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The Premier League has explained why Eberechi Eze's hotly debated first goal was allowed to stand in Arsenal's 4-1 demolition of Tottenham. The former Crystal Palace man fired a shot through a crowd of bodies to make it 2-0 but goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario complained that his view was blocked by some offside Gunners players. Despite that, the goal stood, and Eze went on to score a hat-trick on Sunday at Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal make statement of intent

Mikel Arteta's men went six points clear at the top of the Premier League with a commanding victory in the north London derby. Other than Richarlison's moment of magic, Tottenham barely laid a glove on Arsenal, who outclassed their closest neighbours without really getting out of third gear. Spurs never looked like springing an upset but one incident in the game could have potentially had a big impact on how the rest of the contest panned out. Indeed, Tottenham legend Les Ferdinand questioned why the goal wasn't scrutinised more.

He said on Sky Sports: "I will say, I don't understand how this [Arsenal players] doesn't affect the goalkeeper's sight [on the second goal]. I'm not sure how that's not been looked at."

AdvertisementAFPWhy Arsenal's goal stood

When Eze fizzed in his first goal shortly before half-time, replays showed that Martin Zubimendi and Leandro Trossard were both in the line of Vicario's view, plus, they were offside. Despite Tottenham's protestations, a VAR review did not go their way. 

A statement from the Premier League Match Centre said: "The referee’s call of goal was checked and confirmed by VAR – with it deemed that there were no Arsenal players in the line of vision of the goalkeeper, and they made no movement to impact an opponent while in an offside position."

Incidentally, Vicario admitted that even if the goal was chalked off, Tottenham probably wouldn't have got anything from the encounter.

He added on Sky Sports: "I think the way the game went it wouldn't have changed anything. There were three people in front of me so of course they impacted me. But we didn't lose the game for that."

Debate rages on over controversial goals

Liverpool submitted a complaint to the Professional Game Match Officials Ltd (PGMOL) about the decision to rule out Virgil van Dijk's goal during their 3-0 defeat to Manchester City earlier this month. The goal did not stand as Andrew Robertson was in an offside position and was deemed to have interfered with play. Many will argue that this was also the case for Eze's first goal, raising concerns about inconsistent officiating.

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Getty Images SportArsenal revel in 'special' day

Not only did Arsenal cement their place at the top of the Premier League, they dismissed their local rivals and Eze became only the fourth ever player to score a hat-trick in the north London derby.

Following the victory, Gunners boss Arteta said his side "dominated" the game, praised Eze's brilliance, and sent a message to the club's supporters. 

He told BBC Match of the Day: "It's a very special day for us. We knew the importance of the match and what it means to our fans. To be able to give them that joy, it's a beautiful day. 

"That tells you about the difficulty and what he's done today. To be fair he could have scored four or five. He's a big player who can create magic moments that unbalance a team. We dominated every part of the game. We created massive chances and had a lot of actions that we were very close to scoring. We stayed patient. Whoever we put in there they do the jobs for us. This squad has the belief and quality to deliver consistently. 

"We have really good momentum but you can see how difficult every game in the Premier League is. It's a long run, let's go game by game. Let's enjoy tonight, then we have Bayern here and Chelsea away. We have a tough week."

Aaron Judge did not receive a favorable strike zone in his first at-bat against Red Sox pitcher Brayan Bello on Friday night. Judge, hitting third in the order for the Yankees' second game of a weekend series against Boston, did not swing at any of the four pitches he saw in the at-bat and none of them were in the zone.

Rather than give Judge a walk, home plate umpire Lance Barrett sent him back to the dugout without having seen so much as a single strike.

Looking at the recap of the at-bat, none of the calls were that far outside the zone and any one of them on their own wasn't that egregious.

Aasif and Jora’s half-centuries set the stage for a decimation of the former T20I world champions

