MADRID, Spain – The provisional calendar for the 2020 MotoGP World Championship season was revealed to the public on Wednesday, featuring 20 races between March and November.

A notable addition to next year’s schedule, subject to an FIM homologation, will be the Finnish Grand Prix on July 12 at the KymiRing.

The PTT Grand Prix of Thailand will move from the 15th round of the championship to be the second race of the year next season, rolling off on March 22.

All 19 of the races from this year’s MotoGP schedule return on next year’s provisional calendar.

Preseason tests will be held Nov. 19 in Valencia, Spain; Nov. 26 in Jerez, Spain; Feb. 7 in Sepang, Malaysia and Feb. 22 in Lusail, Qatar.

Marc Marquez is the current MotoGP point leader with seven races remaining, holding a 78-point margin over Andrea Dovizioso.

Provisional 2020 MotoGP Calendar

Date – Event – Track

March 8 – Qatar Grand Prix – Losail Int’l Circuit

March 22 – Thailand Grand Prix – Chang Int’l Circuit

April 5 – Grand Prix of the Americas – Circuit of the Americas

April 19 – Argentinian Grand Prix – Termas de Rio Hondo

May 3 – Spanish Grand Prix – Jerez Circuit Angel Nieto

May 17 – French Grand Prix – Le Mans Bugatti Circuit

May 31 – Italian Grand Prix – Autodromo del Mugello

June 7 – Catalan Grand Prix – Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

June 21 – German Grand Prix – Sachsenring

June 28 – Dutch Grand Prix – TT Circuit Assen

July 12 – Finnish Grand Prix – KymiRing

Aug. 9 – Czech Grand Prix – Automotodrom Brno

Aug. 16 – Austrian Grand Prix – Red Bull Ring

Aug. 30 – British Grand Prix – Silverstone Circuit

Sept. 13 – San Marino Grand Prix – Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli

Oct. 4 – Aragon Grand Prix – MotorLand Aragon

Oct. 18 – Japanese Grand Prix – Twin Ring Motegi

Oct. 25 – Australian Grand Prix – Philip Island

Nov. 1 – Malaysian Grand Prix – Sepang Int’l Circuit

Nov. 15 – Valencia Grand Prix – Circuit de Valencia-Ricardo Tormo

CONCORD, N.C. — Danny Dietrich remained at the top of the National Sprint Car Rankings for the second consecutive week.

Dietrich, who has won 13 features this season, raised his number of starts to 63 races and as a result, lowered his average finish to 3.7

Dietrich leads World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series driver Brad Sweet, who has also won 13 features, and ranks second with an average finish of 4.0 in 56 races.

World of Outlaws point leader Donny Schatz (4.420) is third, while Knoxville Nationals winner David Gravel (4.680) ranks fourth.

Rounding out the top five in the national rankings is Central Pennsylvania regular Logan Wagner, wo has a 5.720 average finish in 25 starts.

Kyle Larson made his 20th start of the season and entered the top 10 in ninth position.

Dietrich leads the Eastern region on the strength of 13 victories, while other regional leaders are Buddy Kofoid (Great Lakes), Billy Balog (Great Plains), David Gravel (Northwest), Dominic Scelzi (West), Jacob Patton (Mid-America) and Carl Bowser. (Ohio-PA).

One hundred and 13 drivers have combined to win 291 features run through August 25.

WALLKILL, N.Y. – NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series driver Tyler Dippel and Young’s Motorsports officials confirmed Wednesday afternoon that the charges against Dippel following his Aug. 18 arrest in New York state have been dropped.

Dippel released his first statement since the news broke on Aug. 23 that he had been indefinitely suspended by NASCAR under the sanctioning body’s code of conduct clause.

Additional details were revealed on Monday that Dippel’s suspension was the result of a traffic stop in Dippel’s hometown of Wallkill, N.Y. – where he was pulled over for traveling in excess of 80 mph – that ultimately led to a search of his vehicle, subsequent arrest and charges of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree.

Dippel offered an apology on Wednesday and recounted the entire sequence of events publicly for the first time.

