Chelsea sink Newcastle to the relegation zone

Newcastle's defeat at Stamford Bridge was the third time they have conceded five goals or more on their travels, after losing 6-1 at Manchester City and 5-1 at Crystal Palace

Newcastle dropped into the relegation zone on goal difference after three goals in the first 17 minutes set Chelsea on their way to an easy win.

Diego Costa slid in the opener, a Rolando Aarons error let in Pedro to run clear and fire home, and Costa set up Willian to make it 3-0.

Pedro and Bertrand Traore added further goals in the second half, before Andros Townsend's late consolation.

The only thing to spoil Chelsea's night was an injury to captain John Terry.

The centre-half limped off with a hamstring injury before half-time and is a doubt for Tuesday's trip to play Paris St-Germain in the first leg of their last-16 Champions League tie.

Chelsea's interim manager Guus Hiddink remains unbeaten in 12 games in all competitions, and his side are now unbeaten in their past 10 Premier League games.

Newcastle have only scored seven goals on their travels this season, the worst record in the top four divisions in England, but it was their defence that let them down at Stamford Bridge.

Magpies boss Steve McClaren said in his pre-match TV interview that the first 20 minutes would be crucial to the outcome of the match. He was right, but not in the way he would have wanted.

By then, his side had suffered a complete collapse at the back which was summed up by Chelsea's second goal.

That came from a Newcastle free-kick near the home side's corner flag that was cleared to the halfway line before Aarons' horrendous cross-field pass allowed Pedro to gallop clear.

McClaren's side never looked capable of a second-half comeback as they slipped to a fifth successive away defeat.

After the break, Cesc Fabregas set up Pedro for his second and Bertrand Traore turned in Cesar Azpilicueta's cross.

Andros Townsend's trademark run and finish for his first goal since his £12m move from Tottenham reduced the damage at the end.

But Newcastle's goal-difference still took a battering and at -22 it is now the worst in the top flight.

Chelsea's own defensive problems were of a very different sort.

With Kurt Zouma out for the season, the last thing Hiddink needed before a busy fortnight was to see Terry limp off.

Terry appeared to fall awkwardly after a clash with Magpies striker Aleksandar Mitrovic and will have a scan to assess the severity of his hamstring injury.

Gary Cahill only returned to the starting line-up on Saturday because of Zouma's serious knee injury, but could end up being a key figure at the back for his side in the next few weeks.

He was playing with a broken nose, but Chelsea's man in the mask did not miss his mark.

Along with the impressive Willian, Costa scored one goal and made another but he edged the individual accolade because of his delightful finish to give his side an early lead.

Newcastle boss Steve McClaren: "We got exposed on quite a few occasions in terms of defensive frailties. Rolando Aarons had to play at left-back and it was Steven Taylor's second game in six months.

"We caused our own problems. We knew Chelsea would come out quick. They wanted to win that game by half-time with the week they have ahead of them.

"You get one or two of these games a season. I've told the players don't let that derail us. It was damage limitation by half-time.

"I just wanted to make sure we scored a goal and stayed in the game."

Newcastle are out of the FA Cup and their Premier League game with Manchester City on 28 February has been postponed because City are in the Capital One Cup final.

So the Magpies do not have a game for 18 days until they travel to Stoke on 2 March, and are heading for a training camp in Spain.

In that time, Chelsea play four matches, starting with Tuesday's trip to Paris.

With BBC Sport

Sunderland beat uninspired Man Utd

Wahbi Khazri was one of four Sunderland signings in January

Sunderland boosted their Premier League survival hopes with a deserved victory over an uninspired Manchester United.

Wahbi Khazri put the strugglers ahead after three minutes with a free-kick from the left that eluded everyone.

Anthony Martial levelled after he clipped the ball over Vito Mannone, who had parried Juan Mata's shot.

But the Black Cats won it when Lamine Kone's header from Khazri's corner went in via a deflection off David de Gea to dent United's top-four bid.

Sunderland's win takes them to within one point of rivals Newcastle and safety after a game inspired by manager Sam Allardyce's January signings.

