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Europa League: Aston Villa 2-1 Young Boys

Donyell Malen has a cut to the head and two more goals to his name after leading Aston Villa to the verge of automatic qualification for the last 16 of the Europa League against a backdrop of more crowd violence from Young Boys supporters.

SW19 champion baffled by post-match suggestions she should have let Amanda Anisimova win one game in grand slam final as she turns focus to Australian Open in 2026

In the coming months, if and when her schedule allows, Iga Swiatek will make a pilgrimage to London and the All England Club, the scene of her biggest and, she admits, most surprising triumph. In July, the 24-year-old won her first Wimbledon title and sixth grand slam title in all, crushing a hapless Amanda Anisimova 6-0, 6-0 in the final.

It was the undoubted highlight of an up-and-down year for the Pole, who struggled on her best surface of clay but who will end 2025 ranked No 2, her fourth year in a row finishing inside the world’s top two.

• FA says 63 million people within two hours of a venue

• Final stadium list will come down to between 14 and 16

England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have submitted their bid to host the 2035 Women’s World Cup as the largest single-sport event staged in the UK.

The Lionesses’ leading goalscorer, Ellen White, described the bid as “really special� and compared it to her experience of the 2012 Olympics as a part of Team GB.

• Fast bowler deemed not ready to return for Gabba day-night Test

• Opener Usman Khawaja says pitch is ‘a piece of shit’

The opportunity that England squandered in Perth appears to have presented itself once more, after Australia opted to play it safe with Pat Cummins and name an unchanged squad for next week’s day-night second Test at the Gabba.

Beyond their match-defining collapse on the second afternoon, one of the most galling aspects of England’s eight-wicket defeat in the first Test was the fact that Cummins and Josh Hazlewood – two members of Australia’s fabled fast bowling group – were missing. But the situation officially remains unchanged as Ben Stokes and his tourists look to level the five-match series starting in Brisbane on 4 December. Hazlewood is still absent with a hamstring injury, while Cummins has been held back despite a recent return to training that has included bowling with the pink Kookaburra ball.

The Uzbek won $120,000 and qualified for the 2026 Candidates in Cyprus, which will decide the official challenger for Gukesh Dommaraju’s world crown

Javokhir Sindarov, 19, became the youngest ever winner of the Fide knockout World Cup on Wednesday when the Uzbek teenager defeated China’s Wei Yi 2.5-1.5 in the final at Goa. Ukraine’s Ruslan Ponomariov had been a year younger in 2002, but that World Cup had also doubled as the Fide world championship in a period when the global title was disputed.

Wei was the favourite, but handicapped himself by poor time management in the decisive game. He declined a draw and could have gained a near-decisive edge by 52 g4! when Black’s king is trapped on the back row, and right at the end could have drawn by 57 Kg2! Qh4 58 Rf8+! when White can force perpetual check. Instead, he blundered into a checkmating attack.

The SailGP championship harnesses sailors’ competitive instincts in the cause of sustainability as teams vie to be the greenest of them all

British sailors have always been a belligerent bunch. Francis Drake, Lord Nelson, Admiral Cunningham … and, of course, Sir Ben Ainslie. The most successful Olympian in sailing’s history is also the sport’s equivalent of The Hulk: you really don’t want to make him angry.

So perhaps it’s a good thing that there has been plenty to annoy him this year, not least that acrimonious split from his America’s Cup team owner, Sir Jim Ratcliffe. In true Ainslie style, it only seems to have made him more dangerous. His Emirates GBR team top the SailGP championship going into this weekend’s grand final. And on Wednesday, they were named 2025 winners of its Impact League, which ranks the racing teams on the contribution they have made to their social and natural environment.

Tech investors promise to disrupt everything from padel to basketball, but their pitch-deck jargon is slowly draining the humanity from sport itself

Finally, a sector more ludicrously hyped than AI. Speaking to Yahoo Sports recently about the launch of Project B, a startup global women’s basketball league, co-founder Grady Burnett declared that “women’s basketball is growing right now as fast as AI�. Come again? There’s no question that women’s basketball is growing nicely, a development that we should all cheer: this year’s WNBA season was the most watched ever. But it is testing credulity to suggest that the sport is growing at anything like the same speed as AI, which since 2022 has gone from the technological margins to the very center of the US economy: by some reports, AI spending accounted for half of the growth in US GDP in the first half of this year. Perhaps I’m missing the real story here and the Federal Reserve is actively keeping tabs on attendance figures at Washington Mystics v Golden State Valkyries games for signs of potential overheating in the US economy. But it seems unlikely.