“I would like to start by apologizing to my fans, Young’s Motorsports, NASCAR, Gander Outdoors, our partners, and my family and friends for the grief this situation has caused. Due to an ongoing investigation we have not been able to speak on the topic until today,” wrote Dippel in his prepared statement. “On Aug. 18, while driving home from the Orange County Fair Speedway, I was pulled over for changing lanes without (a) proper signal. The trooper asked my passenger and myself if we had been using drugs and we responded with “no” – because we hadn’t. The trooper continued to question us and then asked to search the vehicle, [and] I gave him my consent, as I had nothing to hide.

“In the back of my truck was a friend’s backpack, who was not with us, containing his prescription medication. Because it was in my vehicle, I was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance,” Dippel continued. “Upon my appearance ticket, I contacted NASCAR within hours to inform them of the situation. Due to the NASCAR rule book and code of conduct, they ruled to suspend me indefinitely. I respect their decision.

Goalie Cam Ward returned to the Carolina Hurricanes on a one-day contract Wednesday, and then he called it a career.

Ward, 35, retired from the NHL after a 14-year run that saw him lead the franchise to its only Stanley Cup championship in 2006. He was the first rookie goalie to accomplish that feat since Patrick Roy of the Montreal Canadiens in 1986, and he became the first rookie to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP since goalie Ron Hextall of the Philadelphia Flyers in 1987.

Pen to paper.

Cane for life. pic.twitter.com/dY2MsAZLP3

— Carolina Hurricanes (@CanesNHL) August 28, 2019

Cam Ward has signed a one-day contract and will officially retire as a Carolina Hurricane!

More Info » https://t.co/k3Ott16NOj pic.twitter.com/WXds0dFQyZ

— Carolina Hurricanes (@CanesNHL) August 28, 2019

His legacy with the Hurricanes extends beyond that championship. Ward retires with the franchise records for career regular-season games played (668), wins (318), winning percentage (.557), shutouts (27) and saves (17,261).

He started 29 games with the Chicago Blackhawks last season after leaving the Hurricanes as a free agent and went 16-12-4 with a 3.67 goals-against average and .897 save percentage. The latter two numbers were his worst since his rookie year.

He finishes with a 2.70 GAA and .909 save percentage for his career. His 334 career wins ranks him sixth among active goalies.

After a season away from Raleigh, Ward said it was important to come back home to retire.

"It was an honor and a privilege to wear the Hurricanes jersey for 13 years," said Ward. "Throughout it all, what stayed clear to me was my love for this organization, this city and this fan base. It is why my family and I call Raleigh home, and will continue to call it home. I appreciate all of the support the fans gave me throughout the highs and the lows. I thank you."

Ward was selected 25th overall in the 2002 NHL draft by Carolina.

Third-tier club Bolton Wanderers, who faced being expelled from the English Football League if a takeover was not completed in two weeks, have been sold to Football Ventures (Whites) Limited, administrators said on Wednesday.

The sale comes just a day after fellow League One side Bury were expelled from the EFL with no possibility of appeal for reinstatement.

"This has been one of the most complicated administrations I've been involved with but I'm delighted to say we have finally reached a satisfactory conclusion with the sale to Football Ventures," joint administrator Paul Appleton said in a statement on the club's official website.

? Statement from Football Ventures (Whites) Limited

"We are privileged to announce that negotiations to transfer the ownership of @OfficialBWFC and @BoltonWhitesHtl are over and we have formally completed."

?? https://t.co/1noNzvn06q#BWFC ??

— Bolton Wanderers FC (@OfficialBWFC) August 28, 2019

On Monday, Bolton administrators warned the club was on the brink of going out of business after the deal to sell the club hit a setback. The administrators added they were working on resurrecting a deal, but that the club was on the brink of liquidation with the business "not in a position to carry on trading."

After the EFL announced they were giving the club 14 days to find a solution, the club's administrators said they will "work through the night" to complete a deal.

EFL executive chair Debbie Jevans said in a statement: "On behalf of the EFL Board, I am pleased that the administrators appointed in respect of Bolton Wanderers Football Club have today concluded the transfer of assets with Football Ventures to place the Club under new ownership and out of administration.

"Having worked closely with the administrators since their appointment in May, the EFL has been focused on working through this difficult and complex period of uncertainty with all parties.