Tunisia forward Khazri made his first Premier League start in their last game, a 2-2 draw with Liverpool where he assisted Jermain Defoe's equaliser.

And the signing from Bordeaux was inspired again, scoring early on against United with a free-kick which Defoe stepped over to bamboozle United's defence and De Gea.

And their winner - while credited as a De Gea own goal - was all thanks to the powerful header from Kone, a signing from Lorient.

De Gea got a touch, with Martial appearing to hit the ball off his own keeper on the way in.

Allardyce told BBC MOTD: "The new players have been on the list before January. The problem is can you get them here and do they want to come and join the fight? They were desperate to come here."

Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal has been frustrated this week by media reports, including from BBC Sport, saying that Jose Mourinho's representatives have spoken to the club about their client replacing the Dutchman.

Van Gaal had continued to insist that the club can finish in the top four, although the defeat keeps fifth-placed United six points behind Manchester City, who now have a game in hand.

And, after the game, Van Gaal said it will be "very difficult" for them to qualify for the Champions League. The result has done nothing either to boost his chances of keeping his job.

United dominated the final stages of the first half, but other than that they were matched or outplayed by Sunderland, who could have scored more.

Manchester United now have seven defenders injured after they lost Matteo Darmian to a shoulder injury during the first half.

On Saturday, the day before Valentine's Day, Van Gaal brought on the appropriately named Donald Love, a Scotland Under-21 international. The former Wigan loanee had a solid performance on his debut at right-back.

The 21-year-old joined in United's attack at will and showed he was not overawed when he screamed at captain Wayne Rooney for over-hitting the return ball of a one-two.

Sunderland boss Sam Allardyce told BBC Match of the Day: "I thought the result was right. On the balance of chances created, a 2-1 win was no more than we deserved.

"It shows the importance of set plays. We've found a lad who delivers a great ball. One, he's scored himself and the second ball for Lamine's goal was quality.

"I thought Jermain Defoe was going to make it 2-0 and then Dame N'Doye got in one-on-one. We all prayed he would score. When he missed I wondered if it would be one of those days.

"Everyone is very happy at the moment. I've sensed a commitment and a desire and will to get out of the problems."

Sunderland have two weeks until their next game, away to West Ham, and are heading to Dubai next week for warm weather training.

United will have no such luxury, as they face Danish side Midtjylland on Thursday in the Europa League, before an FA Cup tie with Shrewsbury the following Monday and the reverse European tie three days later.

United's next league involvement is at home to Arsenal on Sunday, 28 February.

Is sex necessary for a lasting marriage?

A sex census found that sexual confidence peaks between the ages of 60-69. 

Lust and sex, we’re constantly reminded, are far from the preserve of the young. Just ask Dame Helen Mirren, who last year, aged 69, pronounced her sex life “great, just wonderful”; a step up from the ‘‘paranoid and empty’’ encounters of her youth.

Not only are happily married older couples supposedly swinging as madly from the chandeliers as their children, but the silver singles are on Tinder too, these days, having affairs via the Ashley Madison website, or shopping till their arches drop in Agent Provocateur. 

Indeed, psychologists and doctors positively urge us to ‘get it on’ as often as possible, as we get older, for the good of our mental and physical health. Moreover, a ‘‘Sex Census’’ in 2012, jointly funded by Relate and Ann Summers, suggested that most of us are so bogged down in our thirties and forties with mortgage payments and childcare, that it’s only when we hit our fifties, that all systems are truly go. Sexual confidence, it suggested, peaks between the ages of 60 and 69.

Yet, can this riotous image of free love among the Hip Op Generation be the full picture? Not according to a new survey, out yesterday, which found that one in four couples over 50 never make love at all.

If this finding sound bleak, additional research released alongside it should leave us all feeling a bit brighter. Because the ‘sexless seniors’, surveyed, agreed that despite the apparently chilly nights, they couldn’t be happier - revelling in the renewed space this gave to companionship, conversation and humour in their relationship.

