分类： sports

The English Premier League is gearing up for one of its most consequential matchweeks of the 2024-25 season, with a title-deciding showdown between league leaders Arsenal and defending-chasing Manchester City set to take center stage at the Etihad Stadium this Sunday. Beyond the top-of-the-table clash, the weekend also brings high-stakes battles for Champions League qualification, a historic first Merseyside derby at Everton’s new stadium, and a host of other fixtures that could reshape the final standings of England’s top flight with just six weeks remaining in the campaign.

For Arsenal, Sunday’s trip to Manchester represents the defining moment of their bid to end a 21-year wait for a Premier League crown. Mikel Arteta’s side currently hold a comfortable six-point advantage over second-placed City, but their form has nosedived dramatically in recent weeks, putting their title momentum in question. The Gunners have dropped points across all competitions, suffering a League Cup final defeat to City, a shock FA Cup quarter-final exit to second-tier Southampton, and a damaging league loss to Bournemouth. Even their 1-0 aggregate win over Sporting Lisbon to reach the Champions League semi-finals was underwhelming, secured via a nervous, laborious goalless draw in the second leg. Arsenal have recorded just one victory in their last five matches across all competitions, while City enter the clash in peak form, having knocked off Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea in their previous three outings.

Despite the slump, Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice says the squad is relishing the challenge of facing City on their own turf. “There’s no beating around the bush. We have to perform better than we did against Bournemouth and probably Sporting as well,” Rice told reporters ahead of the match. “Recently, we have made too many errors. The Etihad is the ultimate test but it’s why we play this game. So, bring it on. It’s beautiful. I can’t wait. When you’re a kid, you’re watching the Premier League, you see these big matches, these title-defining moments and it comes down to if you’re going to be ready and how much do you want it?”

Down the table, the fight for the final Champions League qualification spots is reaching a fever pitch, with Chelsea and Manchester United set to clash at Stamford Bridge on Saturday night in a make-or-break fixture for the west London side. Chelsea have slumped to a dismal run of form, picking up just one win in their last seven league outings, leaving them on the brink of falling out of contention for a top-four finish. Sixth-placed Chelsea currently trail third-placed United by seven points, and sit four points behind fifth-placed Liverpool, leaving the Blues with zero margin for error with only six matches left to play. A loss against United would all but end Chelsea’s Champions League hopes, piling even more pressure on manager Liam Rosenior just one week after his side was booed off the pitch following a 3-0 home defeat to Manchester City.

Blues midfielder Andrey Santos admitted the squad understands fan frustration, but says the players remain committed to turning their season around. “We understand the fans are frustrated. We are frustrated too. When you talk about Chelsea, you talk about winning games, which we’re not doing. It’s a difficult moment but we have to work hard and keep going. Of course we believe we can finish in a Champions League place.”

Meanwhile, Merseyside rivals Everton and Liverpool will write a new chapter of their historic derby on Sunday, when Liverpool visits Everton’s brand-new Hill Dickinson Stadium for the first ever Merseyside derby at the venue. Liverpool is reeling from a bruising 4-0 aggregate Champions League exit at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain earlier this week, a result that has increased scrutiny on manager Arne Slot. The Reds suffered another major blow this week when French striker Hugo Ekitike was ruled out for the remainder of the season with a ruptured Achilles injury, leaving their attacking depth depleted heading into the final stretch of the campaign.

Liverpool midfielder Ryan Gravenberch says a derby win would not only lift the mood for anxious Reds fans, but also keep the club firmly in the mix for Champions League qualification. “We have to pick ourselves up as Sunday is waiting,” he said. “We just want to play in the Champions League next year. We have to give it our all.”

The full slate of fixtures kicks off on Saturday with an early London derby between Brentford and Fulham, followed by midday matches between Leeds United and Wolverhampton Wanderers, and Newcastle United against Bournemouth. Later that day, Tottenham Hotspur hosts Brighton & Hove Albion before the primetime clash between Chelsea and United. Sunday’s action opens with Aston Villa hosting Sunderland, followed by the Merseyside derby, Nottingham Forest against Burnley, and the highly anticipated title showdown between City and Arsenal. The matchweek wraps up on Monday night with Crystal Palace hosting West Ham United at Selhurst Park.

The National Rugby League’s contentious six again rule has sparked a heated divide between two of the code’s most long-serving and respected coaches, with legendary South Sydney Rabbitohs mentor Wayne Bennett doubling down on his support for the controversial regulation, arguing it has rescued the sport from more than a decade of slow, grapple-heavy stagnation.