Claims like Burnett’s are par for the course in the hyperventilating world of sports investment, in which new leagues intent on world domination are launched seemingly every week and the pitches, delivered at investment conferences by slick men with gleaming teeth and spotless sneakers, grow more and more clammily self-satisfied by the hour. Burnett’s league, which he co-founded with former Skype co-founder Geoff Prentice, was briefly associated with Maverick Carter and LeBron James over the summer but that pair now seems to have been removed from the picture, and the league is emerging from “stealth mode�, to use a wormy bit of tech jargon, as the pure, uncut essence of bored Silicon Valley rich guy calculation. In a crowded field, Project B may be the most insanely overcaffeinated, tech bro-addled pitch for a new sports league yet.

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Cherries fans wait on word of Semenyo, Gueye’s red card could leave Everton blue and Nuno needs new plans

With Thomas Frank, Bryan Mbeumo, Yoane Wissa, Christian Nørgaard and Mark Flekken leaving Brentford in the summer, the Bees looked the established club most likely to go down, thereby allowing a promoted one to stay up. In the event, though, they have made a solid start to life under Keith Andrews, more or less alternating wins and losses to sit 13th, five points above the relegation zone. Burnley, on the other hand, find themselves roughly where most people thought they would be: second-bottom having lost three games in a row. As it happens, they’ve not been that bad, asking difficult questions of more exalted opponents with tidy midfield play, before succumbing to defeat anyway. Ultimately, conceding two goals a game is not sustainable, but it’s worth noting that one of Burnley’s three league victories came against Sunderland, a side whose physical, intense and forward-thinking style is not dissimilar to Brentford’s. If they can get their passing going, they have a chance. Daniel Harris

Brentford v Burnley (Saturday 3pm, all times GMT)

Manchester City v Leeds, Saturday 3pm

Sunderland v Bournemouth, Saturday 3pm

Everton v Newcastle, Saturday 5.30pm

Libertadores Cup final sees the latest chapter in a rivalry that is dominating the continent thanks to European levels of funding and player recruitment

To the surprise of few and the despair of many, it will be either Palmeiras or Flamengo lifting the Copa Libertadores trophy on Saturday at Lima’s Estadio Monumental. With this year’s final, one of these two Brazilian giants will have won five of the last seven editions, a run that underlines how both clubs have transformed themselves into South American super clubs, reshaping the competitive landscape in the process.

Yet this final is more than another chapter in Brazil’s dominance, broken only by River Plate’s 2018 triumph in the past nine years. It marks the latest peak in a decade-long evolution that has seen Palmeiras and Flamengo grow into institutions with European-scale reach, resources and expectations. Their rise has altered the logic of the Libertadores itself, its transfer market, its competitive balance, even its sense of what is attainable for South American clubs.

The parallels are imperfect but, as with Michael Vaughan’s Ashes winners, hyper-aggressive cricket with a tweaked approach in the second Test is the 2025 cohort’s only chance of winning

Twenty years on, a montage of the 2005 Ashes still tingles the spine. Close your eyes and you can probably make your own, with an Embrace soundtrack if you want to be right on the nose. Chances are you’ll see Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff belting sixes with lusty abandon; Geraint Jones wheeling away after winning the epic Edgbaston Test; Ashley Giles calmly patting the winning runs at Trent Bridge; Flintoff’s messianic dismissal of Ricky Ponting at Edgbaston; Simon Jones detonating Michael Clarke’s off stump at Old Trafford.

All those moments came in England victories or winning draws. But no 2005 montage is complete without images of Ponting being cut below the eye or Justin Langer’s right elbow ballooning in real time. Both wounds were inflicted by Steve Harmison on the first morning at Lord’s, a game that Australia won emphatically by 239 runs. When the story of the series was written, those blows – and the way England duffed Australia up in the first innings – were an essential chapter.

Our editors’ favourite sporting images from the past week, from the spectacular to the powerful, and with a little bit of fun thrown in

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• Masters champion in 1979 and US Open winner in 1984

• Post-career reputation marred by remarks about Woods

• Trump pays tribute to ‘remarkable person and player’

Fuzzy Zoeller, the two-time major champion whose genial public persona was overshadowed by a racially insensitive joke about Tiger Woods that came to define the latter part of his career, has died aged 74.