Cari Rosen, editor of the website Gransnet, which carried out the research among 634 of its users, aged 51 to 85, said: “While passion is undoubtedly important for most people, it turns out that the glue in successful long-term relationships is compassion, kindness, generosity and friendship – which is advice that people of any age can use.’’

Yorkshire-based housewife Clare*, 54, certainly agrees. She and John, also 54, have been married for 19 years, but haven’t been intimate for the past eight.
“It’s funny to think back on the early days of our relationship and realise how important sex was to us both then,’’ she says now, describing their sexual attraction and adventurous physical relationship as the “glue” that initially bound them together, after they met at work. “I always joked that I noticed his beautiful bum before I even saw his face.’’
Since then, the couple have enjoyed a strong and happy 

marriage, despite “a few bumps in the road” - post-natal 

depression for Clare, after the birth of their now 18 year-old 

son; John being made redundant from his job in engineering 

at 48, which plunged him into a full-scale mid-life crisis. 

“But, on balance, we remain a loving and committed couple.”Lack of sex does not equate to physical distance: “We still need the closeness of sharing a bed every night. We still kiss and cuddle up on the sofa, walk hand-in-hand and enjoy a tactile, physically affectionate relationship.”
So why have they not made love for so long? Clare puts their sex-free existence down to jointly waning libidos. “I went off sex when I was approaching the menopause, which is not untypical. It became uncomfortable and, eventually, undesirable.

For many older couples, sex is no longer the fabric of their relationship.

“John said he understood. He’d just been made redundant and was doing a lot of soul-searching, so I think sex was probably not much in his thoughts then anyway.

‘‘I thought my libido would make a comeback after the menopause but it didn’t. ‘What if it never comes back?’ I asked John in bed one night. ‘It’s nothing to worry about,’ he replied. ‘We’re in our fifties, we’re fit and healthy and still very much in love with each other. I don’t see any benefit in fretting about sex if neither of us is bothered about having it’.’’

Says Clare: ‘‘Sex isn’t how we love each other now; it’s no 

longer part of the fabric of our relationship, and that’s 

absolutely fine because we both feel the same way about it.

‘‘It’s as if we have moved to a place beyond sex. I would worry for my marriage if we weren’t tender and loving in other ways, but we are - and have always been - open with each other about our feelings.”

Not everyone approves of this surrender to non-sexuality. Arlene Heyman, a 73-year-old psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, whose new book Scary Old Sex has just been published by Bloomsbury, told The Telegraph, last week: “Do not let yourself be pushed into the persona of an asexual person. That doesn’t mean flaunt your sexuality. But it’s masochism to accept less than a full life.”

Dr Petra Boynton, a psychologist specializing in sex research, 

is more circumspect. ‘‘There are a number of things which 

connect people,” she said, in response to the 2012 survey, 

“but we are constantly spun this line that the glue to a 

relationship is sex, and without it one’s relationship will fall 

apart, and I think there are a lot of commercial reasons why 

that message is put out. That’s not just insulting, it’s 

pernicious.’’

So what is the “relationship glue” in Clare and John’s life after lust? 

‘‘We used to make love until dawn in the early days. Today, we’d rather put on our boots and head up into the Dales for a long walk and a pub lunch, or catch a flight to Paris or Budapest to explore the city for a weekend.

‘‘We both love cooking and homemaking, taking to the road in our vintage MG, spending time with our son who’ll be leaving for university soon, and dreaming about buying a dilapidated property in France that we can renovate in our dotage.”

Not having sex begins to feel like a sordid secret.

The irony, of course, is that as all manner of sexual behaviour becomes less taboo, not having it at all should feel like it needs to be kept a sordid secret.

‘‘I know people will judge the path we have chosen,” says Clare, who won’t discuss the celibate state of her happy marriage openly, even with close friends. “They will say there must be something wrong, something missing, in a sexless marriage; that there is something unnatural about our celibacy. But that’s not how we see it. So irrelevant is sex to me, in fact, that I don’t even think it would be a deal-breaker if John had it with someone else.

‘‘It would shock me, but it would make no sense to call time on my marriage simply because John had chosen to find, elsewhere, something he knew wasn’t available at home.