Bennett’s outspoken defense of the rule, which replaces traditional penalties for ruck infringements and offside offences beyond the 20-metre line with fresh set restarts, comes just 24 hours after Canberra Raiders head coach Ricky Stuart delivered a scathing rebuke of the policy, claiming it has eroded the core identity of rugby league. While the rule change has drawn widespread criticism from fans online, who argue its frenetic pace and frequent set changes have stripped the game of its traditional fabric, Bennett says the current format is a dramatic improvement over the slow, wrestling-dominated play that bogged matches down for 10 years.

“There’s no doubt it’s a game-changer,” Bennett told reporters this week. “We’ve got a game that’s full of entertainment right now, some wonderful tries being scored, some great ball movement. Do we go back to when we had wrestle and we had all the other terms for different types of tackles that were making the whole game bog down? I don’t want to go back to that. We suffered for over a decade with that and I don’t want to go back there. If we find an answer for not having the six again then I’d be happy, but the reality of it is the onus is back on the players. The players are always playing on the edge with the rules and this is one they really can’t play on the edge with because it really hurts your team.”

Beyond the rule debate, Bennett is facing a string of injury challenges ahead of his side’s Saturday night clash against the winless St. George Illawarra Dragons, and has made a surprising selection call to bring dynamic fullback Matt Dufty back for his first NRL outing in four years. Dufty, who most recently played in the UK’s Super League for Warrington Wolves, returned to Australia earlier than planned and linked up with the Rabbitohs, earning an unexpected call-up after starting fullback Jye Gray was sidelined for two to three weeks with an AC joint injury.

Many fans and analysts expected Bennett would shift star back Latrell Mitchell from his current position at left centre back to fullback, a role Mitchell has played extensively throughout his career. But Bennett opted against a major reshuffle of his backline, noting Gray’s absence is only short-term, and that the team already has an injury gap on the left edge after second-rower David Fifita was ruled out for three to four weeks with a hamstring injury. “That was based on the fact that Jye will be back in a couple of weeks, probably two to three weeks max, so do I change one position or do I change four positions to put Latrell back at fullback?” Bennett explained. “That really wasn’t an option for me with only two or three weeks. If Jye had been out for a lot longer I might have made a different decision, but next couple of weeks I think we can get the job done there and it makes us more stable in our backline because these guys are playing together each week, and I think any coach in the game wants his players to play together as much as they possibly can.”

Bennett added that Mitchell’s permanent shift to centre this season was already a deliberate choice made in the best interest of the club, and a short-term injury did not justify upending the entire unit. “I don’t see a world where he won’t go back to fullback eventually,” he said. “It was only a decision we made this year because we believed it was in the best interest of the club, and we made this decision again because I believe it’s in the best interest of the team that we have one new guy coming in rather than moving the whole backline around.”

The Rabbitohs are already stretched thin in their forward pack, with five forwards currently sidelined in rehab. Prop Keaon Koloamatangi will play through a painful knee injury this weekend, after Bennett ruled out resting him, with the club awaiting the return of Junior Tatola next week to ease their forward depth crisis. “He’s a bit restricted as well. We probably need a week off for him, but we just can’t do it at the moment,” Bennett said. “We’ve got five forwards sitting in rehab at the moment with injuries and won’t be back for a couple of weeks, we’ll probably get Junior Tatola back next week, so we just need a bit of relief there and have to hang on a little bit longer for Keaon.” Dufty, a former Dragons player, will make his Rabbitohs debut against his old club this weekend, with Bennett saying the club is excited to welcome him to the squad. Assistant coach Ben Hornby has a long history of coaching Dufty, giving the South Sydney staff confidence he will fit in both on and off the pitch, Bennett added.

Embattled breakaway golf circuit LIV Golf is set to implement unexpected structural adjustments as it navigates swirling speculation that its primary backer, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, is preparing to end its massive financial support, chief executive Scott O’Neil confirmed Thursday.

Recent reports from multiple international media outlets have claimed that the Saudi fund, which has poured billions into luring top-tier golf talent away from the established PGA Tour and DP World Tour since LIV launched in 2022, will imminently halt its funding commitments for the divisive league. Despite the uncertainty, LIV has insisted its ongoing 2024 season will proceed without interruption. This week’s tournament in Mexico City kicked off as scheduled Thursday, though broadcast coverage was disrupted for an extended period by local power outages that caused a blackout.

In an on-air interview during the Mexico City event, O’Neil addressed the growing speculation head-on. “I talked about some structural changes. They’re coming,” he said, referencing a plan he had already presented to roughly 50 stakeholders during last weekend’s Masters tournament at Augusta. “We have one, and it is… It might surprise some people.”

Since its debut in 2022, the Saudi-backed league has upended the global golf landscape, pitting the new circuit against traditional golf governing bodies. Built around a format of shorter, faster events with team-based competition and a geographically diverse tournament schedule, LIV has attracted some of the sport’s biggest names, including major champions Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm, while drawing large crowds to stops in emerging markets such as Australia and South Africa. However, the circuit has struggled to secure the lucrative multi-year media rights deals that are a core revenue stream for established major sports leagues.