Abhijato Sensarma29-Sep-2025As fans clad in red and blue danced in the Sharjah aisles, the result was a foregone conclusion: Zishan Morata was the last man out, caught in the deep by Karan KC, and West Indies had been bundled out for 83. Three days ago, Nepal had never played a T20I series against a Full Member nation. Now, they had sealed it 2-0, with one match to spare.West Indies struggled to move beyond single-digits in the powerplay. Only thanks to a boundary in the sixth over did they reach 16 for 2. By then, Dipendra Singh Airee had scalped the first wicket when he bowled Jewel Andrew (2), while Kushal Bhurtel had taken a stunning catch at cover to send back Keacy Carty (1).Nepal’s vice grip over the scoring rate was the result of their slower balls and full deliveries in the blockhole, with their quicks often marrying the two to great effect. An inexperienced West Indies unit kept mistiming their shots on a pitch where none of their batters, barring Jason Holder’s 15-ball 21, played with any degree of comfort. Eight-three all out represents the former T20 World Champions’ sixth-lowest total. The 90-run defeat is their joint fourth-biggest by runs.Medium pacer Mohammad Aadil Alam – who ended with figures of 4 for 24 – was the next bowler to get on the scorecard, thanks to the biggest point of difference between the two sides: Nepal’s fielding. Nineteen-year-old Gulsan Jha’s diving catch at sweeper cover in the eighth over bettered their previous effort, and sent Kyle Mayers back after a sluggish 6 off 16 balls.The going never got better for West Indies, as they kept losing wickets in the middle overs and found gaps in the field plugged by a Nepal team who threw themselves at the ball. Alam sent back Ackeem Auguste (17) and Amir Jangoo (16) in back-to-back overs. By then, West Indies had slipped to 63 for 5 and the required rate had leaped to above 13.Kushal Bhurtel took three wickets to mop off the West Indies tail•ICC/Getty ImagesBhurtel added to his contributions in the field with a three-for that swept up the tail. Holder – the last nominal hope for West Indies – fell to Lalit Rajbanshi in the 17th over, when Jha took his second screamer of the day. Soon after, Bhurtel came back to toss up a legbreak and fount it caught on the outfield once again. This was a day when West Indies kept finding fielders at the rope instead of clearing them.Earlier in the day, Nepal’s own innings had been one of two distinct halves: in the first ten, they did not hit a single six, but opener Aasif Sheikh had established a burgeoning partnership with Sundeep Jora, and a productive powerplay had taken them to 74 for 3 at the midway point of the innings.In the next ten, the pair raced away and put on what would end up being a 100-run partnership. Jora’s 39-ball 63 eventually ended in the 18th over. He had hit five of the nine sixes Nepal hit in the second half of the innings.Sheikh remained unbeaten on 68 off 47 himself. At the other end, Alam’s 5-ball 11 took Nepal’s total to 173. Alam was playing his first match for Nepal after more than three years, having last appeared for them in August 2022. His cameo would become a footnote to his starring role in the second innings.It would also overshadow the efforts of West Indies’ best bowler on the day – their captain Akeal Hosein – who took 2 for 21 and had reduced Nepal to 14 for 2 in the fourth over. However, any hopes of a rally after their loss in the first T20I were soon left far behind, as his team slipped to 83 all out – the lowest total by a Full Member team against an Associate nation – as well as a 90-run loss – the biggest margin by which an Associate team has defeated a Full Member nation.What makes this result more significant is that Nepal have secured it ahead of the 2026 T20 World Cup qualifiers next month, and in the absence of their lead spinner Sandeep Lamichhane, who has sat out both matches of the series. Nepal coach, Stuart Law, said Lamichhane excused himself citing personal reasons.Nepal now know they will be favourites to win the third and final match of the series, to be played on Tuesday, having sealed the most significant series win in their cricket history.

But the question for Sunday remains the same as it has all series: if India are without Bumrah, do they have what it takes to get the job done?

Alagappan Muthu04-Jan-2025What would India do without Jasprit Bumrah? That question has constantly hung over this series. Now it looks like the series might be decided by the answer to that question.There was always a consensus that Bumrah would be India’s most important player in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He was rested from the last Test of the home season to ensure his readiness for it. He didn’t even bowl in training. He was practically wrapped in cotton wool, a decision that looks prescient now that he’s had to deliver 150.2 overs in nine innings, but he still broke down because fast bowlers break down from workloads that high and his workloads were that high because India just didn’t have any other consistent threats.Rishabh Pant played like he took all that’s happened to India personally. First ball in on Saturday, he charged at Scott Boland and crashed him for six over long-on. Second ball he tried to reverse-scoop him. On Friday evening, addressing the media, Pant spoke of how he could have taken a 50-50 chance early in the first innings but didn’t. It was too early in the game to be taking risks, he felt. It was also too soon after he had been buried under an avalanche of criticism for the way he plays.Related