‘‘Anyway I’m confident that, like me, he cherishes and respects our relationship, and would be unlikely to put it in jeopardy for something we have both grown to regard as extraneous.’’

And as Dame Helen Mirren well knows,  there is nothing more attractive than confidence. Even sex.

Pope meets Russian Orthodox head after 962 years

                                                                                                                              AP

Delicately dancing around centuries of theological tensions, Pope Francis and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill met in Cuba on Friday and pleaded for world leaders to protect persecuted Christians.

"Thousands of victims have already been claimed in the violence in Syria and Iraq, which has left many other millions without a home or means of sustenance," the Pope and patriarch said in a joint declaration.

"We urge the international community to seek an end to the violence and terrorism and, at the same time, to contribute through dialogue to a swift return to civil peace."

The meeting, which took place at Jose Marti International Airport in Havana, was the first encounter between a pope and a Russian Orthodox patriarch.

"Finally!" Francis exclaimed as he embraced Kirill in the small, wood-paneled VIP room of Havana's airport, where the three-hour encounter took place on Friday.

"We are brothers," Francis added.

The two church leaders kissed one another three times on the cheek, and Kirill told the pope through an interpreter: "Now things are easier."

The Vatican is hoping the meeting will improve relations with other Orthodox churches and spur progress in dialogue over theological differences that have divided east from west ever since the Great Schism of 1054 split Christianity.

Following the meeting, Francis and Kirill issued a joint declaration expressing their concern about the plight of Christians in Iraq and Syria who are being killed and driven from their homes by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

In a joint appearance, Francis told reporters he was "grateful for the humility" of Kirill, while praising the Cuban president for hosting the talks. 

"If he continues this way, Cuba will become the capital of unity."

"In a world which yearns not only for our words but also for tangible gestures, may this meeting be a sign of hope for all people of goodwill!"

The joint declaration did not specifically cite the agreement reached on Thursday by Russia and the United States, among other nations, to "cease hostilities" in Syria, the site of a devastating civil war.

But in a possible reference to Iranian and Saudi Arabian factions fighting a proxy war in the Middle East, Francis and Kirill urged all parties involved in the conflicts "to demonstrate goodwill and to take part in the negotiating table."

The meeting is a diplomatic victory for Francis, who has made door-opening dialogue a prominent feature of his foreign policy. But it also carries some risks. Critics have warned that Kirill and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who are close, will use the Pope to boost their profile among Orthodox Christians and popularity in the West.

"The meeting takes place against the backdrop of current Russian military, political, and propagandist actions," said Yury Avvakumov, assistant professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame. "At this moment, it would be useful for Russian leaders to have any public figure who would approach Russia with a 'business as usual' attitude."

Still, many Catholics and Orthodox Christians hailed the meeting and joint declaration as significant steps toward strengthening ties between their traditions, which separated in 1054 after the Great Schism. (Also called the East-West Schism, the split was over theology and the primacy of the pope, whom the Orthodox do not consider the supreme leader of Christianity.)

Patriarch Kirill is not the leader of Orthodox Christianity, a title that technically belongs to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who is based in Constantinople and has met with Pope Francis and his predecessors several times. But with a flock of 150 million followers, Kirill leads the biggest, and in some ways the most defiant, branch of Orthodoxy.

The Vatican had tried for decades to meet with Russian patriarchs, amplifying their efforts after the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. But Orthodox leaders accused Catholics of trying to encroach on their turf by planting new churches in Russia and former Soviet satellite countries.

Friday's joint declaration delicately alludes to the tensions between the churches, noting that Orthodox Christians and Catholics "have been divided by wounds caused by old and recent conflicts." But the Pope and patriarch said they were "pained by the loss of unity" among Christians, who have splintered into thousands of denominations since the schism in 1054.

Despite their differences, the vicious persecution of Christians in the Middle East and Africa by the Islamic State and other terrorists reportedly prompted the Russians to consider meeting with their Catholic counterparts.