"Following the completion of the sale, the Club is no longer in administration and the notice of withdrawal issued as per the EFL's insolvency policy has been cancelled.

These past few months have undoubtedly been challenging and, at times fraught -- never more so in the past few days -- and I would like to thank all parties for their efforts in achieving the desired outcome.

"Everyone at the EFL is now looking forward to working with the new ownership during the 2019/20 campaign and beyond."

Information from Reuters was used in this story.

Liverpool have registered their disappointment at "unfounded allegations" released in a statement by Bobby Duncan's agent, Saif Rubie, which accused the club of "mentally bullying and destroying the life" of the player.

The 18-year-old, who wants to leave Anfield in search of regular game time, has been the subject of loan offers from Fiorentina and FC Nordsjaelland.

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Liverpool turned down proposals from both sides, which they felt were unsatisfactory and that prompted Rubie to post a statement on Twitter which referenced that one of the club's "greatest-ever players Steven Gerrard happens to be Bobby's cousin," the teenager's "very small salary" and and added that Duncan "will never go back to Liverpool again."

Official statement regarding Bobby Duncan @bobbyduncan999 shame on you @LFC #mentalhealth #consideration pic.twitter.com/OFYUJnwiJA

— Saif Rubie (@saifpr) August 28, 2019

The statement contains a potentially libellous accusation that Liverpool and their sporting director Michael Edwards have been "mentally bullying and destroying the life of a young man."

It also claims they "have even gone as far as saying in writing that they will punish him and make him stay until January and beyond to teach him a lesson."

A spokesman for the club said: "Liverpool FC is aware of and disappointed by the unattributed comments and unfounded allegations that have been made in the media regarding one of our players.

"As the interests of the player in question are not best served by either inaccurate speculation, inflammatory statements or public discourse, we will be making no further comment.

"We will, however, continue our efforts to work privately with the player to find a resolution in the best interests of all involved."

Duncan, who had been with Manchester City since the age of 11 before joining Liverpool in August last year, is highly regarded by the first team staff at Melwood as well as those he has worked with at the Academy in Kirkby.

Former Liverpool Jamie Carragher, who knows Duncan and his family well, became embroiled in a heated Twitter exchange with Rubie on Wednesday afternoon. He advised Duncan to dispose of the agent's services.

U.S. men's national team coach Gregg Berhalter has named a 26-player roster ahead of friendlies against Mexico and Uruguay, headlined by Chelsea's Christian Pulisic.

The U.S. will face El Tri at East Rutherford, New Jersey's MetLife Stadium on Sept. 6, followed by a match against Uruguay at St. Louis' Busch Stadium four days later.

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Players will begin reporting to camp on Sept. 1. A separate camp for the U.S. under-23 team -- which will attempt to qualify for the 2020 Olympic games in Tokyo to be held next summer -- will also be held. The roster for that camp is tentatively scheduled to be announced on Friday.

"Along the lines of progress, the starting point for the roster is we're able to maintain a core group of main players from the Gold Cup and continue building," Berhalter said. "We are also bringing some new players into the fold that we feel have the potential to make an impact with this team."

The roster features 15 players from the team that reached the final of the Gold Cup in July, including Fortuna Dusseldorf goalkeeper Zack Steffen, New York Red Bulls defender Aaron Long and Schalke midfielder Weston McKennie. Wolfsburg defender John Brooks, who missed the Gold Cup due to injury is also named. Pulisic is listed on the roster as a forward, hinting that he'll be used further up the field in these two matches.

"I think Christian has a unique skill set," Berhalter said. "He's a great attacking player and we want to put him in position to affect the game. We're open to where we're using him. We've used him centrally and on the wing before. All those things keep adding up to the fact that we want him affecting the game in a positive way."

The biggest surprise is the recall of midfielder Alfredo Morales, Steffen's club teammate. Morales last represented the U.S. in a 3-1 win against Puerto Rico on May 22, 2016, but Berhalter felt his performances for Dusseldorf merited a call-up.