Industry estimates peg the Saudi sovereign wealth fund’s total spending on LIV Golf at roughly $5 billion to date. During a recent five-year strategy presentation, the fund signaled a shift to prioritize “increasing the efficiency of investments,” fueling rumors of an imminent pullback from the golf project.

O’Neil acknowledged Thursday that LIV will “probably” need to secure new external capital to sustain operations, pointing to the league’s long-stated strategy of selling ownership stakes in its 12 existing team franchises. The circuit’s long-term business model is modeled after motorsport’s Formula 1, which relies on independently owned and operated team franchises. “I had two calls this morning” about stake sales, O’Neil confirmed. Prior to this week’s funding rumors, LIV had already been exploring the sale of minority or even controlling stakes in two teams to outside wealthy investors or corporations, and in January Bloomberg reported the league was targeting valuations as high as $300 million per team. No public valuation of the franchises has been released to date.

O’Neil also pushed back against recent sensationalized media coverage of the league’s turmoil, specifically calling out a report from Britain’s *Telegraph* that claimed LIV executives had been called to an emergency emergency meeting in New York. “It’s a lot of reaching and grabbing for headlines and clickbait and stories,” he said. While he rejected claims of an imminent collapse, he did confirm that operational shifts are on the horizon. “Will there be a change in how we operate? Of course,” he added.

Two English Premier League sides have written their names into 2024-25 UEFA Europa League history, securing an unprecedented all-English showdown in the semi-finals after commanding quarter-final second leg wins on Thursday.

Unai Emery’s in-form Aston Villa turned a solid 3-1 first-leg advantage into an emphatic 7-1 aggregate rout, crushing Italy’s Bologna with a 4-0 clean sheet at their home ground Villa Park. The result marked Villa’s second consecutive European semi-final appearance under Emery, following their 2023-24 Conference League last-four run, and extends the four-time Europa League-winning manager’s incredible legacy in the competition.

England international striker Ollie Watkins once again led the charge for Villa, opening the scoring in the 16th minute to cap a fluid 14-pass team build-up finished with a close-range tap-in from Morgan Rogers’ assist. The goal marked Watkins’ 100th goal across all competitions for the club, pushing him to the top of Villa’s all-time European scoring charts with 10 goals, overtaking club legends Peter Withe and John McGinn.

Though Rogers missed a 25th-minute penalty after a Bologna handball, Emiliano Buendia struck just one minute later with a blistering effort to double Villa’s lead. Rogers redeemed his miss before halftime, scoring his first goal in 12 matches with a clinical strike past Bologna goalkeeper Federico Ravaglia. Center-back Ezri Konsa capped the dominant display with a 89th-minute volley, sealing a resounding home victory.

“We needed to get the first goal, it was very important. They are a dangerous team away from home,” Villa captain John McGinn said after the match. “A great first half gets us to a semi-final, I’m delighted.”

Over at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground, the underdogs pulled off a historic upset to knock out Portugal’s Porto, securing a 2-1 aggregate win with a 1-0 second-leg victory. Forest, currently 12 places below Villa in the Premier League table, reached their first continental semi-final since the 1983-84 UEFA Cup, more than 40 years ago. Playing in Europe for the first time since 1995-96, the result is a landmark moment for the club. The match was shaped by an early red card for Porto defender Jan Bednarek, who was sent off in the 8th minute for a dangerous foul on striker Chris Wood that forced the New Zealander off injured.

Forest capitalized on their numerical advantage just four minutes later, when Morgan Gibbs-White’s deflected strike from the edge of the box looped into the Porto net. The goal celebration carried emotional weight: Gibbs-White held up a shirt bearing the name of teammate Elliot Anderson, who missed the match following the death of his mother. Another touching moment came at halftime, when former Forest striker Tony Woodcock was finally presented with his 1980 European Cup winner’s medal — he had been denied the honor after leaving the club mid-season during the side’s second consecutive European Cup title run amid a strained relationship with legendary manager Brian Clough.

Porto came close to forcing extra time twice in the second half, with William Gomes and Alan Varela both hitting the woodwork from close range, but Forest held on to secure their place in the semis. Forest manager Vitor Pereira, whose side is currently fighting a relegation battle in the Premier League, paid tribute to his team’s character after the win. “The club and the supporters deserve it. I have a fantastic team. They have the spirit, character and quality,” he said, adding he would not turn his focus to the Villa semi-final until after this weekend’s league match against Burnley.

