Sport News

Updated: 20:29 EST

Man Utd's Ashley Young on Guardiola, Mourinho and World Cup dream

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY JOE BERNSTEIN: Moments before Ashley Young sits down to discuss his impressive season at Manchester United, England manager Gareth Southgate walks through the lobby at their Carrington training ground to meet Jose Mourinho. Young must hope it is a positive omen for the World Cup this summer. Four years ago, he received the devastating news during a holiday in Dubai that he had not made the final 23-man squad for Brazil, despite starting every game at the previous European Championship. Let alone a 2018 World Cup place, Young started this season with question-marks about his role at United under Mourinho. Instead, he has started 20 of 28 Premier League games ahead of Monday’s trip to Crystal Palace, and earned an international recall in November to win his 31st cap against Brazil, 1,526 days after his previous one.

Arsenal: Arsene Wenger faces end game with Joachim Low wanted

SPECIAL REPORT - ROB DRAPER: Joachim Low is the front-runner to take over from Arsene Wenger in the summer, though Arsenal will have to negotiate a complex exit strategy with the German FA to get their man, given that Low has two years left on his contract and has to defend the World Cup with the national team this summer.

GLENN HODDLE: For those of us who knew Arsene Wenger in his prime, it was difficult to watch him after the second 3-0 defeat by Manchester City in five days.

EXCLUSIVE BY ROB DRAPER: The club have begun identifying replacements and will have to sell the Wales midfielder this summer to avoid the situation they faced with Alexis Sanchez.

Pep Guardiola is eyeing a summer move for Barcelona legend Andres Iniesta as the Manchester City boss wants Spanish midfielder to end his career in England.

Antonio Conte admits his Chelsea side are embarking on a season-defining fortnight beginning with the task of trying to halt the 'unstoppable' champions-elect Manchester City.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY NIK SIMON: Martin Johnson has called for Elliot Daly to start at centre against France to help revive England’s Six Nations campaign.

GLENN HODDLE: It is hard to overestimate just what a major moment this is for my old club Tottenham this week against Juventus. There is a danger that they think the hard work is done.

Kell Brook says he is ready for a showdown fight with Amir Khan after defeating Sergey Rabchenko in the second round of his comeback match in Sheffield.

Liverpool 2-0 Newcastle: Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane strike in win

JOE BERNSTEIN AT ANFIELD: Liverpool moved up to second in the Premier League table on Saturday night as goals from Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane saw Jurgen Klopp's men prove too good for Newcastle. After a resilient opening period from the visitors at Anfield it was once again Salah who provided the breakthrough for Liverpool. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain drove through midfield and slipped a pass to the Egyptian, who made no mistake in firing past Martin Dubravka. Just 10 minutes after half-time Liverpool had doubled their lead. A sweeping move culminated in Roberto Firmino feeding Sadio Mane and the winger unerringly curled the ball into the back of the net to wrap up three points.

Five things you missed from Liverpool's win over Newcastle

Liverpool cruised towards a 2-0 victory against Newcastle United at Anfield in a result that took them back up into second in the Premier League. Victory rarely looked in doubt for the Reds. Although you may not have thought so judging by manager Jurgen Klopp's stoppage time antics as Sportsmail takes a look at the five things you may have missed from the game. Mohamed Salah was through on goal and ready to fire home for Liverpool.

The German 'keeper is No1 again and his brilliant right-handed save to keep out Mo Diame on the stroke of half-time allowed Liverpool, 1-0 ahead at the time, to go on and win the game 2-0.

Liverpool have emerged as favourites to sign Nice's £35million midfielder Jean Michael Seri as Jurgen Klopp looks to replace Emre Can. The German midfielder's contract expires in the summer.

TIM ABRAHAM AT ANFIELD: Liverpool continued their push to be the best of the rest after beating Newcastle 2-0 at Anfield to move up to second in the table.

West Ham chairman David Gold confronts angry fan - VIDEO

WARNING OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE: West Ham joint-chairman David Gold was confronted by angry supporters after the club lost 4-1 at Swansea. Gold was spotted leaving the Liberty Stadium by a couple of West Ham fans. He exited his car in the club car park and approached the supporters. Gold protested: 'I'm hurting as much as you...I am 82-years-old' and insisted that 'security' advised him to leave a few minutes before the final whistle to avoid problems.