No cause of death was immediately available. Brian Naugle, tournament director of the Insperity Invitational in Houston and a longtime colleague, said Zoeller’s daughter notified him of the death on Thursday.

• Packers sweep Lions and strengthen division tiebreaker

• Prescott and Davis feature as Cowboys beat Chiefs

• Burrow helps Bengals spoil Ravens’ Thanksgiving

Jordan Love converted a pair of fourth downs with touchdown passes in the first half and finished with a career-high-matching four TD throws, leading the Green Bay Packers to a 31-24 win over the Detroit Lions on Thursday.

The Packers (8-3-1) swept the season series to earn a potential tiebreaker in the NFC North and are in second place in the division behind Chicago (8-3), who play at Philadelphia on Friday.

• Retired rider to work closely with head of sport Brailsford

• ‘This team has been my home since day one,’ says Thomas

Geraint Thomas has been appointed as the new director of racing at Ineos Grenadiers, a few weeks after retiring from competition at this year’s Tour of Britain. “This team has been my home since day one, and stepping into this role feels like a natural next step,� Thomas said.

The move by Thomas, who won the Tour de France in 2018, has been long-expected and comes after a major management reshuffle at Ineos Grenadiers, under which the sports directors Zak Dempster and Oli Cookson moved to the revamped Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team.

• Leader lost valuable points after disqualification

• McLaren insist they did not take ‘excessive risk’

Lando Norris has insisted nothing has changed in terms of his focus on sealing his first Formula One world championship after both he and his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri were disqualified from the Las Vegas Grand Prix, a result that catapulted Red Bull’s Max Verstappen back into contention for the title. McLaren’s team principal, Andrea Stella, has denied the team took “excessive risks� with their car in Las Vegas.

The race in Nevada last weekend was won by Verstappen but Norris took a strong second and Piastri fourth. However, four hours afterwards, following an investigation by the FIA, both were disqualified after the skid blocks on the floor of their cars were found to have been worn down below the 9mm limit defined in the rules.

• Swiss ace wins by 0.08sec in Copper Mountain super-G

• Kilde returns 700 days after devastating Wengen crash

• Shiffrin cries as fiancé finishes emotional comeback run

Swiss ski star Marco Odermatt started the World Cup super-G season with a Thanksgiving win at Copper Mountain on Thursday, while Aleksander Aamodt Kilde reduced fiancée Mikaela Shiffrin to tears by making his comeback after nearly two years out.

Odermatt has already won the opening giant slalom – at Sölden in the Austrian Alps last month – in what is an ominous start to the season by the world’s best men’s skier leading up to the Milan Cortina Olympic Games in February.

Britain’s most successful female UFC fighter on knowing when to stand her ground, why she won’t box in Saudi Arabia and aiming to win a world title in the next year

“I give my hidings and I take my hidings and so they have seen me with snapped ligaments in my knee, broken feet, broken toes, broken hands, stitches, broken legs,� Molly McCann says of the damage she has endured as a fighter and the impact it has had on her mum and her partner, Fran Parman. “It’s traumatic for Fran and even more traumatic for my mum. I’m 35 and I’ve been in the gym since I was 12. I had my first fight at 16. I’ve spent most of my life fighting.�

McCann boxed as a teenager and she won an ABA title. But, at a time when women’s boxing was still undermined, she turned to mixed martial arts and eventually became the most successful female British fighter in the UFC. McCann retired in March after 14 savage UFC bouts; but, within days, she became a professional boxer. On Saturday night she will have her second contest in boxing’s paid ranks.

The Euro 2025 semi-final remains fresh in the memory, but this contest exists in a very different context

Just for a moment, cast your mind back to that summer’s evening towards the end of July when Spain earned their first win over Germany. The illustrious newcomers (relatively speaking) needed the genius of Aitana Bonmatí and her 113th-minute goal to eventually break down the resilience of the traditional trailblazers and book their place in their first European Championship final.

Just four months on, Christian Wück’s team have the opportunity to avenge that night in Zürich, albeit in less distinguished circumstances as they battle for a trophy that carries less prestige. The second edition of the Uefa Women’s Nations League comes to a close this fortnight with a two-legged final between the holders Spain and Germany.

