The left wing-back appeared to stand on the back of Long’s leg during their Premier League game on Saturday and the incident went unpunished by referee Mike Dean.

Alonso was found guilty at a hearing on Wednesday. He is ruled out of Thursday’s Premier League game at Burnley, Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final against Southampton and the league trip to Swansea on April 28.

“Marcos Alonso will miss Chelsea’s next three matches after an Independent Regulatory Commission ruled he had committed an act of violent conduct against Southampton’s Shane Long,” the FA said in a statement.

“Alonso denied the charge and further submitted that if found proven the suspension would be excessive. However, this was rejected following Wednesday’s hearing.”

The 27-year-old defender was this week named in the Professional Footballers’ Association’s Premier League team of the year, the only representative from Chelsea.

The 20-year-old, who won two Masters titles last season, became frustrated in the second set but came through 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 and will play either his older brother Mischa or Richard Gasquet in the last eight.

“Hopefully my brother will win and it will be an amazing day tomorrow,” said the younger Zverev.

The world number four claimed the opening set thanks to a break in game seven, before a bizarre second set in which both players struggled on serve.

Zverev became increasingly frustrated as he constantly gave away leads, complaining that advertising cushions on the side of the court were dangerous.

Struff claimed the set to level the match with the seventh break of serve in only eight games, as Zverev hurled his racquet to the ground in frustration.

He refound his range in the decider, though, racing into a 5-2 lead with a double break.

Zverev was broken to love when serving for a place in the last eight and then missed a match point in Struff’s following service game, but finally got over the line as his opponent fired wide.

Belgian sixth seed David Goffin held off a late fightback from Roberto Bautista Agut to reach the last eight with a 6-4, 7-5 win, in a match that saw the Spaniard accidentally hit a ballboy with the ball.

The 11th seed was broken to slip 4-1 down in the second set, and when returning the ball to the other side of the net, inadvertently saw it strike a ballboy as he ran across the front of the net.

Bautista Agut received a code violation, before saving two match points and winning four straight games to level at 5-5.

But Goffin broke again and served out the match at the third attempt to book a quarter-final against either Grigor Dimitrov or Philipp Kohlschreiber.

After submitting a formal application for Full Member status of IMSA earlier , representatives of FCG presented to IMSA’s Executive Council on 18 April 2018 during the on-going SportAccord Summit in Bangkok the tremendous progress it has made in elevating the status of card games towards becoming a mind sport around the world.

FCG, found in Lausanne, Switzerland, is an international association established by uniting multiple regional card game organizations. Thailand is also one of the 42 member countries of FCG.

FCG is active in adding popular regional card games into the federation, with the goal of creating a global group of highly popular games enjoyed by its members globally.

Since becoming IMSA’s Observer Member exactly one year ago, FCG has organized numerous exhibitions, matches and tournaments. Currently it consists of 42 members around the world.  Through systematizing and sportifiying the game, FCG is committed to transforming card games from casual entertainment already enjoyed by many, to a globally respected professional mind sport.

The Gunners are currently six points adrift of fifth-placed London rivals Chelsea, with both sides having a maximum of 15 points to play for from their five remaining league games this season.

Arsenal’s best hope of qualifying for European football, next season, however, could lie in winning this term’s Europa League, where they face Atletico Madrid in a two-legged semi-final.

Sunday saw Arsene Wenger’s men suffer a fifth successive away league defeat when they lost 2-1 at Newcastle and Arsenal goalkeeper Cech told the London Evening Standard on Wednesday: “We are in the two competitions, so now need to keep switching between them and do our best. We are in a position now where we must win all our remaining games and hope it lifts us in the table.

“We are in a very difficult moment because everybody else has a big advantage.”

The former Chelsea star added: “In the Europa League, we have a semi-final to play, so we need to make sure we are ready.”

Meanwhile, Cech was at a loss to understand Arsenal’s worst run of away league results in over 30 years.

“It’s very difficult to explain why because until last season, we were one of the best teams in terms of the away record,” he said. “But somehow it has completely reversed this season and we don’t seem to find the answer for it.

“When you commit so many team mistakes, away or home, you get punished and Sunday proved that. Of course you try to address that, but clearly the same things are happening.

“We don’t do these mistakes — the team mistakes — when we play at home.”

Goals from Chris Smalling and Romelu Lukaku sealed the points at Dean Court after Mourinho made seven changes in the aftermath of United’s shock defeat to struggling West Bromwich Albion on Sunday.

That limp surrender had gifted the Premier League title to Manchester City, prompting Mourinho to accuse his players of complacency.

In a bid to shake up his under-performing stars and rest key players, the United manager rang the changes against Bournemouth, with Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez and Juan Mata among the big names left out of the starting line-up ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against Tottenham.

