Vorstandsabteilung » said Svitolina, who is making her first appearance

MANCHESTER, England - While Europes other big leagues take a breather over the festive period, clubs in the English Premier League begin a traditionally frenzied spell of fixtures that excites fans, exhausts players, tests managers, and potentially defines campaigns.A run of four games in nine or 10 days kicks off on Friday with a full program, with Chelsea looking to tame one of the surprise teams of the season to stay in first place and keep title rival Manchester City at arms length.West Ham arrives at Stamford Bridge in fourth place and as Londons No. 2 team this season, a side reborn under Sam Allardyce following summer orders from the hierarchy to play a more attractive brand of football.West Ham is certainly doing that — and impressive wins over City and Liverpool so far suggest a trip to Chelsea will hold no fear.Playing against Big Sam (Allardyce) is a hard job for us, we have to cope with it, said Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, who thinks his team has the hardest festive fixtures of all of the top teams with games at Southampton and Tottenham to come.By beating Stoke on Monday, Chelsea restored a three-point lead over City and ensured it would be top on Christmas Day — a noteworthy milestone that has special significance for the Blues. The last three times Chelsea has led the league on Dec. 25, it has gone on to win the title.What we did in the past is not important, Mourinho said. Whats important is this season, and this season we are top of the league since day one and we are there because we are playing really well.In my opinion we are the best team.Here are some other things to look out for in the 18th round:___EXCITING WEST HAM: When West Ham last travelled to Chelsea, in January 2014, the visitors held on for 0-0 despite conceding 39 shots on their goal, and were accused by Mourinho of playing football from the 19th century because of their defensive tactics.That is unlikely to be the case this time round, with Allardyce recently speaking of his fantastic options up front with strikers Andy Carroll, Diafro Sakho, and Enner Valencia, and attacking midfielder Stewart Downing looking sharp.Were playing great football, and any team that we play against is going to be worried about us, said Carroll, who has rediscovered his best form after injury. Weve got more than one attacking option - we play it on the floor, play it in the air, down the sides.West Ham hasnt been in a higher position in the top flight of English football at Christmas Day since 1985.NO STRIKERS FOR CITY: Man City manager Manuel Pellegrini is facing the unenviable task of negotiating the festive period without any strikers.Sergio Aguero, Edin Dzeko and Stevan Jovetic will again be missing when City plays away at West Bromwich Albion. City coped on Saturday against Crystal Palace, playing midfielder James Milner up front and winning 3-0.Pellegrini said Dzeko and Aguero are unlikely to return until the second part of January but Jovetic will be sooner.City has won its last six league games in the defence of its title.VAN GAALS TREAT: Louis van Gaal is breaking with tradition at Manchester United and giving his squad Christmas Day off.Players used to train on Christmas Day under long-time coach Alex Ferguson, and did so in David Moyes short tenure last season, too. Van Gaal is dealing with English footballs unique festive fixture schedule for the first time, and sees things differently.I believe in a total human being, so the environment is also important, the Dutchman said ahead of Uniteds home match against Newcastle. They are more pleased to be at home with their wives and children.LEICESTER WORRY: Since the Premier Leagues inception in 1992, only two teams have stayed up when bottom of the standings at Christmas. The omens, therefore, are not looking good for Leicester.Leicester is winless in 12 games, five points from safety, and its manager Nigel Pearson is one of the favourites to become the first Premier League coach to be fired this season.Leicester is at home to Tottenham on Friday. Adidas Nmd Dk .S. -- Carl-Antoine Delisle snapped a tie in the third period with his second goal of the game to lead the Tigres past Cape Breton 4-3 in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action Wednesday as Victoriaville won its eighth in a row. Adidas Nmd r1 Herre Sort . Pinch-hitter Tommy Medica singled in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning and the Padres beat the Seattle Mariners 2-1 in their first home game since Gwynn died of cancer Monday. http://www.dknmdskotilbud.com/adidas-nmd-dame-outlet-danmark.html . With the win, the Marlies complete a three-game series sweep of the Admirals and move on to the second round of the Calder Cup playoffs. T.J. Brennan added an empty netter with less than 25 seconds remaining for his second of the playoffs. Adidas Nmd r1 Herre Tilbud . A top pitching prospect, one who the ball club is pinning some of its future hopes, takes the spot of a veteran who once was viewed as a future ace but who, to this point, hasnt realized his potential and may never. Adidas Nmd Herre Udsalg . Richard Jefferson scored 17 points and Diante Garrett had a career-high 15 points as the Jazz had seven players with 10 points or more in Utahs largest margin of victory this season.CHARLESTON, S.C. - American Sloane Stephens was upset 6-4, 6-4 by Elina Svitolina at the Family Circle Cup, losing to the 35th-ranked Ukrainian on Wednesday. The 18th-ranked Stephens fell to the 19-year-old Svitolina, who earned her fourth career victory over a top 20 player — the third coming last week at the tournament near Miami. The 21-year-old Stephens gave credit to her opponent, who moved up seven spots to reach a career-high ranking this week. "She played pretty well, and its just unfortunate that I lost, but I mean, you can just learn from the mistakes and things like that and build on it," Stephens said. Last week at the Sony Open, Svitolina defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Eugenie Bouchard and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova before losing to No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska. "I started to believe more in myself that I can compete with players like this, top level, top 20 and top 10," said Svitolina, who is making her first appearance on the green clay in Charleston. &qquot;I think this is the key, that I believe more in myself and I play more solid from the baseline and trying to go forward to finish the point earlier.dddddddddddd." Second-seeded Jelena Jankovic, the highest seeded player remaining after top-ranked Serena Williams was upset Tuesday, plays Wednesday night against American Lauren Davis. The 28th-ranked Venus William faces Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa later Wednesday. Stephens says shes looking forward to a long career. "If I play 10 more years of tennis, until Im 31, thats a lot of tennis to be played," Stephens said. "I could win the next Grand Slam or I could win one in six years and that would still be, you know, if I had pretty decent results and I was pretty consistent, I think that would still be pretty good." In other matches, Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia defeated American qualifier Grace Min 6-2, 6-3. Elena Vesnina of Russia stopped Petra Cetkovska of the Czech Republic, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. ' ' '