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On Saturday evening at the SCG, things became really simple. These were the possibilities. With Bumrah, India would feel like they could defend anything. Without him, Australia would feel like they could chase anything.Despite what the critics have said, Pant has insisted he plays the situation. Here the situation was no longer about who could bat well or who had the best technique. It was purely about scoring runs. There is a trusted method that Pant has to score runs. If that method comes off, it often gets him a lot of runs really quickly. It came off on Saturday. At a really crucial time for India. He took their lead from 63 to 128 in a game where the highest total has been 185.”All of us were sitting together, the bowlers were sitting together and watching him bat,” Prasidh Krishna said after the day’s play. “And we definitely said if I was sitting at home and watching this, I would have loved it. To be able to do it from the ground, I mean, nothing like it. I know it’s a lot of risk, but that’s the way the game is played today.”India kept Australia to 181 with Bumrah bowling. They’ll likely need a cushion on that if he doesn’t bowl on Sunday.

“All of us were sitting together, the bowlers were sitting together and watching him bat. And we definitely said if I was sitting at home and watching this, I would have loved it… I know it’s a lot of risk, but that’s the way the game is played today.”Prasidh Krishna on Rishabh Pant

“Well, clearly he’s the leading wicket-taker in the series so you’d say it would be slightly beneficial for us [if he can’t bowl],” Australia coach Andrew McDonald said. “If he wasn’t to be there then India would have come up with a new plan.” If they’d been able to they probably wouldn’t be here with him fighting off back spasms.Last season, Australia’s big three quicks got through seven full Tests without breaking down. But they were expected to. There were contingency plans in place. Boland had been told that at some point or other Australia would need him. That Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood lasted as long as they did in 2023-24 was an outlier. They were helped that none of those seven Tests went the distance.Melbourne did for Bumrah. The 52-plus overs he bowled there were the most he’s bowled in a Test match. He got though nine spells on day four when India tried to break open the game. They almost pulled it off. The image of him, keeled over, hands on his knees at stumps was a powerful one. He has been carrying the team all tour. It’s their turn now and, on Saturday, they were up for it.Steven Smith edges Prasidh Krishna to second slip•Getty ImagesMohammed Siraj saved India the hurt that could have been. He made sure Australia were already four down by the time Bumrah had to leave the field after lunch. This SCG pitch has offered a rich bounty to anyone willing to hit it hard. But Siraj, for some reason, felt differently. He began looking for swing and he found it. The host broadcaster said the first 10 overs that India bowled on Saturday contained the most swing of any 10-over block in the series. This is the Siraj that India have been looking for all series.Prasidh, for long typecast as a hit-the-deck bowler, did most of his damage by pitching it up. He dismissed three of Australia’s four top-scorers including half-centurion Beau Webster, and made Steven Smith wait a little longer to get to 10,000. “Difference was when I got back at lunch, I actually looked at where I was bowling, the length that I was bowling,” Prasidh said. “But my perception of the length that I wanted to bowl was slightly different. Then the analyst and me sat together and we had a better idea of what my reference point is when I am coming in to bowl the next ball and that really helped.”Saturday had one India captain saying that although he’d dropped himself he still had aspirations to continue playing. Saturday had another India captain walking off injured and a former India captain taking over two years after he’d given it all up. Saturday had a maverick who was coming under fire fighting back with fire. Saturday had 15 wickets falling. And yet Sunday seems like it is going to be so much bigger.

Although he understands why the decision was made, Lyon said he “can play a role in any conditions”

Alex Malcolm29-Jul-2025Nathan Lyon says he was disappointed with being left out of Australia’s final Test of the recent Caribbean tour, but he understood why the selectors made the decision, and that in hindsight, it was the right call.Lyon had not been left out of Australia’s Test XI for any reason other than injury since 2013, but the selectors made the bold decision to leave him out for the third pink-ball Test at Sabina Park. They picked four fast bowlers instead, because the conditions were set to be so extreme.Lyon spoke for the first time since missing the Test on Tuesday in Melbourne, during an appearance with a corporate partner of his BBL club Melbourne Renegades. He did not hide his disappointment, revealing that much of it was driven by missing out on playing in close friend Mitchell Starc’s 100th Test.”There’s no point hiding behind it, I was disappointed with the decision, but I totally understood it,” he said. “Disappointed on a number of levels that: One, I believe I can play a role in any conditions, and I still honestly believe that. And then honestly, the other one was not to walk out on the field with Starcy. I’ve played 90-odd Test matches with Starcy, so to be able to walk out there with him in his 100th would have been amazing. But I was still there, running the drinks, and still part of it.Related