Pep Guardiola's men are 15 points clear at the top of the table with 10 games left to play and all but sealed their place in the quarter-finals of Europe's elite club competition.

Neymar will earn a staggering £725,000 as part of his lucrative Nike sponsorship deal if he can go on to win the Ballon d'Or, it has emerged. He signed the deal with the sports brand in 2011.

WATFORD 1-0 WEST BROM - LAURIE WHITWELL AT VICARAGE ROAD: When the obituary is written on this most desperate campaign for West Bromwich Albion, the section on self-inflicted wounds will be lengthy.

ROB DRAPER AT LIBERTY STADIUM: The Carlos Carvalhal carnival ride keeps on turning up delightful moments. Though not always predictable, nor always fully functioning.

MIKE KEEGAN AT TURF MOOR: If there was a honeymoon period at Everton for Sam Allardyce, it is now officially over. The tans have faded, the novelty has worn off.

Winston Reid faces a worrying injury prognosis after being carried off on a stretcher during the first-half of West Ham's Premier League clash at Swansea.

Tottenham forced to ask crowd for referees after Mike Jones injured

Fourth official Kevin Friend took Jones' place in the middle but the match officials still scrambled to find a qualified referee to assist. A tannoy announcement was made to the Wembley crowd requesting that any suitably qualified personnel make themselves known to the nearest steward.

Man United legends Nicky Butt and Ryan Giggs enjoy Saturday stroll

Ryan Giggs and Nicky Butt may have gone their separate ways in their respective coaching careers, but it seems the former Manchester United stars are still as close as ever. The Class of '92 legends were seen walking together with their children on Saturday morning and defied the cold conditions by treating them to what appeared to be ice cream.

OLIVER HOLT AT WEMBLEY: Son Heung-min scored twice as Tottenham claimed another vital three points in their hunt for Champions League football on Saturday.

ANDREW WARSHAW IN ZURICH: Football’s lawmakers dismissed the growing backlash over VAR by approving the most ground-breaking rule change the game has ever seen on Saturday.

Kevin De Bruyne believes he can help Manchester City win a treble this season, but he is also eyeing a rare personal double. The midfielder faces the Chelsea club that discarded him.

ADAM SHERGOLD AT ST MARY'S: Jack Butland spoke this week about wanting clarity as soon as possible about who will be England’s No 1 at the World Cup.

KIERAN GILL AT THE KING POWER STADIUM: Riyad Mahrez rescued Leicester City with the last kick of the game and denied Bournemouth what would have been a sizeable step towards Premier League safety.

Fonte, Carrasco and Gaitan suffer horror start to life in China

Jose Fonte, Yannick Carrasco and Nicolas Gaitan all endured a chastening start to life in China as they suffered a humiliating 8-0 defeat on their debuts for Dalian Yifang. The trio, who signed for the newly promoted Chinese Super League club at the end of February, all started against a Shanghai SIPG side which contained Brazilians Hulk and Oscar and were subsequently subjected to a barrage from their hosts. Shanghai mustered 24 attempts on goal against a weak Dalian side, who were prone to individual errors and struggled to keep possession throughout.

Real Madrid 3-1 Getafe: Cristiano Ronaldo scores twice in victory

Gareth Bale broke David Beckham’s record for La Liga appearances and celebrated with a goal as Real Madrid beat Getafe 3-1. Not to be outdone Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 300th and 301st goals in Liga with Madrid’s second and thrid of the game. Only Leo Messi had previously broken the 300 barrier in Spain. Bale was playing his 117th league game in Spain, one more than Beckham, and he scored on 25 minutes burying a loose ball in the area after Isco had gone up to head a corner and inadvertently knocked it down to Bale with his arm.

Paulo Dybala scored a dramatic late winner as Juventus beat Lazio 1-0 to pile the pressure on Serie A leaders Napoli. Juventus extended their winning league run to ten games as they managed to prevail in a hard-fought encounter, with Dybala finding the net with a neat strike after being teed up by Daniele Rugani.