"Alfredo is a case where he's done such a good job with Fortuna Dusseldorf, not only through the first two Bundesliga games, but we've seen reports from preseason where he's been an outstanding player. It's nice to give a guy a reward like that -- an opportunity again because of how he's performing at his club."

Werder Bremen forward Josh Sargent, who was surprisingly left off the Gold Cup roster last summer, is also named along with Ajax right back Sergino Dest and FC Dallas midfielder Paxton Pomykal, both of whom represented the U.S. at last May's FIFA U20 World Cup.

A quartet of injuries had an impact on Berhalter's roster selections. RB Leipzig midfielder Tyler Adams continues to work his way back from a groin injury, as does Newcastle United defender DeAndre Yedlin. A thigh injury precluded Lille attacker Tim Weah from participating in the camp, while a calf injury sustained last weekend prevented Reading defender Matt Miazga from taking part.

Also left off were the Toronto FC duo of Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore. TFC has a pair of league games during the international window.

U.S. MNT ROSTER BY POSITION (Club; Caps/Goals):

GOALKEEPERS (4): Jesse Gonzalez (FC Dallas; 0/0), Brad Guzan (Atlanta United FC; 60/0), Sean Johnson (New York City FC; 8/0), Zack Steffen (Fortuna Düsseldorf/GER; 15/0)

DEFENDERS (9): John Brooks (Wolfsburg/GER; 37/3), Reggie Cannon (FC Dallas; 6/0), Sergiño Dest (Ajax/NED; 0/0), Nick Lima (San Jose Earthquakes; 7/0), Aaron Long (New York Red Bulls; 11/2), Daniel Lovitz (Montreal Impact/CAN; 8/0),) Tim Ream (Fulham/ENG; 35/1), Miles Robinson (Atlanta United FC; 0/0), Walker Zimmerman (LAFC; 10/2)

MIDFIELDERS (7): Sebastian Lletget (LA Galaxy; 9/2), Weston McKennie (Schalke/GER; 14/3), Alfredo Morales (Fortuna Düsseldorf/GER; 13/0), Paxton Pomykal (FC Dallas; 0/0), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders FC; 15/0), Wil Trapp (Columbus Crew SC; 19/0), Jackson Yueill (San Jose Earthquakes; 1/0)

FORWARDS (6): Corey Baird (Real Salt Lake; 3/0), Tyler Boyd (Besiktas/TUR; 5/2), Jordan Morris (Seattle Sounders FC; 33/5), Christian Pulisic (Chelsea/ENG; 31/13), Josh Sargent (Werder Bremen/GER; 7/2), Gyasi Zardes (Columbus Crew SC; 51/10)

The most valuable thing you can do on a soccer field is score a goal. The second-most valuable thing you can do on a soccer field? Play the pass that leads to a goal. The market agrees: the 12-most expensive transfers of all time include 11 attackers and one midfielder, Paul Pogba, who is especially valued because of his ability to contribute like he's an attacker.

Without someone who can put the ball on a plate and/or put it into the back of the net, all of the other stuff -- pretty passing out of the back, savvy positioning from a defensive midfielder, dervishing dribbles past a full-back -- adds up to zero.

But who is the best attacker in the Premier League right now? Is it Raheem Sterling, or do his super-teammates cancel him out? Is it Mohamed Salah, or does the fact that his team improved when his goal output declined make you question his value? How about Harry Kane? Maybe Sadio Mane? Perhaps Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang? Could it be... Teemu Pukki?

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Intrigued by the current question, we decided to take a page out of Bill Barnwell's book to go back and award a "Best Attacker" belt for each Premier League season this decade.

The rules are such: Total contribution (goals+assists) will be the largest factor in the decision-making process while others -- per-90 rates, expected goals, etc. -- will also be given weight when necessary. However, we won't use penalty goals as anything more than a tiebreaker. (Why? Most pros convert their penalties around 75 percent of the time, and we're not here to reward players for their place atop a subjective intra-club hierarchy!)

To qualify, you need to have played at least half of the available minutes (1,710). Also, if a player is in possession of the belt, he'll have to be surpassed by a significant margin to lose it.

In other words: tie goes to the guy with the belt.

