Aston Villa take on Manchester City on Saturday while Liverpool visit Tottenham in Sunday’s standout fixture
Saturday 12.30pm TNT Sports 1 Venue Villa Park
Continue reading...Sports quiz of the week: Keely Hodgkinson, title bouts and trophy sales
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Continue reading...Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend
Bournemouth look to repeat Old Trafford heroics, Saints must get ugly and it’s Füllkrug time for West Ham
Approaching the halfway point, it is hard to gauge where Aston Villa are at. Regardless of Manchester City’s extended wobble, a result at home to Pep Guardiola’s side will go a long way to providing an indication. It was always going to be a big ask for Villa to better or even equal last season’s achievements but, with automatic qualification to the Champions League last 16 a distinct possibility and a top-four finish within reach, it has been another solid, if imperfect, start. Only once this season have Villa recorded victory after a European night, in September after winning at Young Boys. This time last season Villa were third in the division, two points off the summit, on 35 points. They may be 10 points worse off now but, despite defeat at Nottingham Forest last time out, they remain in a good spot. Ben Fisher
Aston Villa v Manchester City, Saturday 12.30pm (all times GMT)
Brentford v Nottingham Forest, Saturday 3pm
Ipswich v Newcastle, Saturday 3pm
West Ham v Brighton, Saturday 3pm
Crystal Palace v Arsenal, Saturday 5.30pm
Continue reading...Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s action
Nottingham Forest are dreaming of Europe while Ismaïla Sarr is a reason for Crystal Palace fans to be cheerful
Manchester United’s selection was something of a surprise, with Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho left out of the squad completely and Ruben Amorim further raising eyebrows by saying the decision had been made after analysing “everything – training, performance, engagement with teammates”. It was only something of a surprise, however, because the XI was posted on Facebook by Samuel Luckhurst of the Manchester Evening News at 10.23pm on Saturday night, a little over 18 hours before kick-off. “Interesting an XI has already leaked this evening,” he wrote. “Teams have leaked out of United for years but the current regularity, brazen manner of it and apparently public identity of the source make it more of an issue.” Amorim’s twin tasks are to create a successful team and a disciplined club where nobody threatening the collective to promote their individual agendas. Despite this welcome result, he has a lot to do on both fronts. Simon Burnton
Match report: Manchester City 1-2 Manchester United
Guardiola feels he is ‘not good enough’ after City’s late defeat by United
Match report: Liverpool 2-2 Fulham
Match report: Arsenal 0-0 Everton
Match report: Wolves 1-2 Ipswich
Continue reading...Cricket commentator Isa Guha apologises for Jasprit Bumrah ‘primate’ comment
- Guha ‘deeply sorry’ for choosing wrong word to describe India quick
- ‘Let’s move on,’ Indian cricket great Ravi Shastri says
The respected cricket commentator Isa Guha has issued an apology after she referred to the Indian fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah as a “primate” during the third Test against Australia.
Guha was commentating for Fox Sports during the first session of play on day two of the match in Brisbane when she made the remark.
Continue reading...Sports quiz of the week: big contracts, friendly rivalries and ‘scorigami’
Test your knowledge of the week in sport as relationships ended and the end-of-year awards began to pour in
Continue reading...Dawn Fraser ‘not out of the woods’ after serious injuries from fall, daughter says
Daughter confirms swimming great broke four ribs and required a hip replacement after accident last week
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Dawn Fraser’s family has spoken of their fear of losing the Australian swimming great after she fell on the driveway of her home and sustained a broken hip and four broken ribs.
Fraser, 87, is convalescing in hospital after the “scary” incident last week that initially prompted fears she had suffered internal bleeding.
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Continue reading...USA’s Gretchen Walsh smashes 15-year-old 50m butterfly world record
- Olympic champion beats mark set during ‘shiny suit’ era
- 21-year-old in action at Short Course World Championships
US Olympic champion Gretchen Walsh continued her sparkling year by shattering the 15-year-old world record for the 50m butterfly on Tuesday.
The 21-year-old set a mark of 24.02 in the heats of the 50m butterfly on the opening morning of the Short Course World Championships in Budapest. The previous record was held by Sweden’s Therese Alshammar, whose time of 24.38 came during the so-called “shiny suit” era in 2009 when records fell regularly.
