Alexander Isak’s header for Newcastle deals flat Arsenal another title blow

Declan Rice headed down the tunnel shaking his head and muttering to himself. Arsenal had just forfeited precious ground in the Premier League title race, Mikel Arteta looked incapable of ever smiling again and Rice seemed to be struggling to comprehend his inability to exert any sort of real control over midfield.

With Arteta’s defence incapable of suppressing the excellent Anthony Gordon and the outstanding match winner Alexander Isak on a day when Arsenal made a litany of uncharacteristic unforced errors, Eddie Howe’s team remembered how to be streetwise and reaped deserved rewards. After five Premier League games without a win, Newcastle look upwardly mobile once more.

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Denny Hamlin crashes in pivotal Martinsville practice

Denny Hamlin crashed during Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series practice session at Martinsville Speedway, creating a significant hurdle for the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team, which will start at the rear of the field in Sunday’s Round of 8 finale. Entering Turn 3, Hamlin carried tremendous speed before sending his Toyota into a skid, careening […]

Enzo Maresca’s eye for detail cleans up Chelsea’s muddled thinking

Head coach is showing he does have a Plan B as his detailed management is at last instilling maturity in a young squad

Chelsea were looking for someone innovative and fresh when they parted company with Mauricio Pochettino at the end of last season. They did not chase a big-name manager past his best. What they wanted was a coach on the up, with the vision to bring order to a talented but sprawling and inexperienced squad.

Enter Enzo Maresca: 44, humble, smart, obsessive about the smallest tactical details. Some might have shied away from the Chelsea job, seeing it as a graveyard for managerial aspirations given the fate of Pochettino, Graham Potter and Thomas Tuchel under the ownership of Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, but the Italian saw opportunity after leading Leicester to the Championship title in his debut season. “I’m interested in the job because I see a squad that can win the Premier League one day,” Maresca said during talks with his potential new employers.

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