There is no grand PSR conspiracy against Unai Emery’s side. They should be challenging Newcastle or Tottenham for fifth Four wins in a row, seven games unbeaten and suddenly life does not seem so bad for Aston Villa. They are up into mid-table and if a 2-0 victory over Feyenoord in the Europa League will not quite live in the memory in the way last season’s games against Bayern Munich, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain do, a return to Rotterdam at least evoked the glory days of 1982. It will be a while yet before the frustration at missing out on the Champions League fades, but there does now seem to be a gathering recognition that Villa have a decent chance of winning the Europa League, potentially adding Istanbul’s Besiktas Park to De Kuip as a venue where they have won a European trophy. Continue reading...

* Hull KR 24-6 Wigan Warriors * Wigan denied third successive title Hull KR secured their first Super League title in spectacular fashion with a stunning display to dethrone Wigan Warriors and complete the treble. They had not won a major trophy for 40 years before this season, but their victory in the Challenge Cup final has proven to be the catalyst for the greatest season in their history. They went on to finish top of Super League but were still considered underdogs against a Wigan side seeking to win the title for the third successive year. However, the Robins were magnificent and showed why they are now the premier side in the British game to become the first new champions of Super League for more than two decades. Continue reading...

* England, 253-9, beat Sri Lanka, 164, by 89 runs * Captain’s century and Sophie Ecclestone’s spell seal win A patient hundred from captain Nat Sciver-Brunt saved England from embarrassment against Sri Lanka in Colombo, enabling them to recover from 168 for six and win by 89 runs. Sciver-Brunt was dropped on three by Udeshika Prabodhani at midwicket and went on to score a run-a-ball 117, before being caught at long-on off the penultimate ball of the innings. Tammy Beaumont’s 32 was the next highest contribution. Continue reading...

⚽️ World Cup qualifying news from 7.45pm BST kick-offs ⚽️ Live scoreboard | Follow us on Bluesky | Mail John Huge game for Scotland on Sunday, as they welcome Belarus to Glasgow. Uefa half-time scores: Norway 3-0 Israel – Haaland got the second goal. Hungary 0-0 Armenia Continue reading...

* Northampton 32-26 Leicester * Frenchman scores two tries off the bench in derby Northampton have gone all Euro and on Saturday the dividends rolled in. Not for the first time this season, it should be noted, Anthony Belleau and Edoardo Todaro, French and Italian, had the run of the place, scoring two and one tries respectively, as Northampton went to the top of the table for the time being, dispatching their nearest and dearest in the process. Theirs has been a bitter-sweet opening to the season, squandering huge leads in games one and two, but here they timed their surges to perfection to come away with the win and their third bonus point out of three. Continue reading...

* Slovenian equals Fausto Coppi’s record of victories * Matches Eddy Merckx in 1975 with Monument win Tadej Pogacar captured Il Lombardia for a fifth time in succession, equalling Fausto Coppi’s record of victories in the season-ending Monument race. The Slovenian superstar crossed the line first in Bergamo after a trademark attack on the key Passo di Ganda climb to blitz the rest of the field and become the first man since Eddy Merckx in 1975 to win three Monuments in a single season. Continue reading...

* Follow Grand Final updates from the 6pm BST kick-off * Wigan eye place among greats | Mr Hull KR | Mail Luke Wigan Warriors stand on the verge of greatness. Victory at Old Trafford today would secure three consecutive Super League titles, placing them in the same bracket as their most legendary predecessors at league’s winningest club. “We’re 80 minutes away from that,” said the captain Liam Farrell, “and I believe we can go down as one of Wigan’s great teams.” The only problem? Their opponents, Hull KR, are buoyant after winning two trophies already this season and will not feel like underdogs, even against a side that have claimed the title two seasons running. Continue reading...

* Outsider sees off O’Brien’s 7-4 favourite Gstaad * Distant Storm finishes back in third at Newmarket Gewan, a 25-1 outsider from the Andrew Balding stable, denied Aidan O’Brien a record-breaking ninth win in the Dewhurst Stakes. He crossed the line three-quarters of a length in front of O’Brien’s Gstaad, the well-backed 7-4 favourite, with Distant Storm, the second favourite, another length-and-a-half away in third. Gewan was a big price but there was no sense of fluke about the win, as he was returning to the form of a convincing success in the Acomb Stakes at York in August having lost his unbeaten record as the favourite in the Champagne Stakes at Doncaster. James Doyle settled the grey near the lead in the early stages before sending him for home a furlong-and-a-half out and grabbing a decisive lead. This report will update Continue reading...