A new documentary charts how a song that featured a 335lb rapper and bad dancing went viral in the pre-internet era

The Chicago Bears are 8-3 and soaring in this season’s NFL standings. For a fanbase that’s grown accustomed to looking up at the division rival Green Bay Packers and looking ahead to the next season’s prospects, it’s reason to smell the roses and indulge in some light strutting. But even as fans find themselves looking forward to the Bears’ first playoff berth in five years, something that once seemed unthinkable with a second-year quarterback and a rookie head coaching helming a squad that managed only five wins last year, no fan is thinking the 2025 Bears have a Super Bowl run in them – not without a rap song to lay the marker down.

Before the 1985 edition of the Bears romped to victory in Super Bowl XX, they tempted fate by recording The Super Bowl Shuffle. Although the song only peaked at 41 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, the accompanying video came to rival Michael Jackson’s Thriller for popularity as it popped up endlessly on TV during the Bears’ title run. “The Super Bowl Shuffle went viral in an age where there was no viral existence like we know it today,� the song’s recording engineer, Fred Breitberg, says. “It was a phenomenal entity as well as being a good record.�

It’s hard to disagree with Ian Wright when he suggests the midfielder has been subjected to a timeworn double standard

Sir Alex Ferguson was there. Bryan Robson was there. Eric Cantona was there. The manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær was there, and yet even as these four club legends sold the dream of Manchester United to a 17-year-old from the Midlands, they could sense the elusiveness, the coldness, the drop of the shoulder. The nagging suspicion that, like so many defenders Jude Bellingham would later encounter, they too were grasping at pure air.

“He had it planned out,� Solskjær would later remember. “He knew what he wanted. X amount of minutes in the first team. The most mature 17‑year‑old I’ve ever met in my life.� Though five years have passed since Bellingham turned down United for Borussia Dortmund, for me this is still the story that explains him best of all. The origin myth. This is what you all think I’m going to do. So I’m going to step that way instead.

New players have come in, too many of them, and that has meant a dilution of the collective will instilled by Klopp

Before this game Arne Slot had announced that he was “almost confused�. Which does at least raise some tantalising questions. Mainly, what is this Liverpool team going to look like when he gets there, when a state of full confusion is finally attained, when even Slot’s confusion stops being confusing and reveals its diamond-cut final form.

A few years ago James Cook worked in a Surrey cinema and Max Pircher played in Austria. Now they’re in the NFL

By No Helmets Required

The United States is a country of immigrants but the NFL remains dominated by players born in the USA. Only 5% of players are born abroad and the majority of them make the step into the sport by going to college in the US. True outsiders are unusual and foreign coaches are especially rare, which makes James Cook’s story remarkable.

Cook has been in charge of player development at Cleveland Browns for the past six months. That’s an achievement in itself but it’s extraordinary considering he grew up in Surrey, is in his late 20s and never played professional sport. Cook discovered the NFL as a 12-year-old when he was channel-flicking with his dad and came across “this weird and wonderful� sport. He started playing locally and soon wanted to become the first NFL quarterback born in Europe. He got as far as playing for Great Britain but his plans to go to college in the US proved financially prohibitive.

• Goals from Amy Sayer and Hayley Raso set up 5-0 win

• Australia boost confidence ahead of Asian Cup showpiece

In the 26th minute of the Matildas’ 5-0 win over New Zealand, Australia already leading 2-0, an Amy Sayer shot bounced off the post and out to Ellie Carpenter, who had come forward from her post at right-back to be the most advanced player on the park. As she does. Her resulting shot sailed over the bar but rather than grimace, she jogged back with a big grin splashed across her face. And given how easily the Matildas were doing it, and with how much fun they looked to be having, you could hardly blame her.

After crashing back to earth against England last month, a night that even accounting for the early dismissal of Alanna Kennedy raised alarm bells, this was what the Matildas needed in the first of their two-game series with the Kiwis. Given the disparity in talent between the two and the long record of dominance Australia has in the fixture – the Football Ferns haven’t won since 1994 – victory was always expected. But that it was a comfortable one, categorised by some free-flowing football brimming with attacking intent and a cavalcade of chances that the players could take confidence from, was important.

• Head coach insists he has support of the club’s hierarchy

• Admits to ‘very difficult’ 10 minutes in PSV defeat

Arne Slot has vowed to “fight on� at Liverpool and insisted support from the club’s hierarchy has not wavered following the alarming Anfield defeats by Nottingham Forest and PSV Eindhoven.

The Liverpool head coach met the club’s sporting director, Richard Hughes, on Thursday to dissect the Champions League defeat by PSV that extended his team’s dire run to nine losses in 12 games. It is Liverpool’s worst sequence of results since an identical run in 1953-54 and has heightened the pressure on Slot before Sunday’s Premier League trip to West Ham.

