The Sport Matrix: Saturday 20 December 2014

Bent has two cars stolen from house

Two luxury cars have been stolen from the home of the Aston Villa striker Darren Bent.

Staffordshire Police confirmed the break-in at his house in Little Aston, near Birmingham, early last Saturday morning.

A Range Rover and an Audi RS6 were taken and police are appealing for information.

“We were called at around 3.15 am on Saturday, December 13 to a report of a burglary at a property on Newick Road, Little Aston,” a police statement read.

The striker is currently on loan at the Championship side Brighton and his contract at Villa Park expires at the end of the season.

Blatter says ‘crisis is over’ at Fifa

The Fifa President, Sepp Blatter, has declared “the crisis at Fifa is over” after the Executive Committee of football’s governing body agreed to publish – “with appropriate redactions” – its own confidential report into corruption in the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid.

But he confirmed that Fifa will not revisit the decision to award those two tournaments to Russia and Qatar.

Sarries chief calls to scrap salary cap

Edward Griffiths, the Saracens chief executive, will propose a scrapping of the salary cap in time for next season in the next Premiership meeting in February.

“We need to announce ourselves as the most exciting, high-powered league in the world game,” Griffiths said.

Adebayor back at Tottenham

The Tottenham striker Emmanuel Adebayor has returned to north London from compassionate leave and his manager Mauricio Pochettino said he could feature in today’s match against Burnley. “He’s available,” Pochettino said. “After, we will see if I pick him or not. I’m happy with Ade and how he’s been training. Maybe he’s not 100 percent yet, but he is not far away.”

Mourinho cool over sharing lead

Jose Mourinho, the Chelsea manager, has remained unruffled if his side are caught by their nearest rivals Manchester City. If City beat Crystal Palace today, they will go level on points with Chelsea, who do not play until Monday, when they face Stoke City. Mourinho said: “We start the season with the same points so if tomorrow we have the same points as them, that’s fine.”