"We need to put aside internal disagreements at this tragic time and join efforts to save Christians in the regions where they are subject to the most atrocious persecution," senior Orthodox cleric Metropolitan Hilarion told reporters.

Pope Francis has also argued that Christians should come together to protect their persecuted brethren, calling it an "ecumenism of blood."

While pledging not to proselytize -- a fancy word for stealing converts from other faiths -- Francis and Kirill said they are determined to "undertake all that is necessary to overcome the historical divergences we have inherited."

"We are not competitors but brothers, and this concept must guide all our mutual actions as well as those directed to the outside world."

Since his election in 2013, Francis has made concerted efforts to heal the breach between Catholics and Russian Orthodox Christians, telling Kirill in 2014: "I'll go wherever you want. 

You call me and I'll go."

Both sides apparently consider Cuba neutral ground. Kirill is there for an official visit; Francis flew to Mexico, where he will spend five days. He received an exuberant and festive welcome Friday evening.

In a possible preview of the Pope's agenda in Mexico, where he will celebrate Mass near the U.S. border in Juarez, Friday's joint declaration states:

"We cannot remain indifferent to the destinies of millions of migrants and refugees knocking on the doors of wealthy nations."

The historic meeting between Pope and patriarch came less than a year after Francis' first visit to Cuba as Pope. He played a key role in the recent thawing of relations between the United States and Cuba, which re-established diplomatic ties last year.

More troubles for Nigeria and others as Iran oil exports to hit 1.5 mb/d in March

Iran's First Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri

Iran’s first vice president says the country’s oil exports will reach 1.5 million barrels per day (mb/d) next month as Tehran moves to benefit from sanctions relief.

“Today, our oil exports have reached 1.3 mb/d, which will reach 1.5 mb/d by” March, Es’haq Jahangiri said on Saturday.

He added that Iran will be exporting 2 mb/d of oil in the next calendar year starting on March 21.

“Oil exports enhancement was among opportunities created by the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action)…Iran has to preserve its share in the global oil market,” added Jahangiri.

JCPOA refers to Iran’s landmark nuclear accord with six world powers that took effect in January, paving the way for the lifting of sanctions slapped on Iran.

Sanctions against Iran were imposed by the US and European Union at the beginning of 2012, alleging that there was diversion in Iran's nuclear program toward military objectives; an allegation that Iran categorically rejected.

An oil service worker walks at an Iranian oil production facility.

There has been speculation that Iran’s move to raise oil exports would cut already low oil prices. But Iran is determined to regain its oil market share lost due to the international sanctions.

Oil markets remain oversupplied, a situation which has been fueled by OPEC's refusal to cut output in order to squeeze out high-cost US shale producers.

OPEC left its output ceiling unchanged, in both June and December last year, at 30 mb/d with its estimated actual output standing at 32 mb/d.

Because of overproduction chiefly by Saudi Arabia and non-OPEC producers, there is currently up to 2.5 mb/d of excess oil in the market which has caused crude prices to lose around 60% of their value since mid-2014.

Saudi defends poor female rights record

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir ©AFP

Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir has defended Saudi Arabia's dismal women rights record, saying the kingdom needs more time to improve the situation.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Friday, Jubeir claimed that the kingdom has made progress on female education but the case of permitting women to drive needs more work. 

“When it comes to issues like women’s driving, this is not a religious issue, it’s a societal issue,” Jubeir said. 

He compared the issue of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia to the one in the US, saying women were allowed to vote 100 years after America’s independence while the first female parliamentary speaker was elected a century later.

“I’m not saying ‘Give us 200 years’. I’m saying ‘be patient’,” Jubeir said

“We hope that in the modern world … this process is accelerated, but things take time. We can’t expect to rush things.”

Jubeir said Saudi women now make up 55 percent of college students compared to 1960 when the kingdom had no schools for female citizens.

Riyadh has come under intense pressure by the activist groups for mistreating women. International rights groups say the Saudi regime deliberately deny women basic rights.