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“I want to play every game for Australia, and I’ve just got that belief that I can play a role in any conditions, as every cricketer should have that belief.”But at the end of the day, we can sit here and say hats off to them, they made the right call. And if I’m going to miss a game, Scott Boland is probably the guy you want to see go out there and perform. And for him to go out there and bowl like he did, like we always know he does, to take a hat-trick, was pretty special. And to witness the guys bowl them out for 27 that was pretty amazing.”The decision to leave Lyon out – and the dominance of Australia’s quicks as a quartet – has naturally led to discussion about whether it could happen again in the Ashes this summer, if similarly extreme conditions presented themselves.Part of the reasoning for Lyon’s omission was that he did not bowl a single over in the 2022 Ashes pink-ball Test in Hobart. He also bowled just one over in last year’s pink-ball Test in Adelaide against India.He did not play a part in Starc’s 100th Test•ICC via Getty ImagesBut Lyon was adamant he would be a lock for all five Ashes Tests, particularly given his record at the first three Test venues: Perth’s Optus Stadium, the Gabba and Adelaide Oval.”I’m definitely not thinking about my place in the team,” Lyon said. “I know my role in the side, and the conditions really was the reason why I missed that Test match. But I’m fully focused on making sure that fitness levels are high, skill levels are high, leading into the first three Shield games and then into the Perth Test match. I love bowling in Perth. Love bowling all around Australia if I’m being honest with you, so no, I’ve got no doubts there.”There are doubts, however, about who will be Australia’s opener for the Perth Test alongside Usman Khawaja, after Sam Konstas endured a nightmare tour of the Caribbean. But Lyon, who has been a big supporter of Konstas in his brief time around the Australian team – including inviting him to a private training camp in Brisbane prior to the WTC final – implored the critics not to be too hard on the 19-year-old.”I think it’s been a massive learning curve for Sam,” Lyon said. “I don’t think we need to be so hard on him. I think he’s obviously young, and he’s still learning his game. And I think we’ve all, as Test cricketers, been through those periods throughout our career. It’s about, especially our senior players, making sure that we’re getting around him and making sure that he knows he’s got full support.”I’m not a selector but I’d be surprised if he didn’t go on the [Australia A] tour to India. So, I think he’s going to have some cricket there, but then he’s obviously got Shield cricket as well. And like everyone, we want to go out there and perform for our states and make sure that we’re putting our hands up for national selection. No one’s got a given right to be picked for Australia. And so, it’s about us putting our arms around him, making sure that he goes out there and backs his skill and finds a method that he wants to bat with.”Lyon expects to feature in all the Ashes Tests•AFP/Getty ImagesLyon also expected Marnus Labuschagne to bounce back from his axing during the Caribbean tour.”Marn’s upbeat, and so he should be,” Lyon said. “His Test record speaks volumes. He absolutely put a couple of coaches into the ground over there with the amount of training that he was doing. But that’s Marn. That’s the way he prepares. And he’s still a class player, and he will be for a long period of time. So I’m still expecting bigger and better things from Marnus.”Lyon will now do a two-month pre-season with New South Wales ahead of the summer and expects to play at least three of the four Sheffield Shield games before the first Test, although his workloads will be managed by Cricket Australia in conjunction with NSW.He is also hopeful of finally making his BBL debut for Renegades in his third year on the list as Renegades have four games, plus finals if they get there, after the Ashes series is completed. One of those games is at Adelaide Oval against Adelaide Strikers, where he started his professional and BBL career. He said he is looking forward to bowling to close friends Travis Head and Alex Carey.”We’ve already spoken about that, but that’s all in good fun,” Lyon said. “I’ve obviously got a massive summer ahead of that. But if we get the opportunity to play each other in the Big Bash I’ll have to put all my notes in the back of the memory.”

It seemed for an age that his bowling exploits were capped by physical ailments but in Manchester, the Stokes of old turned up and made things happen

Vithushan Ehantharajah24-Jul-2025

Ben Stokes celebrates his five-wicket haul•Getty Images

The raise of the ball was done with all the enthusiasm of a man lifting a plunger out of a blocked toilet.Ben Stokes’ fifth five-wicket haul, completed on day two of the fourth Test against India, means only he, Ian Botham, Garry Sobers and Jacques Kallis have taken as many alongside scoring at least 10 centuries. No cricketer should be shy of entering that kind of club. But Stokes looked a little sheepish.You could understand where Stokes was coming from to an extent. It was likely a mix of not wanting to take the glory – his modus operandi since assuming the Test captaincy – and a tinge of embarrassment that it had been a long time coming. His last five-for, against West Indies at Lord’s – came back in September 2017.Related

