack. SETH VERTELNEY (FOR E XPRESS)
Crawford Wins Sixth Man Award NBA Jamal Crawford of the Los Angeles Clippers won the NBA Sixth Man Award on Thursday, becoming the oldest recipient and the first to do so with different teams. The 34-year-old guard also was honored as the league’s best player off the bench while with the Atlanta Hawks in 2009-10. Craw ford led the league’s reserve players in scoring this season, averaging 18.6 points. He came off the bench in 45 of 69 games he played in, helping the Clippers to a 57-25 record, their best regularseason mark in franchise history. The Clippers had a 31-14 record when Crawford came off the bench this season. The Clippers and Okla-
ANDREW D. BERNSTEIN (NBAE VIA GETTY IMAGES)
MICHAEL REGAN (GETTY IMAGES)
Espindola leads club with four goals after eight games this year
Clippers guard Jamal Crawford averaged 18.6 points a game this season.
homa City are tied 1-1 in their Western Conference semifinal. “I actually think he won it because I think voters saw him doing other things for the team —
playing defense, running the team at the point guard position when Chris Paul was out at times,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said last week, when The Associated Press first reported that Crawford had won. “He’s been the perfect utility player for a team. He’s been awesome.” Crawford set the single-season franchise record for 3-pointers made with 161. That surpassed his record from last season, his first in Los Angeles, when he was runnerup for the sixth man award. Crawford received 57 first-place votes and 421 total points from a panel of 125 sports writers and broadcasters throughout the U.S. and Canada. He joined Kevin McHale, Ricky Pierce and Detlef Schrempf as twotime winners. BETH HARRIS (AP)
CLIPPERS
Wife Not Giving Up Estranged wife of Clippers owner Donald Sterling will fight to retain her 50 percent ownership in the team, according to attorney Pierce O’Donnell. Last week, the NBA banned Donald Sterling for life and urged league owners to force him to sell the team. O’Donnell said Shelly Sterling is an ardent Clippers fan and plans to attend Friday’s playoff game. (AP)