Saudi women arrive to attend Jenadriyah Culture Festival on the outskirts of Riyadh, Feb. 8, 2016. ©Reuters

The kingdom is the only country in the world that prohibits women from driving. The ban stems from a religious fatwa imposed by Wahhabi clerics. If women get behind the wheel in the kingdom, they may be arrested, sent to court and even flogged.

In 2012, the then Saudi King, Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, announced that women would be given the right to vote and run in municipal elections for the first time in the country. He also appointed 30 women to the country’s top advisory Shura Council before his death in January 2015.

With PressTV

Women purchase more valentine cards than men annually

A report has shown that, women purchase about 85 per cent of an estimated 1.2 billion valentine cards that are sold worldwide annually, Mrs Felicia Bello, the Matron, Landmark University Medical Centre, Omu-Aran, has said.

Bello said this at a health counselling initiative organised for secondary school students in Omu-Aran, Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara, on Friday, The Guardian reported.

Quoting statistics from the World Greeting Card Association, Bello said the figure had made Valentine’s Day, the second most popular card exchange celebration after Christmas.

She said that the official card purchase figure for Christmas celebration was an estimated 2.6 billion cards globally.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the counselling activity tagged: “Health Counselling toward Valentine’’ was organised by Landmark University Community Development Impact Initiative (LMUCDII).

No fewer than 150 students participated in the counselling initiative.

Bello said that in spite of the fact that Valentine’s Day celebration had transformed into a global celebration of love, many persons, particularly the youth, celebrated the day wrongly.

“Many people are introduced to habits that will destroy their destiny.

“Many young girls from age 10 years to 15 years are defiled on the night of Valentine’s Day, with some of them ending up with HIV or unwanted pregnancy.

“Many are initiated into cultism and other wicked associations — some unknowingly — as such celebrations usually start at odd hours,” she said.

The matron, therefore, cautioned the students to shun all the negative and anti-social aspects of Valentine Day’s celebration.

She urged them to only embrace those positive aspects which had to do with sharing of affection, gifts, food items and even ideas that could enhance their future.

A resource person, Mrs Olubunmi Joseph-Fadipe, who presented a paper on “Valentine, Love and God’’, urged the students to always allow God be their guide in their day-to-day activities, particularly on Valentine’s Day.

She bemoaned the fact that most Valentine Day’s celebrations nowadays had negated the original objectives of its innovators, saying that the development was doing more harm than good to the society.

Joseph-Fadipe said: “Today’s Valentine’s Day celebration, especially in this part of the world, has been hijacked by anti-social vices.’’

In his remark, Pastor Abiodun Okunola, the Chairman of LMUCDII, said that the counselling activity was aimed at sensitising the students to the need to eschew ungodly habits in their celebration of Valentine’s Day.

He said that the institution, through the initiative, had made donations to orphanages, while looking at practical ways of making agriculture more attractive to the youth, in partnership with Omu-Aran Youth Forum.

“It is our belief that with the education and information which the students were able to garner from the counselling, they would be able to jealously safeguard their future,” Okunola said.

Speaking, Oluwatomisin Jegede, a student of Landmark University Secondary School, Omu-Aran, said that the counselling activity had greatly enhanced her knowledge on the positive and negative aspects of the Valentine’s Day celebration.

The schools which participated in the programme include Omu-Aran High School; Government Secondary School, Omu-Aran; Government Christian College, Omu-Aran; Victory Model College; Aperan Comprehensive College and Ofe-Aran Commercial College.

Riyad Mahrez: 'Relegation battle has helped Leicester title bid'

Riyad Mahrez scored one of Leicester's goals in the 3-1 win at Manchester City last weekend

Riyad Mahrez says last season's battle against relegation has helped Leicester in their challenge for the Premier League title this time round.

The Foxes were bottom with seven games to go last season but stayed up and now top the division by five points.

"When you go through a moment and you are down and losing your head, it gives you a lot of experience," said Mahrez.

"Now we get to test for first place. The mentality is not the same. Now we have nothing to lose."

The 24-year-old midfielder added: "Last season, it was very difficult with a lot of pressure. This year it is a positive pressure.