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A few weeks on from that career-best 6 for 22, Stokes stayed up late in Bristol and, well, you know how that one went. And that, along with plenty of other situations, many beyond the allrounder’s control, has made days like these seem further away.It seemed his bowling exploits were capped. Some of those have been physical ailments and so, by proxy, all have been mental.But this 5 for 72 has, for now, kept India to 358 and allowed England a handy run out under the sun to trail by just 133 at stumps on day two. It also puts Stokes top of the pops with 16 dismissals this series. And moreover, back in a groove that, up until the last month, had seemed lost to the annals.Three batters trimmed off. Two bumped. Always threatening. Never knowingly under-bowled. All this signposted a return to the Stokes of old. Namely the one he was across 2019 and 2020 – a period he reckons was his peak.2:17

Crawley: ‘Owe it to myself to have a few good performances’

Funnily enough, there were no five-fors during this stanza. But even that was not necessarily about the 41 dismissals at 27.70 across both years, but the skill, control and durability across 368.1 overs.There are a specific 2.2 overs at the end of the final day of the second Test against South Africa at Newlands in January 2020, that Stokes rewatched heading into this summer. Desperate to recapture the perfect rhythm, high pace and immaculate lengths distilled in that match-winning spell of 3 for 1.”I used Cape Town as a visual thing for me,” revealed Stokes in Leeds, ahead of the series opener. “To look back at and go, like, ‘what was I doing there’? Because that’s when I felt really good.”Zak Crawley was in the cordon five years ago, taking a juggling blinder to give Stokes his second of that set, and was in prime position here to admire the similarities.”There’s so many similarities to that,” Crawley said at stumps on Thursday. “He was bowling quickly back then. He’s got that pace back now. And the way he just gets that away movement from the right-hander, that zip, which is as much as anyone in the world really. He gets that bounce.”He’s a proper wicket-taker and he can make things happen and that’s certainly the case when I first came into the side back then (2020). And he seems to have got that back now, which is a phenomenal effort considering the injuries he’s had and, well, he’s a little bit older now.”This summer, Stokes’ average speed – 135.38kph – is the third-fastest he has registered in a home season since 2019. His control evident from the shift from day one to day two, earning his final three wickets for just 25 in 10 overs.Day two boasted the highest degree of swing of any day this series, so Stokes pushed his length forward. Of Wednesday’s 14 overs, 19.7% were full (within 6.25m of the stumps) and the dismissal of Shubman Gill, his opposite number, was at the shorter limit of that threshold. Thursday’s Stokes went further, with 32.2% to fashion what swing there was into a weapon. Shardul Thakur skewed his drive to a diving Ben Duckett at gully, then Anshul Kamboj played down what became the wrong line for Stokes’ fifth.Arguably the more impressive milestone for Stokes had come on day one, ticking over the most he has ever bowled in a series, currently. It will certainly be the most meaningful to him.Previous roles as an enforcer or “break glass for match winner” quick meant he was kept to cameos. But he has always had the skills. The problem soon became his body. Thankfully, we appear to be through the tunnel.0:49