“Champions of Europe, you’ll never sing that,� came the chant as Nottingham Forest supporters, not for the first time, enjoyed getting one over on Malmö. A lot has happened since Trevor Francis’s stooping header clinched the European Cup in Munich in 1979 but Forest still, rightfully, cherish those days. A lot has also changed in the five weeks since Sean Dyche took the reins, Forest reinvigorated and another comfortable win, this time courtesy of goals from Ryan Yates, Arnaud Kalimuendo and Nikola Milenkovic, enhanced their hopes of qualifying for the Europa League knockout phase.

For Forest, this victory – against a Malmö side who had not played for almost three weeks after finishing sixth in their domestic league – represented a third straight win in all competitions and further built on the momentum gained from last weekend’s success at Liverpool. For the third successive match, they also scored three goals. This was a rerun of Forest’s European Cup triumph in name but the game itself was free of jeopardy or jitters. Malmö did not muster a single touch inside the Forest 18-yard box and their sole shot, a sixth-minute effort by Sead Haksabanovic, was distinctly forgettable.

Donyell Malen has a cut to the head and two more goals to his name after leading Aston Villa to the verge of automatic qualification for the last 16 of the Europa League against a backdrop of more crowd violence from Young Boys supporters.

The Netherlands striker exemplifies Villa’s strength in depth but this 10th win in 12 games was marred by visiting fans ripping up seats, throwing missiles at stewards and Villa players – one striking Malen – and fighting with police.

Another home defeat for Liverpool has piled pressure on Arne Slot. Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Archie Rhind-Tutt and Nicky Bandini to discuss that, Arsenal’s win against Bayern Munich and Tottenham’s high-scoring defeat in Paris

On today’s pod: Arne Slot’s problems at Liverpool are mounting up. The home defeat against PSV was the ninth loss in the last 12 games and is more evidence of a dire drop-off from last season’s title-winning form.

Elsewhere, Arsenal’s season keeps getting better with Mikel Arteta’s side winning 3-1 against Bayern Munich to follow up the weekend’s north London derby victory. Next up come Chelsea, with the Gunners now clear favourites for the title and are arguably Europe’s most in-form side.

Meanwhile, Spurs followed up their woeful weekend performance with a more spirited effort in Paris. They led twice but still fell to a 5-3 defeat, their first in the Champions League this season

Sport’s famous rivalry began in 1877 and since then 853 men have featured in Australia v England Tests. But who are the very best of the best?

• Barney Ronay on the No 1 | Video: review the top 10

• Check how all the judges voted | Our methodology

• Every ball of the Ashes, no spin. Support us today

He coaxed greatness from teammates, bent occasions to his will and mastered the most complex of arts, but best of all he connected like few others in sport

• The 100 greatest men’s Ashes cricketers of all time

Raise the Playboy pants like a pirate flag. Twirl the big brimmer in celebration. It was always going to be Shane, really, wasn’t it.

We did of course have a countdown first, because people love countdowns, because cricket is basically one unceasing countdown, an endless pencil stub ticking off names and numbers. There were 99 members of the supporting cast to be ushered to their spots, the non-Shanes of history, meat in the Ashes room.

Australians dominate at the very top of our list but the overall numbers are split evenly and England lead the way for all-rounders

• The 100 greatest men’s Ashes cricketers of all time

• Barney Ronay on the No 1 | Video: review the top 10

More than 800 men have played in an Ashes Test. England picked most of them in the summer of 1989. But the process of selecting the Guardian’s Ashes Top 100 required something more scientific than that infamous shemozzle.

Let’s start with the small print. We asked 51 judges to select their top 50 men’s Ashes cricketers, from which we calculated a top 100: 50 points for No 1, 49 for No 2 and so on. The voting rules were simple. Players were assessed solely on their performances in Ashes cricket, though judges could interpret that any way they liked. (Yep, someone did vote for Gary Pratt.) The judges had to pick at least 15 players from each country and a minimum of five from each of five different eras: players who made their debut before the first world war; in the interwar years; from the second world war to 1974; from 1975 till 1999; and from 2000 onwards.

Our 51 judges have picked Shane Warne, Don Bradman and Ian Botham as their top three. Who gets your vote?

It had to be one or the other: the man who has scored the most runs in Ashes history or the man who has taken the most wickets. In the end, Shane Warne’s 195 wickets beat Don Bradman’s 5,028 runs. But, Warne is about more than numbers. His style, humour and charisma made him the kind of player you rooted for even when he lined up against your team. He was a joy to watch.