Paul Pogba kept his place despite mounting speculation Mourinho is ready to sell the out-of-form France midfielder in the close-season.

Mourinho’s hardline stance appeared to sting his players into action as Smalling opened the scoring in the first half.

Lukaku came off the bench to seal the points in the closing stages as United consolidated second place in the Premier League.

Mourinho was impressed with the work done by his new-look side and claimed he would have to think hard before deciding his Cup line-up.

“Everything was good, I am happy. Every player on the pitch was positive and put himself available for Saturday,” Mourinho said.

“The players were in the right positions and not trying one more flick, one more trick.

“I will not play this 11 at Wembley but all of them told me (with their performances) that they want to play and they are ready.

“Obviously I will bring back Lukaku, Antonio Valencia, Nemanja Matic.”

Pogba was widely criticised for his lacklustre display against Albion — the latest in a long line of disappointing efforts from the former Juventus star since his move to United two seasons ago.

That sparked talk that Mourinho has told United to put Pogba up for sale, just days after Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said he had been offered the chance to sign the midfielder by his agent in January.

Whether Pogba features at Wembley this weekend will go some way to showing whether he is still part of Mourinho’s long-term plans, but he at least impressed his boss for one night after winning the man of the match award.

“I’m not very good on man of the match, I’m not a big fan of it, but Paul Pogba played very well,” Mourinho said.

“Against Man City he was phenomenal but today he was very, very good. A good choice.”

Mourinho’s side are 14 points clear of fifth placed Chelsea and will be guaranteed to qualify for the Champions League if the Blues fail to beat Burnley on Thursday.

“The first ambition was to finish in the top four and now one point is probably enough. When we have that resolved we can think about third and second place,” Mourinho added.

Smalling put United ahead in the 28th minute when he tapped in from Jesse Lingard’s cross despite Bournemouth appeals for offside.

Having survived two Bournemouth penalty appeals — including Luke Shaw blocking out Callum Wilson as he tried to finish off a cross — United doubled their lead in the 70th minute.

Pogba was slightly more effective after his recent troubles and he created United’s second goal.

Breaking up a Bournemouth attack, he galloped clear and picked out Lukaku’s run with a perfectly-weighted pass.

Lukaku capped the raid by slotting past Bournemouth goalkeeper Asmir Begovic to claim his 27th goal of the season.

That clinched United’s sixth win in their last seven league games, but all eyes remained on Pogba.

He was substituted soon after and initially headed straight down the tunnel, but was directed to the bench, where he took a seat on the back row like a naughty child at school.

Djokovic, playing only his fourth tournament since Wimbledon last July after struggling with a right elbow injury, overcame some late nerves to win 7-6 (7/2), 7-5 in the second-round clash.

“It was a real battle. I mean, I could have won the match earlier definitely, but it was great to deal with these kind of emotions again,” said the 12-time Grand Slam champion.

Djokovic is working with long-time former coach Marian Vajda for the first time in almost a year after splitting from Andre Agassi, and the 30-year-old has looked rejuvenated in Monaco after early exits in Indian Wells and Miami.

The Serbian will next face Austrian fifth seed Dominic Thiem with a possible quarter-final against defending champion Nadal, who plays Karen Khachanov in the last 16 on Thursday, up for grabs.

But Djokovic insisted he wasn’t looking past the clash with Thiem, a French Open semi-finalist in each of the last two years.

“It’s disrespectful towards Dominic and Dominic’s tennis… To think about and talk about potentially a match-up with Nadal,” Djokovic added.

“Last year in Roland Garros he beat me in straight sets. He’s definitely (a) top-three player in the world on clay.”

Djokovic came through a tight first set in a tie-break and moved a break clear in the second, before late drama as he missed nine chances to close out the match.

The ninth seed rediscovered his composure, though, to finally complete the job at the 10th time of asking as the 39th-ranked Coric sent a backhand flying long.

Two-time Monte Carlo winner Djokovic said that he has gained power since changing to a lighter racquet to try and take pressure off his troublesome elbow.

“It feels like I gained more power, especially on the serve. I gained more angle,” he said.

“The racquet is the most important tool that we have, but it’s not more important than our body and our mind, our movements. So it is a tool that helps, but it doesn’t play for you.”

Nadal makes ‘positive’ start 

Nadal started his bid for an 11th Monte Carlo title with a comfortable victory over Slovenia’s Bedene.

The 16-time Grand Slam winner, like Djokovic, is looking for a record 31st Masters title, and he swatted aside Bedene for the loss of only four games.