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The light was seen by Stokes back in 2023. An overdue left knee operation after the ODI World Cup cleared up what was threatening to become a chronic mess. And though two right hamstring tears in six months followed, the lessons from that first procedure – specifically, how much easier rehabilitation was with a sleeker physique – had already been learned.The biggest benefit for Stokes has been around recovery. Not only have performances been backed up, but the speeds have been consistent. The first innings averages tell the story; 134.3kph (Headingley), 135.59kph (Edgbaston), 136.71kph (Lord’s) and 135.2kph here.The gap between Lord’s and Manchester is probably the most insightful as far as where Stokes is at right now.After bowling 44 overs in the victory at Lord’s, including 20 on day five to help bag that 201 lead, Stokes spent the next few days in bed. As such, when it came to training on Monday at Emirates Old Trafford, he was ready to get back on the grind, even if he was still feeling a little tired.Two days out from the first Test at Headingley, Stokes had wowed his team-mates by bowling a mammoth 11-over stint. And while he was not going to do the same here, he did want to get the wheels turning. Unfortunately, the Manchester weather got in the way.Instead, Stokes beasted himself on Tuesday. After a gym session in the morning, he bowled in the Trafford Cricket Centre – Lancashire’s onsite indoor nets – which is by no means the done thing for a bowler on the eve of a match because the indoor surface is unforgiving on the joints. Not only did Stokes get through that, he followed it up with a long batting stint. Then he sent down 24 of the first 114.1 overs of this match.Without question, Stokes’ renewed fitness drive has allowed him to stitch together a series like this. He sensed it himself, which is why after 11.2 overs against Zimbabwe, back in May, he felt he did not need to play for Durham or England Lions to be right for India.At the same time, all this has come with a bit of balance. Captaincy, at least from the outside, feels a little easier. Given the fear at the start of his tenure centered around marrying those duties with his all-action nature, he seems to be at his most switched on while carrying the bowling burden.It’s worth noting that on day three at Lord’s, when Brendon McCullum sent over bowling consultant Tim Southee to suggest Stokes cap a spell at seven overs, Stokes had already decided that was that. He knew he had run that particular race. That he went on to bowl 9.2- and 10-over spells two days later owed more to a sense he had the wares to crack the game open than simply indulging a hero complex. Vindication of both came with the removal of KL Rahul in the former and a belligerent Jasprit Bumrah in the latter.On the subject of balance, Stokes seems to have found a sweet spot. The graft away from the field to allow the gut-busting on it is tempered in various ways. Though he stopped drinking alcohol as he recovered from a hamstring operation at the start of the year, he sups the occasional drink as a reward following a satisfying day’s play. Everything in moderation, including moderation.At 34, you might term this all as growth, and in some ways it is. Of a man getting better attuned with his body and still developing a greater affinity for the craft of bowling.It used to be said of Stokes that it was hard to discern what kind of allrounder he was, beyond one with an appetite for big moments. Detractors would say that was down to neither-here-nor-there numbers with bat and ball.Now, entering the twilight of his career, Stokes is, emphatically, a bowling allrounder. And that’s not because the batting numbers are taking a dip, but because he has never been a more complete bowler than right now.

Durham batter hits final ball over long-on with five required to end Southern Brave’s perfect start

ECB Media13-Aug-2025A last-ball six from Graham Clark saw Northern Superchargers defeat Southern Brave on their home turf in a nail-biting finish.Put into bat, the Brave were soon in all kinds of trouble. Kiwi Jacob Duffy, fresh off the plane from a Test series with Zimbabwe, decimating their power-packed top-order, reducing them to 26 for 3 off 24 balls by dismissing Leus du Plooy, James Vince and Jason Roy.James Coles and the evergreen Laurie Evans rebuilt steadily then violently, putting on 87 in 57 balls to put a defendable total in sight despite spin twins Mitchell Santner and Adil Rashid keeping things in check, the Brave finishing with a middling 139 for 5.Jacob Duffy celebrates an early breakthrough•Alex Davidson/Getty ImagesCraig Overton replicated the work of Duffy, taking three relatively inexpensive wickets for the Brave, but Zak Crawley sparkled alongside England team-mate Harry Brook, both of whom scored quickfire 20s.When Chris Jordan pulled up with a groin injury, it felt like a game-changing moment but the Brave rallied, Jofra Archer bowling a brilliant penultimate set, going for just one run and taking two wickets to finish with 2 for 15.The Superchargers needed 10 off the last set, bowled by Tymal Mills. Dots off balls three and four left five needed off the last, at which point Graham Clark hit a back-of-the-hand slower ball over the ropes at deep midwicket to send the away fans into a frenzy.Clark, only playing due to a David Miller niggle, said he felt “euphoric” after sealing the points. “I thought I’d messed it up when I left that wide one and then missed a slot ball, but it’s such a good feeling to get over the line,” he said.”Batting in the middle order role is something I’ve never done before. I’ve spent the last few days with [batting coach] Neil McKenzie trying to improve my power-hitting. We thought it was a really good wicket, where you could play proper shots. Santner really took the pressure off: he’s a quality operator, when he fields, bowls or bats; such a calm character, and hits the ball so cleanly.”

Manchester City cruise through to yet another Carabao Cup quarter-final.

On Wednesday night, despite actually falling behind early in South Wales, the Citizens ultimately swatted aside Swansea City 3-1, thanks to goals from Jérémy Doku, Omar Marmoush and then Rayan Cherki.

This is the 11th time in 19 seasons that the Citizens have reached the quarter-finals, hoisting the trophy aloft on six occasions since 2014, firm favourites to beat Brentford at home in the last eight just before Christmas.