In the spirit of joy, then, who is your favourite cricketer in the history of the men’s Ashes? Who gave you the best memories and biggest smiles? Botham for his sixes and wickets? Ricky Ponting for his centuries? Andrew Flintoff for his sledging and sportsmanship? This week our 51 judges have chosen their top 100. Who is your personal favourite?

Losing the first Test to Australia by eight wickets after being 105 ahead with one man out could derail the entire tour

Stuart Broad was a highly meme-able cricketer and it turns out that talent now extends into commentary. As Joe Root chopped Mitchell Starc on to his stumps during England’s subsidence on Saturday afternoon, Broad summed up the mood of a nation without uttering so much as a word.

In a clip that has since gone viral, Broad is in the Channel 7 box with his eyes shut, arms folded, letting out an exasperated sigh; the kind of internal “FFS� triggered by a toddler doing the very thing they were just warned against. Watching from the far end as two teammates fall to expansive drives on a bouncy, nippy surface, only to attempt a repeat against Starc, is a bit like pulling on the cat’s tail. Root did it anyway.

A pension-pot World Cup looms and with Trump in the White House and a crown prince at his back, it is now a safe space

It was hard to choose one favourite photo from football’s double-header at the White House this week. In part this is because the pictures from Donald Trump’s state dinner with Mohammed bin Salman and his in-house hype men Cristiano Ronaldo and Gianni Infantino were everywhere, recycled feverishly across the internet, dusted with their own drool-stained commentary by the wider Ronaldo-verse.

Mainly there were just so many jaw-droppers. Perhaps you liked the one of Trump and Ronaldo strolling the halls of power, Ronaldo dressed all in black and laughing uproariously, like a really happy ninja. Or the one of Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez standing either side of a weirdly beaming Trump at his desk, holding up some kind of large heraldic key as though they’ve just been presented with their own wind-up wooden sex-grandad.

When you work in the game it is easy to get cynical but this week I’ve been consuming all the #limbs I can find

For the second time in a week, I’m welling up. This time in a cafe on Northcote High Street in Melbourne at 9am. I punched the air when Kieran Tierney curled that one in. But Kenny McLean. From the halfway line. As the ball sails over Kasper Schmeichel my hands involuntarily shoot to the sky. What a moment. The commentary is amazing. Before long I’m watching it on a loop. The unwritten rule of not talking over each other goes out of the window. In fact it’s better. You want the comms to feel like you feel.

On BBC Scotland, Liam McLeod, Steven Thompson and James McFadden absolutely nail it. McLeod: “They’ve given it away.� Thompson: “SHOOT, SHOOT.� McLeod: “He’s gonna shoot.� (McFadden is grinning wildly.) Thompson: “OH HE’S DONE HIM, HE’S DONE HIM, HE’S DONE HIM.� McLeod: “HAS THAT GONE IN? OOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOO THAT’S UNBELIEVABLE …� The fixed camera set on Thompson and McFadden is wondrous. Two grown men jumping up and down in unison like 10-year-old boys. They are just so happy.

When a prankster meets a puncher it’s not about sport but an elaborate viral hoax that keeps us wanting more

“If it’s all straight up and proper, you would worry that he takes this kid’s head off,� reckons Barry McGuigan. “Could get his jaw broke, his head smashed in, side of his head caved in, God forbid he could get a brain bleed,� says Carl Froch on his YouTube channel. “It could be the end of him. It could be his last day on Earth,� David Haye tells Sky News, with the sort of apocalyptic glare I try to give my children when they want to jump in a muddy puddle.

Yes, this week everyone appears to be deeply concerned for the wellbeing of 28-year-old YouTube celebrity Jake Paul. The announcement of his fight against Anthony Joshua next month has generated a flood of foreboding prognoses, and fair enough. Stepping into the ring with a two-time world heavyweight champion when a) you’re not even a heavyweight, b) your record consists almost entirely of novices and geriatrics and c) you still fight like a marmoset trapped in an empty crisp packet: on some level, we all know how this might go.

Our cartoonist on a simple win over Spurs that boosted the Gunners’ title hopes, smug Australians and more

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• David’s latest book, Chaos in the Box: get it now

Australia’s bold call as replacement for creaking Usman Khawaja in second innings set up a Test-winning 69-ball ton, the second-fastest in Ashes history

In short, England tried to play a certain style of Test cricket. Travis Head succeeded at it. As his numbers grew on the second afternoon here, what they represented grew more astonishing.