* Ailing Djokovic beaten 6-3, 6-4 by underdog in semi-final * Vacherot becomes lowest-ranked Masters 1000 finalist Valentin Vacherot continued his fairytale run through the Shanghai Masters draw by toppling an injured Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-4 to become the lowest-ranked Masters 1000 finalist. In his first match against a top-five opponent, let alone the greatest men’s player of all time, the Monégasque world No 204 maintained his composure as he punished a hampered Djokovic, who appeared to struggle with his left gluteal muscle from early in the first set. Continue reading...

Former Manchester City coach is tasked with shaping expansion team but still has Champions League dream More than 15,000 people have paid a deposit for a season ticket at Denver Summit FC despite the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) expansion club having only three players and yet to play a match. So the sense of responsibility that comes with the task of building a team the state of Colorado can be proud is one staff there are acutely aware of. Principally, that mission has been assigned to Nick Cushing, the former Manchester City women’s and New York City men’s team head coach, who was hired as Denver’s first head coach in August, six months before they embark on their first NWSL campaign, when the division expands to 16 sides in February. It is not hard to see the logic behind the choice; the Englishman was in charge of City when they were new to an expanded Women’s Super League in 2014, with new signings such as Steph Houghton, Jill Scott and Toni Duggan. They went on to win a League Cup in their first top-flight season and the league title in 2016. Continue reading...

* Eddie Howe has been keen to link up with Scot at club * Newcastle agree compensation deal with Forest Ross Wilson has filled the vacant sporting director role at Newcastle, drawing to a close one of English football’s longest-running pursuits. Talks about Wilson’s departure from Nottingham Forest are completed, with Newcastle finalising an undisclosed compensation deal with Forest. One of Wilson’s first tasks in his new role role will be attempting to persuade Sandro Tonali to sign a new contract, extending the Italy midfielder’s deal beyond 2028. Continue reading...

From Warren Zaïre-Emery to Endrick, we select some of the best players born in 2006. Check the progress of our classes of 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 * Next Generation 2023: 20 of the best Premier League talents Continue reading...

Four decades ago Mike Gatting lamented 30-game schedule and while improvements were made, players will be weary of gruelling season ahead A meteorologist would say that England’s winter will start this year at midnight on 1 December; an astronomer would point a few weeks later to the 21st, perhaps even the moment at precisely 3.03pm when the northern hemisphere is tilted furthest away from the sun, the least sun-kissed moment of its least sunny day. But a cricket fan might go a little earlier, perhaps as soon as next Saturday at about 7.15am. Leaves might still be clinging to trees as yet unbothered by frost, but that is when the national side is scheduled to play its first fixture of a hectic touring schedule, and by the time it all ends the Ashes will have been decided, a World Cup will have been won, and it will be spring. For the players involved in all formats, these moments will bring a combination of excitement and perhaps also a bit of dread. The T20 squad departed for New Zealand on Friday, with the four men among them who have also been selected for the Ashes – Harry Brook, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse and Zak Crawley – knowing that only injury will bring them home within the next three months (and even then for no more than 10 days, before they depart again this time for Sri Lanka and from there a T20 World Cup in India). Continue reading...

Women’s World Cup updates, 10.30am BST start Sign up for The Spin newsletter | And Mail Tanya Sri Lanka have won only once in an ODI against England, but they do have trump cards. Chamari Athapaththu is a veteran of franchise cricket and a real threat, while left-arm spinner Inoka Ranaweera had India worried with three wickets in an over in the opening game. Good morning! Today, we are in Colombo, where England start their two match adventure in Sri Lanka by playing the joint hosts. Continue reading...

* Olympic champion ends injury-hampered season on high * World silver medallist Georgia Hunter Bell takes second Keely Hodgkinson won the 800m to end her injury-hampered season on a high at New York’s all-female Athlos meeting. Britain’s Olympic champion outclassed the field in her signature event, finishing in 1:56.53 in only her sixth race this season after missing several months of competition due to injury earlier this year. Fellow Briton and world silver medallist Georgia Hunter Bell took second in 1:58.33 on Friday night before a thronging Icahn Stadium. St Vincent’s Shafiqua Maloney (1:58.57) was third. Continue reading...