The 31-year-old Spaniard said he still needs more time on court after playing his first tour match since an injury-hit Australian Open quarter-final exit in January.

“It’s a positive start, of course. It’s important for me to win matches… I need days on court,” said Nadal.

“Since Shanghai last year, I (have) spent not enough time on court competing.

“Every match that I have the chance to win is great news because it’s confidence and is a chance to play another day, and that’s what I need.”

Japan’s Kei Nishikori continued his comeback from injury with an impressive 7-5, 6-2 win over Russian Daniil Medvedev.

The former world number four, who has struggled over the last year with a right wrist injury, followed up his first-round victory against Tomas Berdych with a solid display on centre court.

“The first set was a real battle, he was playing a little better than me I think at the beginning,” said Nishikori.

“I just tried to stay calm and not do anything too crazy and stay calm at the baseline.”

Second seed Marin Cilic safely negotiated a potentially-tricky opener against Fernando Verdasco, winning 6-3, 7-6 (7/4).

The former US Open champion will take on Canadian Milos Raonic in round three on Thursday.

Russian Khachanov cruised past Gilles Simon 6-2, 6-2, while last year’s runner-up Albert Ramos-Vinolas slumped to a 6-4, 6-2 defeat by Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Italian qualifier Andreas Seppi came from a set down to beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and progress to a tie with Nishikori.

Thailand after causing a hype all over the Kingdom by booking their slot into the  2019 World Cup for the second straight time following a 3-1 win over the Philippines in the group stage last week put up a gutsy fight against the 2010 champions only to come short in the sudden death.

However team manager Nualphan was more than happy to see a great fight from her players although Thailand failed to reach their second Asian Cup final since their first in 1983.

“I feel so proud and overwhelmed by the performance of the players. For me we are the winners and I’m sure they captured the hearts of the fans back at home as well,” said Nualphan who would reward her team Bt20 million incentive money for successfully qualifying for the World Cup Final.

“Actually Australia are stronger than we are in several areas. Many people even predicted that we would lose badly. But the girls already proved that anything could happen if they worked as a team,” added Nualphan, chairperson of the Thai League’s Port FC.

The manager also viewed that competing with pressure free attitude was the key factor that inspired extraordinary performance from the players.

“As we already qualified for the World Cup, we have nothing to lose in the last two games (semi-final and third place play-off) which are our bonus. Several young players did a great job even they were sent to play for the first time,” she said.

Thailand will face China in the third place game on April 20 at 8.45pm Bangkok time. Thailand already lost to China 0-4 in the group stage on April 6. Australia will play Japan in the final also on April 20.

“I hope the girls will maintain this level of play and produce some stunning result against China to surprise the fans,” Nualphan said.

A two-time French Open semi-finalist, Thiem recovered from a set down to book a last-16 clash against either Novak Djokovic or Borna Coric with a 5-7, 7-5, 7-5 victory.

Thiem is playing in his first tournament since suffering an ankle injury at Indian Wells last month.

Rublev spurned a chance to seal the match when he fired a forehand narrowly wide on his own serve late in the deciding set.

“I had to fight from the first to the last point, which of course I did well. But I was also lucky at the end when he had a match point and missed a forehand by 10 centimetres or so,” said 24-year-old Thiem.

“I was 10 centimetres from being out of the tournament.”

The 24-year-old Thiem could also have to face defending champion Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals if he can get past Djokovic or the in-form Coric on Thursday.

“It’s a horrible draw for sure, from the first round on,” conceded Thiem.

“But I’m happy that I played two hours and forty (minutes)… But I’m looking forward to watching Djokovic and Coric in front of the TV and then playing the winner on Thursday.”

– Dimitrov, Zverev go through –

Fourth seed Dimitrov came from a set down to see off French qualifier Pierre-Hugues Herbert 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Herbert started quickly, breaking in game three as Dimitrov struggled.

The world number five has often found life difficult on clay, having never reached the second week of the French Open.

And Herbert, the world number 82, wrapped up the opening set with another break as Dimitrov mishit a forehand into the stands.

But Dimitrov stepped up his game midway through the second set, reeling off five consecutive games to level the match.

The 26-year-old, who won the Cincinnati Masters and the ATP Tour Finals last season, threw away an early break in the third set, but quickly refocused to finish off the spirited Herbert.

“I was just a little bit rusty, I haven’t played a match in about three weeks,” said Dimitrov.

“All I (could) do was just fight and find a way to win, how doesn’t really matter.”

Third seed Alexander Zverev also fell behind to Luxemburger Gilles Muller, before coming through 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

The 20-year-old German, who is bidding for his third Masters title, broke to lead 4-3 in the opening set, but let his level slip as Muller forged ahead.