A normal 16 runs from 20 balls became brisk at 26 from 23. By the time it was 50 from 37, the frame of the usual had disappeared. Soon it was 68 from 49. Yes, players have scored faster now and then, but imagine batting in a fourth-innings Ashes chase on 84 from 59 balls. Imagine coming from behind in the first Test of a series to score 92 from 61.

Former Wimbledon champion on how taking accountability for his crimes allowed for rehabilitation, watching Novak Djokovic from his cell and the new era of brotherhood in the sport

“I heard the screaming and I didn’t know what it was,� Boris Becker says as he remembers staring into the dark in Wandsworth prison, just over two miles from Wimbledon’s Centre Court where he won the first of his three men’s singles titles at the age of 17 in 1985. “Were people trying to kill themselves or harm themselves? Or couldn’t they deal with their loneliness? Or are they just making crazy noises because they have lost their minds already?�

Becker had been sentenced to a two-and-a-half-year jail term. Amid his insolvency, he was found guilty of not declaring all his assets so that additional funds could be distributed to his creditors. The judge confirmed that his money was used, instead, to meet his “commitments to his children and other dependents, medical and professional fees, and other expenses�.

Samira Asghari, the International Olympic Committee’s youngest member, says negotiation with Taliban is only way to help Afghan girls access sport

“My message for all Afghan women who play is that if there is any small opportunity, do it,� Samira Asghari says. “My solid message is never, ever give up. Afghanistan was always a war-torn country, unfortunately. We have grown up in a war country. And we believe in a future Afghanistan, and the future of Afghanistan is the people.�

Asghari is 31, the youngest member of the International Olympic Committee and an exile from her home. Resident in Europe, her role requires her to try to bring an end to current restrictions which prevent Afghan women and girls from taking part in sport. In this, the people she must negotiate with are the Taliban.

When I was a college basketball player, some believed we were treated differently from other Black and Brown people. An event last weekend suggests otherwise

It was 1996, my first day stepping foot on Syracuse University’s campus. I saw a big student protest was taking place so, with my freshman’s inquisitive mind, I ventured over to see what was going on.

I listened to a passionate sista named Kathy Ade, the president of Syracuse’s student African-American Society. She stood there with her Bantu knots and a megaphone addressing the crowd, discussing the fact that campus security was now going to be able to carry pepper spray. In the 90s – which my daughter Baby Sierra calls “the 1900s,� just to keep me humble – campus security carrying pepper spray was a big deal. Now, they all carry guns.

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It is measure of just how much more shameless and obsequious Fifa has become under the presidency of Gianni Infantino that news of its decision to unsuspend Cristiano Ronaldo from Portugal’s first two group games at next year’s Geopolitics World Cup has been greeted with little more than an amused, weary eye-roll at the brass neckery of it all. Issued with a straight red card for violent conduct during a defeat at the hands of the Republic of Ireland, the preening Portuguese showpony was issued with a standard three-match ban, the first game of which he spent on the Naughty Step during his side’s subsequent 9-1 demolition of Armenia. His was an absence that didn’t so much make the heart grow fonder, as the team grow in stature and confidence.

Surely the benchmark for ‘lamping’ your teammate (yesterday’s Football Daily) was set in January 1979 by ‘Killer Hales’ and Mike ‘Flash’ Flanagan at the Valley. Without the benefit of today’s array of camera angles and pundits to know-it-all, it was difficult to judge who started it, but the football reasoning was that Killer thought Flash had delayed a pass and prevented him scoring. However, there were some mutterings about off-field tensions and they went their separate ways. Five years later, amazingly, they were both back in the Addicks’ front line� – Geoff Williams.

I found it interesting that a slap to the head did not cause Michael Keane to fall to the pitch and roll around in apparent agony. Surely Keane should have been booked for his embarrassingly flagrant act of simulated stoicism?� – Ian Potter.

Idrissa Gueye’s straight red might turn out to be the least of his worries. Apparently his reward for winning this eliminator is a crack at the title against local favourite, Duncan Ferguson� – Allastair McGillivray.

Kerry O’Keeffe has called the veteran left-armer ‘one of the most underrated cricketers Australia have produced’, and the figures back him up

When I close my eyes at night, Mitchell Starc is at the top of his run. It might be punishment for forgetting to vote for him in the Guardian’s all-time Ashes players list.