Daniil Medvedev is one of a growing number of leading players who say that the balls have become unpredictable and are affecting their game It did not take Daniil Medvedev long to realise he was in serious trouble at the French Open. As he tried to find a way past Britain’s Cameron Norrie in the first round, the Russian simply did not feel comfortable striking the ball. With his prospects of advancing in one of the biggest tournaments in the world dwindling, the 29-year-old settled on a drastic solution. Medvedev requested completely different strings when he sent his rackets to be restrung mid-match, switching from a hybrid of natural gut and polyester strings to a full polyester setup. Continue reading...

Veteran commentator answers your questions on famous lines, favourite stadiums and being told ‘Not for me, Clive’ What is the best sporting accomplishment or achievement you have commentated on and did you ever harbour personal ambitions to be a professional in any sport? Tony Medlock I was never good enough at any sport to kid myself that I had a career at elite level. My parents would have told you that from an early age any sporting ambitions I entertained were in the area I ended up in; describing and commentating on top-level sport. I always resist any grading of goals or players or matches because I have a belief that sport belongs in its moment. Sport creates memories – we can recall vividly where we were, who we were with, what we were thinking, when our team won a trophy or an athlete won an Olympic gold medal … or Shane Lowry sunk a putt to seal the Ryder Cup. Those moments are very personal, and the job of the commentator is to try to add something to the memory of those moments. And those moments are unique and should remain separate from one another. Continue reading...

Dynamic pricing, crypto detritus and corporate doublespeak have made the task of buying 2026 World Cup tickets a grim case study in the monetization of emotion When the first tickets for the 2026 World Cup went on sale last week, millions of fans joined online queues only to discover what Gianni Infantino’s assurance that “the world will be welcome” really means. The cheapest face-value seat for next summer’s final, somewhere in the gods of New Jersey’s 82,500-seat MetLife Stadium where the players are specks and the football’s a rumor, comes at a cost of $2,030 (oxygen tank not included). Most upper-deck seats range from $2,790 to $4,210, according to customers who finally glimpsed the prices that had been closely guarded. The much-touted $60 tickets for group-stage games, propped up by Fifa as evidence of affordability, exist only as comically tiny green smudges on the edge of digital seating maps, little more than mirages of inclusivity. Fifa had kept the costs under wraps until the very moment of sale, replacing the usual published table of price points with a digital lottery that decided who even got the chance to buy. Millions spent hours staring at a queue screen as algorithms determined their place in line. When access finally came for most, the lower-priced sections had already vanished, many presumably swallowed by bots and bulk-buyers (and that’s before Fifa quietly raised the prices of at least nine matches after only one day of sales). The whole process resembled less a ticket release than a psyop to calibrate how much frustration and scarcity the public will tolerate. Continue reading...

Phil Dowson has Fin Smith, Henry Pollock, Alex Mitchell and Tommy Freeman available again and eager to make up for last season’s 33-0 defeat It does not feel like a coincidence that the Prem’s first derby weekend of the season marks the return of most British & Irish Lions players and for Northampton it is a welcome boost indeed. Phil Dowson has Fin Smith, Henry Pollock, Alex Mitchell and Tommy Freeman back at his disposal as they seek to avenge last season’s 33-0 home drubbing at the hands of fierce rivals Leicester. For Saturday’s game Dowson has selected Smith, Mitchell and Freeman to start while Pollock is named on the bench and across the league a number of other Lions return now that the mandatory rest period has ended. Marcus Smith starts for Harlequins against Saracens, who field Ben Earl from the start. Jamie George is on the bench but Maro Itoje is still considered “unavailable”. Bath are led by Finn Russell in their West Country encounter with Gloucester with Will Stuart also starting. Ellis Genge lines up for injury-hit Bristol against Exeter. Continue reading...