Continue reading...Millwall manager Neil Harris to step down from role this weekend
- Lions confirm that Harris will leave after next two games
- ‘I always said I would leave when the time felt right’
The Millwall manager Neil Harris will step down from his role for a second time after Saturday’s Championship game at Middlesbrough.
The former Lions striker returned to the Den as manager in February, more than four years after resigning from the role, and led the Championship side away from relegation danger. Millwall currently sit 11th with 25 points after 18 matches – just six points outside the playoffs. The club said a “mutual decision” had been taken for Harris to leave after taking charge of Wednesday’s match against Sheffield United and the game on Teesside.
Continue reading...Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s action
Fulham’s Antonee Robinson shines against Bukayo Saka, Tottenham squander another lead and woe at Old Trafford
There are numerous issues when taking over a team mid-season. One is that a new head coach might not have the right players for his plan and he has very little time to implement what he wants with those he does. Ruben Amorim has arranged his players – in various combinations – into his preferred 3-4-3 formation and it is clear what the strategy is, although there are flaws. The defence is struggling, where the three centre-backs are not performing their main duty of keeping clean sheets. Against Forest every set-piece looked like it might result in a goal. Only Nikola Milenkovic did score from a corner but the others were more farcical as André Onana got confused by Morgan Gibbs-White and a seemingly harmless Chris Wood header was allowed to drop in off the post. Maybe chopping and changing is Amorim’s issue and he needs to back a first-choice back three to allow them to settle and offer a foundation to build on. Will Unwin
Continue reading...LA Galaxy see off New York Red Bulls for record-extending sixth MLS Cup title
- Galaxy beat NYRB 2-1 for record sixth MLS Cup title
- Early goals from Paintsil, Joveljić hold up in victory
- LA Galaxy 2-1 New York Red Bulls – as it happened
Joseph Paintsil and Dejan Joveljic each scored early to lift the LA Galaxy to their record sixth MLS Cup title and first since 2014 in a 2-1 victory over the visiting New York Red Bulls in Saturday’s final in Carson, Calif.
Paintsil’s fourth goal of the playoffs and Joveljic’s sixth helped the Galaxy prevail despite missing attacking midfield star Riqui Puig, who suffered a torn ACL helping LA to a Western Conference final victory over Seattle last Saturday.
Continue reading...Premier League team news: predicted lineups for the weekend action
Leaders Liverpool travel to Goodison Park bidding for a 100th victory in the Merseyside derby against Everton
Saturday 12.30pm TNT Sports 1 Venue Goodison Park
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Continue reading...George Russell claims Max Verstappen threatened to ‘put my head in the wall’
- Mercedes driver revealed tensions boiled over in Qatar
- World champion was ‘going to purposefully crash into me’
George Russell has claimed his Formula One rival Max Verstappen threatened him with violence during the escalating tensions between the drivers at the Qatar Grand Prix. The Mercedes driver said the newly crowned world champion told him “he was going to purposefully go out of his way to crash into me and ‘put me on my fucking head in the wall’”.
The accusations come after the Briton and Verstappen were embroiled in a dispute in qualifying for the race last weekend. The Dutchman lost pole position for blocking Russell during qualifying, with both drivers seeking out the stewards to discuss the incident. Verstappen – who vented his ire on Dutch television, stating he had “lost all respect” for the Mercedes driver – went on to win the race but only after a one-place grid penalty saw him start behind Russell.
Continue reading...FA Cup third-round draw: holders Manchester United visit Arsenal
- Non-league side Tamworth to host Tottenham
- Liverpool v Accrington, Manchester City v Salford
FA Cup holders Manchester United enter the fray at next month’s third-round stage with a visit to record 14-time winners Arsenal, in a repeat of the 2005 final.
The draw was conducted at Old Trafford by former United strikers Mark Hughes and Dion Dublin and that formidable fixture drew groans from those present, the first of only two all-Premier League ties along with Aston Villa v West Ham. United’s Wembley victory in May was the 13th time they had lifted the trophy. Erik ten Hag, the winning manager that day, has since been replaced by Ruben Amorim.
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