His 6ft 6in frame elongates and stretches until he’s uncomfortably filling my mind’s eye and then the legs start, a nightmare-beautiful rhythmic run. The arms piston, the eyes steady, the head as still as a marble mantelpiece. He’s a cheetah in giant white wristbands, a moon-marauding wolf, a river of melted chocolate, that expensive, unpalatable, 95% stuff.

Research is on ‘an upward curve’ and the next five years could be vital in trying to limit cruciate ruptures

Players who compete in the top two levels of German women’s football are four times more likely to rupture their anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) than their male counterparts, according to the German Football Association (DFB).

The governing body has funded a central injury and illness registry in women’s football for three years. So far in the Frauen Bundesliga, Germany’s top flight, there have been a reported seven ACL injuries 10 games into the current campaign. In the men’s Bundesliga, meanwhile, there have been three such injuries.

Eberechi Eze’s hat-trick and Manchester City’s loss to Newcastle means Arsenal are in control of their own destiny

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So it turns out those who had already handed the title to Arsenal were right after all.

It’s absurd, of course, to start handing out the title in November but a feature of modern football is how obsessed it becomes so early with title races. It’s perhaps a legacy of the Pep Guardiola-Jürgen Klopp rivalry’s peak, when being champion meant amassing more than 95 points. It made sense then to scan the track far ahead for any potential hurdles because there were so few. But less than a third of the way through this season, Manchester City, who remain probably the biggest danger to Arsenal, have already dropped as many points as they did in the entirety of 2017-18, their 100-point campaign.

Another home defeat for Liverpool has piled pressure on Arne Slot. Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Archie Rhind-Tutt and Nicky Bandini to discuss that, Arsenal’s win against Bayern Munich and Tottenham’s high-scoring defeat in Paris

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On today’s pod: Arne Slot’s problems at Liverpool are mounting up. The home defeat against PSV was the ninth loss in the last 12 games and is more evidence of a dire drop-off from last season’s title-winning form.

Plus: long waits to play at a World Cup, champions being thrashed and title-winners with a negative goal difference

• Mail us with your questions and answers

“Idrissa Gueye’s red card for slapping Michael Keane at Old Trafford made me wonder – which other players have put hands on a teammate during a game?� asks Conor Humphries.

We covered this in a question back in 2004 – but 21 years is a long time in football, never mind intrasquad violence, so it’s due an upgrade. First, a brief summary of those we mentioned in the 2004 article.

Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzy Wrack, Sophie Downey and Theo Lloyd-Hughes for an NWSL special, looking at the final between Gotham FC and Washington Spirit, as well as the season as a whole, and all of the latest news from the home nations

On today’s pod: we have a National Women’s Soccer League Special for you – after Gotham FC were handed the keys to New York City following their 1-0 Championship win over Washington Spirit in the final. We’ll reflect on the game itself as well as the season as a whole.

Also, it’s the International break so we’ll also take a look at how the home nations are looking and react to the news that Tanya Oxtoby has left Northern Ireland to become Newcastle United’s head coach.

Spurs punished for negativity, Dyche’s gameplan downs Liverpool and Wharton’s quality shines through again

• Top scorers: check the latest race for the golden boot

Amid Liverpool’s deepening crisis and the growing scrutiny on Arne Slot, it is only right that Nottingham Forest’s role in it is given some attention and acclaim. Back-to-back league wins at Anfield for the first time since 1963 deserves recognition, as does the willingness of Forest’s players to embrace the gameplan of the third different managerial voice they have heard this season. Sean Dyche’s instructions were implemented to perfection as Liverpool disintegrated. “We changed the tactical side today,� said Forest’s recently appointed manager. “I told the players: ‘We’re not passing it, we are going long, because Liverpool were going to press the life out of you’ – which is exactly what they did at the start. We dealt with that quite well and we mixed it tactically, which is credit to the players.� Forest’s tactics may have been straight out of the Dyche playbook but they were also encouraged, inadvertently, by Slot, who has regularly told opponents how to play his Liverpool team this season. He has meanwhile not found any solutions. Andy Hunter

Match report: Liverpool 0-3 Nottingham Forest

Match report: Newcastle 2-1 Manchester City

Match report: Arsenal 4-1 Tottenham

Barney Ronay: Eze finds his own plane just above ground level

Match report: Leeds 1-2 Aston Villa

Match report: Fulham 1-0 Sunderland