"If we finish first it is a bonus. If we finish three or four then it is OK. Last year, if we go down into the Championship we can't do this, this year."

Leicester have defied all expectations this season, losing only two league games (they lost 19 in 2014-15) to lead the division ahead of Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester City with 13 games to go.

At the start of the campaign some bookmakers had the Foxes at 5,000-1 to win the title but they are now favourites.

"This is Leicester, it is not like Manchester City or Manchester United. They have an obligation to win things," said Algeria international Mahrez.

"We don't have an obligation, it is just a dream. A dream is better than obligation."

Mahrez, who joined Leicester from Le Havre in January 2014, has excelled this season, scoring 14 goals and providing assists for 10 more in the league.

He is one of two players in the City side, the other being striker Jamie Vardy (18), who are into double figures for goals in the campaign.

"There is not one star, two stars, three stars - we play and work for each other," continued Mahrez.

"Every team has to have two or three players who score and this year it is Jamie and me. People can say a lot about us but we are just the same, just two players from Leicester City."

In the summer, Leicester sacked Nigel Pearson, the manager who had overseen their impressive escape from relegation with seven wins from the last nine games of the season.

He was replaced by former Chelsea and Juventus boss Claudio Ranieri,who Mahrez says has brought a work-rate and tactical discipline to the side.

"We are together, very compact," he said. "We think a lot about tactics.

"We do a lot of work defensively. Me, for example, if I don't work, I don't play. Two times this year he put me on the bench because I didn't defend. I know if I don't work for the team he will drop me to the bench.

"Maybe I will start, but if I don't work, I will get taken off after 45 minutes."

Last Saturday, Leicester won 3-1 at one of their rivals for the title, Manchester City.

This Sunday, they face another as they travel to third-placed Arsenal, who are five points behind and whose boss says Leicester are favourites to win at Emirates Stadium.

"He is just saying that to take the pressure of his team," added Mahrez.

"Arsenal have to win the title because it is an obligation for them. For us it is a bonus, a dream. It will be a very difficult game. They are a big team who play in the Champions League every year.

"We don't have any pressure. We will just play how we do every game."

With BBC Sport

Paulette and Simone 104-year-old French twins say closeness is the secret

When they were born premature in 1912, doctors gave Paulette and Simone the slimmest chance of survival. But 104 years later, the French twins say there’s a simple secret to their longevity: sticking together.

With their long white hair tied back in ponytails and gold spectacles perched on their noses, Paulette Olivier and Simone Thiot are happy to pose for the camera at their retirement home in Onzain, central France.

“This will be fun!” they say in chorus.

There is no official confirmation that Paulette and Simone are the oldest twins in France, but they appear to be the likely holders of the title.

“We’re being very spoiled,” one of them says as they show off the flowers given by the local council and fellow retirement home residents to mark their 104th birthday.

Paulette and Simone were born in the central village of Limeray at 11:00 am on January 30, 1912 to Marie Lamolie, a dressmaker, and her husband Joseph, a carpenter.

Their entry to the world did not bode well.

“We were premature,” says Simone, who can still get around these days without the help of a Zimmer frame.

“We were due in March but we were born in January. They gave us a very small chance of surviving. I didn’t even weigh a kilo. And you, just three pounds,” she says to her sister.

“They had to keep us wrapped up for four months.”

Paulette, widowed at 36, worked as a hairdresser for 15 years in Algeria, then in Paris.

Simone, a dressmaker like her mother, lost her husband when she was 64.

Neither had any children.

The twins, whose only brother died in accident at the age of 99, insist it’s their lasting friendship that has kept them going all this time.

“We are still alive because we have always stayed close,” says one. “We keep our independence — each of us has her own room — but we only need to cross the corridor to see and talk to each other.

“We pity old people who are alone with no one to visit them.”

Paulette and Simone spend their time keeping up with current affairs, reading, watching television and listening to music.

Simone also regularly writes poems which she keeps in a notebook.

Any other tips for a long life? “A simple life — no excess. No alcohol. And lots of sport.

“We did gymnastics for a long time, and a huge amount of cycling — almost every day.”