* Polanco’s walk-off lifts Seattle to 3-2 win in 15 innings * Longest winner-take-all playoff game in MLB history * Mariners will face Blue Jays for place in World Series Jorge Polanco grounded a single into right field with one out and the bases loaded in the 15th inning, giving the Seattle Mariners a 3-2 victory against the visiting Detroit Tigers on Friday in the decisive Game 5 of the American League Division Series. Luis Castillo (1-0), making the first relief appearance of his major league career, pitched one and one-third innings for the victory, which put the Mariners in the AL Championship Series for the first time since 2001. Continue reading...

* Kimmich nets twice as Germany beat Luxembourg * North Macedonia hold Belgium to goalless draw Trai Hume’s first Northern Ireland goal helped them to a 2-0 win over Slovakia to keep their World Cup qualifying campaign on track. Patrik Hrosovsky’s 18th-minute own goal rewarded Northern Ireland for a strong start but, after wasting two outstanding chances to double their lead either side of the break, they endured some nervy moments before Hume lifted the ball over the stranded Martin Dubravka with 10 minutes to go. “The keeper has come to clear it, and I just had to guide it towards the goal and thankfully I did,” Hume told BBC Northern Ireland. “It was a great night, good performance and the most important thing is the three points. I think we deserved it.” Continue reading...

* Sale 57-5 Newcastle * Alex Sanderson’s side 31-0 up at half-time There will come a time to truly judge the credentials of a Sale side whose solitary title success came nearly 20 years ago, but Friday night was not it. Not when they came up against a Newcastle side who surrendered so meekly during the opening 40 ­minutes that it did not feel like a meaningful contest. Alex Sanderson’s team were 31-0 up and in total control at half-time after running in five tries in what was ­supposed to be a feisty ­northern derby yet, in reality, was anything but. There will be far greater ­challenges for Sale. There has to be. It cannot always be this easy. Continue reading...

From replacing Rodri in the Euro 2024 final to leaving his hometown club, the calm Spain midfielder is taking everything in his stride Mikel Arteta knew and so did Win. Dogs just do. “Well, of course,” Martín Zubimendi says, cracking up. The July day he walked through the doors at the Arsenal training centre, the club’s resident chocolate labrador – a therapy dog the head coach had brought in to bring the kind of calm wanted from the new signing too – was the first to welcome him. “It was lovely. I arrived with my parents, my agent, a small group, and he came straight to me, sat by me, rolled on the floor at my feet; that was very nice.” It was also the way he would have wanted it, part of the plan. “He’s a bit like yours,” the sporting director, Andrea Berta, offered as Win lent against the midfielder’s legs. Zubimendi’s dog, Lea, hadn’t made it to London – he’s hoping she will soon – but this was a good start. There was a letter from Mikel Merino and a video call from Martin Ødegaard, teammates at Real Sociedad, yet no friendlier face than this. That can help when you’re departing the city you were born in and the club where you have been since you were 12. Continue reading...

An easy target for accusations of luxury hypocrisy, Neville has at least tried to address an issue that has everything to do with aggressively flag-draped and militarised modern sport “At the far end of the food counter a group of men were pledging allegiance to the flag, with trays balanced in one hand, in order to be allowed to take seats at the table. A group that had arrived earlier was singing The Star-Spangled Banner in order that they might use the salt and pepper and ketchup there.” Welcome to our own Glorious Loyalty Oath Crusade, another real-time demonstration of the fact every satirical absurdity described in Catch-22 has become, yeah, pretty much totally plausible. The nation is now fully hostage to bad actors and phoney rage. And as ever football must act as a key amplifier of all this, a public echo chamber for the anxieties of what we must, out of a sense of duty, still call the real world. Continue reading...

Manager learned at PSG to ignore star power in pursuit of a winning formula that prioritises brotherhood Thomas Tuchel once stood on the touchline at Anfield, watching in disbelief as his self-indulgent Paris Saint-Germain players refused to put in the hard yards against Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool. “Guys, what is this?” he said, but there was never going to be a reaction from individuals with too much power and not enough respect for the basic concepts of teamwork. Intensity? Tracking back? Not for us, thanks. Too many wanted to do their own thing and it ground Tuchel down in the end. The German is a coach who wants structure, identity, sacrifice and energy. At PSG, though, he saw how individualism can bring a dressing room down. How could Tuchel make his mark when he had players who would moan if a teammate looked at them the wrong way? Continue reading...