But Zverev, the world number four, bookended the second set with breaks of serve and easily ended the unseeded Muller’s challenge in fading light to progress to a last-16 match against either Fabio Fognini or Jan-Lennard Struff.

“It wasn’t easy, but I found my rhythm in the second and third sets,” he said.

Earlier, French number one Lucas Pouille blew a one-set lead to be dumped out by Zverev’s older brother Mischa in a third-set tie-break.

Seventh seed Pouille, a semi-finalist last year, eased through the first set but Zverev hit back to claim a 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7/3) victory and reach the third round for the first time in his career.

The world number 55 trailed 4-2 in the decider, but broke back immediately before clinching the tie-break when a Pouille return dropped into the base of the net.

Elsewhere, David Goffin edged out Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6 (7/4), 7-5 to reach the last 16 for the third year in a row.

The Belgian sixth seed, who lost to Nadal in last year’s semi-finals, sealed victory on his fourth match point.

Fernando Verdasco saved three match points to beat Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas in a first-round match, while Briton Kyle Edmund lost in three sets to Andreas Seppi, less than 48 hours after a final defeat in Marrakech by Pablo Andujar.

The world’s top male and female surfers had been taking part in the 12-day Margaret River Pro, which is part of the World Surf League Championship Tour, off Australia’s southwest coast since April 11.

The contest was briefly suspended on Monday morning after a local surfer suffered leg injuries in a shark attack off nearby Gracetown, some 260 kilometres (160 miles) south of the Western Australia state capital Perth.

A second surfer, reportedly from Denmark, suffered a gash to his leg in a second shark encounter, also near Gracetown.

“Today, the WSL has made the difficult decision to cancel the remainder of the Margaret River Pro, as a result of exceptional circumstances surrounding this season’s event regarding sharks and the safety of our surfers,” WSL chief Sophie Goldschmidt said in a statement.

“The WSL puts the highest premium on safety. This cannot be just talk, and it cannot be compromised.”

They said while sharks were an “occasional reality” of WSL competitions, the current circumstances were “very unusual and troubling”.

The tour’s co-leader, Brazilian Italo Ferriera, took to Instagram on Tuesday to express his fears about being in the water, writing in Portuguese that he did not feel comfortable training and competing near the attack sites.

Fellow countryman Gabriel Medina, the 2014 WSL world champion, wrote on Instagram that he too did not feel safe competing in the area.

Authorities had also issued an alert over a whale carcass off an area beach, concerned the decomposing creature could attract sharks. The carcass was removed from the area Tuesday.

The cancellation came three years after Australian surfing great Mick Fanning, who retired from the sport earlier this month, made global headlines when he fought off a shark on live TV while competing in the WSL’s J-Bay Open in Jeffreys Bay, South Africa.

Fanning was not injured and that competition was cancelled after the encounter.

Experts say shark attacks are increasing as water sports become more popular and bait fish move closer to shore, but fatalities remain rare.

Manchester City wrapped up the title without kicking a ball, thanks to rock-bottom West Brom’s shock 1-0 win at Old Trafford on Sunday.

United were a shadow of the side that stormed back to win the Manchester derby the previous weekend, with manager Mourinho saying he would drop floundering stars for Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against Tottenham.

Before that trip to Wembley comes Wednesday’s league match at Bournemouth, which takes on extra significance following the loss to the beleaguered Baggies.

United can use their game in hand to stretch their lead over third-place Liverpool to four points and all but seal Champions League qualification, which Mourinho believes is up in the air as fifth-placed Chelsea look to build on their victory against Southampton.

“We lost three points,” Mourinho said of the defeat to West Brom. “We lost three points that could give us great stability for the second position.

“Now we still have the fourth position to fight for because Chelsea won and we lost, so we still have to fight for top four.”

Mourinho’s former club are 11 points behind United with five matches to play — the same number as United have heading to Bournemouth, where the composition of the Portuguese’s starting line-up and squad will be closely watched.

Paul Pogba, Alexis Sanchez and Ander Herrera performed poorly against the Baggies, so may well be anxious after Mourinho’s cutting post-match remarks.

Juan Mata was another player unable to make an impact on Sunday and is looking for a response.

“Second position was not done before the game,” Mata told MUTV. “It was not done even if we won, so losing — it’s even more important the next game. We know that we have to compete until the last week.

“It has been a long season but we need to make sure we can compete until the end and keep that second position and we fight for being in another FA Cup final and try to win it.

“Plenty (to play for this season). One trophy, FA Cup final. We all know how important it is and then get second in the league, which is not the ideal position, but it is a position we want to finish now.”

Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo and Scott McTominay were unused substitutes in Sunday’s loss and will hope to be involved on the south coast.