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Rayan Cherki's importance

Having sat out eight matches due to a thigh issue, Rayan Cherki started for the first time since August on Wednesday night, putting in a sparkling, man of the match display, capped off by firing home the clinching third.

The table below documents just how impressive the Frenchman was in the EFL Cup.

Goals

1

1st

Assists

1

1st

Shots on target

1

1st

Shots off target

4

1st

Attempted dribbles

4

2nd

Accurate passes

74

3rd

Key passes

6

1st

Ground duels won

5

5th

Possession lost

31

1st

Touches

119

2nd

As the table highlights, Cherki was the outstanding player on the pitch in mid-week.

He ranked first for shots and second for attempted dribbles, behind only Jérémy Doku, while his tally of six key passes is off the scale; normally a player would not register that many in a month!

The Frenchman did lose possession on 31 occasions, almost twice as often as anyone else, which obviously isn’t ideal, but underlines that he is always trying to make something happen.

The 22-year-old arrived from Olympique Lyonnais for £34m too much excitement, given that Lyon teammate Ainsley Maitland-Niles labelled him “the best natural talent I’ve ever seen. An absolute master, a wizard with the ball”.

Upon his arrival in Manchester, Guardiola said that Cherki “is one of the most talented players I have ever seen in my career”, high praise from a manager who has coached Andrés Iniesta, Xavi, Thierry Henry, Franck Ribéry, Arjen Robben, Thiago Alcântara, David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, oh and a certain Lionel Messi.

Despite their stylistic similarities, Cherki is not the new Messi in this Manchester City side, that acclaim goes to a rather more high-profile “monster”.

Guardiola's new Lionel Messi at Man City

By scoring twice against Nashville in Fort Lauderdale on Friday night in round one of the MLS Cup play-offs, Messi has taken his tally to 891 senior goals for club and country.

Of these, 672 were scored for Barcelona, with 211 coming during Pep Guardiola’s reign, most notably bagging 91 goals in just 69 appearances for club and country in 2012, featuring hat-tricks against Switzerland, Brazil, Bayer Leverkusen, Málaga twice, Valencia, Granada, Espanyol and Deportivo La Coruña.

This is surely a calendar year record that will never be beaten but, if there is one player who could come close, it is of course Erling Braut Håland.

Already this season, the Norwegian striker has scored 15 goals for Man City, which accounts for 65% of all goals they have managed across the Premier League and Champions League.

Former Bayern Munich striker Mario Gómez labelled Håland a “monster”, adding “I think every team on the planet has to fear” him, while Barney Ronay of the Guardian describes him as “the complete centre-forward” who is more than just a goal machine.

Nevertheless, right now, Håland’s goals are perhaps masking Manchester City’s issues, over-reliant on him to score in every game, but if you’re going to be over-reliant on someone, he isn’t a bad choice!

In 2025 so far, he has scored 43 goals for club and country, while his most productive year was 2023, netting 50 times overall, four more than he managed in 2022.

This merely underlines how mind-boggling it is that Messi reached 91 in 2012, but with Norway almost guaranteed to return to the World Cup next summer, their first appearance since France ’98, an injury-free Håland could trouble that record in 2026.

Back in 2010/11, when Guardiola’s Barcelona won La Liga and the Champions League, Messi scored 53 goals across all competitions, just one fewer than Barça’s next three highest scorers that season combined, namely David Villa, Pedro and Iniesta.

Well, considering Håland has 15 goals this season, while Man City’s second-highest scorers, namely Cherki and Doku, have just two goals, the Sky Blues are even more reliant on their superstar forward than Guardiola ever was in Catalonia.

Nevertheless, this is a recipe that has proved fruitful before, if Guardiola has the right ingredients of course, so Håland could well fire the Sky Blues to the game’s biggest trophies pretty much all by himself.

The Norwegian requires another 72 goals to become the highest scorer under Guardiola, a record held by Messi of course, but one that he could break in double quick time.

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Not just Doku: Man City star who was "streets ahead" is now undroppable

Manchester City survived an early scare away at Swansea City to clinch a 3-1 victory in the EFL Cup.

ByKelan Sarson Oct 30, 2025

The San Diego Padres made a huge move at the MLB trade deadline on Thursday, acquiring closer Mason Miller and southpaw starter JP Sears. It's a good pair of additions for the 60-49 Padres—but the cost they paid was enormous.