KIT HOLDEN AT RED BULL ARENA: Tottenham target Marco Reus rescued a point for Borussia Dortmund away to RB Leipzig as the battle for a Champions League place rumbles on.

Neymar has successfully undergone surgery on his injured right foot, the Brazilian football confederation confirmed on Saturday. The operation was to repair a cracked fifth metatarsal.

Manchester City are ready to join their Premier League rivals in the race to sign teen sensation Ryan Sessegnon from Fulham this summer. Tottenham and United are also interested.

With his side trailing 1-0 to Everton at the break, the Clarets manager used the club's miserable tradition of failing to turn matches around to ensure they did just that.

England face the might of 20st centre Mathieu Bastareaud in Paris

England endured a battering at Murrayfield but now they must face the might of France centre Mathieu Bastareaud, who at 20st is the heaviest back in the Six Nations. Although the 29-year-old is a fierce defender, Eddie Jones and his side will know the best way of trying to get past him. Here's a breakdown of his threat.

Martin Johnson England verdict: No intensity but can't axe Hartley

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY NIK SIMON: A church service in rural Leicestershire saved Martin Johnson from the humiliation of being at Murrayfield in 2000. Rather than watch from the stands, the injured second row picked up the result on a radio at the back of his friend’s wedding. It was England’s only defeat by Scotland during Johnson’s 10-year international career — and it changed everything. ‘The service was quite late in the afternoon so I watched the first half at home,’ says Johnson. ‘Then I heard the result at the service and suddenly the world changes.

As England gear up for another tough test in the Six Nations, France will be taking a lot of notes from their defeat at the hands of Scotland in the Calcutta Cup last Saturday.  

Gabriel Ibitoye and Marcus Smith have been included in a 33-man squad that will prepare for England's NatWest 6 Nations clash with France.

Team Sky, British Cycling and Bradley Wiggins are bracing themselves for what will be a lacerating report into drug use and administrative failings in cycling, to be published late on Sunday night.

Kell Brook beats Sergey Rabchenko with second round knockout

Kell Brook's career had stalled after a fruitless jump to middleweight to challenge Gennady Golovkin in September 2016 while a drop back down to welterweight last May saw him lose his world title to Errol Spence Jr. But he drew an emphatic line under those twin defeats, taking less than five minutes to end the challenge of Rabchenko and get back in the win column in front of his home fans at the Sheffield Arena.

Johnson-Thompson wants Olympic glory after breaking gold medal duck

After untying the anchor that has weighed on her neck throughout her senior career, Katarina Johnson-Thompson has set her intentions on replacing it with an Olympic heptathlon gold medal. It will be an awfully hard task in the era of the brilliant Belgian Nafissatou Thiam, but there is no doubting Johnson-Thompson’s hopes look brighter today than they have in years. That is the upshot of her pentathlon gold at the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham on Friday, where she finally broke her medal duck on the global stage. Even in Thiam’s absence, Johnson-Thompson can take renewed belief that she can get the job done when it matters.

Christian Coleman enhanced his status as the new sprint king of athletics by storming to 60m gold at the World Indoor Championships on Saturday night.

George North has come under fire from his own club coach after being unavailable to play in the Premiership. Boss Alan Gaffney also questioned the Wales wing's commitment on Saturday.

DOMINIC KING IN NEW JERSEY: The morning that defender Casey Stoney was dreading had finally arrived. February 22 had long been circled on the calendar.

Wilshere has fun in training as Arsenal prepare to face Brighton

Jack Wilshere was back in training as Arsenal held their final session on Saturday ahead of Sunday's Premier League trip to face Brighton. Wilshere missed Arsenal's 3-0 league defeat to Manchester City with a minor ankle injury but the midfielder came through today's session unscathed and had plenty of fun in the process. The 26-year-old soon got down to serious work, however, with Arsenal looking to bounce back from a run of three defeats, two of which were inflicted by City. 