2010-11: Robin van Persie, Arsenal

What a freaking weird year this was. This season marked the first time Manchester City qualified for the Champions League, so their team included the likes of Carlos Tevez along with Micah Richards and Joleon Lescott. Jerome Boateng started 15 games for City this season! Elsewhere, Roy Hodgson was steering the Liverpool ship into an iceberg and Fernando Torres was readying himself for a move to Chelsea, while Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez would eventually arrive at Anfield. Please gaze upon the hilarity of the end-of-the season top 10 for goals+assists:

1. Robin van Persie (Arsenal), Carlos Tevez (Manchester City): 26
3. Dimitar Berbatov (Manchester United): 24
4. Nani (Manchester United): 23
5. Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Peter Odemwingie (West Brom), Didier Drogba (Chelsea): 22
8. Rafael van der Vaart (Tottenham): 21
9. Charlie Adam (Blackpool): 20
10. Dirk Kuyt (Liverpool): 19

If we remove penalties, Berbatov and van Persie tie for the lead in overall production with 24. The tiebreaker goes to the Dutchman, 25 years young at the time, who posted his production in nearly 500 fewer minutes than the languid, 29-year-old Bulgarian raconteur. In fact, van Persie's per-90-minute mark for non-penalty goals+assists (1.22) has only been surpassed twice since the turn of the decade.

2011-12: Robin van Persie, Arsenal

This is the year, depending on your personal preferences, that is remembered for either the "AGUEROOOOOOO" goal against QPR or that time Mario Balotelli set his house on fire with fireworks and then scored two goals against Manchester United in a 6-1 win the next day. Either way, it was the season in which Manchester City's transformation into a title-quality club was finally complete.

However, no one did enough to take the belt from van Persie, who scored an absurd 29 non-penalty goals and created 11 assists. No one else combined for more than 29; this was Wayne Gretzky-esque. Seemingly every other weekend, Alex Song would play a 45-yard diagonal pass over the left shoulder of van Persie, who would then thunder the ball in at the far post. Song and RVP, of course, would both leave the club the following summer.

Fun fact: Only three players (van Persie, Rooney, and Sergio Aguero) registered more non-penalty goals+assists than Fulham's Clint Dempsey this season. The early part of the decade was weird, man.

2012-13: Robin van Persie, Manchester United

Same name, different team!

This was the year that Gareth Bale and Luis Suarez emerged as superstars, the only two players in the league to average at least five shots per 90 minutes. Bale waged an all-out, long-range assault on opposing keepers as he scored nine goals from outside the box; while no other player notched more than five. In all, he scored 21 non-penalty goals and added four assists.

Suarez, meanwhile, flourished in his first season under Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool, scoring 23 and helping on another five. Bale would get scooped up by Real Madrid on the back of his performance in 2012-13, while Suarez would head to Barcelona a year later. And yet, neither season was enough to unseat van Persie.

Sir Alex Ferguson's decision to buy the striker from Arsenal, then 28, probably won him the Premier League title in his last season in charge. Van Persie once again led the league in attacking production with 23 non-penalty goals and nine assists, capping off one of the best three-year runs the league has ever seen. The age curve comes for us all, though, and RVP never scored more than 10 non-penalty goals or created more than three assists in another Premier League season after 2013.

Perhaps not coincidentally, United have not won another title since.

2013-14: Luis Suarez, Liverpool

This is the easiest choice on the list. Suarez's 2013-14 season is the best attacking season in the history of the Premier League. He scored 31 goals -- with no penalties! -- and added 12 assists. Oh, and he did all that despite being suspended for the first six games of the campaign for... biting Chelsea's Branislav Ivanonic in a match toward the tail-end of the previous season. Good times.

Anyway, neither this level of raw production nor this kind of efficiency have ever been matched in England. The 43 non-penalty goals+assists and the 1.33 non-penalty goals+assists per-90-minute rate are both still Premier League records.

Suarez made real just about every cliche: he was unplayable, he was on fire, he was a force of nature, and so on. He played with a controlled recklessness that no Premier League defense was ever able to get a handle on, and he nearly dragged a flawed Liverpool team to a title in the process. Who knows: If Suarez doesn't miss the first month and a half of the season, then maybe Steven Gerrard's slip never happens. And if it does, maybe it doesn't even matter.