To land those two deadline targets San Diego gave up a huge haul of four prospects. Most shockingly, that haul is headlined by shortstop Leodalis De Vries, considered one of the best prospects in baseball and listed at No. 3 overall in the latest pipeline rankings. De Vries had been mentioned as a prospect potentially on the move in the lead-up to the deadline, but his inclusion in the deal for Miller and Spears was still a big surprise.

Miller, 26, has posted a 3.76 ERA and recorded 59 strikeouts in 38.1 innings so far this season. Sears has gone 7-9 with a 4.95 ERA in 22 starts.

The lengths the Padres were willing to go to get their guy left the MLB world reeling.

Chris Waddle has slammed Mikel Arteta for his supposed criticism of Sunderland's tactics as the Arsenal manager was told to stick to his own job. The Gunners boss' frustration was palpable after his side let a precious victory slip through their fingers in stoppage time and had to settle for a point instead in Saturday's 2-2 draw.

Brobbey breaks Arsenal hearts

Arsenal’s struggles began 10 minutes before the interval when ex-Gunner Dan Ballard punished his old side. The Sunderland defender latched onto a smart pass from Nordi Mukiele and lashed his finish past Raya from close range. From there, Arsenal had to chase the game, and Arteta’s men came out swinging after the break. Their pressure told early in the second half when Bukayo Saka capitalised on an error from Enzo Le Fee to smash home the equaliser. Moments later, Martin Zubimendi rattled the crossbar before Leandro Trossard, who has been one of Arsenal’s most reliable and clutch players this season, rifled in a spectacular long-range drive to put the visitors 2-1 up. At that point, it looked as though Arsenal’s quality and persistence had won the day. But Brian Brobbey’s late intervention tore up the script. That late strike from the Dutch striker saw Arsenal’s lead at the summit trimmed to just four points after 11 rounds of league fixtures.

AdvertisementGetty Images SportArteta pointed finger at 'disruptive' tactics

After the match, Arteta’s tone was one of frustration. He praised his players for their reaction but couldn’t resist a dig at Sunderland’s defensive approach.

"We have to navigate through a really tough game," he said. "We knew that, it was very disruptive. We have to deal with situations, obviously, that are difficult to deal with. They do it really well and we conceded a goal that is not in our standards. But after that, I think the team reacted really well, showed a lot of personality and courage. They scored the first goal, they scored the second goal and we totally dominated the game.

"You have to rely on defending the box when they start to commit six or seven players there. It can be from a direct play, it can be from a throw-in, it can be from any situation. We can defend the action better, and today we haven't done it; we conceded the goal."

Waddle fires back at Arteta

Waddle was unimpressed by Arteta’s complaints. The former Sunderland man, who had a short spell at the club in 1997, said that managers should focus on overcoming problems rather than criticising opponents for playing smart.

"It’s always strange to criticise your opponent’s tactics, at the end of the day," he told in an interview with . "You know, the whole point of football is to get a result. It’s a game. You have to work out how to get results and win, and at least avoid defeat. You work out how to get the best out of your team and cause problems to the opposition. You come up with a plan, and if it works, then you’ve done your job well, so I wouldn’t criticise Sunderland.

"People could talk about Arsenal, about how they park the bus and rely on set-pieces. Everyone wants to have a dig at everyone else’s tactics, but it’s your job to find the weaknesses and exploit them, or spot a good tactic and use it yourself. This time, Sunderland worked out how to get a point, so the manager got it right. It might make it harder to break down sides if they park the bus, but it’s your job to figure out how to break it down. It’s up to you, and you don’t moan about it. You figure it out and you overcome it, and then you get a little smile on your face that a team sat back and they still couldn’t stop you. Obviously, Arteta wasn’t happy, but Sunderland had their game plan and it worked."

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Getty Images SportLe Bris' cunning pre-match tweak to thwart Arsenal

Sunderland boss Regis Le Bris, meanwhile, revealed one cheeky tactical adjustment that helped stifle Arsenal’s usually dangerous long throws. The Frenchman admitted his staff moved the advertising hoardings closer to the touchline before kick-off, reducing the space for Arsenal players to wind up their powerful throws into the box. The tweak was small but effective as Sunderland’s defenders had fewer deep deliveries to deal with and managed to keep the Gunners’ aerial threat to a minimum. Although Arteta did not comment on this tactic, the Spaniard might have a thing or two to say on this sly tactical adjustment. 

Le Bris told when quizzed about the hoardings: "Yeah, we tried to find the details to win the game. They are really strong on set-pieces, and we were good as well. It was absolutely obvious this threat was really important for this game, and in the end, it was balanced."