Troyes 0-2 PSG: Angel Di Maria and Christopher Nkunku win it

Angel Di Maria and Christopher Nkunku scored second-half goals as Paris St Germain won 2-0 at Troyes to restore their 14-point lead at the top of Ligue 1. Di Maria broke the deadlock early in the second half before Nkunku's first goal of the season ensured a sixth straight league victory for Unai Emery's side, who had seen their huge lead at the summit briefly trimmed by Monaco's win on Friday night. PSG made light of Neymar's absence in their first league encounter since his season-ending injury last week and only a brilliant display by Troyes goalkeeper Erwin Zelazny denied them a more convincing victory.

OLIVER HOLT - MAIL ON SUNDAY CHIEF SPORTS WRITER: After Thursday night’s defeat by Manchester City, Arsene Wenger was asked why his Arsenal players looked so devoid of confidence.

TIM PAYTON: It has been a depressing week for Arsenal fans. Twice we have sat and watched as Arsenal have been taken apart by the country’s best team Manchester City.

Notts County have offered former Spain and Sevilla winger Diego Capel a deal worth £15,000-a-week until the end of the season. Capel has been without a club since he left Anderlecht last season.

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Watford's advertising board 'catches fire' during West Brom clash

Following Troy Deeney's late winner, Alan Pardew's hopes of buying some time as West Brom manager wasn't the only thing that went up in smoke at Vicarage Road. During a rather uneventful first half that saw both sides struggle to break each other down, the main piece of action the crowd were treated to was when an LED advertising board began to emit smoke at the side of the pitch. As Watford and West Brom continued to play their Premier League clash, fire fighters were summoned to tackle the hazard.

Celtic 3-0 Morton: Hosts into Scottish Cup semi-finals

Celtic are safely through to the Scottish Cup semi-finals after a brace from Moussa Dembele earned a hard fought win over Morton on Saturday. The Scottish Championship side frustrated Brendan Rodgers' men for large parts of the game but Celtic eventually found a way through in the latter stages. Dembele finally broke Morton's resistance in the 62nd minute as he fired a header in off the underside of the crossbar before the Frenchman added another from the penalty spot just eight minutes later. Odsonne Edouard completed the rout inside stoppage time as he calmly finished from close range.

Roy Hodgson is preparing to welcome the mega-stars of Jose Mourinho's Manchester United to Selhurst Park tomorrow night - but insists Crystal Palace have high-value players too.

Tottenham’s routine win over Huddesfield on Saturday afternoon provided us all with another snapshot of why Harry Kane and Dele Alli are vital to Southgate’s plans for the World Cup.

Brighton manager Chris Hughton scored only 20 goals for club and country in a career spanning 16 years, so it's not surprising he still remembers vividly the day he got two against Arsenal.

Ruud Gullit has warned Arsenal to expect a resurgent AC Milan thriving on the passion of new boss Rino Gattuso when they meet in the Europa League next Thursday night.

Charly Musonda's introduction to Scottish football has proved anything but serene for such a special talent. The Chelsea playmaker admits he's discovered a tough, rough environment.

Garry Monk is poised to take over at Birmingham City after Steve Cotterill was sacked following a fifth straight Championship defeat, Sportsmail understands.

Barcelona squad prepare for pivotal Atletico Madrid test

Barcelona's first team squad have been completing their preparations for Sunday's mouthwatering La Liga clash with Atletico Madrid. Ernesto Valverde's side took part in a light training session in the Barcelona sun on Saturday morning as they look to tighten their grip on the La Liga title at the expense of Atletico. Defeat would see Atletico move to within two points of Lionel Messi and his team-mates while victory would make the Catalan side overwhelming favourites in the title race.

Napoli 2-4 Roma: Edin Dzeko bags a brace in comeback win

Livewire Lorenzo Insigne gave Napoli the perfect start by sweeping in Mario Rui's cross from the left after six minutes. But home celebrations ended one minute later when in-form Turkey forward Cengiz Under scored an audacious but slightly deflected lob over Napoli goalkeeper Pepe Reina from inside the penalty area. He was found by Radja Nainggolan after Napoli lost possession in midfield. Then, the imposing Dzeko easily rose above Raul Albiol to plant a firm header past Reina from Alessandro Florenzi's cross. Both players were on Roma's bench last week in the home loss to AC Milan, but probably won't be anymore.

Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes accused Jordan Jones of diving to earn the penalty - converted by Kris Boyd - which earned Kilmarnock a Scottish Cup quarter-final replay.

After netting a stunning free-kick in Barcelona's draw with Las Palmas on Thursday night the Argentine star moved to 599 career goals for both club and country.

PETER LANSLEY AT PRIDE PARK: Fulham's inexorable rise continues unabated as first half goals from Aleksandar Mitrovic and Ryan Sessegnon enabled them to beat Derby 2-1.

Bobby Reid took his goal tally for the season to 19 with his first hat-trick as Bristol City got their Championship promotion bid back on track with a 4-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday.

West Bromwich Albion will again consider Alan Pardew’s position after a sixth successive defeat left relegation to the Championship an inevitable proposition.

Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany has applauded his side's ruthlessness, as they aim to take another step closer to their third Premier League title against Chelsea on Sunday.

Tyson Fury jogs up road with giant log on his back

Tyson Fury will not be bowed by anything in his bid for a comeback, not even Storm Emma.  The eccentric heavyweight shared a video of himself running up a road in blustery conditions whilst carrying an enormous log on his back.  The former world champion wrapped up in tracksuit bottoms, a beanie and hoodie for his old fashioned workout. The 29-year-old was being buffeted by the wind but found the breath to speak to the camera.The 29-year-old was being buffeted by the wind but found the breath to speak to the camera.

Northampton 25-34 Sale: Denny Solomona scores first-half hat-trick

Denny Solomona scored a first-half hat-trick as Sale claimed victory at Northampton for the first time in 12 years with a 34-25 win. The Sharks had lost on their past nine visits to Franklin's Gardens, with their losing streak stretching back to May 2006. But a superb first-half showing that saw Solomona run riot and Marland Yarde also register a try left the Saints shell-shocked and trailing 31-6 at the interval.

There can be no doubting now that Laura Muir, the tiny vet from Scotland, really is a big beast in the formidable food chain of middle-distance running. Having added a world indoors 1500m silver

Eilidh Doyle spent the early months of this year fending off questions about retirement and the latter part of Saturday night talking about a 400m bronze medal at the World Indoor Championships.

PAUL NEWMAN AT THE WESTPAC STADIUM: Chris Woakes held his nerve to bowl England to a sensational last ball win against New Zealand here today to take a 2-1 lead in this one-day series.

Josh Taylor revealed another string to his bow with an impressive WBC silver super lightweight title win over stand-in opponent Winston Campos at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow on Saturday.

Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut claimed his second title of the season with victory over second seed Lucas Pouille in the final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

Cricket demonstrated on Saturday that VAR is not the only controversial technology in sport when Jason Roy was again denied what could have been a decisive catch by the cameras.

JOE COLLIVER confesses he doesn’t dare to dream about a scenario where he and Sam Spinner cross the winning line in front in the Stayers’ Hurdle.

Problems with his eyesight caused by the onset of diabetes probably felt bad enough but, after heeding the advice of his optician, to have his blood pressure tested, the news got far worse.

Premier League health-check: How is every team shaping up

Despite the bitterly cold weather spring is supposedly upon us and that means another enthralling Premier League season is entering the final straight. With just 10 games to go Manchester City are on course for a first Premier League title in four years while the battles for a top four place and survival are just heating up. Here, Sportsmail assesses every Premier League team's season so far, who has been their standout player and what they must do over the remaining 10 matches to consider their campaign a success.

SHERIDAN BIRD: Their 5-0 win against Cagliari on Monday was their 10th in a row in the league. It featured trademark goals, namely crisp first-time finishing after slick one-touch passing.

Eddie Jones has been given licence to leave no stone unturned driving England's crusade to win the World Cup next year - whatever it takes and whatever the cost.

MARTIN KEOWN: Manchester City are on their way to being a dominant force under Pep Guardiola but Manchester United’s 1999 treble-winners would beat them.