2014-15: Sergio Aguero, Manchester City

With Suarez not around to defend his title, the belt goes to the guy who is -- by far -- the Premier League's most consistent attacker of the decade. Since arriving in Manchester in 2011, Aguero's non-penalty goals+assists per-90 minute rate is 0.94. To put that into context: his average season would basically be a top-three season in any year since the league began.

Were we handing out a belt for the past 10 yards, it would go to Aguero, hands down. It might seem strange that he's getting the designation in a year that City didn't win the title, but some of Aguero's best years just happened to coincide with supernova seasons from players who could never match his consistency or would soon leave to play in another league. In 2014-15, Aguero scored 21 non-penalty goals and added in eight assists. Next best: a 21-year-old Harry Kane, with 19 and four.

2015-16: Mesut Ozil, Arsenal

This is the trickiest pick on the list. Aguero once again led the league in per-90 production, while Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez were nos. 1 and 2 in the total goals+assists charts during Leicester's title-winning run. But Aguero only made 30 starts this season, while Vardy scored five penalties and Mahrez added four from the spot.

Harry Kane won the Golden Boot, but his paltry one assist runs counter to the spirit of this process. Hell, even Dimitri Payet -- nine goals, 12 assists in his debut season for West Ham -- warrants some consideration. However, Ozil functions as a nice symbolic choice; plus, he actually led the league in non-penalty goals+assists, too.

All of the other choices on here are players who mainly put the ball into the net while adding some supplementary creative skills to their repertoires. Not Ozil. His 19 assists (along with six goals) are the Premier League's high-water mark for creativity this decade, and the 146 chances he created are the most by a single player in any of Europe's Big Five's since 2010.

With the rise of pressing, nascent analytical thinking, and system-devoted managers, the role of the chief creator, the no. 10, has been on the decline ever since.

2016-17: Harry Kane, Tottenham

Just five players have broken the 1.00 non-penalty goals+assists-per-90-minutes mark this decade: van Persie, Aguero, Suarez, Daniel Sturridge, Mohamed Salah and Harry Kane. Alexis Sanchez edges Kane out by three non-penalty goals+assists (32 to 29), but we're giving Kane the edge because his raw totals are still super-high despite featuring in nearly 700 fewer minutes than Sanchez.

(Quick aside: Given all the attacking talent they've had since 2010, it's incredible, and perhaps incredibly unlucky, that Arsenal haven't won at least one title this decade. There's van Persie, Sanchez and Ozil, but also this infuriating fact. In RVP's first-year at United, Theo Walcott and Lukas Podolski were Nos. 1 and 2 in the league in non-penalty goals+assists per 90. Olivier Giroud was third in 2014-15 and second in 15-16.)

This is probably Kane's best season to date: 24 non-penalty goals and five assists. He scored 28 non-penalty goals the following campaign, but nabbed just two assists and did so in 500 more minutes. This was the year in which St. Totteringham's Day finally didn't come and the biggest reason why is that Spurs had a 24-year-old striker who became the best attacker in the league.

2017-18: Mohamed Salah, Liverpool

Aguero had his best per-90 attacking season in the Premier League. Kevin De Bruyne threw up eight goals and 16 assists, Leroy Sane went for 10 and 15, while Raheem Sterling posted an 18-and-11 campaign. Harry Kane scored 28 non-penalty goals. And yet, none of them really even come close to deserving the designation.

In his first year with Liverpool, Salah's totals and per-minute efficiency were both second only to 2013-14 Suarez in the history of the league. No one -- not even Liverpool's front office, who'd signed Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane in the previous two summers -- could have seen this coming, but Salah's leap to superstardom isn't quite from out of nowhere. Sure, Jose Mourinho deemed his surplus to requirements to Chelsea but in his last season with Roma, Salah's rate of production (15 non-penalty goals and 11 assists at a 0.95 per-90 clip) was better than anyone in the Premier League that year, outside of Kane.

Taken together, Liverpool got the two players who produced the two best individual attacking seasons of the Premier League era for less than Manchester United paid for one Angel Di Maria. Of course, neither one got them that elusive Premier League title -- at least not yet.