Two other sides booked their semi-final spots on Thursday. Germany’s Freiburg reached their first ever Europa League semi-final after a 3-1 away win over Spain’s Celta Vigo, wrapping up a dominant 6-1 aggregate win with an opener from Igor Matanovic and a brace from Japanese winger Yuito Suzuki. Portugal’s Sporting Braga completed a comeback to beat Real Betis 4-2 away, sealing a 5-3 aggregate win to set up a semi-final tie against Freiburg.

Ahead of the opening bounce of the final term in their Australian Football League clash, Collingwood Magpies already banked on a familiar Carlton Blues collapse to turn their 18-point deficit around. That confidence, forged from Carlton’s well-documented history of surrendering leads late in matches, was front and center of Collingwood’s three-quarter time huddle, where players and coaches explicitly highlighted the Blues’ trend of letting strong positions slip away. What followed was a thrilling, momentum-shifting final quarter that delivered one of the most dramatic wins of the 2025 AFL season so far.

Fuelled by a masterclass performance from young star Nick Daicos, Collingwood piled on seven unanswered goals in the final stanza to claw their way back into the contest, sneaking across the line with a narrow five-point victory. Speaking after the match, Magpies head coach Craig McRae opened up about the tactical and mental framing that shaped the comeback, revealing his side entered the final quarter questioning whether Carlton could maintain their intensity across all four quarters.

“We spoke about playing the full minutes right in front of us,” McRae told reporters post-game. “They’d been in front most games, I think Carlton have been in front for four of the five. We were questioning whether they could do it for four quarters and that’s the evidence they put in front of everyone. We want to play it out, you’ve still got to take your chances, make the most of it.”

The catalyst for Collingwood’s stunning turnaround was Daicos, who put on a clinic in the final quarter, racking up 13 disposals and slotting a spectacular freakish goal that shifted the entire energy of the match. The young star played every second of the final term, and finished the match marking his 100th AFL game with a career-defining performance that drew high praise from his coach.

“He’s a remarkable talent, we didn’t want to get him off in the last quarter (and) he played 100 per cent game time I am pretty sure,” McRae said. “He does some remarkable stuff, that first goal in the fourth quarter when he just runs contest to contest to contest and ends up in the goalsquare. 100th game, if you break the stats down they’re pretty amazing, not many players can do that in a game.”

Even with the dramatic comeback, McRae cautioned against overconfidence, noting his side still has areas to improve ahead of coming fixtures: “I am not naive to think we don’t still have work to do.”

For the Blues, the result extends a worrying early-season slump that has cast doubt over their 2025 campaign. The collapse marks yet another late-game lead surrendered by Carlton, leaving the side with just two wins from their opening six matches. For Collingwood, the crucial win keeps the club firmly in contention for a top-eight finish, keeping their postseason hopes alive heading into the middle phase of the regular season.

In a tense Australian Football League clash that ended in a narrow defeat for Carlton at the hands of Collingwood on Thursday night, 22-year-old young talent Elijah Hollands emerged as an unexpected talking point after a match that left him struggling for any meaningful on-field impact, prompting public displays of disappointment and a supportive intervention from senior coach Michael Voss.

Hollands, who had earned 75% of game time through the first three quarters, failed to register a single disposals or statistical contribution for the entire match, a rare outcome for a player with that much on-field involvement. He was ultimately benched for the majority of the final quarter as Collingwood clawed back to secure the win over the Blues. Footage of Hollands drifting out of play and failing to impact contests circulated widely online on social media immediately after the final siren, amplifying scrutiny of his off-night.

Following the final whistle, Voss found a visibly distraught Hollands, who described the young midfielder as “shattered” and “pretty emotional” in post-game press comments. “I spoke to him after the game, he was really disappointed with how he started the game, really upset, he feels like he’s let me down,” Voss shared. The coach confirmed he held an extended supportive conversation with the young player, noting that Hollands carried strong disappointment over his inability to work his way into the flow of the high-stakes match.

Addressing the decision to bench Hollands in the final minutes of the game, Voss explained the tactical call was made to adjust the team’s on-field mix for the closing stretch. “It comes to the last quarter, you obviously have to work out what mix you want out on the field with five minutes to go. He wasn’t having a great night, so (we had) conversations with him, but we obviously thought the best mix was not have him out there,” Voss said.

Late drama unfolded after the siren when a review gave Carlton a last-gasp chance to force a draw, with fourth-year player Talor Byrne stepping up for the decisive kick that ultimately skewed wide. Voss emphasized that blame for the loss does not rest solely on the shoulders of young players like Hollands and Byrne, pointing to the team-first culture the club has built.

“It’s understanding it’s not all on the young man’s shoulders,” Voss said. “He’s probably rehearsed that 2000 times… he didn’t quite obviously get the job done but the boys rallied. You win together, you lose together.” The coach added that the club would continue to support Hollands through the tough moment, rejecting any concerns over the young player’s effort on the night, and confirming the program would stand by him as he works to bounce back from the off-night.