Golf Comment: Grace impresses with assured win in Qatar January 26, 2015 TO HAVE won six European Tour titles at the age of 26 is impressive enough, but to have done so in the convincing manner that Branden Grace has is something else. The South African claimed his second win of the season on Sunday at the Qatar Masters, following up last month’s seven-stroke victory at the [...]
Arsenal strikeforce is my best ever, says Arsene Wenger January 25, 2015 Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes his current repertoire of attacking players is his deadliest yet after the FA Cup holders swaggered into round five and assumed the status of favourites. Theo Walcott and Mesut Ozil both scored their first goals since lengthy injury absences, while evergreen playmaker Tomas Rosicky crowned a man-of-the-match display with a [...]
Football Comment: Blues stars unprofessional and City disrespected cup January 25, 2015 I DON’T blame Jose Mourinho or Manuel Pellegrini for their teams’ shock FA Cup defeats to lower-league opponents on Saturday; I believe the fault is with the Chelsea and Manchester City players, who have let their managers down. Mourinho’s pre-match remarks about the disgrace of losing to inferior sides show that he would have prepared [...]
Farrell and Eastmond join England injury list January 25, 2015 SARACENS fly-half Owen Farrell and Bath centre Kyle Eastmond joined England’s lengthening list of Six Nations injury worries as their clubs progressed to the European Rugby Champions Cup quarter-finals yesterday. Farrell was withdrawn with a knee injury during Sarries’ 18-6 defeat at Clermont Auvergne, while Eastmond damaged his shoulder in a decisive 20-15 victory over [...]
Diafra Sakho returns to save below-par West Ham January 25, 2015 WEST Ham manager Sam Allardyce hailed top scorer Diafra Sakho after the striker returned from injury to head the Hammers into the FA Cup fifth round for the first time in four years. Sakho showed few signs of the back problem that controversially precluded him from joining Senegal’s squad for the Africa Cup of Nations [...]
Murray stays up late to maintain grand slam run January 25, 2015 RELIEVED Andy Murray admitted he had been lucky after beating 10th seed Grigor Dimitrov at the Australian Open to reach a 16th consecutive grand slam quarter-finals. Murray finally saw off Dimitrov 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 7-5 in a fluctuating match that lasted three and a half hours and finished after midnight in Melbourne yesterday. The [...]
Jose Mourinho defends Chelsea preparations and downplays knock-on effect January 25, 2015 CHELSEA manager Jose Mourinho has issued a robust defence of his approach to the FA Cup after his decision to field a much-changed team against Bradford backfired spectacularly on Saturday. The Blues suffered one of the biggest shocks in the competition’s storied history when they crashed out 4-2 at home to the League One side, [...]
Michael Carberry ends Kevin Pietersen’s Big Bash final hopes January 25, 2015 FORMER England batsman Michael Carberry’s rapid half-century helped Perth Scorchers beat one-time team-mate Kevin Pietersen’s Melbourne Stars to reach the Big Bash final in Australia yesterday. Carberry hit 50 off 36 balls as Perth racked up 144-7 – enough for an 18-run victory as Melbourne were dismissed for 126 despite Pietersen and compatriot Luke Wright [...]
Obscure wage bill rules blamed for January transfers shortage January 22, 2015 An unexpetedly quiet January transfer window could be the first sign of little-known Premier League cost-control regulations starting to bite, according to industry experts. Despite English top-flight clubs being richer than ever before – all 20 are among the top 40 wealthiest in the world, it emerged this week – they have failed to spend [...]
England vow to protect stars after Morgan caught in blackmail row January 22, 2015 CRICKET chiefs have vowed to prevent England’s World Cup bid being blown off course by external factors after one-day skipper Eoin Morgan was yesterday the subject of an alleged extortion plot. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) say they were contacted by an Australian man, the boyfriend of a woman Morgan had a brief [...]