2018-19: Mohamed Salah, Liverpool

Aguero once again led the league on a per-90 rate (0.98). He also matched Salah and Eden Hazard in total non-penalty goals+assists with 27, despite playing significantly fewer minutes than either of them.

Hazard himself has a legitimate claim for this title. It's his first (and last) mention in this exercise because it's also his only season north of 0.65 non-penalty goals+assists per 90 minutes in the Premier League. He moves the ball up the field with passing or dribbling as well as anyone, and over his last few seasons at Chelsea he also served as the primary outlet for their attacking moves, but his goal production had never reached the elite tier until his final year at Stamford Bridge.

However, given the heights Salah hit the previous season, tying for the league-lead in goals+assists isn't enough to cost him the throne. While standard expected goals models just take into account the location of a shot, TruMedia has a post-shot xG model that adds or subtracts value from a shot based on where it was put on the goal frame. (Shots that miss the net get a big ol' zero.) According to this data, Salah led the league with 24.06 xG (on 22 goals), while no one else was above 20, and Aguero was down at 16.69 (on 21 goals).

Put another way: The main reason Salah didn't score more goals was that opposing keepers consistently stood on their heads when he shot the ball.

How about this year?

Three games into the 2019-20 season, Raheem Sterling's already got five goals along with league-leading expected-goal numbers, too. He and Aguero and even potentially Kevin de Bruyne seem like the most likely candidates to ascend beyond the 27-year-old Egyptian come May. But if Salah's electric performance against Arsenal last weekend is any indication, he's not going to give up the belt too easily. Someone else is gonna have to come take it.

Ajantha Mendis, perhaps cricket's original mystery spinner in the video analysis age, has announced his retirement from all forms of the game. The 34-year old last played international cricket in 2015, an ODI against New Zealand in Christchurch.

The inventor of what became known as the "carrom ball" - legbreaks produced by flicking the ball like a striker on a carrom board - took 70 wickets in 19 Tests, 152 in 87 ODIs and 66 in 39 T20Is.

He made his debut against West Indies in an ODI in April 2008, when he took 3 for 39, but it is at the Asia Cup that followed which produced Mendis' most famous memories. After 11 wickets in four games, he blew India away in the final in Karachi, taking 6 for 13 as Sri Lanka romped to a 100-run win. He would go on to become the fastest player to 50 ODI wickets, in just 19 games, a record he still holds.

He soon received a Test call-up against India in July that year and he, along with Muttiah Muralitharan, went on to rattle India's batting order, taking Sri Lanka to a 2-1 win. He picked up 26 wickets in three games, including eight wickets on his debut, a Test that saw Sri Lanka beat India by an innings and 239 runs.

Mendis' numerous variations, allowing him to spin the ball both ways or skid it on, proved particularly effective in T20 cricket. He holds the record for best figures in a T20I, with a 6 for 8 against Zimbabwe in the opening game of the 2012 World T20. He was impressive in the in 2009 (12 wickets in seven games) and 2012 (15 wickets in six games) editions of the T20 World T20s too, helping Sri Lanka reach the final both times. He is also the only bowler to take two six-fors in T20Is, the other one (6 for 16) coming against Australia in 2011.

But once the mystery faded and batsmen began to figure him out, performances started to dip and he found himself falling down the famously replete Sri Lankan spin-bowling pecking order. Injuries played their part in hampering him in the last five years or so, and by now, Mendis had dropped off the selectors' radars almost entirely.

His success across formats earned him a World Cup spot in 2011, where he picked seven wickets in five innings. He regularly featured for Sri Lanka across white-ball formats until 2014, when his career was jolted with a back injury. He did not make the 2015 World Cup side, and then was unavailable due to injury through the middle of that year, after which he was picked for the West Indies ODIs in November that year when he took four wickets in three games. In his last ODI, a month later, he finished with 0 for 49 in Sri Lanka's seven-wicket loss against New Zealand.

In recent years Mendis has been captaining Police Sports Club in Sri Lanka's domestic Tier B tournament, where he reinvented himself as a batting allrounder. In fact, in his last eight first-class innings he has four 50-plus scores.